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Charnock, Stephen, 162 8-
1680.
Discourses upon the
existence and attributes of
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omyr^^/r...L
DISCOURSES
UPON THE
EXISTENCE AND ATTRIBUTE
OF GOD. (i%tPi9iv.
y
BY STEPHEN CHARNOCK, B.D.,
, FELLOW OF NEW COLLEGE, OXFORD.
WITH HIS LIFE AND CHAHACTER^
BY WILLIAM SYMINGTON, D.D.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
NEW YORK:
ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS,
No. 285 BROADWAY.
1853.
ST].;HKOTyf ED RY ^^^■""~ ■'
THOMAS B. SMITH,. vnirrvFo nr
yi(i William St. N. Y. '" JOHN A GFiAY,
87 Cliff St.
CONTENTS OF VOL. II.
DISCOUESE X.
/ /
'' 6, ON THE POWER OF GOD.
FAOB
Job, XXVI. 14. — Lo ! these are parts of his ways : but how Httle a portion is heard of ^
him \ but the thuuder of his power who can understand ? 5
DISCOUESE XI.
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD,
Exodus, xv. 1 1.— Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods ? Who is hke thee,
glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders ? 108
DISCOUESE XII
^/ 7
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD.
Mark, x. 18. — And Jesus said unto him. Why callest thou me good ? Ttiere is none
good but one, that is, God ♦. 209
DISCOUESE XIII. , , .-
ON god's dominion.
Psalm, cm. 1 9. — The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens : and his kingdom
ruleth over all 356
DISCOUESE XIV.
ON GOD'S PATIENCE.
Namvm, I. 3. — The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all
acquit the wicked: the Lord hath his way in the whirlwiml and in the storm, and
till- clouds are the dust of his feet 472
Index ^-^
OF Texts '^^^
DISCOURSE X.
ON THE POWER OF GOD.
Job xxvi. 14. — Lo 1 these are parts of his vrays : but how little a portion is hoard of
him ? but the thunder of his jDower who can understand ?
BiLDAD had, in tlie foregoing chapter, entertained Job with a dis-
course of the dominion and power of God, and the purity of his
righteousness, whence he argues an impossibihty of tlie justification
of man in liis presence, who is no better than a worm. Job, in this
chapter, acknowledges the greatness of God's power, and descants
more largely upon it than Bildad had done ; but doth preface it with
a kind of ironical speech, as if he had not acted a friendly part, or
wSpake little to the purpose, or the matter in hand: the subject of
Job's discourse was the worldly happiness of the wicked, and the
calamities of the godly : and Bildad reads him a lecture, of the ex-
tent of God's dominion, the number of his armies, and the unspotted
rectitude of his nature, in comparison of which the purest creatures
are foul and crooked. Job, therefore, from yer. 1 — 4, taxeth him in
a kind of scoffing manner, that he had not touched the point, but
rambled from the subject in hand, and had not applied a salve pro-
jjer to this sore (ver. 2) : " How hast thou helped him that is without
power ? how savest thou the arm of him that hath no strength ?" &c. ;
your discourse is so impertinent, that it will neither strengthen a
weak person, nor instruct a simple one."" But since Bildad would
take up the argument of God's power, and discourse so short of it,
Job would show that he wantect not his instructions in that kind,
and that he had more distinct conceptions of it than his antagonist
had uttered : and therefore from ver, 5 to the end of the chapter, he
doth magnificently treat of the power of God in several branches.
And (ver. 5) he begins with the lowest. " Dead things are formed
from under the waters, and the inhabitants thereof:" You read me
a lecture of the power of God in the heavenly host : indeed it is visi-
ble there, yet of a larger extent ; and monuments of it are found in
the lower parts. What do you think of those dead things under the
earth and waters, of the corn that dies, and by the moistening influ-
ences of the clouds, springs up again with a numerous progeny and
increase for the nourishment of man ? What do you think of those
varieties of metals and minerals conceived in the bowels of the earth ;
those pearls and riches in the depths of the waters, midwifed by this
power of God ? Add to these those more prodigious creatures in the
"■ Munster.
6 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
sea, the inlicabitants of the waters, Avith their vastness and variety,
which are all the births of God's power ; both in their first creation
by his mighty voice, and their propagation by his cherishing provi-
dence. Stop not here, but consider also that his power extends to
hell ; either the graves the repositories of all the crumbled dust that
hath yet been in the world (for so hell is sometimes taken in Scrip-
ture: ver. 6, "Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no
■".overing.") The several lodgings of deceased men are known to
liim : no screen can obscure them from his sight, nor their dissolu-
tion be any bar to his power, when the time is come to compact
those mouldered bodies to entertain again their departed souls, either
for weal or woe. The grave, or hell, the place of punishment, is
naked before him ; as distinctly discerned by him, as a naked body
in all its lineaments by us, or a dissected body is in all its parts by a
skilful eye.
Destruction hath no covering; none can free himself from the
power of his hand. Every person in the bowels of hell ; every per-
son punished there is known to him, and feels the power of his
wrath. From the lower parts of the world he ascends to the con-
sideration of the power of God in the creation of heaven and earth ;
"He stretches out the north over the empty places" (ver. 7). The
north, or the north pole, over the air, which, by the Greeks, was
called void or empty, because of the tenuity and thinness of that
element; and he mentions here the north, or north pole, for the
whole heaven, because it is more known and apparent than the
southern pole. " And hangs the earth upon nothing :" the massy
and weighty earth hangs like a thick globe in the midst of a thin
air, that there is as much air on the one side of it, as on the other,
'i'he heavens have no prop to sustain them in their height, and the
earth hath no basis to supj^ort it in its place. The heavens are as if
you saw a curtain stretched smooth in the air without any hand to
hold it ; and the earth is as if you saw a ball hanging in the air with-
out any solid body to under-prop it, or any line to hinder it from
falling ; both standing monuments of the omnipotence of God. He
then takes notice of his daily power in the clouds ; " He binds up
the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not rent under them"
(ver. 8). He compacts the waters together in clouds, and keeps them
by his power in the air against the force of their natural gravity and
heaviness, till they are fit to flow down upon the earth, and perform
his pleasure in the places for which he designs them. " The cloud
is not rent under them ;" the thin air is not split asunder by the
weight of the waters contained in the cloud above it. He causes
them to distil by drops, and strains them, as it were, through a
thin lawn, for the refreshment of the earth ; and suffers them not
to fall in the whole lump, with a violent torrent, to waste the
industry of man, and bring famine upon the world, by destroy-
ing the fruits of the earth. What a wonder it would be to see
but one entire drop of Avater hang itself but one inch above the
ground, unless it be a bubble which is preserved by the air en-
closed within it ! What a wonder would it be to see a gallon
of water contained in a thin cobweb as strongly as in a vessel
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 7
of brass ! Greater is tlie wonder of Divine power in tliose tliin
bottles of heaven, as tbey are called (Job xxxviii. 37) ; and therefore
called his clouds here, as being daily instances of his omnipotence :
that the air should sustain those rolling vessels, as it should seem,
weightier than itself; that the force of this mass of waters should
not break so thin a prison, and hasten to its proper place, which is
below the air: that they should be daily confined against their
natural inclination, and held by so slight a chain ; that there should
be such a gradual and successive falling of them, as if the air were
pierced with holes like a gardener's watering-pot, and not fall in one
entire body to drown or drench some parts of the earth. These are
hourly miracles of Divine power, as little regarded as clearly visible.
He proceeds (ver. 9), " He holds back the face of his throne, and
spreads the clouds upon it." The clouds are designed as curtains to
cover the heavens, as well as vessels to water the earth (Ps. cxlvii.
8). As a tapestry curtain between the heavens, the throne of God
(isa. Ixvi. 1), and the earth his footstool : the heavens are called his
throne, because his power doth most shine forth there, and magnifi-
cently declare the glory of God ; and the clouds are as a screen be-
tween the scorching heat of the sun, and the tender plants of the
earth, and the weak bodies of men. From hence he descends to the
sea, and considers the Divine power apparent in the bounding of it
(ver. 10) ; " He hath compassed the waters with bounds, till the day
and ni^ht come to an end." This is several times mentioned in
Scripture as a signal mark of Divine strength (Job xxxviii. 8 ; Pro v.
viii. 27). He hath measured a place for the sea, and struck the lim-
its of it as with a compass, that it might not mount above the sur-
face of the land, and ruin the ends of the earth's creation ; and this,
while day and night have their mutual turns, till he shall make an
end of time by removing the measures of it. The bounds of the
tumultuous sea are, in many places, as weak as the bottles of the
upper waters ; the one is contained in thin air, and the other re-
strained by weak sands, in many places, as well as by stubborn rocks
in others ; that, though it swells, foams, roars, and the waves, en-
couraged and egged on by strong winds, come like mountains against
the shore ; they overflow it not, but humble themselves when they
come near to those sands, which are set as their lists and limits, and
retire back to the womb that brought them forth, as if they were
ashamed and repented of their proud invasion : or else it may be
meant of the tides of the sea, and the stated time God hath set it for its
ebbing and flowing, till night and day come to an end ;« both that
the fluid waters should contain themselves within due bounds, and
keep their perpetually orderly motion, are amazing arguments of
Divine power. He passes on to the consideration of the commo-
tions in the air and earth, raised and stilled by the power of God ;
" The pillars of heaven tremble, and are astonished at his reproof"
By pillars of heaven are not meant angels, as some think, but either
the air, called the pillars of heaven in regard of place, as it continues
and knits together the parts of the world, as pillars do the upper
and nether parts of a building : as the lowest parts of the earth are
' Coccei in loc.
8 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
called the foundations of tlie earth, so the lowest parts of the
heaven may be called the pillars of heaven :' or else by that phrase
may be meant mountains, which seem, at a distance, to touch the
sky, as pillars do the top of a structure ; and so it may be spoken,
according to vulgar capacity, which imagines the heavens to be sus-
tained by the two extreme parts of the earth, as a convex body, or
to be arched by pillars ; whence the Scripture, according to common
apprehensions, mentions the ends of the earth, and the utmost parts
of the heavens, though they have properly no end, as being round.
The power of God is seen in those commotions in the air and earth,
by thunders, lightnings, storms, earthquakes, which rack the air,
and make the mountains and hills tremble as servants before a frown-
ing and rebuking master. And as he makes motions in the earth
and air, so is his power seen in their influences upon the sea ; " He
judges the sea with his j)ower, and by his understanding he smites
through the proud" (ver. 12). At the creation he put the waters
into several channels, and caused the dry land to appear barefaced
for a habitation for man and beasts ; or rather, he splits the sea by
storms, as though he would make the bottom of the deep visible,
and rakes up the sands to the surface of the waters, and marshals
the waves into mountains and valleys. After that, " he smites
through the proud," that is, humbles the proud waves, and, by
allaying the storm, reduceth them to their former level : the power
of God is visible, as well in rebuking, as in awakening the winds ;
he makes them sensible of his voice, and, according to his pleasure,
exasperates or calms them. The " striking through the proud"
here, is not, probably, meant of the destruction of the Egyptian
army, for some guess that Job died that year," or about the time of
the Israelites coming out of Egypt ; so that this discourse here,
being in the time of his affliction, could not point at that which was
done after his restoration to his temporal prosperity. And now, at
last, he sums up the power of God, in the chiefest of his works
above, and the gTcatest Avonder of his works below (ver. 13) ; " By
his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens ; his hand hath formed the
crooked serpent," &c. The greater and lesser lights, sun, moon, and
stars, the ornaments and furniture of heaven ; and the whale, a pro-
digious monument of God's power, often mentioned in Scripture to
this purpose, and, in particular, in this book of Job (ch. xli.) ; and
called by the same name of crooked serpent (Isa. xxvii. 1), where it
is applied, by way of metaphor, to the king of Assyria or Egypt, or
all oppressors of the church. Various interpretations there are of
this crooked serpent : some understanding that constellation in
heaven which astronomers call the dragon ; some that combination
of weaker stars, which they call the galaxia, which winds about the
heavens : but it is most probable that Job, drawing near to a con-
clusion of his discourse, joins the two greatest testimonies of God's
power in the world, the highest heavens, and the lowest leviathan,
which is here called a bar serpent, ^ in regard of his strength and
hardness, as mighty men are called bars in Scripture (Jer. li. 80) ;
"Her bars are broken things." And in regard of this power of God
* Coccei. " Dnisius «'n loc. " As the worJ signifies iu tbe Hebrew.
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 9
in tlie creation of this creature, it is particularly mentioned in the
catalogue of God's works (Gen. i. 21); "And God created great
whales ;" all the other creatures being put into one sum, and not
particularly expressed. And now he makes use of this lecture in
the text, " Lo, these are parts of his ways ; but how little a portion
is heard of him ? but the thunder of his power who can understand?"
This is but a small landscape of some of his works of power ; the
outsides and extremities of it ; more glorious things are within his
palaces : though those things argue a stupendous power of the Crea-
tor, in his worJcs of creation and providence, yet they are nothing
to what may be declared of his power. And what may be declared,
is nothing to what may be conceived ; and what may be conceived,
is nothing to what is above the conceptions of any creature. These
are but little crumbs and fragments of that Infinite Power, which
is, in his nature, like a drop in comparison of the mighty ocean ; a
hiss or whisper in comparison of a mighty voice of thunder.y This,
which I have spoken, is but like a spark to the fiery region, a few
lines, by the by, a drop of speech.
llie thunder of his power. Some understand it of thunder literally,
for material thunder in the air: " The thunder of his power," that
is, according to the Hebrew dialect, " his powerful thunder." This
is not the sense ; the nature of thunder in the air doth not so much
exceed the capacity of human understanding ; it is, therefore, rather
to be understood metaphorically, "the thunder of his power," that
is, the greatness and immensity of his power, manifested in the mag-
nificent miracles of nature, in the consideration whereof men are as-
tonished, as if they had heard an unusual clap of thunder. So
thunder is used (Job xxxix. 25), " The thunder of the captains ;"
that is, strength and force of the captains of an army : and (ver. 19),
God, speaking to Job of a horse, saith, " Hast thou clothed his neck
with thunder ?" that is, strength : and thunder being a mark of the
power of God, some of the heathen have called God by the name
of a Thunderer. z As thunder pierceth the lowest places, and alters
the state of things, so doth the power of God penetrate into all things
whatsoever ; the thunder of his power, that is, the greatness of his
power; as "the strength of salvation" (Ps. xx. 6), that is, a mighty
salvation.
Who can understand? Who is able to count all the monuments
of his power ? How doth this little, which I have spoken of, exceed
the capacity of our understanding, and is rather the matter of oiu-
astonishment, than the object of our comprehensive knowledge.
The power of the greatest potentate, or the mightiest creature, is but
of small extent : none but have their limits ; it may be understood
how far they can act, in what sphere their activity is bounded : but
when I have spoken all of Divine power that I can, when you have
thought all that you can think of it, your souls will prompt you to
y Oecolamp.
^ The ancient Gauls worshipped him under the name of Taranis. Tlie Gi'ceks e;illcd
Jupiter BQOvraioc, and Thor ; whence our Thurschxy is derived, siguifieth Thunderer, a
title the Germans gave their God. And Toran, in the British Language, signifies thuu-
der. Yoss. Idolo. lib. ii. cap. 33. Camb. Britan. p. 17.
10 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
conceive sometliing more beyond wliat I liave spoken, and what you
have thought. His power shines in everything, and is beyond every-
thing. There is infinitely more power lodged in his nature, not ex-
pressed to the world. The understanding of men and angels, cen-
tred in one creature, would fall short of the perception of the
inliniteness of it. All that can be comprehended of it, are but little
fringes of it, a small portion. No man ever discoursed, or can, of
God's power, according to the magnificence of it. No creature can
conceive it ; God himself only comprehends it ; God himself is only
able to express it. Man's power being limited, his line is too short
to measure the incomprehensible omnipotence of God. " The thun-
der of his power who can understand?" that is, none can. The text
is a lofty declaration of the Divine power, with a particular note of
attention, Lo ! I. In the expressions of it, in the works of creation
and providence, Zo, these are his ways ; ways and works excelling
any created strength, referring to the little summary of them he had
made before. II. In the insufficiency of these ways to measure his
power. But how little a portion is heard of him. III. In the incom-
prehensibleness of it. The thunder of his power, who can understand?
Doctrine. Infinite and incomjjrehensible power pertains to the nature
of God, and is expressed, in part, in his works; or, though there be
a mighty expression of Divine power in his works, yet an incompre-
hensible power pertains to his nature. " The thunder of his power,
who can understand ?"
His power glitters in all his works, as well as his wisdom (Ps.
Ixii. 11) : " Twice have I heard this, that power belongs unto God."
In the law and in the prophets, say some; but why power twice, and
not mercy, which he speaks of in the following verse ? he had heard
of power twice, from the voice of creation, and from the voice of
government. Mercy was heard in government after man's fall, not
creation ; innocent man was an object of God's goodness, not of his
mercy, till he made himself miserable ; power was expressed in both ;
or, twice have I heard that power belongs to God, that is, it is a cer-
tain and undoubted truth, that power is essential to the Divine nature.
It is true, mercy is essential, justice is essential; but power more ap-
parently essential, because no acts of mercy, or justice, or wisdom,
can be exercised by him without power ; the repetition of a thing
confirms the certainty of it. Some observe, that God is called Al-
mighty seventy times in Scripture.^ Though his power be evident
in all his works, yet he hath a power beyond the expression of it in
his works, which, as it is the glory of his nature, so it is the comfort
of a believer. To which purpose the apostle expresseth it by an ex-
cellent paraphrasis for the honor of the Divine nature (Eph. iii, 20) :
" Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all
that we can ask or think, unto him be glory in the churches." We
have reason to acknowledge him Almighty, who hath a power of
acting above our power of understanding. Who could have imag-
ined such a powerful operation in the propagation of the gospel, and
the conversion of the Gentiles, which the apostle seems to hint at in
that place ? His power is expressed by " horns in his hands" (Hub.
•^ Lessius, de i'orfect. Divin. lib. \. cap. 1.
ON THE POWER OF GOD. H
iii, 4) ; because all the works of his hands are wrought with Almighty
strength. Power is also used as a name of God (Mark. xiv. 62 ) :
"The Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power," that is, at the
riglit hand of God; God and power are so inseparable, that they
are reciprocated. As his essence is immense, not to be confined in
place ; as it is eternal, not to be measured by time ; so it is Almighty,
not to be limited in regard of action.
1. It is ingenuously illustrated by some by a unit -j^ all numbers de-
pend upon it ; it makes numbers by addition, multiplies them unexpres-
sibly ; when one unit is removed from a number, how vastly doth it
diminish it ! It gives perfection to all other numbers, it receives per-
fection from none. If you add a unit before 100, how doth it mul-
tiply it to 1,100 ! If you set a unit before 20,000,000, it presently
makes the number swell up to 120,000,000 ; and so powerful is a
unit, by adding it to numbers, that it will infinitely enlarge them to
such a vastness, that shall transcend the capacity of the best arithme-
tician to count them. By such a meditation as this, you may have
some prospect of the power of that God who is only unity ; the be-
ginning of all things, as a unit is the beginning of all numbers ; and
can perform as many things really, as a unit can numerically ; that
is, can do as much in the making of creatures, as a unit can do in
the multiplying of numbers. The omnipotence of God was scarce
denied by any heathen that did not deny the being of a God ; and
that was Pliny, and that upon weak arguments.
2. Indeed we cannot have a conception of God, if we conceive
1dm not most powerful, as well as most wise; he is not a God that
cannot do what he will, and perform all his pleasure. If we imag-
ine him restrained in his power, we imagine him limited in his es-
sence ; as he hath an infinite knowledge to know what is possible,
he cannot be without an infinite power to do what is possible ; as he
hath a will to resolve what he sees good, so he cannot want a power
to effect what he sees good to decree ; as the essence of a creature
cannot be conceived without that activity that belongs to his nature ;
as when you conceive fire, you cannot conceive it without a power
of burning and Avarming ; and when you conceive water, you cannot
conceive it without a power of moistening and cleansing : so you
cannot conceive an infinite essence without an infinite power of ac-
tivity ; and therefore a heathen could say, " If you know God, you
know he can do all things ;" and therefore, saith Austin, " Give me
not only a Christian, but a Jew ; not only a Jew, but a heathen, that
will deny God to be Almighty." A Jew, a heathen, may deny
Christ to be omnipotent, but no heathen will deny God to be omnip-
otent, and no devil will deny either to be so : God cannot be con-
ceived without some power, for then he must be conceived without
action. Whose, then, are those products and effects of power, which
are visible to us in the world ? to whom do they belong ? who is the
Father of them ? God cannot be conceived without a power suitable
to his nature and essence. If Ave imagine him to be of an infinite
essence, we must imagine him to be of an infinite power and
strength.
'' Fotherby, Atheomastic, pp. 306, 307.
12 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
In particular, I sliall sliow — I. The nature of God's power. II.
Eeasons to prove that God must needs be powerful. III. How his
power appears in creation, in government, in redemption. lY. The Use.
I. What this power is ; or the nature of it.
1, Power sometimes signifies authority : and a man is said to be
mighty and powerful in regard of his dominion, and the right he
hath to command multitudes of other persons to take his part; but
power taken for strength, and power taken for authority, are distinct
things, and may be separated from one another. Power may be
without authority ; as in successful invasions, that have no just foun-
dation. Authority may be without power ; as in a just prince, ex-
pelled by an unjust rebellion, the authority resides in him, though
he be overpowered, and is destitute of strength to support and exer-
cise that authority. The power of God is not to be understood of
his authority and dominion, but his strength to act ; and the word in
the text properly signifies strength. «=
2. This power is divided ordinarily into absolute and ordinate.
Absolute, is that power whereby God is able to do that which he
will not do, but is possible to be done ; ordinate, is that power
whereby God doth that which he hath decreed to do, that is, which
he hath ordained or appointed to be exercised ;'^ which are not dis-
tinct powers, but one and the same j)ower. His ordinate power is a
part of his absolute ; for if he had not a power to do every thing that
he could will, he might not have the power to do everything that he
doth will. The object of his absolute power is all things possi-
ble ; such things that imply not a contradiction, such that aie not
repugnant in their own nature to be done, and such as are not con-
trary to the nature and perfections of God to be done. Those things
that are repugnant in their own nature to be done are several, as to
make a thing which is past not to be past. As, for example, the
world is created ; God could have chose whether he would create
the world, and after it is created he hath power to dissolve it ; but
after it was created, and when it is dissolved, it will be eternally
true, that the world was created, and that it was dissolved ; for it is
impossible, that that which was once true, should ever be false : if it
be true that the world was created, it will forever be true that it was
created, and cannot be otherwise. And also, if it be once true that
God hath decreed, it is impossible in its own nature to be true that
God hath not decreed. Some things are repugnant to the nature
and perfections of God ; as it is impossible for his nature to die and
perish ; impossible for him, in regard of truth, to lie and deceive.
But of this hereafter ; only at present to understand the object of
God's absolute power to be things possible, that is, possible in nature ;
not by any strength in themselves, or of themselves ; for nothing
hath no strength, and everything is nothing before it comes into
being -^^ so God, by his absolute power, might have prevented the
sin of the fallen angels, and so have preserved them in their first
liabitation. He might, by his absolute power, have restrained the
^ Icvil from tempting of Eve, or restrained her and Adam from swal-
" imTia Sept. odevoc. ^ Sealiger, Publ. Exercit. 365, § 8.
« Estius iu Sent. lib. i. dist, 43. 8 2.
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 13
lowing tlie bait, and joining hands with the temptation. By his alj-
solute power, Grod might have given the reins to Peter to betray iiis
blaster, as well as to deny him ; and employed Judas in the sanu
glorious and suceessful service, wherein he employed Paul. By Ins
absolute power, he might have created the world millions of years
before he did create it, and can reduce it into its empty nothing this
moment. This the Baptist affirms, when he tells us, " That God is
able of these stones (meaning the stones in the wilderness, and not
the people which came out to him out of Judea, which were children
of Abraham) to raise up children to Abraham" (Matt. iii. 9) ; that is,
there is a possibility of such a thing there is no contradiction in it,
but that God is able to do it if he please. But now the object of his
ordinate power, is all things ordained by him to be done, all things
decreed by him ; and because of the Divine ordination of things,
this power is called ordinate ; and what is thus ordained by him he
cannot but do, because of his unchangeableness. Both those powers
are expressed (Matt. xxvi. 53, 54), " My Father can send twelve
legions of angels," there is his absolute power ; " but how then shall
the Scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be ?" there is his ordi-
nate power. As his power is free from any act of his will, it is called
absolute ; as it is joined with an act of his will, it is called ordinate.
His absolute power is necessary, and belongs to his nature ; his ordi-
nate power is free, and belongs to his will ; — a power guided by his
will, — not, as I said before, that they are two distinct powers, both
belonging to his nature, but the latter is the same with the former,
only it is guided by his wdll and wisdom.
3. It follows, then, that the power of God is that ability and
strength, whereby he can bring to pass whatsoever he please ; what-
soever his infinite wisdom can direct, and whatsoever the infinite
purity of his will can resolve. Power, in the primary notion of it,
doth not signify an act, but an ability to bring a thing into act ; it
is power, as able to act before it doth actually produce a thing : as
God had an ability to create before he did create, he had power be-
fore he acted that power without. Power notes the principle of the
action, and, therefore, is greater than the act itself Power exercised
and diflused, in bringing forth and nursing in its particular objects
without, is inconceivably less than that strength which is infinite in
himself, the same with his essence, and is indeed himself: by his
power exercised he doth whatsoever he actually wills ; but by the
power in his nature, he is able to do whatsoever he is able to will.
The will of creatures may be, and is more extensive than their
power ; and their power more contracted and shortened than their
will : but, as the prophet saith, " His counsel shall stand, and he
will do all his pleasure" (Isa. xlvi. 10). His power is as great as his
will, that is, whatsoever can fall within the verge of his will, fulls
within the compass of his power. Though he will never actually
will this or that, yet supposing he should will it, he is able to per-
form it : so that you must, in your notion of Divine power, enlarge
it further than to think God can only do what he hath resolved to
do ; but that he hath as infinite a capacity of power to act, as he hath
an infinite capacity of will to resolve. Besides, this power is of that
14 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
nature, that lie can do whatsoever lie pleases without difficulty, with-
out resistance ; it cannot be checked, restrained, frustrated/ As he
can do all things possible in regard of the object, he can do all things
easily iu regard of the manner of acting : what in human artificers
is knowledge, labor, industry, that in God is his will ; his will works
without labor ; his works stand forth as he wills them. Hands and
arms are ascribed to him for our conceptions, because our power of
acting is distinct from our will ; but God's power of acting is not
really distinct from his will ; it is sufficient to the existence of a
thing that God wills it to exist ; he can act what he will only by his
will, without any instruments. He needs no matter to work upon,
because he can make something from nothing ; all matter owes itself
to his creative power : he needs no time to work in, for he can make
time when he pleases to begin to work : he needs no copy to work
by ; himself is his own pattern and copy in his works. All created
agents want matter to work upon, instruments to work with, copies
to work by ; time to bring either the births of their minds, or the
works of their hands, to perfection : but the power of God needs
none of these things, but is of a vast and incomprehensible nature,
beyond all these. As nothing can be done without the compass of
it, so itself is without the compass of every created understanding.
4. This power is of a distinct conception from the wisdom and
will of God. They are not really distinct, but according to our con-
ceptions. We cannot discourse of Divine things, without observing
some proportion of them with human, ascribing unto God the per-
fections, sifted from the imperfections of our nature. In us there
are three orders — of understanding, will, power ; and, accordingly,
tliree acts, counsel, resolution, execution ; which, though they are
distinct in us, are not really distinct in God, In our conceptions, the
apprehension of a thing belongs to the understanding of God ; de-
termination, to the will of God ; direction, to the wisdom of God ;
execution, to the power of God. The knowledge of God regards a
thing as possible, and as it may be done ; the wisdom of God re-
gards a thing as fit, and convenient to be done ; the will of God re-
solves that it shall be done ; the power of God is the application of
his will to effect what it hath resolved. Wisdom is a fixing the
being of things, the measures and perfections of their several beings;
power is a conferring those perfections and beings upon them. His
power is his ability to act, and his wisdom is the director of his ac-
tion : his will orders, his wisdom guides, and his power effects. His
will as the spring, and his power as the worker, are expressed (Ps.
cxv. 3). " He hath done whatsoever he pleased. He commanded,
and they were created" (Ps. cxl. 5) ; and all three expressed (Eph. i.
11), " Who works all things according to the counsel of his own
will :" so that the power of God is a perfection, as it were, subor-
dinate to his understanding and will, to execute the results of his
wisdom, and the orders of his will ; to his wisdom as directing, be-
cause he works skilfully ; to his will as moving and applying, be-
cause he works voluntarily and freely. The exercise of his power
depends upon his will : his will is the supreme cause of everything
f Cra. Syutag. lib. iii. cap. 17. p. 611.
ON THE POWER OF GOD, 15
that stands up in time, and all things receive a being as he wills
them. His power is but will perpetually working, and diifusino- it-
self in the season his will hath fixed from eternity ; it is his eternal
will in perpetual and successive springs and streams in the creatures;
it is nothing else but the constant efficacy of his omnipotent will.
This must be understood of his ordinate power ; but his absolute
power is larger than his resolving will : for though the Scripture
tells us, " He hath done whatsoever he will," 3^et it tells us not, that
he hath done whatsoever he could : he can do things that he will
never do. Again, his power is distinguished from his will in regard
of the exercise of it, which is after the act of his will : his will was
conversant about objects, when his power was not exercised about
them. Creatures were the objects of his will from eternity, but they
were not from eternity the effects of his power. His purpose to
create was from eternity, but the execution of his purpose was in
time. Now this execution of his will we call his ordinate power :
his wisdom and his will are supposed antecedent to his power, as the
counsel and resolve ; as the cause precedes the performance of the
purpose as the efiect. Some " distinguish his power from his under-
standing and will, in regard that his understanding and will are
larger than his absolute power ; for God understands sins, and wills
to ]3ermit them, but he cannot himself do any evil or unjust action,
nor have a power of doing it. But this is not to distinguish that
Divine power, but impotence ; for to be unable to do evil is the per-
fection of power; and to be able to do things unjust and evil, is a
weakness, imperfection, and inability. Man indeed wills many things
that he is not able to perform, and understands many things that he
is not able to effect ; he understands much of the creatures, some-
thing of sun, moon, and stars ; he can conceive many suns, many
moons, yet is not able to create the least atom : but there is nothing
that belongs to power but God understands, and is able to effect. To
sum this up, the will of God is the root of all, the wisdom of God
is the copy of all, and the power of God is the framer of all.
5. The power of God gives activity to all the other perfections
of his nature, and is of a larger extent and efficacy, in regard
of its objects, than some perfections of his nature. 1 put them both
together.
(1.) It contributes life and activity to all the other perfections of
his nature. How vain would be his eternal counsels, if power did
not step in to execute them ! His mercy would be a feeble pity, if
he were destitute of power to relieve; and his justice a slighted
scarecrow, without power to punish ; his promises an empty sound,
without power to accomplish them. As holiness is the beaut}^, so
jDOwer is the life of all his attributes in their exercise ; and as holi-
ness, so power, is an adjunct belonging to all, a term that may be
given to all. God hath a powerful wisdom to attain his ends with-
out interruption : he hath a powerful mercy to remove our misery ;
a powerful justice to lay all misery upon offenders : he hath a pow-
erful truth to perform his promises ; an infinite power to bestow re-
wards, and inflict penalties. It is to this purpose joower is first put
B Gainaebeus.
16 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTEIBUTES.
in tlie two things wliicli tlie Psalmist had heard (Ps. Ixii, 11, 12).
" Twice have I heard," or two things have I heard ; first power, then
mercy and justice, included in that expression, " Thou renderest to
every man according to his work :" in every perfection of God ho
heard of power. This is the arm, the hand of the Deity, which all
his other attributes lay hold on, when they would appear in their
glory ; this hands them to the world : by this they act, in this they
triumph. Power framed every stage for their appearance in crea-
tion, providence, redemption.
(2.) It is of a larger extent, in regard of its objects, than some
other attributes. Power doth not alway suppose an object, but con-
stitutes an object. It supposeth an object in the act of preservation,
but it makes an object in the act of creation ; but mercy supposeth
an object miserable, yet doth not make it so. Justice supposeth an
object criminal, but doth not constitute it so : mercy supposeth him
miserable, to relieve him ; justice supposeth him criminal, to punish
him : but power supposeth not a thing in real existence, but as pos-
sible ; or rather, it is from power that any thing hath a possibility,
if there be no repugnancy in the nature of the thing. Again, power
extends further than either mercy or justice. Mercy hath particu-
lar objects, which justice shall not at last be willing to punish ; and
justice hath particular objects, which mercy at last shall not be will-
ing to refresh : but power doth, and alway will, extend to the ob-
jects of both mercy and justice. A creature, as a creature, is
neither the object of mercy nor justice, nor of rewarding goodness:
a creature, as innocent, is the object of rewarding goodness ; a crea-
ture, as miserable, is the object of compassionate mercy ; a creature,
as criminal, is the object of revenging justice : but all of them the
objects of power, in conjunction with those attributes of goodness,
merc}^, and justice, to which they belong. All the objects that
mercy, and justice, and truth, and wisdom, exercise themselves
about, hath a possibility and an actual being from this perfection of
Divine power. It is power first frames a creature in a capacity of
nature for mercy or justice, thougli it doth not give an immediate
Cjualification for the exercise of either. Power makes man a ra-
tional creature, and so confers upon him a nature mutable, which
may be miserable by its own fault, and punishable by God's justice;
or pitiable by God's compassion, and relievable by God's mercy :
but it doth not make him sinful, whereby he becomes miserable and
punishable. Again, power runs through all the degrees of the
states of a creature. As a thing is possible, or may be made, it is
the object of absolute power ; as it is factibile, or ordered to be
made, it is the object of ordinate power : as a thing is actually made,
and brought into being, it is the object of preserving power. So
that power doth stretch out its arms to all the works of God, in all
I heir circumstances, and at all times. When mercy ceaseth to relieve
a creature, when justice ceaseth to punish a creature, power ceaseth
not to preserve a creature. The blessed in heaven, that are out of
the reach of punishing justice, are forever maintained by power in
that blessed condition : the damned in hell, that are cast out of the
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 17
bosom of entreating mercj, are forever sustained in those remediless
torments by tlie Arm of Power,
6. This power is originally and essentially in the nature of God
and not distinct from his essence. It is originally and essentially in
God. The strength and power of great kings is originally in their
people, and managed and ordered by the authority of the prince for
the common good. Though a prince hath authority in his person to
command, yet he hath not sufficient strength in his f)erson, without
the assistance of others, to make his commands to be obeyed. He
hath not a single strength in his own person to conquer countries
and kingdoms, and increase the number of his subjects : he must
make use of the arms of his own subjects, to overrun other places,
and yoke them under his dominion : but the power of all things
that ever were, are, or shall be, is originally and essentially in God.
It is not derived from any thing without him, as the power of the
greatest potentates in the world is: therefore (Ps. Ixii. 11) it is said,
" Power belongs unto God," that is, solely and to none else. He
hath a power to make his subjects, and as many as he pleases ; to
create worlds, to enjoin precepts, to execute penalties, without call-
ing in the strength of his creatures to his aid. The strength that
the subjects of a mortal prince have, is not derived to them from
the prince, though the exercise of it for this or that end, is ordered
and directed by the authority of the prince : but what strength so-
ever any thing hath to act as a means, it hath from the power of
God as Creator, as well as whatsoever authority it hath to act is from
God, as a Rector and Governor of the world. God hath a strength
to act without means, and no means can act any thing without his
power and strength communicated to them. As the clouds, in ver.
8, before the text, are called God's clouds, "his clouds:" so all the
strength of creatures may be called, and truly is, God's strength and
power in them : a drop of power shot down from heaven, originally
only in God. Creatures have but a little mite of power ; somewhat
communicated to them, somewhat kept and reserved from them, of
what they are capable to possess. They have limited natures, and
therefore a limited sphere of activity. Clothes can warm us, but
not feed us ; bread can nourish us, but not clothe us. One plant
hath a medicinal quality against one disease, another against an-
other ; but God is the possessor of universal power, the common
exchequer of this mighty treasure. He acts by creatures, as not
needing their power, but deriving power to them : what he acts by
them, he could act himself without them : and what they act as
from themselves, is derived to them from him through invisible chan-
nels. And hence it will folloAV, that because power is essentially in
God, more operations of God are possible than are exerted. And
as power is essentially in God, so it is not distinct from his essence.
It belongs to God in regard of the inconceivable excellency and
activity of his essence.^ And omnipotent is nothing but the Divine
essence efficacious ad extra. It is his essence as operative, and the
immediate principle of operation : as the power of enlightening in
the sun, and the power of heating in the fire, are not things distinct
'' Ratione sximmaB actualitatis essentiss. Suarez, Vol, I. pp. 150, 151.
VOL. II. — 2
18 CIIAKNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
from the nature of tliem ; but the nature of the sun bringing forth
light, and the nature of the fire bringeth forth heat. The power of
acting is the same with the substance of God, though the action
from that jDOwer be terminated in the creature. If the power of
God were distinct from his essence, he were then compounded of
substance and power, and would not be the most simple being. As
when the understanding is informed in several parts of knowledge,
it is skilled in the government of cities and countries, it knows this
or that art : it learns mathematics, philosophy ; this, or that science.
The understanding hath a power to do this ; but this power, where-
by it learns those excellent things, and brings forth excellent births,
is not a thing distinct from the understanding itself; we may rather
call it the understanding powerful, than the power of the under-
standing ; and so we may rather say, God powerful, than say, the
power of God ; because his power is not distinct from his essence.
From both these, it will follow, that this omnipotence is incommuni-
cable to any -creature ; no creature can inherit it, because it is a con-
tradiction for any creature to have the essence of God. This om-
nipotence is a peculiar right of God, wherein no creature can share
with him. To be omnipotent is to be essentially God. And for a
creature to be omnipotent, is for a creature to be its own Creator.
It being therefore the same with the essence of the Godhead, it can-
not be communicated to the humanity of Christ, as the Lutherans
say it is, without the communication of the essence of the God-
head ; for then the humanity of Christ would not be humanity, but
Deity. If omnipotence were communicated to the humanity of
Christ, the essence of God were also communicated to his humanity,
and then eternity would be communicated. His humanity then was
not given him in time ; his humanity would be uncompounded, that
is, his body would be no body, his soul no soul. Omnipotence is
essentially in God ; it is not distinct from the essence of God, it is
his essence, omnipotent, able to do all things.
7. Hence it follows, that this power is infinite (Eph. i. 19) ;
" What is the exceeding greatness of his power," &c. " according to
the working of his mighty power." God were not omnipotent, un-
less his power were infinite ; for a finite power is a limited power,
and a limited power cannot effect everything that is possible.
Nothing can be too difficult for the Divine power to efiect ; he hath
a fullness of power, an exceeding strength, above all human capa-
cities ; it is a " mighty power" (Eph. i. 19), " able to do above all that
we can ask or think" (Eph. iii. 20) : that which he acts, is above the
power of any creature to act. Infinite power consists in the bring-
ing things forth from nothing. No creature can imitate God in this
prerogative of power. Man indeed can carve various forms, and
erect various pieces of art, but from pre-existent matter. Every
artificer hath the matter brought to his hand, he only brings it forth
in a new figure. Chemists separate one thing from another, but
create nothing, but sever those things which were before compacted
and crudled together: but when God speaks a powerful word,
nothing begins to be something : things stand forth from the womb
of nothing, and obey his mighty command, and take what forms he
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 19
is pleased to give them. The creating one thing, though never so
small and minute, as the least fly, cannot be but by an infinite
power ; much less can the producing of such variety we see in the
world. His power is infinite, in regard it cannot be resisted by
anything that he hath made ; nor can it be confined by anything
he can will to make. " His greatness is unsearchable" (Ps. cxlv. 3).
It is a greatness, not of quantity, but qualit3^ The greatness of
his power hath no end : it is a vanity to imagine any limits can be
affixed to it, or that any creature can say, " Hitherto it can go, and
no further." It is above all conception, all inquisition of any
created understanding. No creature ever had, nor ever can have,
that strength of wit and understanding, to conceive the extent of
his power, and how magnificently he can work.
First, His essence is infinite. As in a finite subject there is a
finite virtue, so in an infinite subject there must be an infinite virtue.
Where the essence is limited, the power is so :i where the essence is
unlimited, the power knows no bounds.^ Among creatures, the
more excellency of being and form anything hath, the more activity,
vigor, and power it hath, to work according to its nature. The sun
hath a mighty power to warm, enlighten, and fructify, above what
the stars have ; because it hath a vaster body, more intense degi'ees
of light, heat, and vigor. Now, if jou. conceive the sun made
much greater than it is, it would proportion ably have greater de-
grees of power to heat and enlighten than it hath now : and were
it possible to have an infinite heat and light, it would infinitely heat
and enlighten other things ; for everything is able to act according
to the measures of its being : therefore, since the essence of God is
unquestionably infinite, his power of acting must be so also. His
power (as was said before) is one and the same with his. essence :
and though the knowledge of God extends to more objects than
his power, because he knows all evils of sin, which because of his
holiness he cannot commit, yet it is as infinite as his knowledge,
because it is as much one with his essence, as his knowledge and
wisdom is : for as the wisdom or knowledge of God is nothing but
the essence of God, knowing^ so the power of God is nothing but the
essence of God, able.
The objects of Divine power are innumerable. The objects of
Divine power are not essentially infinite ; and therefore we must
not measure the infiniteness of Divine power by an ability to make
an infinite being ; because there is an incapacity in any created
thing to be infinite ; for to be a creature and to be infinite ; to be
infinite and yet made, is a contradiction. To be infinite, and to be
God, is one and the same thing. Nothing can be infinite but God ;
nothing but God is infinite. But the power of God is infinite, be-
cause it can produce infinite effects, or innumerable things, such as
surpass the arithmetic of a creature ; nor yet doth the infiniteness
consist simply in producing innumerable effects ; for that a finite
cause can produce. Fire can, by its finite and limited heat, burn
numberless combustible things and parcels ; and the understanding
of man hath an infinite number of thoughts and acts of intellection,
^i) Or'Tationes sequuntur essentiam. (}) Aquin. Part 1 Qu. 25. Articce.
20 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
and tliouglits different from one another. Who can number the
imaginations of his fancy, and thoughts of his mind, the space of
one month or year ? much less of forty or an hundred years ; yet all
these thoughts are about things that are in being, or have a founda-
tion in things that are in being. But the infiniteness of God's power
consists in an ability to produce infinite effects, formally distinct,
and diverse from one another ; such as never had being, such as the
mind of man cannot conceive : " Able to do above what we can
think" (Eph. iii. 20). And whatsoever God hath made, or is able to
make, he is able to make in an infinite manner, by calling them to
stand forth from nothing. To produce innumerable effects of dis-
tinct natures, and from so distant a term as nothing, is an argument
of infinite power. Now, that the objects of Divine power are in-
numerable, appears, because God can do infinitely more than he
hath done, or will do. Nothing that God hath done can enfeeble
or dull his power; there still resides in him an ability beyond all
the settled contrivances of his understanding and resolves of his
will, which no effects which he hath wrought can drain and put to
a stand. As he can raise stones to be children to Abraham (Matt.
iii. 9) ; so with the same mighty word, whereby he made one world,
he can make infinite numbers of worlds to be the monuments of
his glory. After the prophet Jeremiah (ch, xxxii. 17), had spoke of
God's power in creation, he adds, " And there is nothing too hard for
thee." For one world that he hath made, he can create millions :
for one star v/hich he hath beautified the heavens with, he could
have garnished it with a thousand, and multiplied, if he had
pleased, every one of those into millions, "for he can call things that
are not" (Eom. iv. 17) ; not some things, but all things possible. The
barren womb of nothing can no more resist his power now to educe
a world from it, than it could at first : no doubt, but for one angel
which he hath made, he could make many worlds of angels. He
that made one with so much ease, as by a word, cannot want power
to make many more, till he wants a word. The word that was not
too veak to make one, cannot be too weak to make multitudes. If
from one man he hath, in a way of nature, multiplied so many in all
ages of the world, and covered with them the whole face of the
earth ; he could, in a supernatural way, by one Avord, multiply as
many more. " It is the breath of the Almighty that gives life" (Job.
xxxiii. 4). He can create infinite species and kinds of creatures
more than he hath created, more variety of forms : for since there
is no searching of his greatness, there is no conceiving the number-
less possible effects of his power. The understanding of man can
conceive numberless things possible to be, more than have been or
shall be. And shall we imagine, that a finite understanding of a
creature hath a greater omnipotency to conceive things possible,
than God hath to produce things possible? When the understand-
ing of man is tired in its conceptions, it must still be concluded,
that the power of God extends, not only to what can be conceived,
but infinitely beyond the measures of a finite faculty. "Touching
the Almighty, we cannot find him out ; he is excellent in power
and in judgment" (Job xxxvi. 23). For the understanding of man,
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 21
in its conceptions of more kind of creatures, is limited to those
creatures which are: it cannot, in its own imagination, conceive
anything but what hath some foundation in and from something
already in being. It may frame a new kind of creature, made up
of a lion, a horse, an ox ; but all those parts whereof its conception
is made, have distinct beings in the world, though not in that com-
position as his mind mixes and joins them ; but no question but
God can create creatures that have no resemblance with any kind
of creatures yet in being. It is certain that if God only knows
those things which he hath done, and will do, and not all things
possible to be done by him, his knowledge were finite ; so if he
could do no more than what he hath done, his power would be
finite.
(1.) Creatures have a power to act about more objects than they
do. The understanding of man can frame from one principle of
truth, many conclusions and inferences more than it doth. Why
cannot, then, the power of God frame from one first matter, an infi-
nite number of creatures more than have been created? The
Almightiness of God in producing real effects, is not inferior to the
understanding of man in drawing out real truths. An artificer that
makes a watch, supposing his life and health, can make many more
of a difierent form and motion; and a limner can draw many
draughts, and frame many pictures with a new variety of colors, ac-
cording to the richness of his fancy. If these can do so, that require
a pre-existent matter framed to their hands, God can much more,
who can raise beautiful structures from nothing. As long as men
have matter, they can diversity the matter, and make new figures
from it ; so long as there is nothing, God can produce out of that
nothing whatsoever he pleases. We see the same in inanimate crea-
tures. A spark of fire hath a vast power in it : it will kindle other
things, increase and enlarge itself ; nothing can be exempt from the
active force of it. It will alter, by consuming or refining, whatso-
ever you offer to it. It will reach all, and refuse none ; and by the
efiicacious power of it, all those new figures which we see in metals,
are brought forth ; when you have exposed to it a multitude of
things, still add more, it will exert the same strength ; yea, the vigor
is increased rather than diminished. The more it catcheth, the more
fiercely and irresistibly it will act ; you cannot suppose an end of its
operation, or a decrease of its strength, as long as you can conceive
its duration and continuance : this must be but a weak shadow of
that infinite power which is in God. Take another instance, in the
sun : it hath power every year to produce flowers and plants from
the earth ; and is as able to produce them now, as it was at the first
lighting it and rearing it in that sphere wherein it moves. And if
there were no kind of flowers and plants now created, the sun hath
a power residing in it, ever since its first creation, to afford the same
warmth to them for the nourishing and bringing them forth. What-
soever you can conceive the sun to be able to do in regard of plants,
that can God do in regard of worlds ; produce more worlds than the
sun doth plants every year, without weariness, without languishment.
The sun is able to influence more things than it doth, and produce
22 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
numberless effects ; but it doth not do so mucli as it is able to do,
because it wants matter to work upon. God, therefore, who wants
no matter, can do much more than he doth ; he can either act bj
second causes if there were more, or make more second causes if he
pleased.
(2.) God is the most free agent. Every free agent can do more
than he will do. Man being a free creature, can do more than ordi-
narily he doth will to do. God is most free, as being the spring of
liberty in other creatures ; he acts not by a necessity of nature, as
the waves of the sea, or the motions of the wind ; and, therefore, is
not determined to those things which he hath already called forth
into the world. If God be intinitely wise in contrivance, he could
contrive more than he hath, and therefore, can effect more than he
hath effected. He doth not act to the extent of his power upon all
occasions. It is according to his will that he works (Eph. i.). It is
not according to his work that he wills ; his work is an evidence of
his v/ill, but not the rule of his will. His power is not the rule of
his will, but his will is the disposer of his power, according to the
light of his infinite Avisdom, and other attributes that direct his will ;
and therefore his power is not to be measured by his actual will.
No doubt, but he could in a moment have produced that world which
he took six days' time to frame ; he could have drowned the old
world at once, without prolonging the time till the revolution of
forty days ; he was not limited to such a term of time by any weak-
ness, but by the determination of his own will. God doth not do
the hundred thousandth part of what he is able to do, but what is
convenient to do, according to the end which he hath proposed to
himself Jesus Christ, as man, could have asked legions of angels ;
and God, as a sovereign, could have sent them (Matt. xxvi. 58).
God could raise the dead every day if he pleased, but he doth not :
he could heal every diseased person in a moment, but he doth not.
As God can will more than he doth actually will, so he can do more
than he hath actually done ; he can do whatsoever he can will ; he
can will more worlds, and therefore can create more worlds. If God
hath not ability to do more than he will do, he then can do no more
than what he actually hath done ; and then it will follow, that he is
not a free, but a natural and necessary agent, which cannot be sup-
posed of God.
Second. This power is infinite in regard of action. As he can
produce numberless objects above what he hath produced, so he
could produce them more magnificently than he hath made them.
As he never works to the extent of his power in regard of things, so
neither in regard of the manner of acting ; for he never acts so but
he could act in a higher and perfecter manner.
(1.) His power is infinite in regard of the independency of action:
he wants no instrument to act. When there was nothing but God,
there was no cause of action but God ; when there Avas nothing in
being but God, there could be no instrumental cause of the being of
anything. God can perfect his action without dependence on any
thing ;i and to be simply independent, is to be simply infinite. In
' Suarez, Vol. I, de Deo. p. 151.
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 23
tliis respect it is a power incommunicable to any creature, though
you conceive a creature in higher degrees of perfection than it is. A
creature cannot cease to be dependent, but it must cease to be a crea-
ture ; to be a creature and independent, are terms repugnant to one
another.
(2.) But the infiniteness of Divine power consists in an abihty to
give higher degrees of perfection to everything which he hath' made.
As his power is infinite extensive, in regard of the muUitude of ob-
jects he can bring into being, so it is infinite intensive, in regard of
the manner of operation, and the endowments he can bestow upon
them.'" Some things, indeed, God doth so perfect, that higher de-
grees of perfection cannot be imagined to be added to them.n As
the liumanity of Christ cannot be united more gloriously than to the
person of the Son of God, a greater degree of perfection cannot be
conferred upon it. Nor can the souls of the blessed have a nobler
object of vision and fruition than God himself, the infinite Being: no
higher than the enjoyment of himself can be conferred upon a crea-
ture, respectu termini. This is not want of power ; he cannot be
greater, because he is greatest; not better, because he is best;
nothing can be more than infinite. But as to the things which God
hath made in the world, he could have given them other manner of
being than they have, A human understanding may improve a
thouglit or conclusion ; strengthen it with more and more force of
reason ; and adorn it with richer and richer elegancy of language :
why, then, may not the Divine providence produce a world more
perfect and excellent than this ? He that makes a plain vessel, can
embellish it more, engrave more figures upon it, according to the
capacity of the subject : and cannot God do so much more with his
works ? Could not God have made this world of a larger quantity,
and the sun of a greater bulk and proportionable strength, to influ-
ence a bigger world ? so that this world would have been to another
that God might have made, as a ball or a mount, this sun as a star
to another san that he might have kindled. He could have made
every star a sun, every spire of grass a star, every grain of dust a
flower, every soul an angel. And though the angels be perfect
creatures, and inexpressibly more glorious than a visible creature,
yet who can imagine God so confined, that he cannot create a more
excellent kind, and endow those which he hath made with excellen-
cy of a higher rank than he invested them with at the first moment
of their creation? Without question God might have given the
meaner creatures more excellent endowments, put them into another
order of nature for their own good and more diffusive usefulness in
the world. What is made use of by the prophet (Mai. ii. 15) in an-
other case, may be used in this : " Yet had he a residue of Spirit."
The capacity of every creature might have been enlarged by God ;
for no work of his in the world doth equal his power, as nothing
that he hath framed doth equal his wisdom. The same matter which
is the matter of the body of a beast, is the matter of a plant and
flower ; is the matter of the body of a man ; and so was capable of
a higher form and higher perfections, than God hath been pleased
" Becan. Sum. Theol. p. 82. ■" Ibid. p. 84.
24 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
to bestow upon it. And he liad power to bestow tliat perfection on
one part of matter which he denied to it, and bestowed on another
part. If God cannot make things in a greater perfection, there
must be some limitation of him : he cannot be limited by another,
because nothing is superior to God. If limited by himself, that limi-
tion is not from a want of power, but a want of will. He can, by
his own power, raise stones to be children to Abraham (Matt. iii. 9) :
he could alter the nature of the stones, form them into human
bodies, dignify them with rational souls, inspire those souls with such
graces that may render them the children of Abraham. But for the
more fully understanding the nature of this power, we may observe,
[1.] That though God can make everything with a higher degree
of perfection, yet still within the limits of a finite being. No crea-
ture can be made infinite, because no creature can be made God.
No creature can be so improved as to equal the goodness and per-
fection of God;o yet there is no creature but we may conceive a
possibility of its being made more perfect in that rank of a creature
than it is : as we may imagine a flower or plant to have greater
beauty and richer qualities imparted to it by Divine power, without
rearing it so high as to the dignity of a rational or sensitive creature.
Whatsoever perfections may be added by God to a creature, are still
finite perfections; and a multitude of finite excellences can never
amount to the value and honor of infinite : as if you add one number
to another as high as you can, as much as a large piece of paper can
contain, yon can never make the numbers really infinite, though
they may be infinite in regard of the inability of any human under-
standing to count them. The finite condition of the creature suffers
it not to be capable of an infinite perfection. God is so great, so
excellent, that it is his perfection not to have any equal ; the defect
is in the creature, which cannot be elevated to such a pitch ; as you
can never make a gallon measure to hold the quantity of a butt, or
a butt the quantity of a river, or a river the fulness of the sea.
[2.] Though God hath a power to furnish every creature with
greater and nobler perfections than he hath bestowed upon it, yet
he hath framed all tilings in the perfectest manner, and most con-
venient to that end for which he intended them. Everything is
endowed with the best nature and quality suitable to God's end in
creation, though not in the best manner for itself p In regard of the
universal end, there cannot be a better ; for God himself is the end
of all things, who is the Supreme Goodness. Nothing can be better
than God, who could not be God if he were not superlatively best,
or optimus ; and he hath ordered all things for the declaration of his
goodness or justice, according to the behaviors of his creatures. Man
doth not consider what strength or power he can put forth in the
means he useth to attain such an end, but the suitableness of them
to his main design, and so fits and marshals them to his grand pur-
pose. Had God only created things that are most excellent, he had
created only angels and men ; how, then, would his wisdom have
» Gamach in Aquin. Tom. I. Qu. 25.
P Best, ex parte facientis et modi ; but not ex parte rei. Esti. in Senten. lib. i. dis-
tin. 44. § 2.
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 25
been conspicuous in other works in tlie subordination and subser-
viency of them to one another ? God therefore determined his power
by his wisdom : and though his absolute power could have made
every creature better, yet his ordinate power, which in every step
was regulated by his wisdom, made everything best for his designed
intention.^ A musician hath a power to wind up a string on a lute
to a higher and more perfect note in itself, but in wisdom he will not
do it, because the intended melody would be disturbed thereby if it
were not suited to the other strings on the instrument ; a discord
would mar and taint the harmony which the lutenist designed. God,
in creation, observed the proportions of nature: he can make a
spider as strong as a lion ; but according to the order of nature which
he hath settled, it is not convenient that a creature of so small a
compass should be as strong as one of a greater bulk. The absolute
power of God could have prepared a body for Christ as glorious as
that he had after his resurrection ; but that had not been agreeable
to the end designed in his humiliation : ' and, therefore, God acted
most perfectly by his ordinate power, in giving him a body that
wore the livery of our infirmities. God's power is alway regulated
by his wisdom and will ; and though it produceth not what is most
perfect in itself, yet what is most perfect and decent in relation to
the end he fixed. And so in his providence, though he could rack
the whole frame of nature to bring about his ends in a more mirac-
ulous way and astonishment to mortals, yet his power is usually and
ordinarily confined by his will to act in concurrence with the nature
of the creatures, and direct them according to the laws of their being,
to such ends which he aims at in their conduct, without violencing
their nature.
[3.] Though God hath an absolute power to make more worlds,
and infinite numbers of other creatures, and to render every creature
a higher mark of his power, yet in regard of his decree to the con-
trary, he cannot do it. He hath a physical power, but after his re-
solve to the contrary, not a moral power : the exercise of his power
is subordinate to his decree, but not the essence of his power. The
decree of God takes not away any power from God, because the
power of God is his own essence, and incapable of change ; and is
as great physically and essentially after his decree, as it was before ;
only his will hath put in a bar to the demonstration of all that power
which he is able to exercise.'' As a prince that can raise 100,000
men for an invasion, raises only 20 or 30,000 ; he here, by his order,
limits his power, but doth not divest himself of his authority and
power to raise the whole number of the forces of his dominions if he
pleases : the power of God hath more objects than his decree hath ;
but since it is his perfection to be immutable, and not to change his
decree, he cannot morally put forth his power upon all those objects,
which, as it is essentially in him, he hath ability to do. God hath
decreed to save those that believe in Christ, and to judge unbelievers
to everlasting perdition : he cannot morally damn the first, or save
the latter ; yet he hath not divested himself of his absolute power to
•i Aquia. Part I, Qu, 25, art. 6. «■ Gatnaeh in Aquin. Tom. I. Qu. 25.
26 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTEIBUTES,
save all or damn all.^ Or suppose God hath, decreed not to create
more worlds than this we are now in, doth his decree weaken his
strength to create more if he pleased ? His not creating more is not
a want of strength, but a want of will : it is an act of liberty, not an
act of impotency. As when a man solemnly resolves not to walk in
such a way, or come at such a place, his resolution deprives him not
of his natural strength to walk thither, but fortifies his will against
using his strength in any such motion to that place. The will of
God hath set bounds to the exercise of his power, but doth not in-
fringe that absolute power which still resides in his nature : he is
girded about with more power than he puts forth (Ps. Ixv. 6).
[4.] As the power of God is infinite in regard of his essence, in
regard of the objects, in regard of actioti, so, fourthly, in regard of
duration. The apostle calls it " an eternal power" (Rom. i. 20). His
eternal power is collected and concluded from the things that are
made : they must needs be the products of some Being which con-
tains truly in itself all power, who wrought them without engines,
without instruments ; and, therefore, this power must be infinite, and
possessed of an unalterable virtue of acting. If it be eternal, it must
be infinite, and hath neither beginning nor end ; what is eternal hath
no bounds. If it be eternal, and not limited by time, it must be
infinite, and not to be restrained by any finite object : his power
never begun to be, nor ever ceaseth to be ; it cannot languish ; men
are fain to unbend themselves, and must have some time to recruit
their tired spirits : but the power of God is perpetually vigorous,
without any interrupting qualm (Isa. xl. 28) : " Hast thou not known,
hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator
of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary?" That might
which suffered no diminution from eternity, but hatched so great a
world by brooding upon nothing, will not suffer any dimness or de-
crease to eternity. This power being the same with his essence, is
as durable as his essence, and resides for ever in his nature.
8. The eighth consideration, for the right understanding of this
attribute, the impossibility of God's doing some things, is no in-
fringing of his almightiness, but rather a strengthening of it. It is
granted that some things God cannot do ; or, rather, as Aquinas and
others, it is better to say, such things cannot be done, than to say
that God cannot do them ; to remove all kind of imputation or re-
flection of weakness on God,' and because the reason of the impos-
sibility of those things is in the nature of the things themselves,
1, Some things are impossible in their own nature. Such are all
those things which imply a contradiction ; as for a thing to be, and
not to be at the same time ; for the sun to shine, and not to shine at
the same moment of time ; for a creature to act, and not to act at the
same instant : one of those parts must be false ; for if it be true that
the sun shines this moment, it must be false to say it doth not shine.
So it is impossible that a rational creature can be without reason :
'Tis a contradiction to be a rational creature, and yet want that
which is essential to a rational creature. So it is impossible that the
will of man can be compelled, because liberty is the essence of the
» Crell. de Deo. cap. 22. * Robins. Observ. p. 14.
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 27
will ; while it is will it cannot be constrained ; and if it be constrained,
it ceaseth to be will. God cannot at one time act as the author of
the will and the destroyer of the will.« It is impossible that vice
and virtue, light and darkness, life and death, should be the same
thing. Those things admit not of a conception in any understand-
ing. Some things are impossible to be done, because of the incapa-
bility of the subject; as for a creature to be made infinite, indepen-
dent, to preserve itself without the Divine concourse and assistance.
So a brute cannot be taken into communion with God, and to ever-
lasting spiritual blessedness, because the nature of a brute is incapa-
ble of such an elevation : a rational creature only cati understand
and relish spiritual delights, and is capable to enjoy God, and have
communion with him. Indeed, God may change the nature of a
brute, and bestow such faculties of understanding and will upon it,
as to render it capable of such a blessedness ; but then it is no more
a brute, but a rational creature : but, while it remains a brute, the
excellency of the nature of God doth not admit of communion with
such a subject ; so that this is not for want of power in God, but be-
cause of a deficiency in the creature : to suppose that God could make
a contradiction true, is to make himself false, and to do just nothing.
2. Some things are impossible to the nature and being of God.
As to die, implies a flat repugnance to the nature of God ; to be able
to die, is to be able to be cashiered out of being. If God were able
to deprive himself of life, he might then cease to be : he were not
then a necessary, but an uncertain, contingent being, and could not
be said only to have immortality, as he is (1 Tim. vi. 16). He can-
not die who is life itself, and necessarily existent ; he cannot grow
old or decay, because he cannot be measured by time : and this is
no part of weakness, but the perfection of power. His power is
that whereby he remains forever fixed in his own everlasting being.
That cannot be reckoned as necessary to the omnipotence of God
which all mankind count a part of weakness in themselves : God is
omnipotent, because he is not impotent ; and if he could die, he
would be impotent, not omnipotent : death is the feebleness of na-
ture. It is undoubtedly the greatest impotence to cease to be : who
would count it a part of omnipotency to disenable himself, and sink
into nothing and not being ? The impossibility for God to die is
not a fit article to impeach his omnipotence ; this would be a strange
way of arguing : a thing is not powerful, because it is not feeble,
and cannot cease to be powerful, for death is a cessation of all
power. God is almighty in doing what he will, not in suffering
what he will not.^ To die is not an active, but a passive power ; a
defect of a power : God is of too noble a nature to perish. Some
things are impossible to that eminency of nature which he hath
above all creatures ; as to walk, sleep, feed, these are imperfections
belonging to bodies and compounded natures. If he could walk, he
were not everywhere present: motion speaks succession. If he
could increase, he would not have been perfect before.
3. Some things are impossible to the glorious perfections of God.
God cannot do anything unbecoming his holiness and goodness ;
» Magalano. de Scientia Dei, Part II. c, 6, g. 3. * Augus.
28 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
any thing unwortliy of liimself, and against the perfections of his
nature. God can do whatsoever he can will. As he doth actually
do whatsoever he doth actually will, so it is possible for him to do
whatsoever it is possible for him to will. He doth whatsoever he
will, and can do whatsoever he can will ; but he cannot do what he
cannot will : he cannot will any unrighteous thing, and therefore
cannot do any unrighteous thing. God cannot love sin, this is con-
trary to his holiness ; he cannot violate his word, this is a denial of
his truth ; he cannot punish an innocent, this is contrary to his
goodness ; he cannot cherish an impenitent sinner, this is an injury
to his justice ; he cannot forget what is done in the world, this is a
disgrace to his omniscience ; he cannot deceive his creature, this is
contrary to his faithfulness : none of these things can be done by
him, because of the perfection of his nature. "Would it not be an
imperfection in God to absolve the guilty, and condemn the inno-
cent ? Is it congruous to the righteous and holy nature of God, to
command murder and adultery ; to command men not to worship
him, but to be base and unthankful? These things would be against
the rules of righteousness ; as, when we say of a good man, he can-
not rob or fight a duel, we do not mean that he wants a courage for
such an act, or that he hath not a natural strength and knowledge
to manage his weapon as well as another, but he hath a righteous
principle strong in him which will not suffer him to do it ; his will
is settled against it : no power can pass into act unless applied by the
will ; but the will of God cannot will anything but what is worthy
of him, and decent for his goodness.
(1.) The Scripture saith it is impossible for God to lie (Heb. vi.
18) ; and God cannot deny himself because of his faithfulness (2
Tim. ii. 13). As he cannot die, because he is life itself; as he can
not deceive, because he is goodness itself; as he cannot do an un-
wise action, because he is wisdom itself, so he cannot speak a false
word, because he is truth itself If he should speak anything as
true, and not know it, where is his infinite knowledge and compre-
hensiveness of understanding ? If he should speak anything as
true, which he knows to be false, where is his infinite righteousness ?
If he should deceive any creature, there is an end of his perfection
of fidelity and veracity. If he should be deceived himself, there is
an end of his omniscience ; we must then fancy him to be a deceit-
ful God, an ignorant God, that is, no God at all. If he should lie,
he would be God and no God ; God upon supposition, and no God,
because not the first truth.y All unrighteousness is weakness, not
power ; it is a defection from right reason, a deviation from moral
principles, and the rule of perfect action, and ariseth from a defect
of goodness and power : it is a weakness, and not omnipotence, to
lose goodness : God is light ; it is the perfection of light not to be-
come darkness, and a want of power in light, if it should become
darkness -J- his power is infinitely strong, so is his wisdom infinitely
clear, and his will infinitely pure : would it not be a part of weak-
ness to have a disorder in himself, and these perfections shock one
against another ? Since all perfections are in God, in the most sov-
7 Becan. sum. Theolog. p. 83. * Maximus Tyrius.
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 29
ereign height of perfection, notliing can be done by the infiniteness
of one against the infiniteness of the otlier. He would then be un-
stable in his own perfections, and depart from the infinite rectitude
of his own will, if he should do an evil action. Again, =i what is an
argument of greater strength, than to be utterly ignorant of infirm-
ity ? God is omnipotent because he cannot do evil, and would not
be omnipotent if he could ; those things would be marks of weak-
ness, and not characters of majesty. Would you count a sweet foun-
tain impotent because it cannot send forth bitter streams? or the sun
weak, because it cannot diffuse darkness as well as light in the air ?
There is an inability arising from weakness, and an ability arising
from perfection : it is the perfection of angels and blessed spirits,
that they cannot sin ; and it would be the ijnperfection of God, if he
could do evil.
(2.) Hence it follows, that it is impossible that a thing past should
not be past. If we ascribe a power to God, to make a thing that is
past not to be past, we do not truly ascribe power to him, but a
weakness ; for it is to make God to lie, as though God might not
have created man, yet, after he had created Adam, though he should
presently have reduced Adam to his first nothing, yet it would be
forever true that Adam was created, and it would forever be false that
Adam never was created: so, though God may prevent sin, yet
when sin hath been committed, it will alway be true that sin was
committed ; it will never be true to say such a creature that did sin,
did not sin ; his sin cannot be recalled : though God, by pardon,
take off the guilt of Peter's denying our Saviour, yet it will be eter-
nally true that Peter did deny him. It is repugnant to the right-
eousness and truth of God to make that which was once true to be-
come false, and not true ; that is, to make a truth to become a lie,
and a lie to become a truth. This is well argued from Heb. vi. 18 :
" It is impossible for God to lie." The apostle argues, that what
God had promised and sworn will come to pass, and cannot but
come to pass.'' Now, if God could make a thing past not to be
East, this consequence would not be good, for then he might make
imself not to have promised, not to have sworn, after he hath
promised and sworn ; and so, if there were a power to undo that
which is past, there would be no foundation for faith, no certainty
of revelation. It cannot be asserted, that God hath created the
world ; that God hath sent his Son to die ; that God hath accepted
his death for man. These might not be true, if it were possible,
that that which hath been done, might be said never to have been
done : so that what any may imagine to be a want of power in God,
is the highest perfection of God, and the greatest security to a be-
lieving creature that hath to do with God.
4. Some things are impossible to be done, because of God's ordi-
nation. Some things are impossible, not in their own nature, but in
regard of the determined will of God : so God might have destroy-
ed the world after Adam's fall, but it was impossible ; not that God
wanted power to do it, but because he did not only decree from
eternity to create the world, but did also decree to redeem the world
• Ambrose. ^ Becan. sum. Tbeol. p. 84. Orel, de Deo, cap. 22.
30 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
by Jesus Christ, and erected the world in order to the manifestation
of" his "glory in Christ" (Eph. i. 4, 5). The choice of some in
Christ was " before the foundation of the world." Supposing that
there was no hindrance in the justice of God to pardon the sin of Adam
after his fall, and to execute no punishment on him, jet in regard
of God's threatening, that in the day he eat of the forbidden fruit
he should die, it was impossible : so, though it was possible that the
cup should pass from our blessed Saviour, that is, possible in its own
nature, yet it was not possible in regard of the determination of
God's will, since he had both decreed and published his will to re-
deem man by the passion and blood of his Son. These things God,
by his absolute power, might have done ; but upon the account of
his decree, they were impossible, because it is repugnant to the na-
ture of God to be mutable : it is to deny his own wisdom which,
contrived them, and his own will which resolved them, not to do
that which he had decreed to do. This would be a difl&dence in his
wisdom, and a change of his will. The impossibility of them is no
result of a want of power, no mark of an imperfection, of feeble-
ness and impotence ; but the perfection of immutability and un-
changeableness. Thus have I endeavored to give you a right no-
tion of this excellent attribute of the power of God, in as plain terms
as I could, which may serve us for a matter of meditation, admira-
tion, fear of him, trust in him, which are the proper uses we should
make of this doctrine of Divine power. The want of a right un-
derstanding of this doctrine of the Divine power hath caused many
to run into mighty absurdities ; I have, therefore, taken the more
pains to explain it.
II. The second thing I proposed, is the reasons to prove God to
be omnipotent. The Scripture describes God by this attribute of
power (Ps. cxv. 3) : " He hath done whatsoever he pleased." It
sometimes sets forth his. power in a way of derision of those that
seem to doubt of it. When Sarah doubted of his ability to give her
a child in her old age (Gen. xviii. 14), " Is anything too hard for the
Lord?" They deserve to be scoffed, that will despoil God of his
strength, and measure him by their shallow models. And when
Moses uttered something of unbelief of this attribute, as if God were
not able to feed 600,000 Israelites, besides women and children,
which he aggravates by a kind of imperious scoff; " Shall the flocks
and the herds be slain for them to suffice them ? Or, shall all the
fish of the sea be gathered together for them ?" &;c. (Numb. xi. 22).
God takes him up short (ver. 23) : "Is the Lord's hand waxed short ?"
What ! can any weakness seize upon my hand ? Can I draw out of
my own treasures what is needful for a supply ? The hand of God
is not at one time strong, and another time feeble. Hence it is that
we read of the hand and arm of God, an outstretched arm ; because
the strength of a man is exerted by his hand and arm ; the power of
God is called the arm of his power, and the right hand of his strength.
Sometimes, according to the different manifestation of it, it is ex-
pressed by finger, when a less power is evidenced ; by hand, when
something greater ; by arm, when more mighty than the former.
Since God is eternal, without limits of time, he is also Almighty,
OlSr THE POWER OF GOD. 31
without limits of strength. As he cannot be said to be more in being
now than he was before, so he is neither more nor less in strength
than he was before: as he cannot cease to be so, so he cannot
cease to bo powerful, because he is eternal. His eternity and power
are linked together as equally demonstrable (Rom. i. 20); God is
called the God of gods El Elohim (Dan. xi. 36) ; the Mighty of
mighties, whence all mighty persons have their activity and vigor :
he is called the Lord of Hosts, as being the Creator and Conductor
of the heavenly militia.
Reason 1. The power that is in creatures demonstrates a greater
and an unconceivable power in God. Nothing in the world is without
a power of activity according to its nature : no creature but can act
something. The sun warms and enlightens everything : it sends its
influences upon the earth, into the bowels of the earth, into the depths
of the sea : all generations owe themselves to its instrumental virtue.
How powerful is a small seed to rise into a mighty tree with a lofty
top, and extensive branches, and send forth other seeds, which can
still multiply into numberless plants ! How wonderful is the power
of the Creator, who hath endowed so small a creature as a seed, with
so fruitful an activity ! Yet this is but the virtue of a limited nature.
God is both the producing and preserving cause of all the virtue in
any creature, in every creature. The power of every creature be-
longs to him as the Fountain, and is truly his power in the creature.
As he is the first Being, he is the original of all being ; as he is the
first Good, he is the spring of all goodness ; as he is the first Truth,
he is the source of all truth ; so, as he is the first Power, he is the
fountain of all power.
1. He, therefore, that communicates to the creature what power it
hath, contains eminently much more power in himself. (Ps. xciv.
10), " He that teaches man knowledge, shall not he know?" So he
that gives created beings power, shall not he be powerfid ? The first
Being must have as much power as he hath given to others : he could
not transfer that upon another, which he did not transcendently
possess himself The sole cause of created power cannot be destitute
of any power in himself We see that the power of one creature
transcends the power of another. Beasts can do the things that
plants cannot do ; besides the power of growth, they have a power
of sense and progressive motion. Men can do more than beasts;
they have rational souls to measure the earth and heavens, and to be
repositories of multitudes of things, notions, and conclusions. We
may well imagine angels to be far superior to man : the power of the
Creator must far surmount the power of the creature, and must needs
be infinite : for if it be limited, it is limited by himself or by some
other ; if by some other, he is no longer a Creator, but a creature ;
for that which limits him in his nature, did communicate that nature
to him ; not by himself, for he would not deny himself any neces-
sary perfection : we must still conclude a reserve of power in him,
that he that made these can make many more of the same kind.
2. All the power which is distinct in the creatures, must be united
in God. One creature hath a strength to do this, another to do that ;
every creature is as a cistern filled with a particular and limited
32 CHAENOCK ON" THE ATTBIBUTES.
power, according to the capacity of its nature, from tliis fountain ;
all are distinct streams from God. But the strength of every creature,
though distinct in the rank of creatures, is united in God the centre,
whence those lines were drawn, the fountain whence those streams
were derived. If the power of one creature be admirable, as the
power of an angel, which the Psalmist saith (Ps. ciii. 20), " excelleth
in strength ;" how much greater must the power of a legion of angels
be ! How inconceivably superior the power of all those numbers of
spiritual natures, which are the excellent works of God ! Now, if all
this particular power, which is in every angel distinct, were com-
l^acted in one angel, how would it exceed our understanding, and be
above our power to form a distinct conception of it ! What is thus
divided in every angel, must be thought united in the Creator of
angels, and far more excellent in him. Everything is in a more noble
manner in the fountain, than in the streams which distil and descend
from it. He that is the Original of all those distinct powers, must be
the seat of all power without distinction : in him is the union of all
without division; what is in them as a quality, is in him as his
essence. Again, if all the jDOwers of several creatures, with all their
principal qualities and vigors, both of beasts, plants, and rational
creatures, were united in one subject ; as if one lion had the strength
of all the lions that ever were ; or, if one elephant had tlie strength
of all the elephants that ever were ; nay, if one bee had all the power
of motion and stinging that all bees ever had, it would have a vast
strength ; but if the strength of all those thus gathered into one of
every kind should be lodged in one sole creature, one man, would it
not be a strength too big for our conception ? Or, suppose one can-
non had all the force of all the cannons that ever were in the world,
what a battery would it make, and, as it were, shake the whole fram_'
of heaven and earth ! All this strength must be much more incompre-
hensible in God ; all is united in hinu If it were in one individual
created nature, it would still be but a finite power in a finite nature :
but in God it is infinite and immense.
Reason 2. If there were not an incomprehensible power in God,
he would not be infinitely perfect. God is the first Being ; it can
only be said of him. Est, he is. All other things are nothing to him ;
" less than nothing and vanity" (Isa. xl. 17), and " reputed as nothing"
(Dan. iv. 35). All the inhabitants of the earth, with all their Avit
and strength, are counted as if they were not ; just in comparison
with Him and his being, as a little mote in the sun-beams : God,
therefore, is a pure Being. Any kind of weakness whatsoever is a
defect, a degree of not being ; so far as anything wants this or that
power, it may be said not to be. Were there anything of weakness
in God, any want of strength which belonged to the perfection of
a nature, it might be said of God, He is not this or that, he wants
this or that perfection of Being, and so he would not be a pure Being,
there would be something of not being in him. But God being the
first Being, the only original Being, he is infinitely distant from not
bsing, and therefore infinitely distant from anything of weakness.
Again, if God can know whatsoever is possible to be done by him,
and cannot do it, there would be something more in his knowledge
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 33
than in his po'wer.*' What would then follow? That the essence of
God would be in some regard greater than itself, and less than itself
because his knowledge and his power are his essence ; his power as
much his essence as his knowledge: and therefore, in regard of
his knowledge, his essence would be greater ; in regard of his power,
his essence would be less ; which is a thing impossible to be con-
ceived in a most perfect Being. We must understand this of those
things which are properly and in their own nature subjected to
the Divine knowledge ; for otherwise God knows more than he can
do, for he knows sin, but he cannot act it, because sin belongs not
to power but weakness ; and sin comes under the knowledge of God,
not in itself and its own nature, but as it is a defect from God, and
contrary to good, which is the proper object of Divine knowledge.
He knows it also not as possible to be done by himself, but as possi-
ble to be done by the creature. Again, if God were not omnipotent,
we might imagine something more perfect than God -A for if we bar
God from any one thing which in its own nature is possible, we may
imagine a being that can do that thing, one that is able to effect it ;
and so imagine an agent greater than God, a being able to do more
than God is able to do, and consequently a being more perfect than
God : but no being more perfect than God can be imagined by any
creature. Nothing can be called most perfect, if anything of activity
be wanting to it. Active power follows the perfection of a thing,
and all things are counted more noble by how much more of efficacy
and virtue they possess. We count those the best and most perfect
plants, that have the greatest medicinal virtue in them, and power
of working upon the body for the cure of distempers. God is per-
fect of himself, and therefore most powerful of liimself If his per-
fection in wisdom and goodness be unsearchable, his power, which
belongs to perfection, and without which all the other excellencies of
his nature were insignificant, and could not show themselves, (as was
before evidenced,) must be unsearchable also. It is by the title of
Almighty he is denominated, when declared to be unsearchable to
perfection (Job xi. 7): "Canst thou by searching find out God, canst
thou find out the Almighty to perfection ?" This would be limited
and searched out, if he were destitute of an active ability to do
whatsoever he pleased to do, whatsoever was possible to be done.
As he hath not a perfect liberty of will, if he could not will what
he pleased ; so he would not have a perfect activity, if he could not
do what he willed.
Reason 3. The simplicity of God manifests it. Every substance,
the more spiritual it is, the more powerful it is. All perfections are
more united in a simple, than in a compounded being. Angels,
being spirits, are more powerful than bodies. Where there is the
greatest simplicity, there is the greatest unity ; and where there is
the greatest unity, there is the greatest power. Where there is a
composition of a faculty and a member, the member or organ may
be weakened and rendered unable to act, though the power doth
still reside in the faculty. As a man, when his arm or hand is cut
off or broke, he hath the faculty of motion still ; but he hath lost
"= Vietorin. ia Petar. Tom. I. p. 333. * ibid. p. 233.
VOL. II. — 3
34 CHAENOCK ON" THE ATTRIBUTES.
that instrument that part whereby he did manifest and put forth
that motion : but God being a pure spiritual nature, hath no mem-
bers, no organs to be defaced or impaired. All impediments of
actions arise either from the nature of the thing that acts, or from
something without it. There can be no hindrance to God to do
whatsoever he pleases ; not in himself, because he is the most sim-
ple being, hath no contrariety in himself, is not composed of divers
things ; and it cannot be from anything without himself, because
nothing is equal to him, much less superior. He is the greatest, the
Supreme : all things were made by him, depend upon him, nothing
can disappoint his intentions.
Reason 4. The miracles that have been in the world evidence the
power of God. Extraordinary productions have awakened men
from their stupidity, to the acknowledgment of the immensity of
Divine power. Miracles are such effects as have been wrought
without the assistance and co-operation of natural causes, yea, con-
trary and besides the ordinary course of nature, above the reach of
any created power. Miracles have been ; and saith Bradwardine,<'
to deny that ever such things were, is uncivil : it is inhuman to
deny all the histories of Jews and Christians; whosoever denies
miracles, must deny all possibility of miracles, and so must imagine
himself fully skilled in the extent of Divine power. How was the
sun suspended from its motion for some hours (Josh. x. 13) ; " the
dead raised from the grave ;" those reduced from the brink of it,
that had been brought near to it by prevailing diseases ; and this by
a word speaking ? How were the famished lions bridled from ex-
ercising their rage upon Daniel, exposed to them for a prey (Dan.
vi. 22) ? the activity of the fire curbed for the preservation of the
three children (Dan. iii. 15)? which proves a Deity more powerful
than all creatures. No power upon earth can hinder the operation
of the fire upon combustible matter, when they are united, unless by
quenching the fire, or removing the matter : but no created power
can restrain the fire, so long as it remains so, from acting according
to its nature. This was done by God in the case of the three chil-
dren, and that of the burning bush (Exod. iii. 2). It was as much
miraculous that the bush should not consume, as it was natural that
it should burn by the efficacy of the fire upon it. No element is so
obstinate and deaf, but it hears and obeys his voice, and performs
his orders, though contrary to its own nature : all the violence oi
the creature is suspended as soon as it receives his command. He
that gave the original to nature, can take away the necessity of na-
ture ;f he presides over creatures, but is not confined to those laws
he hath prescribed to creatures. He framed nature, and can turn
the channels of nature according to his own pleasure. Men dig into
the bowels of nature, search into all the treasures of it, to find
medicines to cure a disease, and after all their attempts it may
prove labor in vain : but God, by one act of his will, one word of
his mouth, overturns the victory of death, and rescues from the most
desperate diseases.? All the miracles which were wrought by the
apostles, either speaking some words or touching with the hand,
• Lib. i. cap. 1. p. 38. '' Damiaaus, in Petar. s Faucli. ia Acts. Vol. II. § 56.
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 35
were not effected by any virtue inherent in their words or in their
touches ; for such virtue inherent in any created finite subject would be
created and. finite itself, and consequently were incapable to produce
effects which required an infinite virtue, as miracles do which are
above the power of nature. So when our Saviour wrought miracles
it was not by any quality resident in his human nature, but by the
sole power of his Divinity. The flesh could only do what was
proper to the flesh ; but the Deity did what was proper to the Deity.
" God alone doth wonders" (Ps. cxxxvi. 4) : excluding every other
cause from producing those things. He only doth those things
which are above the power of nature, and cannot be wrought by
any natural causes whatsoever. He doth not hereby put his omni-
potence to any stress : it is as easy with him to turn nature out of
its settled course, as it was to place it in that station it holds, and
appoint it that course it runs. All the works of nature are indeed
miracles and testimonies of the power of God producing them, and
sustaining them : but works above the power of nature, being novel-
ties and unusual, strike men with a greater admiration upon their
appearance, because they are not the products of nature, but the
convulsions of it. I might also add as an argument, the power of
the mind of man to conceive more than hath been wrought by God
in the world. And God can work whatsoever perfection the mind
of man can conceive : otherwise the reaches of a created imagina-
tion and fancy would be more extensive than the power of God.
His power, therefore, is far greater than the conception of any intel-
lectual creature ; else the creature would be of a greater capacity to
conceive than God is to effect. The creature would have a power
of conception above God's power of activity ; and consequently a
creature, in some respect greater than himself. Now whatsoever a
creature can conceive possible to be done, is but finite in its own
nature ; and if God could not produce what being a created under-
standing can conceive possible to be done, he would be less than
infinite in power, nay, he could not go to the extent of what is
finite. But I have touched this before ; that God can create more
than he hath created, and in a more perfect way of being, as con-
sidered simply in themselves.
III. The third general thing is to declare, how the power of God
appears in Creation, in Government, in Eedemption.
First, In Creation. With what majestic lines doth God set
for his power, in the giving being and endowments to all the crea-
tures in the world (Job xxxviii.) ! All that is in heaven and earth
is his, and shows the greatness of his power, glory, victory, and ma-
jesty (1 Chron. xxix. 11). The heaven being so magnificent a piece
of Avork, is called emphatically, " the firmament of his power" (Ps.
cl. 1); his power being more conspicuous and unavailed in that
glorious arch of the world. Indeed, " God exalts by his power"
(Job xxxvi. 22), that is, exalts himself by his power in all the
Avorks of his hands ; in the smallest shrub, as well as the most
glorious sun. All his works of nature are truly miracles, though
we consider them not, being blinded with two frequent and cus-
tomary a sight of them ; yet, in the neglect of all the rest, the view
36 CHABNOCK ON THE ATTEIBUTES.
of the heavens doth more affect us with astonishment at the might
of God's arm: these declare his glorv, and "the firmament showeth
his handy work" (Ps. xix. 1). And the Psalmist peculiarly calls
them his heavens, and the work of his fingers (Ps. viii. 3) : these
were immediately created by God, whereas many other things in the
world were brought into being by the power of God, yet by the
means of the influence of the heavens.
1. His power is the first thing evident in the story of the creation.
" In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. i.
1). There is no appearance of anything in this declaratory preface,
but of power : the characters of wisdom march after in the distinct
formation of things, and animating them with suitable qualities for
an universal good. By heaven and earth, is meant the whole mass
of the creatures : by heaven, all the airy region, with all the host of
it ; by the earth, is meant, all that which makes the entire inferior
globe. ii The Jews observe, that in the first of Genesis, in the whole
chapter, unto the finishing the work in six days, God is called c^ribN,
which is a name of Power, and that thirty-two times in that chapter ;
but after the finishing the six days' work, he is called cinbxn, which,
according to their notion, is a name of goodness and kindness : his
power is first visible in framing the world, before his goodness is
visible in the sustaining and preserving it. It was by this name of
Power and Almighty that he was known in the first ages of the
world, not by his name, Jehovah (Exod. vi. 3) : " And I appeared
unto Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, by the name of God Almighty ; but
by my name Jehovah was I not known to them." Not but that they
were acquainted with the name, but did not experience the intent of
the name, which signified his truth in the performance of his prom-
ises ; they knew him by that name as promising, but they knew him
not by that name, as performing. He would be known by his name
Jehovah, true to his word, when he was about to effect the deliver-
ance from Egypt ; a type of the eternal redemption, wherein the
truth of God, in performing of his first promise, is gloriously magni-
fied. And hence it is that God is called Almighty more in the book
of Job than in all the Scripture besides, I think about thirty-two
times, and Jehovah but once, Avhich is Job xii. 9, unless in Job
xxxviii. when God is introduced speaking himself; which is an
argument of Job's living before the deliverance from Egypt, when
God was known more by his works of creation than by the perform-
ance of his promises, before the name Jehovah was formally publish-
ed. Indeed, this attribute of his eternal power, is the first thing
visible and intelligible upon the first glance of the eye upon the
creatures (Rom. i. 20). Bring a man out of the cave where he hath
been nursed, without seeing anything oiit of the confines of it, and
let him lift up his eyes to the heavens, and take a prospect of that
glorious body, the sun, then cast them down to the earth, and behold
the surface of it, with its green clothing ; the first notion which will
start up in his mind from that spring of wonders, is that of power,
which he will at first adore with a religious astonishment. The wis-
dom of God in them is not so presently apparent, till after a more
•> Meicer. p. 7, col. 1, 2.
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 37
exquisite consideration of his works and knowledge of tlie proper-
ties of their natures, the conveniency of their situations, and the use-
fulness of their functions, and the order wherein they are linked
together for the good of the universe.
2. By this creative power God is often distinguished from all the
idols and Mse gods in the world. And by this title he sets forth
himself when he would act any great and wonderful work in the
world (Ps. cxxxv. 5, 6) : " He is great above all gods," for " he hath
done whatsoever he pleased in heaven and in earth." Upon this is
founded all the worship he challengeth in the world, as his peculiar,
glory (Rev. iv. 11) : " Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory,
honor, and power, for thou hast created all things." And (Rev. x. 6)
" I have made the earth, and created man upon it." " I, even my
hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I
commanded" (Isa. xlv. 12). What is the issue (ver. 16) ? " They
shall be ashamed and confounded, all of them, that are makers of
idols." And the weakness of idols is expressed by this title. " The
gods that have not made the heavens and the earth" (Jer. x. 11).
" The portion of Jacob is not like them, for he is the former of all
things" (ver. 16). What is not that God able to do, that hath created
so great a Avorlcl ? How doth the power of God appear in creation ?
1st. In making the world of nothing. When we say, the world
was made of nothing, we mean, that there was no matter existent for
God to work upon, but what he raised himself in the first act of
creation. In this regard, the power of God in creation surmounts
his power in providence. Creation supposeth nothing, providence
supposeth something in being. Creation intimates a creature making,
providence speaks a thing already made, and capable of government,
and in government. God uses second causes to bring about his
purposes.
1. The world was made of nothing. The earth which is described
as the first matter, without any form or ornament, without any dis-
tinction or figures, was of God's forming in the bulk, before he did
adorn it with his pencil (Gen. i. 1, 2). God, in the beginning, crea-
ting the heaven and the earth, includes two things : First. That
those were created in the beginning of time, and before all other
things. Secondly. That God begun the crceation of the world from
those things.! Therefore before the heavens and the earth there was
nothing absolutely created, and therefore no matter in being before
an act of creation passed upon it. It could not be eternal, because
nothing can be eternal but God ; it must therefore have a beginning.
If it had a beginning from itself, then it was before it was. If it
acted in the making itself before it was made, then it had a being
before it had a being ; for that which is nothing, can act nothing :
the action of anything supposeth the existence of the thing which
acts. It being made, it was not before it was made ; for to be made
is to be brought into being. It was made, then, by another, and
that Maker is God. It is necessary that the First Original of things
was from nothing : when we see one thing to arise from another, we
must suppose an original of the first of each kind ; as, when we see
• Suarez, Vol. III. p. 33.
38 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
a tree spring up from a seed, we know that seed came out of the
bowels of another tree ; it had a parent, it had a master ; we must
come to some first, or else we run into an endless maze : we must
come to some first tree, some first seed that had no cause of the same
kind, no matter of it, but was mere nothing. Creation doth suppose
a production from nothing ; because, if you suppose a thing without
any real or actual existence, it is not capable of any other production
than from nothing : nothing must be supposed before the world, or
we must suppose it eternal, and tliat is to deny it to be a creature,
and make it God.^ The creation of spiritual substances, such as
angels and souls, evince this ; those things that are purely spiritual,
and consist not of matter, cannot pretend to any original from matter,
and therefore they rose up from nothing. If spiritual things arose
from nothing, much more may corporeal, because they are of a lower
nature than spiritual ; and he that can create a higher nature of
nothing, can create an inferior nature of nothing. As bodily things
are more iiuperfect than spiritual, so their creation may be supposed
easier than that of sijiritual. There was as little need of any matter
to be wrought to his hands, to contrive into this visible fabric, as
there was to erect such an excellent order as the glorious cheru-
bims.
2. This creation of things from nothing speaks an infinite power.
The distance between nothing and being hath been alway counted
so great, that nothing but an Infinite Power can make such distances
meet together, either for nothing to pass into being, or being to re-
turn to nothing. To have a thing arise from nothing, was so difiicult
a text to those that were ignorant of the Scripture, that they knew
not how to fathom it, and therefore laid it down as a certain rule,
that of nothing, nothing is made ; which is true of a created power,
but not of an uncreated and Almight}^ Power. A greater distance
cannot be imagined than that whicli is between nothing and some-
thing ; that whicli hath no being, and that which hath ; and a greater
power cannot be imagined than that which brings something out of
nothing. We know not how to conceive a nothing, and afterwards
a being from that nothing ; but we must remain swallowed up in
admiration of the Cause that gives it being, and acknowledge it to
be without any bounds and measures of greatness and power.* The
further anything is from being, the more immense must that power
be which brings it into being : it is not conceivable that the power
of all the angels in one can give being to the smallest spire of grass.
To imagine, therefore, so small a thing as a bee, a fly, a grain of
corn, or an atom of dust, to be made of nothing, would stupefy any
creature in the consideration of it, much more to behold the heavens,
with all the troop of stars ; the earth, with all its embroidery ; and
the sea, with all her inhabitants of fish ; and man, the noblest crea-
ture of all, to arise out of the womb of mere emptiness. Indeed,
God had not acted as an almighty Creator, if he had stood in need
of any materials but of his own framing : it had been as much as his
Deity was worth, if he had not had all within the compass of his
own power that was necessary to operation ; if he must have been
^ Suarez, Vol III. p. 6. ' Amyrald Morale. Tom. I. d. 252.
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 89
beholden to sometliing without himself, and above himself, for mat-
ter to work upon : had there been such a necessity, we could not
have imagined him to be omnipotent, and, consequently, not God,
3. In this the power of God exceeds the power of all natural and
rational agents. Nature, or the order of second causes, hath a vast
power ; the sun generates flies and other insects, but of some matter,
the slime of the earth or a dunghill ; the sun and the earth bring
forth harvests of corn, but from seed first sown in the earth ; fruits
are brought forth, but from the sap of the plant ; were there no seed
or plants in the earth, the power of the earth would be idle, and the
influence of the sun insignificant ; whatsoever strength either of
them had in their nature, must be useless without matter to work
upon. All the united strength of nature cannot produce the least
thing out of nothing ; it may multiply and increase things, by
the powerful blessing God gave it at the first erecting of the world,
but it cannot create. The word which signifies creation^ used in Gen.
i. 1, is not ascribed to any second cause, but only to God ; a word,
in that sense, as incommunicable to anything else as the action it
signifies. Kational creatures can produce admirable pieces of art
from small things, yet still out of matter created to their hands. Ex-
cellent garments may be woven, but from the entrails of a small
silkworm. Delightful and medicinal spirits and essences may be ex-
tracted, by ingenious chemists, but out of the bodies of plants and
minerals. No picture can be drawn without colors ; no statue en-
graven without stone ; no building erected without timber, stones,
and other materials : nor can any man raise a thought without some
matter framed to his hands, or cast into him. Matter is, by nature,
formed to the hands of all artificers ; they bestow a new figure upon
it, by the help of instruments, and the product of their own wit and
skill, but they create not the least particle of matter; when they
want it, they must be supplied or else stand still, as well as nature,
for none of them, or all together, can make the least mite or atom :
and when they have wrought all that they can, they will not want
some to find a flaw and defect in their work. God, as a Creator,
hath the only prerogative to draAV what he pleases from nothing,
without any defect, without any imperfection : he can raise what
matter he please ; ennoble it with what form he pleases. Of nothing,
nothing can be made, by any created agent : but the omnipotent
Architect of the world is not under the same necessity, nor is limited
to the same rule, and tied by so short a tedder as created nature, or
an ingenious, yet feeble artificer.
2d. It appears, in raising such variety of creatures from this bar-
ren womb of nothing, or from the matter which he first commanded
to appear out of nothing. Had tliere been any pre-existent matter,
yet the bringing forth such varieties and diversities of excellent
creatures, some with life, some with sense, and others with reason
superadded to the rest, and those out of indisposed and undigested
matter, would argue an infinite power resident in the first Author of
this variegated fabric. From this matter he formed that glorious
sun, which every day displays its glory, scatters its beams, clears the
air, ripens our fruits, and maintains the propagation of creatures in
40 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
the world. From this matter he hghted those torches which he set
in the heaven to qualify the darkness of the night : from this he
compacted those bodies of light, which, though they seem to us as
little sparks, as if they were the glow-worms of heaven, yet some of
them exceed in greatness this globe of the earth on which we live :
and the highest of them hath so quick a motion, that some tell us
they run, in the sj^ace of every hour, 42,000,000 of leagues. From
the same matter he drew the earth on which we walk ; from thence
he extracted the flowers to adorn it, the hills to secure the valleys,
and the rocks to fortify it against the inundations of the sea ; and
on this dull and sluggish element he bestowed so great a fruitfulness,
to maintain, feed, and multiply so many seeds of different kinds,
and conferred upon those little bodies of seeds a power to multiply
their kinds, in conjunction with the fruitfulness of the earth, to many
thousands. From this rude matter, the slime or dust of the earth,
he kneaded the body of man, and wrought so curious a fabric, fit to
entertain a soul of a heavenly extraction, formed by the breath of
God (Gen. ii. 7). He brought light out of thick darkness, and liv-
ing creatures, fish and fowl, out of inanimate waters (Gen. i. 20), and
gave a power of spontaneous motion to things arising from that
matter which had no living motion. To convert one thing into
another, is an evidence of infinite power, as well as creating things
of nothing ; for the distance between life and not life is next to that
which is between being and not being. God first forms matter out
of nothing, and then draws upon, and from this indisposed chaos,
many excellent portraitures. Neither earth nor sea were capable of
producing living creatures without an infinite power working upon
it, and bringing into it such variety and multitude of forms ; and
this is called, by some, mediate creation, as the producing the chaos,
which was without form and void, is called immediate creation. Is
not the power of the potter admirable in forming, out of tempered
clay, such varieties of neat and curious vessels, that, after they are
fashioned and past the furnace, look as if they were not of any kin
to the matter they are formed of? and is it not the same with the
glass-maker, that, from a little melted jelly of sand and ashes, or the
dust of flint, can blow up so pure a body as glass, and in such va-
rieties of shapes ? and is not the power of God more admirable, be-
cause infinite in speaking out so beautiful a world out of nothing,
and such varieties of living creatures from matter utterly indisposed,
in its own nature, for such forms ?
3d. And this conducts to a third thing, wherein the power of God
appears, in that he did all this with the greatest ease and facility.
1. Without instruments. As God made the world without the
advice, so without the assistance, of any other : " He stretched
forth the heavens alone, and spread abroad the earth by himself"
(Isa. xliv. 24). He had no engine, but his word ; no pattern or
model, but himself. What need can he have of instruments, that
is able to create what instruments he pleases ? Where there is
no resistance in the object, where no need of preparation or in-
strumental advantage in the agent ; there the actual determination
of the will is sufficient to a production. What instrument need
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 41
we to the thinking of a tliought, or an act of our will ? Men,
indeed, cannot act anything without tools ; the best artificer mnst
be beholden to something else for his noblest works of art. The
carpenter cannot work without his rule, and axe, and saw, and
other instruments ; the watch-maker cannot act without his file
and pliers; but in creation, there is nothing necessary to God's
bringing forth a world, but a simple act of his will, which is
both the principal cause, and instrumental. He had no scaffolds
to rear it, no engines to polish it, no hammers or mattocks to clod
and work it together. It is a miserable error to measure the actions
of an Infinite Cause by the imperfect model of a finite, since, by his
own " power and out-stretched arm, he made the heaven and the
earth" (Jer. xxxii, 17). What excellency would God have in his
work above others, if he needed instruments, as feeble men do?'"
Every artificer is counted more admirable, that can frame curious
works with the less matter, fewer tools, and assistances. God uses
instruments in his works of providence, not for necessity, but for the
display of his wisdom in the management of them ; yet those in-
struments were originally framed by him without instruments. In-
deed, some of the Jews thought the angels were the instruments of
God in creating man, and that those words, " Let us make man in
our own image" (Gen. i. 26), were spoken to angels. But certainly
the Scripture, which denies God any counsellor in the model of
creation (Isa. xl. 12 — 14), doth not join any instrument with him in
the operation, which is everywhere ascribed to himself " without
created assistance" (Isa. xlv. 18). It was not to angels God spake
in that afi'air ; if so, man was made after the image of angels, if they
were companions with God in that work ; but it is everywhere said,
that " Man was made after the image of God" (Gen. i. 27). Again,
the image wherein man was created, was that of dominion over the
lower creatures, as appears ver. 26, which we find not conferred upon
angels ; and it is not likely that Moses should introduce the angels,
as God's privy counsel, of whose creation he had not mentioned one
syllable. " Let us make man," rather signifies the Trinity, and not
spoken in a royal style, as some think. Which of the Jewish kings
wrote in the style. We f That was the custom of later times ; and
we must not measure the language of Scripture by the style of
Europe, of a far later date than the penning the history of the crea-
tion. If angels were his counsellors in the creation of the material
world, what instrument had he in the creation of angels ? If his
own Avisdom were the director, and his own will the producer of the
one ; why should we not think, that he acted by his sole power in
the other ? It is concluded by most, that the power of creation can-
not be derived to any creature, it being a work of omnipotency ; the
drawing something out from nothing, cannot be communicated
without a communication of the Deity itself. The educing things
from nothing exceeds the capacity of any creature, and the creature
is of too feeble a nature to be elevated to so high a degree. It is
very unreasonable to think, that God needed any such aid. If an
instrument were necessary for God to create the world, then he could
" Gasseud.
42 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
not do it witliout tliat instrument : if lie could not, he were not then
all-sufficient in himself, if he depended upon anything without hun-
self, for the production or consummation of his works. And it
might be inquired, how that instrument came into being ; if it
begun to be, and there was a time when it was not, it must have
its being from the power of God ; and then, why could not God
as well create all things without an instrment, as create that in-
strument without an instrument ? For there was no more power
necessary to a producing the whole without instruments, than to
produce one creature without an instrument. No creature can,
in its own nature, be an instrument of creation. If any such in-
strument were used by God, it must be elevated in a miraculous
and supernatural way ; and what is so an instrument, is, in effect,
no instrument ; for it works nothing by its own nature, but from
an elevation by a superior nature, and beyond its own nature.
All that power in the instrument is truly the j)ower of God, and
not the power of the instrument ; and, therefore, what God doth
by an instrument, he could do as well without. If you should
see one apply straw to iron, for the cutting of it, and effect it,
you would not call the straw an instrument in that action, be-
cause there was nothing in the nature of the straw to do it. It
was done wholly by some other force, which might have done it
as well without the straw as with it. The narrative of the creation
in Genesis, removes any instrument from God. The plants which
are preserved and propagated by the influence of the sun, were
created the day before the sun, viz. on the "third day," whereas, the
light was collected into the body of the sun on the "fourth day" (Gen.
i. 11, 16) ; to show, that though the plants do instrumentally owe
their yearly beauty and preservation to the sun, yet they did not in
any manner owe their creation to the instrumental heat and vigor
of it.
2. God created the world by a word, by a simple act of his will.
The whole creation is wrought by a word ; " God said, Let there be
light;" and "God said. Let there be a firmament."" Not that we
should understand it of a sensible word, but understand it of a
powerful order of his own will, which is expressed by the Psalmist
in the nature of a command (Ps. xxxiii 9) : " He spake, and it was
done ; he commanded, and it stood fast;" and (Ps. cxlviii, 5), " He
commanded, and they were created." At the same instant that he
willed them to stand forth, they did stand forth. The efficacious
command of the Creator was the original of all things : the insensi-
bility of nothing obeyed the act of his will. Creation is therefore
entitled a calling (Rom. iv. 17) : " He calls those things which are
not, as if they were." To create is no more with God, than to call ;
and what he calls, presents itself before him in the same posture that
he calls it. He did with more ease make a world, than we can form
a thought. It is the same ease to him to create worlds, as to decree
them ; there needs no more than a resolve to have things wrought
at such a time, and they Avill be, according to his pleasure. This
will is his power ; " Let there be light," is the precept of his will;
» Gen. i. 3, 5, <fec. throughout the whole chajiter.
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 43
and "tliere was liglit," is tlie effect of liis precept. By a word, was
tlie matter of the heavens and the earth framed ; by a word, things
separate themselves from the rude mass into their proper forms ; bj
a word, light associates itself into one body, and forms a sun ; by a
word, are the heavens, as it were, bespangled with stars, and the
earth dressed with floAvers ; by a word, is the world both ceiled and
floored : one act of his will, formed the world, and perfected its
beauty. All the variety and several exploits of his power were not
caused by distinct words or acts of power. God uttered not distinct
words for distinct species ; as, let there be an elephant, and let there
be a lion ; but as he produced those various creatures out of one
matter, so by one word. By one single command, those varieties of
creatures, with their clothing, ornaments, distinct notes, qualities,
functions, were brought forth (Gen. i. 11): by one word, all the seeds
of the earth, with their various virtues: by one word, all the fish of
the sea, and f(::)wls of the air, in their distinct natures, instincts, colors
(Gen. i. 20) : by one word, all the beasts of the field, with their va-
rieties (Gen. i. 24). Heaven and earth, spiritual and corporeal crea-
tures, mortal and immortal, the greater and the less, visible and in-
visible, were formed with the same ease :° a word made the least,
and a word made the greatest. It is as little difficulty to him to pro-
duce the highest angel, as the lighest atom. It is enough for the
existence of the stateliest cherubim, for God only to will his being.
It was enough for the forming and fixing the sun, to will the com-
pacting of light into one body. The creation of the soul of man is
expressed by inspiration (Gen. ii. 7) ; to show, that it is as easy with
God to create a rational soul, as for man to breathe.? Breathing is
natural to man, by a communication of God's goodness ; and the
creation of 'the soul is as easy to God, by virtue of his Almighty
word. As there was no proportion between nothing and being, so
there was as little proportion between a word and such glorious
effects. A mere voice, coming from an Omnipotent will, was capa-
ble to produce such varieties, which angels and men have seen in all
ages of the world, and this without weariness. "What labor is there
in willing ? what pain could there be in speaking a word ? (Isa. xl.
28), " The Creator of the ends of the earth is not weary." And
though he be said to rest after the creation, it is to be meant a rest
from work, not a repose from weariness. So great is the poAver of
God, that without any matter, without any instruments, he could
create many worlds, and with the same ease as he made this.
4th. I might add also, the appearance of this power in the instan-
taneous production of things. The ending of his word was not only
the beginning, but the perfection of every thing he spake into being ;
not several words to several parts and members, but one word, one
breath of his mouth, one act of his will, to the whole species of the
creatures, and to every member in each individual. Heaven and
earth were created in a moment ; six days went to their disposal ;
and that comely order we observe in the world was the work of a
week : the matter was formed as soon as God had spoken the word ;
and in every part of the creation, as soon as God spake the word^
« Au<rus. V Theodorct.
44 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTEIBUTES.
" Let it be so" (Gen. i.), the answer immediately is, " It was so ;"
wliicli notes the present standing up of the creature according to the
act of his will : and, therefore, ^i one observes, that " Let there be
light, and there was light ;" in the Hebrew are the same words, vnih-
out any alteration of letter or point, only the conjunctive particle
added, nix ^n-'i mx in-i, " Let there be light, and let there be light," to
show, that the same instant of the speaking the Divine word, Avas the
appearance of the creature : so great was the authority of his will.
Secondly, "We are to show God's power in the Government of
the world. As God decreed from eternity the creation of things in
time, so he decreed from eternity the particular ends of creatures,
and their operation respecting those ends. Now, as there was need
of his power to execute his decree of creation, there is also need of
his power to execute his decree about the manner of government.'"
All government is an act of the understanding, will, and power.
Prudence to design belongs to the understanding ; the election of the
means belongs to the will ; and the accomplishment of the whole is
an act of j^ower. It is a hard matter to determine which is most
necessary : wisdom stands in as much need of power to perfect, as
power doth of wisdom, to model and draw out a scheme ; though
wisdom directs, power must effect. "Wisdom and power are distinct
things among men : a poor man in a cottage ma}^ have more pru-
dence to advise, than a privy counsellor ; and a prince more power
to act, than wisdom to conduct, A pilot may direct though he be
lame, and cannot climb the masts, and spread the sails : but God is
wanting in nothing ; neither in wisdom to design, nor in will to de-
termine, nor in power to accomplish. His wisdom is not feeble, nor
his power foolish : a feeble wisdom could not act what it would, and
a foolish power would act more than it should. The power express-
ed in his government is shadowed forth in the living creatures, which
are God's instruments in it. It is said, " Every one of them had
four faces" (Ezek. i. 10) ; that of a man to signify wisdom ; of a lion,
eagle, the strongest among birds, to signify their courage and strength
to perform their offices. This power is evident in the natural, moral,
gracious government. There is a natural providence, which consists
in the preservation of all things, propogation of them b}^ corruptions
and generations, and in a co-operation with them in their motions to
attain their ends. Moral government is of the hearts and actions of
men. Gracious government, as respecting the Church.
First, His power is evident in natural government.
1. In preservation. God is the great Father of the world, to
nourish it as well as create it.^ Man and beast would perish if there
were not herbs for their food ; and herbs would wither and perish,
if the earth were not watered with fruitful showers. This some of
the heathens acknowledged, in their worshipping God under the
image of an ox, a useful creature, by reason of its strength, to which
we owe so much of our food in corn. " Hence, God is stjded the
" Preserver of man and beast" (Ps. xxxvi. 6). Hence, the Jews
called God,t Place ; because he is the subsistence of all things. By
q Peirs. p. 111. >• Siiarez, Vol. I. lib. iii. cap. 10.
' Daille, ia 1 Cor. x. p. 102. * Qlpa.
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 45
tlie same word whereby lie gave being to tilings, he gives to them
continuance and duration in being so much a term of time. As they
were " created by his word," they are supported by his word (Heb,
i. 8). The same powerful fiat, " Let the earth bring forth grass"
(Gen. i. 11), when the plants peeped upon man out of nothing, is
expressed every spring, when they begin to lift up their heads from
their naked roots and winter graves. The resurrection of light every
morning, the reviving the pleasure of all things to the eye ; the wa-
tering the valleys from the mountain springs ; the curbing the natui-al
appetite of the waters from covering the earth ; every draught that
the beasts drink, every lodging the fowls have, every bit of food for
the sustenance of man and beast, is ascribed to the " opening of his
hand," the diffusing of his power (Ps. civ. 27, &c.), as much as the
first creation of things, and endowing them with their particular
nature : whence the plants, which are so serviceable, are called " the
trees of the Lord" (ver. 16), of Jehovah, that hath only being and
power in himself The whole Psalm is but the description of his
preserving, as the first of Genesis is of his creating power. It is by
this power angels have so many thousand years remained in the
power of understanding and willing. By this power things distant
in their natures have been joined together ; a spiritual soul and a
dusty body knit in a marriage knot. By this power the heavenly
bodies have for so many ages rolled in their spheres, and the tumul-
tuous elements have persisted in their order : by this hath the matter
of the world been to this day continued, and as capable of entertain-
ing forms as it was at the first creation. What an amazing sight
would it be to see a man hold a pillar of the Exchange ujDon one of
his fingers? What is this to tiie power of God, "who holds the
waters in the hollow of his hand, metes out the heaven with a span,
and weighs the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance" (Isa.
xl. 12)? The preserving the earth from the violence of the sea is a
plain instance of this power." How is that raging element kept pent
within those lists where he first lodged it ; continues its course in its
channel without overflowing the earth, and dashing in pieces the
lower part of the creation ? The natural situation of the water is to
be above the earth, because it is lighter; and to be immediately under
the air, because it is heavier than that thinner element. Who re-
strains this natural quality of it, but that God that first formed it?
The word of command at first, "Hitherto shalt thou go, and no fur-
ther," keeps those waters linked together in their den, that they may
not ravage the earth, but be useful to the inhabitants of it. And
when once it finds a gap to enter, what power of earth can hinder its
passage ? How fruitless sometimes is all the art of man to send it
to its proper channel, when once it hath spread its mighty waves
over some countries, and trampled part of the inhabited earth under
its feet ? It hath triumphed in its victory, and withstood all the
power of man to conquer its force. It is only the power of God that
doth bridle it from spreading itself over the whole earth. And that
his power might be more manifest, he hath set but a weak and small
bank against it. Though he hath bounded it in some places by
" Daillo Melange, Part II. p. 457.
46 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
miglity rocks, wliicli lift up their heads above it, yet in most places
by feeble sand. How often is it seen in every stormy motion, when
the waves boil high and roll furiously, as if they Avould swallow up
all the neighboring houses upon the shore ; when they come to touch
those sandy limits, they bow their heads, fall flat, and sink into the
lap whence they were raised, and seem to foam with anger that they
can march no further, but must split themselves at so weak an ob-
stacle ! Can the sand be thought to be the cause of this ? The
weakness of it gives no footing to such a thought. Who can appre-
hend, that an enraged army should retire upon the opposition of a
straw in an infant's hand ? Is it the nature of the water ? Its retire-
ment is against the natural quality of it ; pour but a little upon the
ground, and you always see it spread itself. No cause can be ren-
dered in nature ; it is a standing monument of the power of God in
the preservation of the world, and ought to be more taken notice of
by us in this island, surrounded with it, than by some other countries
in the world.
(1.) We find nothing hath power to preserve itself. Doth not
every creature upon earth require the assistance of some other for
its maintenance? " Can the rush grow up without mire? can the
flag grow up without water" (Job viii. 11)? Can man or beast main-
tain itself without grain from the bowels of the earth ? Would not
every man tumble into the grave, without the aid of other creatures
to nourish him ? Whence do these creatures receive that virtue of
supplying him nourishment, but from the sun and earth ? and whence
do they derive that virtue, but from the Creator of all things ? And
should he but slack his hand, how soon would they and all their
qualities perish, and the links of the world fall in pieces, and dash
one another into their first chaos and confusion ! All creatures in-
deed have an appetite to preserve themselves ; they have some knowl-
edge of the outward means for their preservation ; so have irrational
animals a natural instinct, as well as men have some skill to avoid
things that are hurtful, and apply things that are helpful. But what
thing in the world can preserve itself by an inward influx into its
own being? All things want such a power without God's _/ja<, "Let
it be so :" nothing but is destitute of such a power for its own preser-
vation, as much as it is of a power for its own creation. Were there
any true power for such a work, what need of so many external
helps from things of an inferior nature to that which is preserved by
them ? No created thing hath a power to preserve any decayed
being. Who can lay claim to such a virtue, as to recall a withering
flower to its former beauty, to raise the head of a drooping plant, or
put life into a gasping worm when it is expiring ; or put impaired
vitals into their former posture? Not a man upon earth, nor an
angel in heaven, can pretend to such a virtue ; they may be spec-
tators, but not assisters, and are, in this case, physicians of no value.
(2.) It is, therefore, the same Power preserves things which at first
created them. The creature doth as much depend upon God, in the
first instant of its being, for its preservation, as it did, when it was
nothing, for its production and creation into being : as the continu-
ance of a thought of our mind depends upon the power of our mind,
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 47
as well as the first framing of that thought. ^ There is a little differ-
ence between creating and preserving power, as there is between the
power of mine eye to begin an act of vision and continue that act of
vision, as to cast my eye upon an object and continue it upon that
object : as the first act is caused by the eje, so the duration of the act
is preserved by the eye ; shut the eye, and the act of vision perishes ;
divert the eye from that object, and that act of vision is exchanged
for another. And, therefore, the preservation of thmgs is commonly
called a continual creation : and certainly it is no less, if we under-
stand it of a preservation by an inward influence into the being of
things. It is one and the same action invariably continued, and
obtaining its force every moment; the same action whereby he
created them of nothing, and which every moment hath a virtue to
produce a thing out of nothing, if it were not yet extant in the
world : it remains the same without any diminution throughout the
whole time wherein anything doth remain in the world.y For all
things would return to nothing, if God did not keep them up in the
elevation and state to which he at first raised them by his creative
power (Acts xvii. 28): "In him we live, and move, and have our
being." By him, or by the same Power whence we derived our
being, are our lives maintained: as it was his Almighty Power
whereby we were, after we had been nothing, so it is the same power
whereby we now are, after he hath made us something. Certainly
all things have no less a dependence on God than light upon the
sun, which vanisheth and hides its head upon the withdrawing of the
sun. And should God suspend that powerful "Word, whereby he
erected the frame of the world, it would sink down to what it was,
before he commanded it to stand up. There needs no new act of
power to reduce things to nothing, but the cessation of that Omnip-
otent influx. When the appointed time set them for their being-
comes to a period, they faint and bend down their heads to their
dissolution; they return to their elements, and perish (Ps. civ. 29):
" Thou hidest thy face, and they are troubled : thou takest away
their breath, they die, and return to their dust. That which was
nothing cannot remain on this side nothing, but by the same Power
that first called it out of nothing. As when God withdrew his con-
curring power from the fire, its quality ceased to act upon the three
children : so if he withdraws his sustaining power from the creature,
its nature will cease to be.
2. It appears in propagation. That powerful word (Gen. i. 22,
23), " Increase and multiply," pronounced at the first creation, hath
spread itself over every part of the world; every animal in the
world, in the formation of every one of them. From two of a kind,
how great a number of individuals and single creatures have been
multiplied, to cover the face of the earth in their continued succes-
sions ! What a world of plants spring up from the womb of a dry
earth, moistened by the influence of a cloud, and hatched by the
beams of the sun ! IIow admirable an instance of his propagating
power is it, that from a little seed a massy root should strike into
the bowels of the earth, a tall body and thick branches, with leaves
^ Lessius de Perfect. Diviu. p. 69. ? Lessius ,de Snin. Bon. pp. 580 — 582.
48 CHAENOCK ON- THE ATTRIBUTES.
and flowers of various colors, should break througli tlie surface of
tlie earth, and mount up towards heaven, when in the seed you
neither smell the scent, nor see any firmness of a tree, nor behold
any of those colors which you view in the flowers that the ears pro-
duce ! A power not to be imitated by any creature. How astonish-
ing is it, that a small seed, whereof many will not amount to the
weight of a grain, should spread itself into leaves, bark, fruit of a
vast weight, and multiply itself into millions of seeds ! What power
is that, that from one man and Avoman hath multiplied families, and
from families, stocked the world with people ! Consider the living
creatures, as formed in the womb of their several kinds ; every one
is a wonder of power. The Psalmist instanceth in the forming and
propagation of man (Ps. cxxxix. 14) : " I am fearfully and wonder-
fully made ; marvellous are thy works." The forming of the parts
distinctly in the womb, the bringing forth into the Avorld every par-
ticular member, is a roll of wonders, of power. That so fine a
structure as the body of man should be polished in " the lower
parts of the earth," as he calls the womb (ver. 15), in so short a
time, with members of a various form and usefulness, each laboring
in their several functions ! Can any man give an exact account of
the manner " how the bones do grow in the womb" (Eccles. xi. 5) ?
It is unknown to the father, and no less hid from the mother, and
the wisest men cannot search out the depth of it. It is one of the
secret works of an Omnipotent Power, secret in the manner, though
open in the effect. So that we must ascribe it to God, as Job doth,
" Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round
about" (Job X. 8). Thy hands which formed heaven, have formed
every part, every member, and wrought me like a mighty workman.
The heavens are said to be the " work of God's hands," and man is
here said to be no less. The forming and propagation of man from
that earthy matter, is no less a wonder of power than the structure
of the world from a rude and indisposed matter. A heathen philo-
sopher descants elegantly upon it: " Dost thou understand (my son)
the forming of man in the womb ; who erected that noble fabric :
who carved the eyes, the crystal windows of light, and the con-
ductors of the body ; who bored the nostrils and ears, those loop-
holes of scents and sounds ; who stretched out and knit the sinews
and ligaments for the fastening of every member; who cast the
holloAY veins, the channels of blood ; set and strengthened the bones,
the pillars and rafters of the body ; who digged the pores, the sinks
to expel the filth ; who made the heart, the repository of the soul,
and formed the lungs like a pipe? What mother, what father,
wrought these things ? No, none but the Almighty God, who made
all things according to his pleasure ; it is He who propagates this
noble piece from a pile of dust. Wtio is born by his own advice;
who gives stature, features, sense, wit, strength, speech, but God ?"*
It is no less a wonder, that a little infant can live so long in a dark
sink, in the midst of filth, without breathing ; and the eduction of
it out of the womb is no less a wonder than the forming, increase,
nourishment of it in that cell. A wonder, that the life of the infant
2 Trismegist, in Serm. Greek, in the Temple, p, 57.
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 49
is not the deatli of the mother, or the life of the mother the death
of the infant. This little creature when it springs up from such
small beginnings by the power of God, grows up to be one of the
lords of the world, to have a dominion over the creatures, and pro-
pagates its kind in the same manner : all this is unaccountable with-
out having recourse to the power of God in the government of the
creatures. And to add to this wonder, consider also what multi-
tudes of formations and births there are at one time all over the
world, in every of which the finger of God is at work ; and it will
speak an unwearied power. It is admirable in one man, more in
a town of men, still more in a greater and larger kingdom, a vaster
world; there is a birth for every hour in this city, were but 168
born in a week, though the weekly bills mention more : what is
this city to three kingdoms ? what three kingdoms to a populous
world ? Eleven thousand and eighty will make one for every minute
in the week ; what is this to the weekly propagation in all the na-
tions of the universe, besides the generation of all the living crea-
tures in that space, which are the works of God's fingers as well as
man? What will be the result of this, but the notion of an uncon-
ceivable, unwearied Almiglitiness, always active, always operating?
3. It appears in the motions of all creatures. " All things live
and move in him" (Acts xvii. 28) ; by the same power that creatures
have their beings, they have their motions : they have not only a
being by his powerful command, but they have their minutely mo-
tion by his powerful concurrence. Nothing can act without the
almighty influx of God, no more than it can exist without the crea-
tive word of God. It is true indeed, the ordering of all motions to
his holy ends, is an act of wisdom ; but the motion itself, whereby
those ends are attained, is a work of his power.
(1). God, as the first cause, hath an influence into the motions of
all second causes. As all the wheels in a clock are moved in their
different motions by the force and strength of the principal and
primary wheel ; if there be any defect in that, or if that stand still,
all the rest lang-uish and stand idle the same moment. All creatures
are his instruments, his engines, and have no spirit, but what he
gives, and what he assists. Whatsoever nature works, God works
in nature ; nature is the instrument, God is the supporter, director,
mover of nature ; that which the prophet saith in another case, may
be the language of universal nature: "Lord, thou hast wrought all
our work in us" (Isa. xxvi. 12). They are works subjectively, effi-
ciently, as second causes ; God's works originally, concurrently. The
sun moved not in the valley of Ajalon for the space of many hours,
in the time of Joshua (Josh. x. 13) ; nor did the fire exercise its con-
suming quality upon the three children, in Nebuchadnezzar's fur-
nace (Dan. iii. 25) : he withdrew not his supporting power from their
being, for then they had vanished, but his influencing power from
their qualities, whereby their motion ceased, till he returned his in-
fluential concurrence to them ; which evidenceth, that without a per-
petual derivation of Divine power, the sun could not run one stride
or inch of its race, nor the fire devour one grain of light chaff, of
an inch of straw. Nothing without his sustaining power can con-
VOL. II. 3
60 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTKIBUTES.
tinue in being ; nothing without his co- working power can exer-
cise one mite of those qualities it is possessed of. All creatures are
wound up by him, and his hand is constantly upon them, to keep
them in perpetual motion.
(2). Consider the variety of motions in a single creature. How
many motions are there in the vital parts of a man, or in any other
animal, which a man knows not, and is unable to number ! The
renewed motion of the lungs, the systoles and diastoles of the heart ;
the contractions and dilations of the heart, whereby it spouts out
and takes in blood ; the power of concoction in the stomach ; the
motion of the blood in the veins, &c., all which were not only settled
by the powerful hand of God, but are upheld by the same, preserved
and influenced in every distinct motion by that power that stamped
them with that nature. To every one of those there is not only the
sustaining power of God holding up their natures, but the motive
power of God concurring to every motion ; for if we move in him
as well as we live in him, then every particle of our motion is exer-
cised by his concurring power, as well as every moment of our life
supported by his preserving power. What an infinite variety of
motions is there in the whole world in universal nature, to all which
God concurs, all which he conducts, even the motions of the meanest
as well as the greatest creatures, which demonstrate the indefatigable
power of the governor ! It is an Infinite Power which doth act in
so many varieties, whereby the souls forms every thought, the
tongue speaks every word, the body exerts every action. What an
Infinite Power is that which presides over the birth of all things,
concurs with the motion of the sap in the tree, rivers on the earth,
clouds in the air, every drop of rain, fleece of snow, crack of thun-
der ! Not the least motion in the world, but is under an actual in-
fluence of this Almighty Mover. And lest any should scruple the
concurrence of God to so many varieties of the creature's motion, as
a thing utterly inconceivable, let them consider the sun, a natural
image and shadow of the perfections of God ; doth not the power of
that finite creature extend itself to various objects at the same mo-
ment of time ? How many insects doth it animate, as flies, &c., at
the same moment throughout the world ! How many several plants
doth it erect at its appearance in the spring, whose roots lay mourn-
ing in the earth all the foregoing winter! What multitudes of
spires of grass, and nobler flowers, doth it midwife in the same hour !
It warms the air, melts the blood, cherishes living creatures of various
kinds, in distinct places, without tiring : and shall the God of this
sun be less than his creature ?
(3.) And since I speak of the sun, consider the power of God in
the motion of it. The vastness of the sun is computed to be, at the
least, 166 times bigger than the earth, and its distance from the
earth, some tell us, to be about 4,000,000 of miles ;^ whence it fol-
lows, that it is whirled about the world with that swiftness, that in
the space of an hour it runs 1,000,000 of miles, which is as much as
if it should move round about the surface of the earth fifty times in
one hour ; which vastness exceeds the swiftness of a bullet shot out
* A Lapide, in 1 cap. Gen. xvi. Lessius, de Perfect. Divin. pp. 90, 91.
ON THE POWER OF GOD, 51
of a cannon, which is computed to fly not above three miles in a
minute i^* so that the sun runs further in one hour's space, than a
bullet can in 5,000, if it were kept in motion ; so that if it were near
the earth, the swiftness of its motion would shatter the whole frame
of the world, and dash it in pieces ; so that the Psalmist may well
say, " It runs a race like a strong man" (Ps. xix. 5). What an in-
comprehensible Power is that which hath communicated such a
strength and swiftness to the sun, and doth daily influence its mo-
tion ; especially since after all those years of its motion, wherein
one would think it should have spent itself, we behold it every day
as vigorous as Adam did in Paradise, without limping, without shat-
tering itself, or losing any thing of its natural spirits in its unwearied
motion. How great must that power be, which hath kept this great
body so entire, and thus swiftly moves it every day ! Is it not now
an argument of omnipotency, to keep all the strings of nature in
tune ; to wind them up to a due pitch for the harmony he intended
by them ; to keep things that are contrary from that confusion they
would naturally fall into ; to prevent those jarrings which would
naturally result from their various and snarling qualities ; to preserve
every being in its true nature ; to propagate every kind of creature ;
order all the operations, even the meanest of them, when there are
such innumerable varieties ? But let us consider, that this power oi
preserving things in their station and motion, and the renewing of
them, is more stupendous than that which we commonly call mirac-
ulous. We call those miracles, which are wrought out of the track
of nature, and contrary to the usual stream and current of it ; which
men wonder at, because they seldom see them, and hear of them as
things rarely brought forth in the world ; when the truth is, there
is more of power expressed in the ordinary station and motion of
natural causes than in those extraordinary exertings of power. Is
not more power signalized in that whirling motion of the sun every
hour for so many ages, than in the suspending of its motion one
day, as it was in the days of Joshua ? That fire should continually
ravage and consume, and greedily swallow up every thing that is
offered to it, seems to be the effect of as admirable a power, as the
stopping of its appetite a few moments, as in the case of the three
children. Is not the rising of some small seeds from the ground,
with a multiplication of their numerous posterity, an effect of as
great a power, as our Saviour's feeding many thousands with a few
loaves, by a secret augm.entation of them ?« Is not the chemical
producing so pleasant and delicious a fruit as the grape, from a dry
earth, insipid rain, and a sour vine, as admirable a token of Divine
power, as our Saviour's turning water into wine ? Is not the cure
of diseases by the application of a simple inconsiderable weed, or a
slight infusion, as wonderful in itself, as the cure of it by a power-
ful weed ? What if it be naturally designed to heal ; what is that
nature, who gave that nature, who maintains that nature, who con-
ducts it, co-operates with it ? Doth it work of itself, and by its own
strength ? why not then equally in all, in one as well as another ?
*" Lessius, de Providen, p. 633. Voss. de Idol. lib. ii. cap. 2.
« Faucher sur Act. Vol. II. p. 47.
52 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
Miracles, indeed, affect more, because they testify tlie iminediate
operation of God, without the concurrence of second causes ; not
that there is more of the poAver of God shining in them than in the
other.
Secondly, This power is evident in moral government.
1. In the restraint of the malicious nature of the devil. Since
Satan hath the power of an angel, and the malice of a devil, what
safety would there be for our persons from destruction, what secur-
ity for our goods from rifling, by this invisible, potent, and envious
spirit, if his power were not restrained, and his malice curbed, by
One more mighty than himself? How much doth he envy God the
glory of his creation ; and man, the use and benefit of it ! How
desirous would he be, in regard of his passion, how able in regard
of his strength and subtlety, to overthrow or infect all worship, but
what was directed to himself ; to manage all things according to his
lusts, turn all things topsy-turvy, plague the world, burn cities,
houses, plunder us of the supports of nature, waste kingdoms, &c. ;
if he were not held in a chain, as a ravenous lion, or a furious wild
horse, by the Creator and Governor of the world ! What remedy
could be used by man against the activity of this unseen and swift
spirit ? The world could not subsist under his malice ; he would
practise the same things upon all as he did upon Job, when he had
got leave from his Governor ; turn the swords of men into one an-
other's bowels ; send fire from heaven upon the fruits of the earth
and the cattle intended for the use of man ; raise winds, to shake and
tear our houses upon our heads ; daub our bodies with scalbs and
boils, and let all the humors in our blood loose upon us. He that
envied Adam a paradise, doth envy us the pleasure of enjoying its
out-works. If we were not destroyed by him, we should live in .>,
continued vexation by spectrums and apparitions, affrighting sounds
and noise, as some think the Egyptians did in that three days' dark-
ness : he would be alway winnowing us, as he desired to winnow
Peter (Luke xxii. 31). But God over-masters his strength, that he
cannot move a hair's breadth beyond his tedder ; not only is he un-
able to touch an .upright Job, but to lay his fingers upon one of the
unbelieving Gadarenes forbidden and filthy swine without special
license (Matt. viii. 31). When he is cast out of one place, he walks
" through dry places seeking rest" (Luke xi. 2-1), new objects for his
malicious designs, — but finding none, till God lets loose the reins
upon him for a new employment. Though Satan's power be great,
yet God suffers him not to tempt as much as his diabolical appetite
would, but as much as Divine wisdom thinks fit ; and the Divine
power tempers the other's active malice, and gives the creature vic-
tory, where the enemy intended spoil and captivity. , How much
stronger is God, than all the legions of hell; as he that holds a
"strong man" (Luke xi. 22) from effecting his purpose, testifies more
ability than his adversary ! How doth he lock him up for a "thou-
sand years" (Rev. xx. 3) in a pound, which he cannot leap over ! and
this restraint is wrought partly by blinding the devil in his designs,
partly by denying him concourse to his motion ; as he hindered the
active quality of the fire upon the three children, by withdrawing
ON" THE POWER OF GOD. 53
his power, which was necessary to the motion of it ; and his power
is as necessary for the motion of the devil, as for that of any other
creature : sometimes he makes him to confess him against his own
interest, as Apollo's oracle confessed. '^ And though when the devil
was cast out of the possessed person, he publicly owned Christ to be
the " Holy one of God" (Mark i. 24), to render him suspected by the
people of having commerce with the unclean spirits; yet this he
could not do without the leave and permission of God, that the
power of Christ, in stopping his mouth and imposing silence upon
him, might be evidenced; and that it reaches to the gates of hell, as
well as to the quieting of winds and waves. This is a part of the
strength, as well as the wisdom of God, that " the deceived and the
deceiver are his" (Job xii. 16): wisdom to defeat, and power to over-
rule his most malicious designs, to his own glory.
2. In the restraint of the natural corruption of men. Since the
impetus of original corruption runs in the blood, conveyed down
from Adam to the veins of all his posterity, and universally diffused
in all mankind ; what wreck and havoc Avould it make in the world,
if it were not su^Dpresscd by this Divine power which presides over
the hearts of men ! Man is so wretched by nature, that nothing but
what is vile and pernicious can drop from him. Man " drinks ini-
quity like water," being, by nature, "abominable and filthy" (Job
XV. 16). He greedily swallows all matter for iniquity, everything
suitable to the mire and poison in his nature, and would sprout it
out with all fierceness and insolence. God himself gives us tlie
description of man's nature (Gen. vi. 5), that he hath not one good
imagination at any time ; and the apostle from the Psalmist dilates
and comments upon it (Rom. iii. 10, &c.) " There is none righteous ;
no, not one ; their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, their feet
are swift to shed blood," &c. This corruption is equal in all, natural
in all ; it is not more poisonous or more fierce in one man, than
in another. The root of all men is the same ; all the branches
therefore do equally possess the villanous nature of the root. No
child of Adam can, iDy natural descent, be better than Adam, or
have less of baseness, and vileness, and venom, than Adam. How
fruitful would this loathsome lake be in all kind of streams ! What
unbridled licentiousness and headstrong fury would triumph in the
world, if the power of God did not interpose itself to lock down the
flood-gates of it ! What rooting up of humxan society would there
be ! how would the world be drenched in blood, the number of
malefactors be greater than that of apprehenders and punishers!
How would the prints of natural laws be rased out of the heart, if
God should leave human nature to itself! Who can read the first
chapter of Romans, (verses 24 to 29), without acknowledging this
truth ? where there is a catalogue of those villanies which followed
upon God's pulling up the sluices, and letting the malignity of their
inward corruption have its natural course ! If God did not hold
back the fury of man, his garden would be overrun, his vine rooted
up ; the inclinations of men would hurry them to the worst of
wickedness. How great is that Power that curbs, bridles, or changes
"^ Caeteros deoe a?reoB (:^^-'\ Ac Grot. Vei'it, Rol. lib, 4,
54 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
as many headstrong liorses at once, and every minute, as there are
sons of Adam upon the earth? The "floods lift up their waves;
the Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea,
than the mighty waves of the sea" (Ps. xciii. 3, 4) ; that doth hush
and pen in the turbulent passions of men.
8. In the orderins^ and framing the hearts of men to his own ends.
That must be an Omnijiotent hand that grasps and contains the hearts
of all men ; the heart of the meanest person, as well as of the most
towering angel, and turns them as he pleases, and makes them some-
time ignorantly, sometime knowingl}^, concur to the accomplishment
of his own purposes ! When the hearts of men are so numerous,
their thoughts so various and different from one another, yet he hath
a key to those millions of hearts, and with infinite power, guided by
as infinite wisdom, he draws them into what channels he pleases, for
the gaining his own ends. Though the Jews had imbrued their
hands in the blood of our Saviour, and their rage was yet reeking-
hot against his followers, God bridled their fury in the church's in-
fancy, till it had got some strength, and cast a terror upon them by
the wonders wrought by the apostles (Acts ii. 43) : " And fear came
upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done by the
apostles." Was there not the same reason in the nature of the works
our Saviour wrought, to point them to the finger of God, and calm
their rage ? Yet did not the power of God work upon their passions
in those miracles, nor stop the impetuousness of the corruption resi-
dent in their hearts. Yet now those who had the boldness to attack
the Son of God and nail him to the cross, are frighted at the appear-
ance of twelve unarmed apostles ; as the sea seems to be afraid when
it approacheth the bounds of the feeble sand. How did God bend
the hearts of the Egyptians to the Israelites, and turn them to that
point, as to lend their most costly vessels, their precious jewels, and
rich garments, to supply those whom they had just before tyrani-
cally loaded with their chains (Exod. iii. 21, 22) ! When a great
part of an army came upon Jehoshaphat, to dispatch him into another
world, how doth God, in a trice, touch their hearts, and move them,
by a secret instinct, at once to depart from him (1 Chron. xviii. 31) !
as if you should see a numerous sight of birds in a moment turn
wing another way, by a sudden and joint consent. When he gave
Saul a kingdom, he gave him a spirit fit for government, " and gave
him another heart" (1 Sam. x. 9) ; and brought the people to submit
to his yoke, who, a little before, wandered about the land upon no
nobler employment than the seeking of asses. It is no small remark
of the power of God, to make a number of strong and discontented
persons, and desirous enough of liberty, to bend their necks under
the yoke of government, and submit to the authority of one, and
that of their own nature, often weaker and unwiser than the most of
them, and many times an oppressor and invader of their rights.
Upon this account David calls God " his fortress, tower, shield" (Ps.
cxliv. 2) ; all terms of strength in subduing the people under him.
It is the mighty hand of God that links princes and people together
in the bands of government. The same hand that assuageth the
waves of the sea, suppresseth the tumults of the people.
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 55
Thirdly, It appears in his gracious and judicial government.
1. In bis gracious government. In the deliverance of his church :
he is the " strength of Israel" (1 Sam, xv. 29), and hath protected
his little flock in the midst of wolves ; and maintained their stand-
ing, when the strongest kingdoms have sunk, and the best jointed
states have been broken in pieces ; when judgments have ravaged
countries, and torn up the mighty, as a tempestuous wind hath olten
done the tallest trees, which seemed to threaten heaven with their
tops, and dare the storm with the depth of their roots, when yet the
vine and rose-bushes have stood firm, and been seen in their beauty
next morning. The state of the church hath outlived the most
flourishing monarchies, when there hath been a mighty knot of ad-
versaries against her ; when the bulls of Bashan have pushed her,
and the whole tribe of the dragon have sharpened their weapons,
and edged their malice ; when the voice was strong, and the hopes
high to rase her foundation even with the ground ; when hell hath
roared ; when the wit of the world hath contrived, and the strength
of the world hath attempted her ruin; when decrees have been
passed against her, and the powers of the world armed for the exe-
cution of them ; when her friends have drooped and skulked in cor-
ners ; when there was no eye to pity, and no hand to assist, help
hath come from heaven ; her enemies have been defeated : kings
have brought gifts to her, and reared her ; tears have been wiped off
her cheeks, and her very enemies, by an unseen power, have been
forced to court her whom before they would have devoured quick.
The devil and his armies have sneaked into their den, and the church
hath triumphed when she hath been upon the brink of the grave.
Thus did God send a mighty angel to be the executioner of Senna-
cherib's army, and the protector of Jerusalem, who run his sword
into the hearts of eighty thousand (2 Kings xix. 35), when they were
ready to swallow up his beloved city. When the knife was at the
throats of the Jews, in Shushan (Esther viii.), by a powerful hand it
Avas turned into the hearts of their enemies. With what an out-
stretched arm were the Israelites freed from the Egyptian yoke (Deut.
iv. 34) ! When Pharaoh had mustered a great army to pursue them,
assisted with six hundred chariots of war, the Red Sea obstructed
their passage before, and an enraged enemy trod on their rear ; when
the fearful Israelites despaired of deliverance, and the insolent Egyp-
tian assured himself of his revenge, God stretches out his irresistible
arm to defeat the enemy, and assist his people ; he strikes down the
wolves, and preserves the flock. God restrained the Egyptian en-
mity against the Israelites till they were at the brink of the Red Sea,
and then lets them follow their humor, and pursue the fugitives, that
his power might more gloriously shine forth in the deliverance of
the one, and the destruction of the other. God might have brought
Israel out of Egypt in the time of those kings that had remembered
the good service of Joseph to their country, but he leaves them till
the reign of a cruel tyrant, suffers them to be slaves, that they might
by his sole power, be conquerors, which had had no appearance had
there been a willing dismission of them at the first summons (Exod.
ix. 16) ; " In very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to
56 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
shew my power, and that my name might be declared throughout
all the earth. I have permitted thee to rise up against my people,
and keep them in captivity, that thou mightest be an occasion for the
manifestation of my povN^er in their rescue ; and whilst thou art ob-
stinate to enslave them, I will stretch out my arm to deliver them,
and make my name famous among the Grentiles, in the wreck of thee
and thy host in the Eed Sea. The deliverance of the church hath
not been in one age, or in one part of the world, but God hath sig-
nalized his power in all kingdoms where she hath had a footing : as
he hath guided her in all places by one rule, animated her by one
spirit, so he hath protected her by the same arm of power. When
the Eoman emperors bandied all their force against her, for about
three hundred years, they were further from eft'ecting her ruin at the
end than when they first attempted it ; the church grew under their
sword, and was hatched under the wings of the Eoman eagle, which
were spread to destroy her. The ark was elevated by the deluge,
and the waters tlie devil poured out to drown her did but slime the
earth for a new increase of her. She hath sometimes been beaten
down, and, like Lazarus, hath seemed to be in the grave for some
days, that the power of God might be more visible in her sudden re-
surrection, and lifting up her head above the throne of her persecu-
tors.
2. In his judicial proceedings. The deluge was no small testimo-
ny of his power, in opening the cisterns of heaven, and pulling up
the sluices of the sea. He doth but call for the waters of the sea,
and they "pour themselves upon the face of the earth" (Amos ix. 6.)
In forty days' time the waters overtopped the highest mountains fif-
teen cubits (Gen. vii. 17 — 20) ; and by the same power he afterwards
reduced the sea to its proper channel, as a roaring lion into his den.
A shower of fire from heaven, upon Sodom, and the cities of the
plain, was a signal display of his power, either in creating it on the
' sudden, for the execution of his righteous sentence, or sending down
the element of fire, contrary to its nature, which affects ascent, for
the punishment of rebels against the light of nature. How often
hath he ruined the most flourishing monarchies, led princes away
spoiled, and overthrown the mighty, which Job makes an argument
of his strength (Job xii. 13, 14). Troops of unknown people, the
Goths and Vandals, broke the Eomans, a warlike people, and hurled
down all before them. They could not have had the thought to suc-
ceed in such an attempt, unless God had given them strength and
motion for the executing his judicial vengeance upon the people of
his wrath. How did he evidence his power, by daubing the throne
of Pharaoh, and his chamber of presence, as well as the houses of
his subjects, with the slime of frogs (Exod. viii. 3) ; turning their
waters into blood, and their dust into biting lice (Exod. vii. 20) ;
raising his militia of locusts against them ; causing a three days'
darkness without stopping the motion of the sun ; taking off their
first-born, the excellency of their strength, in a night, by the stroke
of the angel's sword ! He takes off the chariot wheels of Pharaoh,
and presents him with a destruction where he expected a victory ;
brings those waves over the heads of him and his host, which stood
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 57
firm as marble -walls for the safety of Ms people ; the sea is made to
swallow them up, that durst not, by the order of their Governor,
touch the Israelites : it only sprinkled the one as a type of baptism,
and drowned the other as an image of hell. Thus he made it both
a deliverer and a revenger, the instrument of an offensive and de-
fensive war (Isa. xl. 23, 24) ; " He brings princes to nothing, and
makes the judges of the earth as vanity." Great monarchs have, by
his power, been hurled from their thrones and their sceptres, like
Venice-glasses, broken before their faces, and they been advanced
that have had the least hopes of grandeur. He hath 23lucked up ce-
dars by the roots, lopped oft" the branches, and set a shrub to grow
up in the j^lace ; dissolved rocks, and established bubbles (Luke i.
52) : " He hath showed strength with his arm ; he hath scattered the
proud in the imagination of their hearts ; he hath put down the
mighty from their seat, and exalted them of low degree." — And
these things he doth magnify his power in : —
(1.) By ordering the nature of creatures as he pleases. By re-
straining their force, or guiding their motions. The restraint of the
destructive qualities of the creatures argues as great a power as the
change of their natures, yea, and a greater. The qualities of crea-
tures may be changed by art and composition, as in the preparing of
medicines ; but what but a Divine Power could restrain the opera-
tion of the fire from the three children, while it retained its heat and
burning quality in Nebuchadnezzar's furnace ? The operation w^as
curbed while its nature was preserved. All creatures are called his
host, because he marshals and ranks them as an army to serve his
purposes. The whole scheme of nature is ready to favor men when
God orders it, and ready to punish men when God commissions it.
He gave the Red Sea but a check, and it obeyed his voice (Ps. cvi.
9) : " He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it was dried up ;" the mo-
tion of it ceased, and the waters of it were ranged as defensive walls,
to secure the march of his people : and at the motion of the hand of
Moses, the servant of the Lord, the sea recovered its violence, and
the walls that were framed came tumbling down upon the Egyp-
tian's heads (Exod. xiv. 27). The Creator of nature is not led by
the necessity of nature : he that settled the order of nature, can
change or restrain the order of nature according to his sovereign
pleasure. The most necessary and useful creatures he can use as in-
struments of his vengeance : water is necessary to cleanse, and by
that he can deface a world ; fire is necessary to warm, and by that
he can burn a Sodom : from the water he formed the fowl (Gen. i.
21), and by that he dissolves them in the deluge ; fire or heat is
necessary to the generation of creatures, and by that he ruins the
cities of the plain. He orders all as he pleases, to perform every
tittle and punctilio of his purpose. The sea observed him so exactly,
that it drowned not one Israelite, nor saved one Egyptian (Ps. cvi.
11). There was not one of them left. And to perfect the Israelites'
deliverance, he followed them with testimonies of his power above
the strength of nature. When they wanted drink, he orders Moses
to strike a rock, and the rock spouts a river, and a channel is formed
for it to attend them in their journey. When they wanted bread, he
58 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
dressed manna for them in the heavens, and sent it to their tables in
the desert. When he would declare his strength, he calls to the
heavens to pour down righteousness, and to the earth to bring forth
salvation (Isa. xlv. 8). Though God had created righteousness or
deliverance for the Jews in Babylon, yet he calls to the heavens and
the earth to be assistant to the design of Cyrus, whom he had raised
for that purpose, as he speaks in the beginning of the chapter (verses
1 — 4:). As God created man for a supernatural end, and all creatures
for man as their immediate end, so he makes them, according to op-
portunities, subservient to that supernatural end of man, for Avhich
he created him. He that spans the heavens with his fist, can shoot
all creatures like an arrow, to hit what mark he pleases. He that
spread the heavens and the earth by a word, and can by a word fold
them up more easily than a man can a garment (Heb. i. 12), can
order the streams of nature ; cannot he work without nature as well
as with it, beyond nature, contrary to nature, that can, as it were,
fillip nature with his finger into that nothing whence he drew it ;
who can cast down the sun from his throne, clap the distinguished
parts of the world together, and make them march in the same order
to their confusion, as they did in their creation : who can jumble the
whole frame together, and, by a word, dissolve the pillars of the
world, and make the fabric lie in a ruinous heap ?
(2.) In effecting his purposes by small means : in miaking use of
the meanest creatures. As the power of God is seen in the creation
of the smallest creatures, and assembling so many perfections in the
little body of an insect, as an ant, or spider, so his power is not less
magnified in the use he makes of them. As he magnifies his wis-
dom, by using ignorant instruments, so he exalts his power, by em-
ploying weak instruments in his service : the meanness and imper-
fection of the matter sets off the excellency of the workman ; so the
weakness of the instrument is no foil to the power of the principal
Agent. When God hath effected things by means in the Scripture,
he hath usually brought about his purposes by weak instruments.
Moses, a fugitive from Egypt, and Aaron a captive in it, are the in-
struments of the Israelites' deliverance. By the motion of Moses'
rod, he works wonders in the court of Pharaoh, and summons up his
judgments against him. He brought down Pharaoh's stomach for a
while, by a squadron of lice and locusts, wherein Divine power was
more seen, than if Moses had brought him to his own articles by a
multitude of warlike troops. The fall of the walls of Jericho by
the sound of rams' horns, was a more glorious character of God's
power, than if Joshua had battered it down with a hundred of war-
like engines (Josh vi. 20). Thus the great army of the Midianites,
which lay as grasshoppers upon the ground, were routed by Gideon
in the head of three hundred men ; and Goliath, a giant, laid level
with the ground by David, a stripling, by the force of a sling : a
thousand Philistines dispatched out of the world by the jaw-bone of
an ass in the hand of Samson. He can master a stout nation by an
army of locusts, and render the teeth of those little insects as de-
structive as the teeth, yea, the strongest teeth, the cheek-teeth, of a
great lion (Joel i. 6, 7). The thunderbolt, which produces some-
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 59
times dreadful effects, is compacted of little atoms whicL. fly in the
air, small vapors drawn up by the sun, and mixed with other sul-
phurous matter and petrifying juice. Nothing is so weak, but his
strength can make victorious ; nothing so small, but by his power
he can accomplish his great ends by it ; nothing so vile, but his
might can conduct to his glory ; and no nation so mighty, but he
can waste and enfeeble by the meanest creatures. God is great in
power in the greatest things, and not little in the smallest ; his power
in the minutest creatures which he uses for his service, surmounts
the force of our understanding.
Thirdly. The power of God appears in Redemption. As our
Saviour is called the Wisdom of God, so he is called the Power of
God (1 Cor. i. 24). The arm of Power was lifted up as high as the
designs of Wisdom were laid deep : as this way of redemption could
not be contrived but by an Infinite Wisdom, so it could not be ac-
complished but by an Infinite Power. None but God could shape
such a design, and none but God could effect it. The Divine Power
in temporal deliverances, and freedom from the slaver}^ of human
oppressors, vails to that which glitters in redemption ; whereby the
devil is defeated in his designs, stripped of his spoils, and yoked in
his strength. The power of God in creation requires not those de-
grees of admiration, as in redemption. In creation, the world was
erected from nothing ; as there was nothing to act, so there was
nothing to oppose ; no victorious devil was in that to be subdued ;
no thundering law to be silenced ; no death to be conquered ; no
transgression to be pardoned and rooted out ; no hell to be shut ; no
ignominious death upon the cross to be suffered. It had been, in
the nature of the thing, an easier thing to Divine Power to have
created a nev/ world than repaired a broken, and purified a polluted
one. This is the most admirable work that ever God brought forth
in the world, greater than all the marks of his power in the first creation.
And this will appear, I. In the Person redeeming. II. In the
publication and propagation of the doctrine of redemption. III. In
the application of redemption.
I. In the Person redeeming. First^ In his conception.
1. He was conceived by the Holy Ghost in the womb of the
Virgin (Luke i. 35): "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and
the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee :" which act is ex-
pressed to be the effect of the infinite power of God ; and it ex-
presses the supernatural manner of the forming the humanity of
our Saviour, and signifies not the Divine nature of Christ infusing
itself into the womb of the virgin ; for the angel refers it to the
manner of the operation of the Holy Ghost in the producing the
himaan nature of Christ, and not to the nature assuming that hu-
manity into union with itself The Holy Ghost, or the Third Per-
son in the Trinity, overshadowed the virgin, and by a creative act
framed the humanity of Christ, and united it to the Divinity. It is,
therefore, expressed by a word of the same import with that used in
Gen. i. 2, " The Spirit moved upon the face of the waters," which
signifies (as it were) a brooding upon the chaos, shadowing it with
his wings, as hens sit upon their eggs, to form them and hatch th^m
60 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
into animals; or else it is an allusion to the " cloud wliioli covered
tlie tent of the congregation, when the glory of the Lord filled the
tabernacle" (Exod, xl. 34). It was not such a creative act as we call
immediate, which is a production out of nothing; but a mediate
creation, such as God's bringing things into form out of the first
matter, which had nothing but an obediential or passive disj30sition
to whatsoever stamp the powerful Avisdom of God should imprint
upon it. So the substance of the Virgin had no active, but only a
passive disposition to this work : the matter of the body was earthy,
the substance of the virgin ; the forming of it was heavenly, the
Holy Ghost working upon that matter. And therefore when it is
said, that "she was found with child of the Holy Ghost" (Matt, i. 18),
it is to be understood of the efiicacy of the Holy Ghost, not of the
substance of the Holy Ghost. The matter was natural, but the man-
ner of conceiving was in a supernatural way, above the methods of
nature. In reference to the active principle the Redeemer is called
in the prophecy (Isa. iv. 2), " The branch of the Lord," in regard of
the Divine hand that planted him : in respect to the passive jDrinci-
ple, the fruit of the earth, in regard of the womb that bare him ; and
therefore said to be " made of a woman" (Gal. iv. 4). That part of
the flesh of the virgin whereof the human nature of Christ was made,
was refined and purified from corruption by the overshadowing of
the Holy Ghost, as a skilful workman separates the dross from the
gold: our Saviour is therefore called, " that holy thing" (Luke i. 35),
though born of the virgin : he was necessarily some way to descend
from Adam. God, indeed, might have created his body out of
nothing, or have formed it (as he did Adam's) out of the dust of the
ground : but had he been thus extraordinarily formed, and not pro-
pagated from Adam, though he had been a man like one of us, yet
he would not have been of kin to us, because it would not have been
a nature derived from Adam, the common parent of us all. It was
therefore necessary to an affinity with us, not only that he should
have the same human nature, but that it should flow from the same
principle, and be propagated to him.e But now, by this way of
producing the humanity of Christ of the substance of the virgin, he
was in Adam (say some) corporally, but not seminally ; of the sub-
stance of Adam, or a daughter of Adam, but not of the seed of Adam:
and so he is of the same nature that had sinned, and so what he did
and suffered may be imputed to us ; which, had he been created as
Adam, could not be claimed in a legal and judicial way.
2. It was not convenient he should be born in the common order
of nature, of father and mother : for whosoever is so born is polluted.
" A clean thing cannot be brought out of an unclean" (Job xiv. 4).
And our Saviour had been incapable of being a redeemer, had he
been tainted with the least spot of our nature, but would have stood
in need of redemption himself Besides, it had been inconsistent
with the holiness of the Divine nature, to have assumed a tainted
and defiled body. He that was the fountain of blessedness to all
nations, was not to be subject to the curse of the law for himself;
which he would have been, had he been conceived in an ordinary
« Amyrald. in Symbol, p. 103, <fec.
ON THE POWER OF GOD. €1
way. He that was to overturn the devil's empire, was not to be any
way captive under the devil's power, as a creature under the curse ;
nor could he be able to break the serpent's head, had he been tainted
with the serpent's breath. Again, supposing that Almight}^ God by
his divine power had so ordered the matter, and so perfectly sanc-
tified an earthly father and mother from all original spot, that the
human nature might have been transmitted immaculate to him, as
well as the Holy Ghost did purge that part of the flesh of the virgin
of which the body of Christ was made, yet it was not convenient
that that person, that was God blessed for ever as well as man, par-
taking of our nature, should have a conception in the same manner
as OLirs, but different, and in some measure conformable to the in-
finite dignity of his person : which could not have been, had not a
supernatural power and a Divine person been concerned as an active
principle in it ; besides, such 'a birth had not been agreeable to the
first promise, which calls him " the Seed of the woman" (Gen. i. 15),
not of the man ; and so the veracity of God had suffered some detri-
ment : the Seed of the woman only is set in opposition to the seed
of the serpent.
3. By this manner of conception the holiness of his nature is se-
cured, and his fitness for his office is atsured to us. It is now a pure
and unpolluted humanity that is the temj3le and tabernacle of the
Divinity: the fulness of the Godhead dwells in him bodily, and
dwells in him holily. His humanity is supernaturalized and elevated
by the activity of the Holy Ghost, hatching the flesh of the virgin
into man, as the chaos into a world. Though we read of some sanc-
tified from the womb, it was not a pure and perfect holiness ; it was
like the light of fire mixed with smoke, an infused holiness accom-
panied with a natural taint : but the holiness of the Eedeemer by this
conception, is like the light of the sun, pure, and without spot. The
Spirit of holiness supplying the place of a father in the way of crea-
tion. His fitness for his office is also assured to us ; for being born
of the virgin, one of our nature, but conceived by the Spirit of a
Divine person, the guilt of our sins may be imputed to him because
of our nature, without the stain of sin inherent in him ; because of
his suj)ernatural conception he is capable, as one of kin to us, to bear
our curse without being touched by our taint. By this means our
sinful nature is assumed without sin in that nature which was as-
sumed by him: "flesh he hath, but not sinful flesh" (Rom. viii. 3).
Real flesh, but not really sinful, only by way of imputation. Nothing
but the power of God is evident in this whole work : by ordinary
laws and the course of nature a virgin could not bear a son : nothing
but a supernatural and almighty grace could intervene to make so
holy and perfect a conjunction. The generation of others, in an
ordinary way, is by male and female : but the virgin is overshadowed
by the Spirit and power of the Highest. ^ Man only is the product
of natural generation ; this which is born of the virgin is the holy
thing, the Son of God. In other generations, a rational soul is only
united to a material body : but in this, the Divine nature is united
with the human in one person by an indissoluble union.
f Amyrunt. siu* Timole, p, 292.
62 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
The Second act of power in the person redeeming, is the union of
the two natures, the Divine and human. The designing indeed of
this was an act of wisdom; but the accomphshing it was an act of
power.
1. There is in this redeeming person a union of two natures. He
is God and man in one person (Heb. i. 8, 9). " Thj throne, O God,
is for ever and ever : God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with
the oil of gladness," &c. The Son is called God, having a throne for
ever and ever, and the unction speaks him man : the Godhead can-
not be anointed, nor hath any fellows. Humanity and Divinity are
ascribed to him (Rom. i. 3, 4). " He Avas of the seed of David ac-
cording to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God, by his resur-
rection from the dead." The Divinity and humanity are both pro-
phetically joined (Zech. xii. 10), "I will pour out my Spirit;" the
pouring forth the Spirit is an act only of Divine grace and power.
" And they shall look upon me whom they have pierced ;" the same
person pours forth the Spirit as God, and is pierced as man. " The
Word was made flesh" (John i. 14). Word from eternity was made
flesh in time ; Word and flesh in one person ; a great God, and a
little infant.
2. The terms of this union were infinitely distant. What greater
distance can there be than between the Deity and humanity, between
the Creator and a creature ? Can you imagine the distance between
eternity and time. Infinite Power and miserable infirmity, an immor-
tal spirit and dying flesh, the highest Being and nothing ? yet these
are espoused. A God of unmixed blessedness is linked personally
with a man of perpetual sorrows : life incapable to die, joined to a
body in that economy incapable to live without dying first ; infinite
purity, and a reputed sinner ; eternal blessedness with a cursed
nature, Almightiness and weakness, omniscience and ignorance, im-
mutability and changeableness, incomprehensibleness and compre-
hensibility ; that which cannot be comprehended, and that which
can be comprehended ; that which is entirely independent, and that
which is totally dependent ; the Creator forming all things, and the
creature made, met together to a personal union ; " The word made
flesh" (John i. 14), the eternal Son, the " Seed of Abraham" (Heb.
ii. 16). What more miraculous, than for God to become man, and
man to become God ? That a person possessed of all the perfections
of the Godhead, should inherit all the imperfections of the manhood
in one person, sin only excepted : a holiness incapable of sinning to
be made sin ; God blessed forever, taking the properties of human
nature, and human nature admitted to a union with the properties
of the Creator : the fulness of the Deity, and the emptiness of man
united together (Col. ii. 9) ; not by a shining of the Deity upon the
humanity, as the light of the sun upon the earth, but by an inhabi-
tation or indwelling of the Deity in the humanity. Was there not
need of an Infinite Power to bring together terms so far asunder, to
elevate the humanity to be capable of, and disposed for, a conjunc-
tion with the Deity ? If a clod of earth should be advanced to, and
united with the body of the sun, such an advance would evidence
itself to be a work of Almighty power : the clod hath nothing in its
ON THE POWER OP^ GOD. 63
own nature to render it so glorious, no power to climb up to so high.
a dignity : liow little would such a union be, to tliat we are speak-
ing of! Nothing less than an Incomprehensible Power could effect
what an Incomprehensible Wisdom did project in this affair.
3. Especially since the union is so strait. It is not such a union
as is between a man and his house he dwells in, whence he goes out
and to which he returns, without any alteration of himself or his
house ; nor such a union as is between a man and his garment, which
both communicate and receive warmth from one another ; nor such
as is between an artificer and his instrument wherewith he works ;
nor such a union as one friend hath with another : all these are dis-
tant things, not one in nature, but have distinct substances. Two
friends, though united by love, are distinct persons ; a man and his
clothes, an artificer and his instruments, have distinct subsistencies ;
but the humanity of Christ hath no subsistence, but in the person of
Christ. The straitness of this union is expressed, and may be some-
what conceived, by the union of fire with iron ; " fire pierceth
through all the parts of iron, it unites itself with every particle, be-
stows a light, heat, purity, upon all of it ; you cannot distinguish
the iron from the fire, or the fire from the iron, yet they are distinct
natures ; so the Deity is united to the whole humanity, seasons it,
and bestows an excellency upon it, yet the natures still remain dis-
tinct. And as during that union of fire with iron, the iron is inca-
pable of rust or blackness, so is the humanity incapable of sin : and
as the operation of fire is attributed to the red-hot iron (as the iron
may be said to heat, burn, and the fire may be said to cut and
pierce), yet the imperfections of the iron do not affect the fire ; so in
this mystery, those things which belong to the Divinity are ascribed
to the humanity, and those things which belong to the humanity,
are ascribed to the Divinity, in regard of the person in whom those
natures are united : yet the imperfections of the humanity do not
hurt the Divinity.''^ The Divinity of Christ is as really united with
the humanity, as the soul with the body ; the person was one,
though the natures were two ; so united, that the sufferings of the
human nature were the sufferings of that person, and the dignity of
the Divine was imputed to the human, by reason of that unity of
both in one person ; hence the blood of the human nature is said to
be the " blood of God" (Acts xx. 28). All things ascribed to the
Son of God, may be ascribed to this man ; and the things ascribed
to this man, may be ascribed to the Son of God, as this man is the
Son of God, eternal. Almighty ; and it may be said, " God suffered,
was crucified," &c., for the person of Christ is but one, most simple ;
the person suffered, that was God and Man united, making one per-
son.h
4. And though the union be so strait, yet without confusion of
the natures, or change of them into one another. The two natures
of Christ are not mixed, as liquors that incorporate with one another
when they are poured into a 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 nature distinct from each
K Lessius de Perf. Divin. lib. xii. cap. 4. p. 104. '■ Lessius, pp. 103, 104.
64 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
of them.' The Deity is not turned into the humanity, as air (which
is next to a spirit) may be thickened and turned into water, and
water may be rarified into air by the power of heat boiling it. The
Deity cannot be changed, because the nature of it is to be unchange-
able ; it would not be Deity, if it were mortal and capable of suffer-
ing. The humanity is not changed into the Deity, for then Christ
could not have been a sufferer ; if the humanity had been swallowed
up into the Deity, it had lost its own distinct nature, and put on the
nature of, the Deity, and, consequently, been incapable of suffering;
finite can never, by any mixture, be changed into infinite, nor in-
finite into finite. This union, in this regard, may be resembled to
the union of light and air, which are strictly joined; for the light
passes through all parts of the air, but they are not confounded, but
remain in their distinct essences as before the union, without the
least confusion with one another. The Divine nature remains as it
was before the union, entire in itself; only the Divine person as-
sumes another nature to himself'^ The human nature remains, as
it would have done, had it existed separately from the ^ojoc, except
that then it would have had a proper subsistence by itself, which
now it borrows from its union with the Aoyog^ or, word ; but that
doth not belong to the constitution of its nature. Now let us con-
sider, what a wonder of power is all this : the knitting a noble soul
to a iiody of clay, was not so great an exploit of Almightiness, as
the espousing infinite and finite together. Man is further distant
from God, than man from nothing. What a wonder is it, that two
natures infinitely distant, should be more intimately united than
anything in the world ; and yet without any confusion ! that the
same person should have both a glory and a grief; an infinite joy
in the Deity, and an inexpressible sorrow in the humanity ! That
a God upon a throne should be an infant in a cradle ; the thunder-
ing Creator be a weeping babe and a suffering man, are such ex-
pressions of mighty power, as well as condescending love, that they
astonish men upon earth, and angels in heaven.
Thirdhj^ Power was evident in the progress of his life ; in the
miracles he wrought. How often did he expel malicious and power-
ful devils from their habitations ; hurl them from their thrones, and
make them fall from heaven like lightning ! How many wonders
were wrought by his bare word, or a single touch ! Sight restored
to the blind, and hearing to the deaf; palsy members restored to
the exercise of their functions ; a dismiss given to many deplorable
maladies ; impure leprosies chased from the persons they had in-
fected, and bodies beginning to putrefy raised from the grave. But
the mightiest argument of power was his patience ; that He who
was, in his Divine nature, elevated above the world, should so long
continue upon a dunghill, endure the contradiction of sinners against
himself, be patiently subject to the reproaches and indignities of
men, without displaying that justice which was essential to the
Deity ; and, in especial manner, daily merited by their provoking-
crimes. The patience of man under great affronts, is a greater argu-
ument of power, than the brawniness of his arm ; a strength employ-
» Lessius pp. 103, 104. Amyrald. L-enic. p. 284. '^ Amyrald. Ii-enic. p. 282.
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 65
ed in the revenge of every injury, signifies a greater infirmity in the
soul, than there can be ability in the body.
Fourthly, Divine power was apparent in his resurrection. The
unlocking the belly of the whale for the deliverance of Jonas ; the
rescue of Daniel from the den of lions ; and the restraining the fire
from burning the three children, were signal declarations of his
power, and types of the resurrection of our Saviour. But what arc
those to that which was represented by them ? That was a power
over natural causes, a curbing of beasts, and restraining of elements ;
but in the resurrection of Christ, God exercised a power over him-
self, and quenched the flames of his own wrath, hotter than millions
of Nebuchadnezzar's furnaces ; unlocked the prison doors, wherein
the curses of the law had lodged our Saviour, stronger than the belly
and ribs of a leviathan. In the rescue of Daniel and Jonas, God
overpowered beasts ; and in this tore up the strength of the old ser-
pent, and plucked the sceptre from the hand of the enemy of man-
kind. The work of resurrection, indeed, considered in itself, re-
quires the efiicacy of an Almighty power ; neither man nor angel
can create new dispositions in a dead body, to render it capable of
lodging a spiritual soul ; nor can they restore a dislodged soul, by
their own power, to such a body. The restoring a dead body to
life requires an infinite power, as well as the creation of the world ;
but there was in the resurrection of Christ, something more difficult
than this ; while he lay in the grave he was under the curse of the
law, under the execution of that dreadful sentence, " Thou shalt die
the death." His resurrection was not only the re-tying the marriage
knot between his soul and body, or the rolling the stone from the
grave ; but a taking off an infinite weight, the sin of mankind, which
lay upon him. So vast a weight could not be removed without the
strength of an Almighty arm. It is, therefore, not to an ordinary
operation, but an operation with power (Rom. i. 4), and such a power
wherein the glory of the Father did appear (Eom. vi. 4); " Raised
up from the dead by the glory of the Father," that is, the glorious
power of God. As the Eternal generation is stupendous, so is his
resurrection, wdiicli is called, a new begetting of him (Acts xiii. 83).
It is a wonder of power, that the Divine and human nature should
be joined; and no less wonder that his person should surmount and
rise up from the curse of God, under which he lay. The apostle,
therefore, adds one expression to another, and heaps up a variety,
signifying thereby that one was not enough to represent, it (Eph. i.
19); "Exceeding greatness of power, and working of mighty power,
which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead."
It was an hyperbole of power, the excellency of the mightiness of
his strength : the loftiness of the expressions seems to come short of
the apprehension he had of it in his soul.
II. This power appears in the publication and propagation of the
doctrine of redemption. The Divine power will appear, if you con-
sider, 1. The nature of the doctrine. 2, The instruments employed
in it. 3. The means they used to propagate it. 4. The success
they had.
1. The nature of the doctrine. (1.) It was contary to the common
VOL. II. — V.
66 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
received reason of the world. The philospbers, the masters of
knowledge among the Gentiles, had maxims of a different stamp
from it. Though they agreed in the being of a God, yet their no-
tions of his nature were confused and embroiled with many errors ;
the unity of God was not commonly assented unto ; they had mul-
tiplied deities according to the fancies they had received from some
of a more elevated wit and refined brain than others. Though they
had some notion of mediators, yet they placed in those seats their
public benefactors, men that had been useful to the world, or their
particular countries, in imparting to them some profitable invention.
To discard those, was to charge themselves with ingratitude to them,
from whom they had received signal benefits, and to whose media-
tion, conduct, or protection, they ascribed all the success they had
been blessed with in their several provinces, and to charge them-
selves with folly for rendering an honor and worship to them so
long. Could the doctrine of a crucified Mediator, whom they had
never seen, that had conquered no country for them, never enlarged
their territories, brought to light no new profitable invention for the
increase of their earthly welfare, as the rest had done, be thought
sufficient to balance so many of their reputed heroes ? How igno-
rant were they in the foundations of the true religion ! The belief
of a Providence was staggering ; nor had they a true prospect of the
nature of virtue and vice ; yet they had a fond opinion of the
strength of their own reason, and the maxims that had been handed
down to them by their predecessors, which Paul (1 Tim. vi. 20) en-
titles, a " science falsely so called," either meant of the philosophers
or the Gnostics. They presumed that they were able to measure all
things by their own reason ; whence, when the apostle came to
preach the doctrine of the Gospel at Athens, the great school of
reason in that age, they gave him no better a title than that of a
babbler (Acts xvii. 18), and openly mocked him (ver. 32) ; a seed
gatherer,' one that hath no more brain or sense than a fellow that
gathers up seeds that are s|)illed in a market, or one that hath a vain
and empty sound, without sense or reason, like a foolish mounte-
bank; so slightly did those rationalists of the world think of the
wisdom of heaven. That the Son of God should veil himself in a
mortal body, and suffer a disgraceful death in it, were things above
the ken of reason. Besides, the world had a general disesteem of
the religion of the Jews, and were prejudiced against anything that
came from them ; whence the Eomans, that used to incorporate the
gods of other conquered nations in their capital, never moved to
have the God of Israel worshipped among them. Again, they might
argue against it with much fleshly reason : here is a crucified God,
preached by a company of mean and ignorant persons, what reason
can we have to entertain this doctrine, since the Jews, who, as they
tell us, had the prophecies of him, did not acknowledge him ? Sure-
ly, had there been such predictions, they would not have crucified,
but crowned their King, and expected from him the conquest of the
earth under their power. What reason have we to entertain him,
whom his own nation, among whom he lived, with whom he con-
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 67
versed so unanimously, by tlic vote of the rulers as well as tlie rout,
rejected? It was impossible to conquer minds possessed with so
many errors, and applauding themselves in their own reason, and to
render them capable of receiving revealed truths without the influ-
ence of a Divine power.
(2.) It was contrary to the customs of the world. The strength
of custom in most men, surmounts the strength of reason, and men
commonly are so wedded to it, that they will be sooner divorced
from anything than the modes and patterns received from their an-
cestors. The endeavoring to change customs of an ancient stand-
ing, hath begotten tumults and furious mutinies among nations,
though the change would have been much for their advantage. This
doctrine struck at the root of the religion of the world, and the cere-
monies, wherein they had been educated from their infancy, de-
livered to them from their ancestors, confirmed by the customary
observance of many ages, rooted in their minds and established by
their laws (Acts xviii. 13) ; " This fellow persuadeth us to worship
God contrary to the law ;" against customs, to which they ascribed
the happiness of their states, and the prosperity of their people, and
Avould put, in the place of this religion they would abolish, a new
one instituted by a man, whom the Jews had condemned, and put
to death upon a cross, as an impostor, blasphemer, and seditious
person. It was a doctrine that would change the customs of the
Jews, who were intrusted with the oracles of God. It would bury
forever their ceremonial rites, delivered to them by Moses, from that
God, who had, with a mighty hand, brought them out of Egypt,
consecrated their law with thunders and lightnings from Mount
Sinai, at the time of its publication, backed it with severe sanctions,
confirmed it by many miracles, both in the wilderness and their
Canaan, and had continued it for so many hundred years. They
could not but remember how they had been ravaged by other na-
tions, and judgments sent upon them when they neglected and
slighted it ; and with what great success they were followed when
they valued and observed it ; and how they had abhorred the Author
of this new religion, who had spoken slightly of their traditions, till
they put him to death with infamy. Was it an easy matter to
divorce them from that worship, upon which were entailed, as they
imagined, their peace, plenty, and glory, things of the dearest re-
gard with mankind ? The Jews were no less devoted to their cerC'
monial traditions than the heathen were to their vain superstitions.
This doctrine of the gospel was of that nature, that the state of re-
ligion, all over the earth, must be overturned by it ; the wisdom of
the Greeks must vail to it, the idolatry of the people must stoop to
it, and the profane customs of men must moulder under the weight
of it. Was it an easy matter for the pride of nature to deny a cus-
tomary wisdom, to entertain a new doctrine against the authority of
their ancestors, to inscribe folly upon that which hath made them
admired by the rest of the world? Nothing can be of greater
esteem with men, than the credit of their lawgivers and founders,
the religion of their fathers, and prosperity of themselves : hence
the minds of men were sharpened against it. The Greeks, the
68 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
wisest nation, slighted it as foolisli ; tlie Jews, tlie religious nation,
stumbled at it, as contrary to the received interpretations of ancient
prophecies and carnal conceits of an earthly glory. The dimmest
eye may behold the difficulty to change custom, a second nature :
it is as hard as to change a wolf into a lamb, to level a mountain,
stop the course of the sun, or change the inhabitants of Africa into
the color of Europe. Custom dips men in as durable a dye as na-
ture. The difficulties of carrying it on against the Divine religion
of the Jew, and rooted custom of the Gentiles, were unconquerable
by any but an Almighty power. And in this the power of God
hath appeared wonderfully.
(3.) It was contrary to the sensuality of the world, and the lusts
of the flesh. How much the Gentiles were overgrown with base
and unworthy lusts at tlie time of the publication of the gospel,
needs no other memento than the apostle's discourse (Kom. i). As
there was no error but prevailed upon their minds, so there was no
brutish affection but was wedded to their hearts. The doctrine pro-
posed to them was not easy ; it flattered not the sense, but checked
the stream of nature. It thundered down those three great engines
whereby the devil had subdued the world to himself: " the lust of
the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life :" not only the
most sordid affections of the flesh, but the more refined gratifications
of the mind : it stripped nature both of devil and man ; of what was
commonly esteemed great and virtuous. That which was the root
of their fame, and the satisfaction of their ambition, was struck at
by this axe of the gospel. The first article of it ordered them to
deny themselves, not to presume upon their own worth ; to lay their
understandings and wills at the foot of the cross, and resign them up
to one newly crucified at Jerusalem : honors and wealth were to h<.^
despised, flesh to be tamed, the cross to be borne, enemies to be
loved, revenge not to be satisfied, blood to be spilled, and torments
to be endured for the honor of One they never saw, nor ever be-
fore heard of; who was preached with the circumstances of a shame-
ful death, enough to affright them from the entertainment : and the
report of a resurrection and glorious ascension were things never
heard of by them before, and unknown in the world, that would not
easily enter into the belief of men : the cross, disgrace, self-denial,
were only discoursed of in order to the attainment of an invisible
world, and an unseen reward, which none of their predecessors ever
returned to acquaint them with ; a patient death, contrary to the
pride of nature, was published as the way to happiness and a blessed
immortality : the dearest lusts were to be pierced to death for the
honor of this new Lord. Other religions brought wealth and honor ;
this struck them off from such expectations, and presented them
with no promise of anything in this life, but a prospect of misery ;
except those inward consolations to which before they had been utter
strangers, and had never experimented. It made them to depend
not upon themselves, but upon the sole grace of God. It decried all
natural, all moral idolatry, things as dear to men as the apple of
their eyes. It despoiled them of whatsoever the mind, will, and
affections of men, naturally lay claim to, and glory in. It pulled
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 69
self up by the roots, unmanned carnal man, and debased the prin-
ciple of honor and self-satisfaction, which the world counted at that
time noble and brave. In a word, it took them off from themselves,
to act like creatures of God's framing ; to know no more than he
would admit them, and do no more than he did command them.
How difficult must it needs be to reduce men, that placed all their
happiness in the pleasures of this life, from their pompous idolatry
and brutish affections, to this mortifying religion ! What might the
world say ? Here is a doctrine will render us a company of puling
animals : farewell generosity, bravery, sense of honor, courage in
enlarging the bounds of our country, for an ardent charity to the
bitterest of our enemies. Here is a religion will rust our swords,
canker our arms, dispirit what we have hitherto called virtue, and
annihilate what hath been esteemed worthy and comely among man-
kind. Must we change conquest for suffering, the increase of our
reputation for self-denial, the natural sentiment "of self-preservation
for affecting a dreadful death ? How impossible was it that a cru-
cified Lord, and a crucifying doctrine should be received in the
world without the mighty operation of a divine power upon the
hearts of men ! And in this also the almighty power of God did
notably shine forth.
2. Divine power appeared in the instruments employed for the
publishing and propagating the gospel ; who were (1.) Mean and
worthless in themselves: not noble and dignified with an earthly
grandeur, but of a low condition, meanly bred : so far from any
splendid estates, that they possessed nothing but their nets ; without
any credit and reputation in the world; without comeliness and
strength ; as unfit to subdue the world by preaching, as an army of
hares were to conquer it by war : not learned doctors, bred up at the
feet of the famous Rabbins at Jerusalem, whom Paul calls "the
princes of the world" (1 Cor. ii. 8) ; nor nursed up in the school of
Athens, under the philosophers and orators of the time : not the
wise men of Greece, but the fishermen of Galilee ; naturally skilled
in no language but their own, and no more exact in that than those
of the same condition in any other nation : ignorant of everything
but the language of their lakes, and their fishing trade ; except Paul,
called some time after the rest to that employment : and after the
descent of the Spirit, they were ignorant and unlearned in every-
thing but the doctrine they were commanded to publish ; for the
council, before whom they were summoned, proved them to be so,
which increased their wonder at them (Acts iv. 13). Had it been
published by a voice from heaven, that twelve poor men, taken out
of boats and creeks, without any help of learning, should conquer
the world to the cross, it might have been thought an illusion against
all the reason of men ; yet we know it was undertaken and accom-
plished by them. They published this doctrine in Jerusalem, and
quickly spread it over the greatest part of the world. Folly out-
witted wisdom, and weakness overpowered strength. The conquest
of the east by Alexander was not so admirable as the enterprise of
these poor men. He attempted his conquest with the hands of a
warlike nation, though, indeed, but a small number of thirty thou-
70 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
sand against multitudes, many hundred thousands of the enemies ;
yet an effeminate enemy ; a people inured to slaughter and victory
attacked great numbers, but enfeebled by luxury and voluptuousness.
Besides, he was bred up to such enterprises, had a learned education
under the best philosopher, and a military education under the best
commander, and a natural courage to animate him. These instru-
ments had no such advantage from nature ; the heavenly treasure
was placed in those earthen vessels, as Gideon's lamps in empty
pitchers (Judges vii. 16), that the excellency, or hyjjerbole, of the
power, might be of God (2 Cor. iv. 7), and the strength of his arm
be displayed in the infirmity of the instruments. They were desti-
tute of earthly wisdom, and therefore despised by the Jews, and de-
rided by the Gentiles; the publishers were accounted madmen, and
the embracers fools. Had they been men of known natural endow-
ments, the power of God had been veiled under the gifts of the creature.
(2.) Therefore a Divine power suddenly spirited them, and fitted
them for so great a work. Instead of ignorance, they had the
knowledge of the tongues ; and they that were scarce well skilled in
their own dialect, were instructed on the sudden to speak the most
flourishing languages in the world, and discourse to the people of
several nations the great things of God (Acts ii. 11). Though they
Avere not enriched with any worldly wealth, and possessed nothing,
yet they were so sustained that they wanted nothing in any place
where they came ; a table was spread for them in the midst of their
bitterest enemies. Their fcarfulness was changed into courage, and
they that a few days before skulked in corners for fear of the
Jews (John xx. 19), speak boldly in the name of that Jesus, whom
they had seen put to death by the power of the rulers and the fury
of the people : they reproach them with the murder of their Master,
and outbrave that great people in the midst of their temple, with
the glory of that person they had so lately crucified (Acts ii 23 ; iii.
13). Peter, that was not long before qualmed at the presence of a
maid, was not daunted at the presence of the council, that had their
hands yet reeking with the blood of his Master ; but being filled with
the Holy Ghost, seems to dare the power of the priests and Jewish
governors, and is as confident in the council chamber, as he had
been cowardly in the high-priest's hall (Acts iv. 9), &c., the efiicacy
of grace triumphing over the fcarfulness of nature. Whence should
this ardor and zeal, to propagate a doctrine that had already borne
the scars of the peoples' fury be, but from a mighty Power, which
changed those hares into lions, and stripped them of their natural
cowardice to clothe them with a Divine courage ; making them in a
moment both wise and magnanimous, alienating them from any con-
sultations with flesh and blood ? As soon as ever the Holy Ghost
came upon them as a mighty rushing wind, they move up and down
for the interest of God ; as fish, after a great clap of thunder, are
roused, and move more nimbly on the top of the water ; therefore,
that which did so fit them for this undertaking, is called by the title
of " power from on high" (Luke xxiv. 49).
3. The Divine power appears in the means whereby it was prop-
agated.
ON THE POWER OF GOD, 71
(1.) By means different from the methods of the world. Not by
force of arms, as some religions have taken root in the world. Ma-
homet's horse hath trampled upon the heads of men, to imprint an
Alcoran in their brains, and robbed men of their goods to plant their
religion. But the apostles bore not this doctrine through the world
upon the points of their swords ; they presented a bodily death where
they would bestow an immortal life. They employed not troops of
men in a warlike posture, which had been possible for them after
the gospel was once spread ; they had no ambition to subdue men
unto themselve, but to God ; they coveted not the possessions of oth-
ers ; designed not to enrich themselves ; invaded not the rights of
princes, nor the liberties and properties of the people : they rifled
them not of their estates, nor scared them into this religion by a fear
of losing their worldly happiness. The arguments they used would
naturally drive them from an entertainment of this doctrine, rather
than allure them to be proselytes to it : their design was to change
their hearts, not their government ; to wean them from the love of
the world, to a love of a Eedeemer ; to remove that which would
ruin their souls. It was not to enslave them, but ransom them ; they
had a warfare, but not with carnal weapons, but such as were
" mighty through God for the pulling down strongholds" (2 Cor. x. 4) ;
they used no weapons but the doctrine they preached. Others that
have not gained conquests by the edge of the sword and the strata-
gems of war, have extended their opinions to others by the strength
of human reason, and the insinuations of eloquence. But the apos-
tles had as little flourish in their tongues, as edge upon their swords :
their preaching was "not with the enticing words of man's wisdom"
(1 Cor. ii. 4) ; their presence was mean, and their discourses without
varnish; their doctrine was plain, a "crucified Christ;" a doctrine
unlaced, ungarnished, untoothsome to the world ; but they had the
demonstration of the Spirit, and a mighty power for their companion
in the work. The doctrine they preached, viz. the death, resurrection
and ascension of Christ, are called the powers, not of this world, but
" of the world to come" (Heb. vi. 5). No less than a supernatural
power could conduct them in this attempt, with such weak methods
in human appearance.
(2.) Against all the force, power, and wit of the world. The di-
vision in the eastern empire, and the feeble and consuming state of
the western, contributed to Mahomet's success.™ But never was
Eome in a more flourishing condition : learning, eloquence, wisdom,
strength, were at the highest pitch. Never was there a more dili-
gent watch against any innovations ; never was that state governed
by more severe and suspicious princes, than at the time when Tibe-
rius and Nero held the reins. No time seemed to be more unfit for
the entrance of a new doctrine than that age, wherein it begun to be
first published ; never did any religion meet with that opposition
from men. Idolatry hath been often settled without any contest ;
but this hath suffered the same fate with the institutor of it, and en-
dured the contradictions of sinners against itself: and those that
published it, were not only without any worldly prop, but exposed
"> Daille, Serai. XV. p. 57.
72 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
themselves to the hatred and fury, to the racks and tortures, of the
strongest powers on earth. It never set foot in any place, but the
country was in an uproar (Acts xix. 28) ; swords were drawn to
destroy it ; laws made to suppress it ; prisons provided for the pro-
fessors of it ; fires kindled to consume them, and executioners had a
perpetual employment to stifle the progress of it. Eome, in its con-
quest of countries, changed not the religion, rites, and modes of
their worship : they altered their civil government, but left them to
the liberty of their religion, and many times joined with them in
the worship of their peculiar gods ; and sometime imitated them at
Eome, instead of abolishing them in the cities they had subdued.
But all their councils were assembled, and their force was bandied
" against the Lord, and against his Christ ;" and that city that kindly
received all manner of superstitions, hated this doctrine Avitli an ir-
reconcileable hatred. It met with reproaches from the wise, and
fury from the potentates ; it was derided by the one as the greatest
folly, and persecuted by the other as contrary to God and mankind;
the "one were afraid to lose their esteems by the doctrine, and the
other to lose their authority by a sedition they thought a change of
religion would introduce. The Romans, that had been conquerors
of the earth, feared intestine commotions, and the falling asunder
the links of their empire : scarce any of their first emperors, but
had their swords dyed red in the blood of the Christians. The flesh
with all its lusts, the world with all its flatteries the statesmen with
all their craft, and the mighty with all their strength, joined to-
gether to extirpate it : though many members were taken off by the
fires, yet the church not only lived, but flourished, in the furnace.
Converts were made by the death of martyrs ; and the flames which
consumed their bodies, were the occasion of firing men's hearts with
a zeal for the profession of it. Instead of being extinguished, the
doctrine shone more bright, and multiplied under the sickles that
were employed to cut it down. God ordered every circumstance so,
both in the persons that published it, the means whereby, and the
time when, that nothing but his power might appear in it, without
anything to dim and darken it.
4. The Divine power was conspicuous in the great success it had
under all these difficulties. Multitudes were prophesied of to em-
brace it; whence the prophet Isaiah, after the prophecy of the
death of Christ (Isa. liii.), calls upon the church to enlarge her tents,
and " lengthen out her cords" to receive those multitudes of chil-
dren that should call her mother (Isa. liv. 2, 3); for she should
"break forth on the right hand and on the left, and her seed should
inherit the Gentiles 1" the idolaters and persecutors should list their
names in the muster-roll of the church. Presently, after the descent
of the Holy Ghost from heaven upon the apostles, you find the
hearts of three thousand melted by a plain declaration of this doc-
trine ; who were a little before so far from having a favorable
thought of it, that some of them at least, if not all, had expressed
their rage against it, in voting for the condemning and crucifying
the Author of it (Acts ii. 41, 42) : but in a moment they were so
altered, that they breathe out affections instead of fury ; neither the
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 73
respect they tad to their rulers, nor the honor they bore to their
priests ; not the derisions of the people, nor the threatening of pun-
ishment, could stop them from owning it in the face of multitudes
of discouragements. How wonderful is it that they should so soon,
and by such small means, pay a reverence to the servants, who had
none for the Master ! that they should hear them with patience,
without the same clamor against them as against Christ, " Crucify
them, crucify them !" but, that their hearts should so suddenly be in-
flamed with devotion to him dead, whom they so much abhorred
when living. It had gained footing not in a corner of the world,
but in the most famous cities ; in Jerusalem, where Christ had been
crucilied ; in Antioch, where the name of Christians first began ; in
Corinth, a place of ingenious arts ; and Ephesus, the seat of a noted
idol. In less than twenty years, there was never a province of the
Roman empire, and scarce any part of the known world, but was
stored with the professors of it. Rome, that was the metropolis of
the idolatrous world, had multitudes of them sprinkled in every
corner, whose " faith was spoken of throughout the world" (Rom. i.
8). The court of Nero, that monster of mankind, and the crudest
and sordidest tyrant that ever breathed, was not empty of sincere
votaries to it ; there were " saints in Cassar's house" while Paul was
under Nero's chain (Phil, iv.) : and it maintained its standing, and
and flourished in spite of all the force of hell, two hundred and
fifty years before any sovereign prince espoused it. The potentates
of the earth had conquered the lands of men, and subdued their bo-
dies ; these vanquished hearts and wills, and brought the most be-
loved thoughts under the yoke of Christ : so much did this doctrine
overmaster the consciences of its followers, that they rejoiced more
at their yoke, than others at their liberty ; and counted it more a
glory to die for the honor of it, than to live in the profession of it.
Thus did our Saviour reign and gather subjects in the midst of his
enemies ; in which respect, in the first discovery of the gospel, he is
described as " a mighty Conqueror" (Rev. vi. 2), and still conquering
in the greatness of his strength. How great a testimony of his
power is it, that from so small -a cloud should rise so glorious a sun,
that should chase before it the darkness and power of hell ; triumph
over the idolatry, superstition, and profaneness of the world ! This
plain doctrine vanquished the obstinacy of the Jews, baffled the un-
derstanding of the Greeks, humbled the pride of the grandees,
threw the devil not only out of bodies, but hearts; tore up the foun-
dation of his empire, and planted the cross, where the devil had for
many ages before established his standard. How much more than a
human force is illustrious in this whole conduct! Nothing in any
age of the world can parallel it : it being so much against the me-
thods of nature, the disposition of the world, and (considering the
resistance against it) seems to surmount even the works of creation.
Never were there, in any profession, such multitudes, not of bed-
lams, but men of sobriety, acuteness, and wisdom, tliat exposed
themselves to the fury of the flames, and challenged death in the
most terrifying shapes for the honor of this doctrine. To conclude,
this should be often meditated upon to form our understandings to a
74 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTEIBUTES.
full assent to tlie gospel, and the trutli of it ; the want of which con-
sideration of power, and the customariness of an education in the
outward profession of it, is the ground of all the profaneness under
it, and apostasy from it ; the disesteem of the truth it declares, and
the neglect of the duties it enjoins. The more we have a prospect
and sense of the impressions of Divine power in it, the more we
shall have a reverence of the Divine jirecepts.
III. The third thing is, the power of God appears in the applica-
tion of redemption, as well as in the Person redeeming, and the
publication and propagation of the doctrine of redemption : 1. In
the planting grace. 2. In the pardon of sin. 3. In the preserving
grace.
First, In the planting grace. There is no expression which the
Spirit of God hath thought fit in Scripture to resemble this work to,
but argues the exerting of a Divine power for the effecting of it.
When it is expressed by light, it is as much as the power of God in
the creating the sun ; when by regeneration, it is as much as the
power of God in forming an infant, and fashioning all the parts of
a man ; when it is called resurrection, it is as much as the rearing
of a body again out of putrified matter ; when it is called creation, it
is as much as erecting a comely world out of mere nothing, or an
inform and uncomely mass. As we could not contrive the death of
Christ for our redemption, so we cannot form our souls to the ac-
ceptation of it ; the infinite efficacy of grace is as necessary for the
one, as the infinite wisdom of God was for laying the platform of
the other. It is by his power we have whatsoever pertains to god-
liness as well as life (2 Pet. i, 3) ; he puts his fingers upon the han-
dle of the lock, and turns the heart to what point he pleases ; the
action whereby he performs this, is expressed by a word of force ;
" He hath snatched us from the power of darkness :"" the action
whereby it is performed manifests it. In reference to this power, it is
called creation, which is a production from nothing ; and conversion is
a production from something more incapable of that state, than mere
nothing is of being. There is greater distance between the terms of
sin and righteousness, corruption and grace, than between the terms of
nothing and being ; the greater the distance is, the more power is re-
quired to the producing any thing. As in miracles, the miracle is
the greater, where the change is the greater ; and the change is the
greater, where the distance is the greater. As it was a more signal
mark of power to change a dead man to life, than to change a sick
man to health ; so that the change here being from a term of a
greater distance, is more powerful than the creation of heaven and
earth. Therefore, whereas creation is said to be wrought by his
hands, and the heavens by his fingers, or his word ; conversion is
said to be wrought by his arm (Isa. liii. 1). In creation, we had an
earthly ; by conversion, a heavenly state : in creation, nothing is
changed into something; in conversion, hell is transformed into
heaven, which is more than the turning nothing into a glorious
angel. In that thanksgiving of our Saviour, for the revelation of
the knowledge of himself to babes, the simple of the world, he gives
" Colos. i. 19. ippvbaro.
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 75
tlie title to Ms Fatlier, of " Lord of heaven and earth" (Matt. xi. 5) ;
intimating it to be an act of his creative and preserving power ; tliat
power whereby he formed heaven and earth, hath preserved the
standing, and governed the motions of all creatures from the begin-
ning of the world. It is resembled to the most magnificent act of
divine power that God ever put forth, viz. that " in the resurrection
of our Saviour" (Eph. i. 19) ; wherein there was more than an or-
dinary impression of might. It is not so small a power as that
whereby we speak with tongues, or whereby Christ opened the
mouths of the dumb, and the ears of the deaf, or unloosed the cords
of death from a person. It is not that power whereby our Saviour
wrought those stupendous miracles when he was in the world : but
that power which \vrought a miracle that amazed the most knowing
angels, as well as ignorant man ; the taking oft' the weight of the sin of
the world from our Saviour, and advancing him in his human nature
to rule over the angelic host, making him head of principalities and
powers ; as much as to say, as great as all that power which is dis-
played in our redemption, from the first foundation to the last line in
the superstructure. It is, therefore, often set forth with an em-
phasis, as " Excellency of power" (2 Cor. iv. 7), and " Glorious power"
(2 Pet. i. 3): " to glory and virtue," we translate it, but it is diu dd^rjc^
through glory and virtue, that is, by a glorious virtue or strength.
The instrument whereby it is wrought, is dignified with the title
of power. The gospel which God useth in this great affair is called
" The power of God to salvation" (Eom. 1. 16), and the " Eod of
his strength" (Ps. ex. 2) ; and the day of the gospel's appearance in
the heart is emphatically called, "The day of power" (ver. 3);
wherein he brings down strong-holds and towering imaginations.
And, therefore, the angel Gabriel, which name signifies the power
of God, was always sent upon those messages which concerned the
gospel, as to Daniel, Zacharias, Mary.o The gospel is the power of
God in a way of instrumentality, but the almightiness of God is the
principal in a way of efficiency. The gospel is the sceptre of Christ ;
but the power of Christ is the mover of that sceptre. The gospel
is not as a bare word spoken, and proposing the thing ; but as
backed with a higher efficacy of grace ; as the sword doth instru-
mentally cut, but the arm that wields it gives the blow, and makes
it successful in the stroke. But this gospel is the power of God,
because he edgeth this by his own power, to surmount all resist-
ance, and vanquish the greatest malice of that man he designs to
work upon. The power of God is conspicuous,
1, In turning the heart of man against the strength of the inclina-
tions of nature. In the forming of man of the dust of the ground ;
as the matter contributed nothing to the action whereby God formed
it, so it had no principle of resistance contrary to the design of God ;
but in converting the heart, there is not only wanting a principle of
assistance from him in this work, but the whole strength of corrupt
nature is alarmed to combat against the power of his grace. When
the gospel is presented, the understanding is not only ignorant of it,
but the will perverse against it ; the one doth not relish, and the
" Grotius in Luke i. 19.
76 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
other dotli not esteem, the excellency of the object. The carnal
wisdom in the mind contrives against it, and the rebellious will puts
the orders in execution against the counsel of God, which requires
the invincible power of God to enlighten the dark mind, to know
what it slights ; and the fierce will, to embrace what it loathes.
The stream of nature cannot be turned, but by a power above na-
ture ; it is not all the created power in heaven and earth can change
a swine into a man, or a venemous toad into an holy and illustrious
angel. Yet this work is not so great, in some respect, as the stilling
the fierceness of nature, the silencing the swelling waves in the
heart, and the casting out those brutish affections which are born
and grow up with us. There would be no, or far less, resistance in
a mere animal, to be changed into a creature of a higher rank, than
there is in a natural man to be turned into a serious Christian.
There is in every natural man a stoutness of heart, a stiff neck, un-
willingness to good, forwardness to evil ; Infinite Power quells this
stoutness, demolisheth these strongholds, turns this wild ass in her
course, and routs those armies of turbulent nature against the grace
of God, To stop the floods of the sea is not such an act of power,
as to turn the tide of the heart. This power hath been employed
upon every convert in the world ; what would you say, then, if
you knew all the channels in which it hath run since the days of
Adam ? If the alteration of one rocky heart into a pool of water be
a wonder of power, what then is the calming and sweetening by his
word those 144,000 of the tribes of Israel, and that numberless
multitude of all nations and people that shall stand "before the
throne" (Rev. vii. 9), which were all naturally so many raging seas?
Not one converted soul from Adam to the last that shall be in the
end of the world, but is a trophy of the Divine conquest. None
were pure volunteers, nor listed themselves in his service, till he put
forth his strong arm to draw them to him. No man's understand-
ing, but was chained with darkness, and fond of it ; no man but
had corruption in his will, which was dearer to him than anything
else which could be proposed for his true happiness. These things
are most evident in Scripture and experience.
2. As it is wrought against the inclinations of nature, so against
a multitude of corrupt habits rooted in the souls of men. A dis-
temper in its first invasion may more easily be cured, than when it
becomes chronical and inveterate. The strength of a disease, or the
complication of many, magnifies the power of the physician, and
efl&cacy of the medicine that tames and expels it. What power is
that which hath made men stoop, when natural habits have been
grown giants by custom ; when the putrefaction of nature hath en-
gendered a multitude of worms ; when the ulcers are many and de-
plorable ; when many cords, wherewith God would have bound the
sinner, have been broken, and (like Sampson) the wicked heart hath
gloried in its strength, and grown more proud, that it hath stood like
a strong fort against those batteries, under which others have fallen
flat ; every proud thought, every evil habit captivated, serves for
matter of triumph to the "power of God" (2 Cor. x. 5). What re-
sistance will a multitude of them make, when one of them is enough
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 77
to hold tlie faculty under its dominion, and intercept its operations?
So many customary habits, so many old natures, so many different
strengtlis added to nature, every one of them standing as a barricado
against the way of grace ; all the errors the* understanding is pos-
sessed with, think the gospel folly ; all the vices the will is filled
with, count it the fetter and band. Nothing so contrary to man, as
to be thought a fool ; nothing so contrary to man, as to enter into
slaver3^ It is no easy matter to plant the cross of Christ upon a
heart guided by many principles against the truth of it, and biased
by a world of wickedness against the holiness of it. Nature renders
a man too feeble and indisposed, and custom renders a man more
weak and unwilling to change his hue (Jer. xiii. 23). To dispossess
man then of his self-esteem and self-excellency ; to make room for
God in the heart, where there was none but for sin, as dear to him
as himself ; to hurl down the pride of nature ; to make stout ima-
ginations stoop to the cross ; to makes desires of self-advancement
sink into a zeal for the glorifying of God, and an overruling de-
sign for his honor, is not to be ascribed to any but an outstretched
arm wielding the sword of the Spirit. To have a heart full of the
fear of God, that was just before filled with a contempt of him ; to
have a sense of his power, an eye to his glory, admiring thoughts
of his wisdom, a faith in his truth, that had lower thoughts of him
and all his perfections, than he had of a creature ; to have a hatred
of his habitual lusts, that had brought him in much sensitive plea-
sure ; to loath them as much as he loved them ; to cherish the du-
ties he hated ; to live by faith in, and obedience to, the Eedeemer,
who was before so heartily under the conduct of Satan and self; to
chase the acts of sin from his members, and the pleasing thoughts of
sin from his mind ; to make a stout wretch willingly fall down, crawl
upon the ground, and adore that Saviour whom before he out-dared, is
a triumphant act of Infinite Power that can subdue all things to itself,
and break those multitudes of locks and bolts that were upon us.
3. Against a multitude of temptations and interests. The tempta-
tions rich men have in this world are so numerous and strong, that
the entrance of one of them into the kingdom of heaven, that is, the
entertainment of the gospel, is made by our Saviour an impossible
thing with men, and procurable only by the power of God (Luke
xviii. 24 — 26). The Divine strength only can separate the world
from the heart, and the heart from the world. There must be an in-
comprehensible power to chase away the devil, that had so long, so
strong a footing in the affections ; to render the soil he had sown
with so many tares and weeds, capable of good grain ; to make
spirits, that had found the sweetness of worldly prosperity, wrapt up
all their happiness in it, and not only bent down, but — as it were —
buried in earth and mud, to be loosened from those beloved cords,
to disrelish the earth for a crucified Christ ; I say, this must be the
effect of an almighty power.
4. The manner of conversion shews no less the power of God.
There is not only an irresistible force used in it, but an agTceable
sweetness. The power is so efficacious, that nothing can vanquish
it ; and so sweet, that none did ever complain of it. The Almighty
78 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
virtue displays itself invincibly, yet witliout constraint ; compelling
the will without offering violence to it, and making it cease to be
will: not forcing it, but changing it: not dragging it, but drawing
it ; maldng it will where before it nilled ; removing the corrupt na-
ture of the will, without invading the created nature and rights of
the faculty ; not working in us against the physical nature of the
will, but working it " to will" (Phil. ii. 13). This work is therefore
called creation, resurrection, to shew its irresistible power ; it is called
illumination, persuasion, drawing, to shew the suitableness of its effi-
cacy to the nature of the human faculties: it is a drawing with
cords, wdiich testifies an invincible strength ; but, with cords of love,
which testifies a delightful conquest. It is hard to determine
whether it be more powerful than sweet, or more sweet than power-
ful. It is no mean part of the power of God to twist together vic-
tory and pleasure ; to give a blow as delightful as strong, as pleasing
to the sufferer, as it is sharp to the sinner.
Secondly, The power of God, in the application of redemption, is
evident in the pardoning a sinner.
1. In the pardon itself. The power of God is made the ground of
his patience ; or the reason why he is patient, is, because he would
"shew his power" (Rom. ix. 22). It is apart of magnanimity to pass
by injuries : as weaker stomachs cannot concoct the tougher food, so
weak minds cannot digest the harder injuries: he that passes over a
wrong is superior to his adversary that does it. When God speaks
of his own name as merciful^ he speaks first of himself as powerful
(Exod. xxxiv. 6), " The Lord, The Lord God," that is. The Lord,
the strong Lord, Jehovah, the strong Jehovah. Let the power of
ray Lord be great, saith Moses, when he prays for the forgiveness of
the people :p the word jigdal is written with a great jod^ or a jod
above the other letters. The power of God in pardoning is advanced
beyond an ordinary strain, beyond the creative strength. In the
creation, he had power over the creatures ; in this, power over him-
self: in creation, not himself, but the creatures were the object of his
power ; in that, no attribute of his nature could article against his
design. In the pardon of a sinner, after many overtures made to
him and refused by him, God exerciseth a power over himself; for
the sinner hath dishonored God, provoked his justice, abused his
goodness, done injury to all those attributes which are necessary to
his relief : it was not so in creation, nothing was incapable of dis-
obliging God from bringing it into being. The dust, which was the
matter of Adam's body, needed only the extrinsic power of God to
form it into a man, and inspire it with a living soul : it had not ren-
dered itself obnoxious to Divine justice, nor was capable to excite
any disputes between his perfections. But after the entrance of sin,
and the merit of death, thereby there was a resistance in justice to
the free remission of man : God was to exercise a power over him-
self, to answer his justice, and pardon the sinner ; as well as a power
over the creature, to reduce the run away and rebel. Unless we
have recourse to the infiniteness of God's power, the infiniteness of
our guilt will weigh us down : we must consider not only that we
P Numb. xiv. 17. vfud/jru, be exalted. Sept. Streugth, <feo.
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 79
have a miglitj guilt to press us, but a miglity God to relieve us. In
the same act of his being our righteousness, he is our strength : "In
the Lord have I righteousness and strength" (Isa. xlv. 24).
2. In the sense of pardon. When the soul hath been wounded
with the sense of sin, and its iniquities have stared it in the face, the
raising the soul from a despairing condition, and lifting it above those
waters which terrified it, to cast the light of comfort, as well as the
light of grace, into a heart covered with more than an Egyptian
darkness, is an act of his infinite and creating power (Isa. Ivii. 19);
" I create the fruit of the lips ; Peace." Men may wear out their lips
with numbering up the promises of grace and arguments of peace,
but all will signify no more, without a creative power, than if all
men and angels should call to that white upon the wall to shine as
splendidly as the sun. God only can create Jerusalem, and every
child of Jerusalem a rejoicing (Isa. xlv. 18). A man is no more
able to apply to himself any word of comfort, under the sense of sin,
than he is able to convert himself, and turn the proposals of the
word into gracious afl:ections in his heart. To restore the joy of sal-
vation, is, in David's judgment, an act of sovereign power, equal to
that of creating a clean heart (Ps. li. 10, 12). Alas ! it is a state like
to that of death ; as infinite power can only raise from natural death,
so from a spiritual death ; also from a comfortless death : "In his fa-
vor there is life ;" in the want of his favor there is death. The
power of God hath so placed light in the sun, that all creatures in
the world, all the torches upon earth, kindled together, cannot make
it day, if that doth not rise ; so all the angels in heaven, and men
upon earth, are not competent chirurgeons for a wounded spirit. The
cure of our spiritual ulcers, and the pouring in balm, is an act of
sovereign creative power : it is m.ore visible in silencing a tempes-
tuous conscience than the power of our Saviour was in the stilling
the stormy winds and the roaring waves. As none but infinite
power can remove the guilt of sin, so none but infinite power can re-
move the despairing sense of it.
Thirdly, This power is evident in the preserving grace. As the
providence of God is a manifestation of his power in a continued
creation, so the preservation of grace is a manifestation of his power
in a continued regeneration. To keep a nation under the yoke, is an act
of the same power that subdued it. It is this that strengthens men in
suffering against the fury of hell (Col. i. 13) ; it is this that keeps them
from falling against the force of hell — the Father's hand (John x.
29). His strength abates and moderates the violence of temptations ;
his staff sustains his people under them ; his might defeats the power
of Satan, and bruiseth him under a believer's feet. The counter-
workings of indwelling corruption, the reluctances of the flesh
against the breathings of the spirit, the fallacy of the senses, and the
rovings of the mind, have ability quickly to stifle and extinguish
grace, if it were not maintained hj that powerful blast that first im-
breathed it. No less power is seen in perfecting it, than was in
planting it (2 Pet. i 3) ; no less in fulfilling the work of faith, than
in engrafting the word of faith (2 Thess. i. 11). The apostle well
understood the necessity and efficacy of it in the preservation of faith,
80 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
as well as in the first infusion, when lie expresses himself in those
terms of a greatness or hyperbole of power, " His mighty power,"
or the power of his might (Eph. i. 19). The salvation he bestows,
and the strength whereby he effects it, are joined together in the i^ro-
phet's song (Isa. xii. 2) : " The Lord is my strength and my salva-
tion." And indeed, God doth more magnify his power in continu-
ing a believer in the world, a weak and half-rigged vessel, in the
midst of so many sands wheron it might sj)lit, so many rocks whereon
it might dash, so many corruptions within, and so many temptations
without, than if he did immediately transport him into heaven, and
clothe hiin with a perfect sanctified nature. — To conclude, what is
there, then, in the world which is destitute of notices of Divine
power ? Every creature affords us the lesson ; all acts of Divine gov-
ernment are the marks of it. Look into the word, and the manner of
its propagation instructs ns in it ; your changed natures, your par-
doned guilt, your shining comfort, your quelled corruptions, the
standing of your staggering graces, are sufficient to preserve a sense,
and to prevent a forgetfulncss, of this great attribute, so necessary for
\ your support, and conducing so much to your comfort.
•^^ Use I. Of information and instruction.
^^"^"^^^ Instruct. 1. If incomprehensible and infinite power belongs to the
nature of God, then Jesus Christ hath a divine nature, because the
acts of power proper to God are ascribed to him. This perfection
of omnipotence doth unquestionably pertain to the Deity, and is an
incommunicable property, and the same with the essence of God : he,
therefore, to whom this attribute is ascribed, is essentially God. This
is challenged by Christ, in conjunction with eternity (Rev. i. 8); "I
am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord,
which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty."
This the Lord Christ speaks of himself. He who was equal with
God, proclaims himself by the essential title of the Godhead, part of
which he repeats again (ver. 11), and this is the person which " walks
in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks," the person that "was
dead and now lives" (ver. 17, 18), which cannot possibly be meant
of the Father, the First Person, who can never come under the de-
nomination of having been dead. Being, therefore, adorned with
the same title, he hath the same Deity; and though his omnipotence
be only positively asserted (ver. 8), yet, his eternity being asserted
(ver. li, 17), it inferreth his immense power; for he that is eternal,
without limits of time, must needs be conceived powerful, without
any dash of infirmity. Again, when he is said to be a child born,
and a son given, in the same breath he is called the Mighty God
(Isa, ix. 6). It is introduced as a ground of comfort to the church,
to preserve their hopes in the accomplishment of the promises made
to them before. They should not imagine him to have only the
infirmity of a man, though he was veiled in the appearance of a man.
No, they should look through the disguise of his flesh, to the might
of his Godhead. The attribute of mighty is added to the title of
God, because the consideration of power is most capable to sustain
the drooping church in such a condition, and to prop up her hopes.
It is upon this account he saith of himself, " Whatsoever things the
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 81
Father doth, those also dotli the Son likewise" (John v. 19). In the
creation of heaven, earth, sea, and the preservation of all creatures,
the Son works with the same will, wisdom, virtue, power, as the
Father works : not as two may concur in an action in a different
manner, as an agent and an instrument, a carpenter and his tools,
but in the same manner of operation, v,uoioig, which we translate like-
ness, which doth not express so well the emphasis of the word.
There is no diversity of action between us; what the Father doth,
that I do by the same power, with the same easiness in every re-
spect ; there is the same creative, productive, conservative power in
both of us ; and that not in one work that is done, ad extra^ but in
all, in whatsoever the Father doth. In the same manner, not by a
delegated, but natural and essential power, by one undivided opera-
tion and manner of working.
1st. The creation, which is a work of Omnipotence, is more than
once ascribed to him. This he doth own himself; the creation of
the earth, and of man upon it ; the stretching out the heavens by his
hands, and the forming of " all the hosts of them by his command"
(Isa. xlv. 12). He is not only the Creator of Israel, the church (ver.
12), but of the whole world, and every creature on the face of the
earth, and in the glories of the heavens ; which is repeated also ver.
18, where, in this act of creation, he is called God himself, and
speaks of himself in the terra Jehovah ; and swears by himself (ver.
23). What doth he swear ? " That unto me every knee shall bow,
and every tongue shall swear." Is this Christ ? Yes, if the apostle
may be believed, who applies it to him (Rom. xiv. 11) to prove the
appearance of all men before the judgment-seat of Christ, whom the
prophet calls (ver. 15) '' a God that hides himself;" and so he was a
hidden God when obscured in our fleshly infirmities. He was in
conjunction with the Father when the sea received his decree, and
the foundations of the earth were appointed ; not as a spectator, but
as an artificer, for so the word in Pro v. viii. 30, signifies, *' as one
brought up with him ;" it signifies also, " a cunning workman" (Cant.
vii. 1). He was the east, or the sun, from whence sprang all the
light of life and being to the creature ; so the word u-^p (ver. 22),
which is translated, "before his works of old," is rendered by some^
and signifies the east as well as before : but if it notes only his exr-
istence before, it is enough to prove his Deity. The Scripture doth
not only allow him an existence before the world, but exalts him as-
the cause of the world : a thing may precede another that is not the
cause of that which follows ; a precedency in age doth not entitle
one brother, or thing, the cause of another : but our Saviour is not
only ancienter than the world, but is the Creator of the world (Heb.
i. 10, 11). " Who laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens
are the work of his hands." So great an eulogy cannot be given to
one destitute of omnipotence ; since the distance between being and
not being is so vast a gulf that cannot be surmounded and stepped
over, but by an Infinite Power: he is the first and the last, that
called the " generations from the beginning" (Isa. xli. 4), and had
an almighty voice to call them out of nothing. In which regard he
is called the " everlasting Father" (Isa. ix. 6), as being the efficient
VOL. II. — 6
82 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
of creation ; as God is called the Father of the rain, or as father is
taken for the inventor of an art ; as Jubal, the first framer and in-
ventor of music, is called " the father of such as handle the harp"
(Gen. iv. 21). And that Person is said to "make the sea, and form
the dry land by his hands" (Ps. xcv. 5, 6) against whom Ave are ex
horted not to harden our hearts, which is applied to Christ by the
apostle (Heb. iii. 8) ; in ver. 6, he is called '• a great King," and a
great God our Maker." The places wherein the creation is attributed
to Christ, those that are the antagonists of his Deity, would evade
by understanding them of the new, or evangelical, not of the first,
old material creation: but what appearance is there for such a sense?
Consider,
(1.) That of Heb. i. 10, 11, it is spoken of that earth and heavens
which were in the beginning of time ; it is that earth shall perish,
that heaven that shall be folded up, that creation that shall grow old
towards a decay; that is, only the visible and material creation: the
spiritual shall endure forever ; it grows not old to decay, but grows
up to a perfection ; it sprouts up to its happiness, not to its detriment.
The same Person creates that shall destroy, and the same world is
created by him that shall be destroyed by him, as well as it subsisted
by virtue of his omnipotency.
(2.) Can that also (Heb. i. 2), " By whom also he made the worlds,"
speaking of Christ, bear the same plea ? It was the same Person by
whom "God spake to us in these last times," the same Person which
he hath constituted " Heir of all things, by whom also he made the
worlds :" and the particle also, intimates it to be a distinct act from
his speaking or prophetical office, whereby he restored and new
created the world, as Avell as the rightful foundation God had to
make him "Heir of all things." It refers likewise, not to the time
of Christ's speaking upon earth, but to something past, and some-
thing different from the publication of the gospel : it is not " doth
make," which had been more likely if the apostle had meant only
the new creation; but "hath made,"q referring to time long since
past, something done before his appearance upon earth as a Prophet :
" By whom also he made the worlds," or ages, all things subjected
to, or measured by time ; which must be meant according to the
-Jewish plirase of this material visible Avorld : so they entitle God in
itheir Liturgy, the " Lord of Ages," that is, the Lord of the world,
and all ages and revolutions of the world, from the creation to the
last period of time. If anything were in being before this frame of
heaven and earth, and within the compass of time, it received being
and duration from the Son of God. The apostle would give an ar-
gument to prove the equity of making him Heir of all things as
Mediator, because he was the framer of all things as God. He may
well be the Heir or Lord of angels as well as men, who created
angels as well as men : all things were justly under his power as
Mediator, since they derived their existence from him as Creator.
(3.) But what evasion can there be for that (Col. i. 16)? " By him
were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth,
whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers,
1 ETToiaev.
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 83
all tilings were created by liim and for liim." He is said to be the
Creator of material and visible things, as well as spiritual and invis-
ible ; of things in heaven, which needed no restoration, as well as
things on earth, which were polluted by sin, and stood in need of a-
new creation. How could the angels belong to the new creation,
who had never put off the honor and purity of the first ? Since they
never divested themselves of their original integrity, they could not
be reinvested with that which they never lost. Besides, suppose the
holy angels be one way or other reduced as parts of the new crea
tion, as being under the mediatory government of our Saviour, as
their Head, and in regard of their confirmation by him in that happy
state. In what manner shall the devils be ranked among new crea-
tures? They are called principalities and powers as well as the
angels, and may come under the title of things invisible : that they
are called principalities and powers is plain (Eph. vi. 12): "For we
wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and
powers, and the rulers of the darkness of this world ; against spiritual
wickedness in high places." Good angels are not there meant, for
what war have believers with them, or they with believers ? They
are the guardians of them, since Christ hath taken away the enmity
between our Lord and theirs, in whose quarrel they were engaged
against us : and since the apostle, speaking of " all things created by
him," exprcsseth it so, that it cannot be conceived he should except
anything ; how come the finally impenitent and unbelievers, which
are things in earth, and visible, to be listed here in the roll of new
creatures ? None of these can be called new creatures, because they
are subjected to the government of Christ ; no more than the earth
and sea, and the animals in it, are made new creatures, because they
are all under the dominion of Christ and his providential govern-
ment. Again, the apostle manifestly makes the creation he here
speaks of, to be the material, and not the new creation ; for that he
speaks of afterwards as a distinct act of our Lord Jesus, under the
title of Reconciliation (Col. i. 20, 21), which was the restoration of
the world, and the satisfying for that curse that lay upon it. His
intent is here to show that not an angel in heaven, nor a creature
upon earth, but was placed in their several degrees of excellency by
the power of the Son of God, who, after that act of creation, and the
entrance of sin, was the " reconciler" of the world through the blood
of his cross.
(4.) There is another place as clear (John i. 3) : " All things were
made by him, and without him was nothing made that was made."
The creation is here ascribed to him; affirmatively, "All things
were made by him ;" negatively, there was nothing made without
him : and the words are emphatical, odds ar^ not one thing ; except-
ing nothing ; including invisible things, as well as things conspicu-
ous to sense only, mentioned in the story of the creation (Gen. i.) ;
not only the entire mass, but the distinct parcels, the smallest worm
and the highest angel, owe their original to him. And if not one
thing, then the matter was not created to his hands ; and his work
consisted not only in the forming things from that matter : if that
one thing of matter were excepted, a chief thing were excepted ; if
84 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
yiot one thing were excepted, then lie created sometliing of nothing,
because spirits, as angels and souls, are not made of any pre-existing
or fore-created matter. How could the evangelist phrase it more
extensively and comprehensively ? This is a character of Omnipo-
tency ; to create the world, and everything in it, of nothing, requires
an infinite virtue and power. If all things were created by Him,
they were not created by him as man, because himself, as man, was
not in being before the creation ; if all things were made by him,
then himself was not made, himself was not created ; and to be ex-
istent without being made, without being created, is to be unbound-
edly omnipotent. And if we understand it of the new creation, as
they do that will not allow him an existence in his Deity before his
humanity, it cannot be true of that ; for how could he regenerate
Abraham, make Simeon and Anna new creatures, who " waited for
the salvation of Israel," and form John Baptist, and fill him with the
Holy Ghost, even from the womb (Luke i. 15), who belonged to the
new creation, and was to prepare the way, if Christ had not a being
before him? The evangelist alludes to, and explains the history of
the creation, in the beginning, and acquaints us what was meant by
God, said so often, viz. the eternal Word, and describes him in his
creative power, manifested in the framing the world, before he de-
scribes him in his incarnation, when he came to lay the foundation
of the restoration of the world (John i, 14), " The Word was made
flesh ;" this Word who was " with God, who was God, who made all
things," and gave being to the most glorious angels and the meanest
creature without exception ; this Word, in time, " was made flesh."
(5.) The creation of things mentioned in these Scriptures cannot
be attributed to him as an instrument. As if when it is said, " God
created all things by him, and by him made the worlds," we were to
understand the Father to be the agent, and the Son to be a tool in
his Father's hand, as an axe in the hand of a carpenter, or a file in
the hand of a smith, or a servant acting by command as the organ
of his master. The preposition per, or 'i^'", doth not always signify
an instrumental cause: when it is said, that the apostle gave the
Thessalonians a command " by Jesus Christ" (1 Tliess. iv. 2), was
Christ the instrument, and not the Lord of that command the apostle
gave ? The immediate operation of Christ dwelling in the apostles,
was that whereby they gave the commands to their disciples. When
we are called " by God" (1 Cor. i. 9), is he the instrumental, or prin-
cipal cause of our effectual vocation ? And can the will of God be
the instrument of putting Paul into the apostleship, or the sovereign
cause of investing him with that dignity, when he calls himself an
" Apostle by the will of God" (Eph. i. 3)? And when all things are
said to be through God, as well as of him, must he be counted the
instrumental cause of his own creation, counsels, and judgments
(Rom. xi. 36) ? When we " mortify the deeds of the body through
the Spirit (Rom. viii. 13), or keep the "treasure of the word by the
Holy Ghost" (2 Tim. i. 14), is the Holy Ghost of no more dignity in
such acts than an instrument ? Nor doth the gaining a thing by a
person make him a mere instrument or inferior ; as when a man
gains his right in a way of justice against his adversary by the magis-
ON THE POWER OF GOD, 85
trate, is the judge inferior to tlie suppliant ? If the Word were an
instrument in creation, it must be a created or uncreated instrument :
if created, it could not be true what the Evangelist saith, that "all
things were made by him,' since himself, the principal thing, could
not be made by himself: if uncreated, he was God, and so acted by
a Divine omnipotency, whicii surmounts an instrumental cause.
But, indeed, an instrument is impossible in creation, since it is
wrought only by an act of the L ivine will. Do we need any organ
to an act of volition? The efficacious will of the Creator is the
cause of the original of the body of the world, with its particular
members and exact harmony. It was formed "by a word, and es-
tablished by a command" (Ps. xxxiii. 9) ; the beauty of the creation
stood up at the precept of his will. Nor was the Son a partial cause ;
as when many are said to build a house, one works one part, and an-
other frames another part : God created all things by the immediate
operation of the Son, in the unity of essence, goodness, power, wis-
dom ; not an extrinsic, but a connatural instrument. As the sun
doth illustrate all things by his light, and quickens all things by his
heat, so God created the worlds by Christ, as he was the "brightness
or splendor of his glor}^ the exact image of his person ;" which fol-
lows the declaration of his making the worlds by him (Heb. i. 3, 4),
to show, that he acted not as an instrument, but one in essential con-
junction with him, as light and brightness with the sun. But sup-
pose he did make the world as a kind of instrument, he was then
before the world, not bounded by time ; and eternity cannot well be
conceived belonging to a Being without omnipotency. He is the
End, as well as the Author, of the creatures (Col. i. 16) ; not only
the principle which gave them being, but the sea, into whose glory
they run and dissolve themselves, which consists not with the mean-
ness of an instrument.
2d. As creation, so preservation, is ascribed to Him (Col. i. 17).
" By him all things consist." As he preceded all things in his eter-
nitj^, so he establishes all things by his omnipotency, and fixes them in
their several centres, that they sink not into that nothing from
whence he fetched them. By him they flourish in their several be-
ings, and observe the laws and orders he first appointed : that power
of his which extracted them from insensible nothing, upholds them
in their several beings with the same facility as he spake being into
them, even "by the word of his power" (Heb. i. 3), and by one crea-
tive continued voice, called all generations, from the beginning to
the period of the world (Isa. xli. 4), and causes them to flourish in
their several seasons. It is "by him kings reign, and princes decree
justice," and all things are confined within the limits of government.
All which are acts of an Infinite Power.
3d. Kesurrection is also ascribed to Him. The body crumbled to
dust, and that dust blown to several quarters of the world, cannot be
gathered in its distinct parts, and new formed for the entertainment
of the soul, without the strength of an infinite arm. This he will do,
and more ; change the vileness of an earthly body into the glory of
an heavenly one ; a dusty flesh into a spiritual body, which is an ar-
gument of a power invincible, to which all things cannot but stoop ;
86 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
for it is by such an operation, wliicli testifies an ability " to subdue
all things to himself" (Phil. iii. 21), especially when he works it
with the same ease as he did the creation, by the power of his voice.
(John V. 28), "All that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and
shall come forth :" speaking them into a restored life from insensible
dust, as he did into being from an empty nothing. The greatest acts
of power are owned to belong to creation, preservation, resurrection.
Omnipotence, therefore, is his right ; and, therefore, a Deity cannot
be denied to him that inherits a perfection essential to none but God,
and impossible to be entrusted in, or managed by the hands of any
creatures. And this is no mean comfort to those that believe in him :
he is, in regard of his power, " the horn of salvation ;" so Zacharias
sings of him (Luke i. 69). Nor could there be any more mighty
found out upon whom God could have " laid our help" (Ps. Ixxxix.
19). No reason, therefore, to doubt his ability to save to the utmost,
who hath the power of creation, preservation, and resurrection in his
hands. His promises must be accomplished, since nothing can resist
him : he hath power to fulfil his word, and bring all things to a final
issue, because he is Almighty : by his outstretched arm in the de-
liverance of his Israel from Egypt, (for it was his arm, 1 Cor. x.) he
showed that he was able to deliver us from spiritual Egypt. The
charge of Mediator to expiate sin, vanquish hell, form a church, con-
duct and perfect it, are not to be effected by a person of less ability
than infinite. Let this almightiness of His be the bottom, wherein
to cast and fix the anchor of our hopes.
Instruct. 2. Hence may be inferred the Deity of the Holy Ghost.
Works of omnipotency are ascribed to the Sj^irit of God: by the
motion of the wings of this Spirit, as a bird over her eggs, was that
rude and unshapen mass hatched into a comely world. ■■ The stars,
— or perhaps the angels, are meant by the "garnishing of the
heavens" in the verse before the text, — were brought forth in their
comeliness and dignity, as the ornaments of the upper world, by this
Spirit ; " By his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens." To this
Spirit Job ascribes the formation both of the body and soul, under
the title of Almighty (Job xxxiii. 4), " The Spirit of God hath made
me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life." Eesurrec-
tion, another work of omnipotency, is attributed to him (Rom. viii.
11). The conception of our Saviour in the womb ; the miracles
that he wrought, were by the power of the Spirit in him. Power is
a title belonging to him, and sometimes both are put together (1
Thess. i. 5, and other places). And that great power of changing
the heart, and sanctifying a polluted nature, a work greater than
creation, is frequently acknowledged in the Scripture to be the pe-
culiar act of the Holy Ghost. The Father, Son, Spirit, are one prin-
ciple in creation, resurrection, and all the works of omnipotence.
Instruct. 3. Inference from the doctrine. The blessedness of God
is hence evidenced. If God be Almighty, he can want nothing ;
all want speaks weakness. If he doth what he will, he cannot be
miserable ; all misery consists in those things which happen contrary
to our will. There is nothing can hinder his happiness, because no-
■■ Gen. i. 2. So the word "moved' properly signifies.
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 87
thing can resist his power. Since lie is omnipotent, nothing can
hurt him, nothing can strip him of what he hath, of what he is.^ If
he can do whatsoever he will, he cannot want anything that he
wills. He is as happy, as great, as glorious, as he will ; for he hath
a perfect liberty of will to will, and a perfect power to attain what
he will ; his will cannot be restrained, nor his power meted. It
would be a defect in blessedness, to will what he were not able to
do : sorrow is the result of a want of power, with a presence of
will. If he could will anything which he could not effect, he would
be miserable, and no longer God : he can do whatsoever he pleases,
and therefore can Avant nothing that pleases him.t He cannot be
happy, the original of whose happiness is not in himself: nothing
can be infinitely happy, that is limited and bounded.
Instruct. 4. Hence is the ground for the immutability of God. As
he is incapable of changing his resolves, because of his infinite wis-
dom, so he is incapable of being forced to any change, because of
his infinite power. Being almighty, he can be no more changed
from power to weakness ; than, being all- wise, he can be changed
from wisdom to folly ; or, being omniscient, from knowledge to
ignorance. He cannot be altered in his purposes, because of his
wisdom ; nor in the manner and method of his actions, because of
his infinite strength. Men, indeed, when their designs are laid deep-
est, and their purposes stand firmest, yet are forced to stand still, or
change the manner of the execution of their resolves, by reason of
some outward accidents that obstruct them in their course ; for, hav-
ing not wisdom to foresee future hindrances, they have not power
to prevent them, or strength to remove them, when they unexpect-
edly interpose themselves between their desire and performance ;
but no created power has strength enough to be a bar against God.
By the same act of his will that he resolves a thing, he can puff
away any impediments that seem to rise up against him. He that
wants no means to effect his purposes, cannot be checked by any-
thing that riseth up to stand in his way ; heaven, earth, sea, the
deepest places, are too weak to resist his will (Ps. cxxxv. 6). The
purity of the angels will not, and the devil's malice cannot, frustrate
his will ; the one voluntarily obeys the beck of his hand, and the
other is vanquished by the power of it. What can make him change
his purposes ; who (if he please) can dash the earth against the
heavens in the twinkling of an eye, untying the world from its cen-
tre, clap the stars and elements together into one mass, and blow the
whole creation of men and devils into nothing ? Because he is al-
mighty, therefore he is immutable.
Instruct. 5. Hence is inferred the providence of God, and his gov-
ernment of the world. His power, as well as his wisdom, gives him
a right to govern : nothing can equal him, therefore nothing can
share the command with him ; since all things are his works, it is
fittest they should be under his order : he that frames a work, is
fittest to guide and govern it. God hath the most right to govern,
because he hath knowledge to direct his power, and power to exe-
cute the results of his wisdom : he knows what is convenient to or-
• Sabunde, Tit. 39. * Pont. Part VI. med. 16. p. 531.
88 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
der, and liath strength to effect wliat lie orders. As his power would
be oppressive without goodness and wisdom, so his goodness and
wisdom would be fruitless without power. An artificer that hath
lost his hands may direct, but cannot make an engine : a pilot that
hath lost his arms may advise the way of steerage, but cannot hold
the helm ; something is wanting in him to be a complete governor :
but since both counsel and power are infinite in God, hence results
an infinite right to govern, and an infinite fitness, because his will
cannot be resisted, his power cannot be enfeebled or diminished ; he
can quicken and increase the strength of all means as he pleases.
He can hold all things in the world together, and preserve them in
those functions wherein he settled them, and conduct them to those
ends for which he designed them. Every artificer, the more excel-
lent he is, and the more excellency of power appears in his work, is
the more careful to maintain and cherish it. Those that deny Provi-
dence, do not only ravish from him the bowels of his goodness, but
strip him of a main exercise of his power, and engender in men a
suspicion of weariness and feebleness in him ; as though his strength
had been spent in making them, that none is left to guide them.
They would make him headless in regard of his wisdom, and bowel-
less in regard of his goodness, and armless in regard of his strength.
If he did not, or were not able to preserve and provide for his crea-
tures, his power in making them would be, in a great part, an in-
visible power ; if he did not preserve what he made, and govern
what he preserves, it would be a kind of strange and rude power,
to make, and suffer it to be dashed in pieces at the pleasure of others.
If the power of God should relinquish the world, the life of things
would be extinguished, the fabric would be confounded, and fall
into a deplorable chaos. That which is composed of so many va-
rious pieces, could not maintain its union, if there were not a secret
virtue binding them together and maintaining those varieties of
links. Well, then, since God is not only so good, that he cannot
will anything but what is good ; so wise, that he cannot err or mis-
take ; but also so able, that he cannot be defeated or mated ; he
hath every way a full ability to govern the world: where those
three are infinite, the right and fitness resulting from thence is un-
questionable : and, indeed, to deny God this active part of his
power, is to render him weak, foolish, cruel, or all.
Instruct. 6. Here is a ground for the worship of God. AVisdom
and power are the grounds of the respect we give to men ; they be-
ing both infinite in God, are the foundation of a solemn honor to
be returned to him by his creatures. If a man makes a curious en-
gine, we honor him for his skill ; if another vanquish a vigorous
enemy, we admire him for his strength : and shall not the efficacy
of God's power in creation, government, redemption, enflame us
with a sense of the honor of his name and perfections ? We admire
those princes that have vast empires, numerous armies, that have a
power to conquer their enemies, and preserve their own people in
peace. How much more ground have we to pay a mighty rever-
ence to God, who, without trouble and weariness, made and manages
this vast empire of the world by a word and beck ! What sensible
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 89
thoughts have wc of the noise of thunder, the power of the sun, the
storms of the sea ! These things that have no understanding have
struck men with such a reverence, that many have adored them as
gods. What reverence and adoration doth this mighty power, join-
ed with an infinite wisdom in God, demand at our hands ! All re-
ligion and worship stands especially upon two pillars, goodness, and
power in God ; if either of these were defective, all religion would
faint away. We can expect no entertainment with him without
goodness, nor any benefit from him without power. This God pre-
faceth to the command to worship him, the benefit his goodness liad
conferred upon them, and the powerful manner of conveyance of it
to them (2 Kings xvii. 36) : " The Lord brought you up from the
land of Egypt with great power, and an out-stretched arm ; him
shall you fear, and him shall you worship, and to him shall you do
sacrifice. Because this attribute is a main' foundation of prayer, the
Lord's Prayer is concluded with a doxology of it, " For thine is the
kingdom, the power, and the glory." As he is rich, possessing all
blessings ; so he is powerfal, to confer all blessings on us, and make
them efiicacious to us. The Jews repeat many times in their prayers,
some say an hundred times, cbn-n nbn, "The King of the world;"
it is both an awe and an encouragement." We could not, without
consideration of it, pray in faith of success ; nay, we could not pray
at all, if his power were defective to help us, and his mercy too weak
to relieve us. Who would solicit a lifeless, or lie a prostrate sup-
pliant, to a feeble arm ? Upon this ability of God, our Saviour
built his petitions (Heb. v. 7) : " lie offered up strong cries unto
Him that was able to save him from death." Abraham's faith hung
upon the same string (Rom. iv. 21), and the captived church sup-
plicates God to act according to the greatness of his power (Ps.
Ixxix. 11). Li all our addresses this is to be eyed and considered ;
God is able to help, to relieve, to ease me, let my misery be never
so great, and my strength never so weak (Matt. viii. 2) : " If thou
wilt, thou canst make me clean, was the consideration the leper had
when he came to worship Christ ; he was clear in his power, and
therefore Avorshipped him, though he was not equally clear in his
will. All worship is shot wrong that is not directed to, and con-
ducted by, the thoughts of this attribute, whose assistance we need.
When we beg the pardon of our sins, we should eye mercy and
power ; when we beg his righting us in any case where we are un-
justly oppressed, we do not eye righteousness without power; when
we plead the performance of his promise, we do not regard his
faithfalness only without the prop of his power. As power ushers
in all the attributes of God in their exercise and manifestation in the
world, so should it be the butt our eyes should be fixed upon in all
our acts of worship : as without his power his other attributes would
be useless, so without due apprehensions of his j^ower our prayers
will be faithless and comfortless. The title in the Lord's prayer di-
rects us to a prospect both of his goodness and power ; his goodness
in the word Father, his greatness, excellency, and power, in the word
Heaven. The heedless consideration of the infiiniteness of this per-
" Capel. ill 1 Tim. i. 17.
90 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
fection roots up pietj in the midst of us, and makes us so careless
in worship. Did we more think of that Power that raised the world
out of nothing, tliat orders all creatures bj an act of his will, that
performed so great an exploit as that of our redemption, when mas-
terless sin had triumphed over the world, we should give God the
honor and adoration which so great an excellency challengeth and
deserves at our hands, though we ourselves had not been the work
of his hands, or the monuments of his strength ; how could any
creature engross to itself that reverence from us which is due to the
powerful Creator, of whom it comes infinitely short in strength as
well as wisdom?
Instruct. 7. From this we have a ground for the belief of the re-
surrection. God aims at the glory of his power, as well as the glory
of any other attribute. Moses else would not have culled out this
as the main argument, in his pleading with God, for the sheathing
the sword which he began to draw out against them in the wilder-
ness (Numb. xiv. 16) : " The nations will say, Because the Lord
was not able to bring these people into the land which he sware to
them," &c. As the finding out the particulars of the dust of our
bodies discovers the vastness of his knowledge, so to raise them will
manifest the glory of his power as much as creation ; bodies that
have mouldered away into multitudes of atoms, been resolved into
the elements, passed through varieties of changes, been sometimes
the matter to lodge the form of a plant, or been turned into the sub-
stance of a fish or fowl, or vapored up into a cloud, and been part
of that matter which hath compacted a thunder-bolt, disposed of in
places far distant, scattered by the winds, swallowed and concocted
by beasts ; for these to be called out from their different places of
abode, to meet in one body, and be restored to their former consist-
ency, in a marriage union, in the " twinkling of an eye" (1 Cor. xv.
22), it is a cojisideration that may justly amaze us, and our shallow
understandings are too feeble to comprehend it. But is it not credi-
ble, since all the disputes against it may be silenced by reflections on
Infinite Power, which nothing can oppose, for which nothing can be
esteemed too difficult to effect, which doth not imply a contradiction
in itself? It was no less amazing to the blessed virgin to hear a
message that she should conceive a Son without knowing a man ;
but she is quickly answered, by the angel, with a " Nothing is im-
possible to God" (Luke i. 34, 37). The distinct parts off our bodies can-
not be hid from his all-seeing eye, wherever they are lodged, and in
all the changes they pass through, as was discoursed when the
Omniscience of God was handled ; shall, then, the collection of them
together be too hard for his invincible power and strength, and the
uniting all those parts into a body, with new dispositions to receive
their several souls, be too big and bulky for that Power which never
yet was acquainted with any bar ? Was not the miracle of our
Saviour's multiplying the loaves, suppose it had not been by a new
creation, but a collection of grain from several parts, very near as
stupendous as this ? Had any one of us been the only creatures
made just before the matter of the world, and beheld that inform
chaos covered with a thick darkness, mentioned Gen. i. 2, would not
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 91
the report, that from this dark deep, next to nothing, should be
raised such a multitude of comely creatures, with such innumerable
varieties of members, voices, colors, motions, and such numbers of
shining stars, a bright sun, one uniform body of light from this
darkness, that should, like a giant, rejoice to run a race, for many
thousands of years together, without stop or weariness ; would not
all these have seemed as incredible as the collection of scattered
dust ? What was it that erected the innumerable host of heaven,
the glorious angels, and glittering stars, for aught Ave know more
numerous than the bodies of men, but an act of the Divine will ?
and shall the power that wrought this sink under the charge of
gathering some dispersed atoms, and compacting th'fem into a human
body ? Can you tell how the dust of the ground was kneaded by
God into the body of man, and changed into flesh, skin, hair, bones,
sinews, veins, arteries, and blood, and fitted for so many several ac-
tivities, when a human soul was breathed into it ?-'^ Can you imagine
how a rib, taken from Adam's side, a lifeless bone, was formed into
head, hands, feet, eyes ? Why may not the matter of men, which
have been, be restored, as well as that which was not, be first erect-
ed ? Is it harder to repair those things which were, than to create
those things which were not ? Is there not the same Artificer ?
Hath any disease or sickliness abated his power ? Is the Ancient
of Days grown feeble ? or shall the elements, and other creatures,
that alvvay yet obeyed his command, ruffle against his raising voice,
and refuse to disgorge those remains of human bodies they have
swallowed up in their several bowels ? Did the whole world, and
all the parts of it, rise at his word ? and shall not some parts of the
world, the dust of the dead, stand up out of the graves at a word of
the same mighty efficacy ? Do we not annually see those marks of
power which may stun our incredulity in this concern ? Do you
see in a small acorn, or little seed, any such sights, as a tree with
body, bark, branches, leaves, flowers, fruit — where can you find
them ? Do you know the invisible corners where they lurk in that
little body ? And yet these you afterwards view rising up from this
little body, when sown in the ground, that you could not possibly
have any prospect of when you rolled it in your hand, or opened
its bowels. And why may not all the particulars of our bodies,
however disposed as to their distinct natures invisibly to us, remain
distinct, as well as if you mingle a thousand seeds together ? they
will come up in their distinct kinds, and preserve their distinct vir-
tues. Again, is not the making heaven and earth, the union of the
Divine and human nature, eternity and infirmity, to make a virgin
conceive a Son, bear the Creator, and bring fortli the Eedeeraer, to
form the blood of God of the flesh of a virgin, a greater work than
the calling together and uniting the scattered parts of our bodies,
which are all of one nature and matter ? And since the power of
God is manifested in pardoning innumerable sins, is not the scatter-
ing our transgressions, as far as the east is from the west, as the ex-
pression is, Ps. ciii. 12, and casting such numbers into the depths of
the sea, which is God's power over himself, a greater argument of
' Liiigeud. Tom. III. pp. 779, 780.
92 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
miglit than tlie recalling and repairing the atoms of our bodies from
their various receptacles ? It is not hard for them to believe this
of the resurrection, that have been sensible of the weight and force
of their sins, and the power of God in pardoning and vanquishing
that mighty resistance which was made in their hearts against the
power of his renewing and sanctifying grace. The consideration of
the infinite power of God is a good ground of the belief of the re-
surrection.
Instruct. 8. Since the power of God is so great and incomprehen-
sible, how strange is it that it should be contemned and abused by
the creatures as it is ! The power of God is beaten down by some,
outraged by others, blasphemed by many, under their sufferings.
The stripping God of the honor of his creation, and the glory of his
preservation of the world, falls under this charge: thus do they
that deny his framing the world alone, or thought the first matter
was not of God's creation, and such as fancied an evil princijDle, the
author of all evil, as God is the author of all good, and so exempt
from the power of God, that it could not be vanquished by him.
These things have formerly found defenders in the world ; but they
are, in themselves, ridiculous and vain, and have no footing in com-
mon reason, and are not worthy of debate in a christian auditory.
In general, all idolatry in the world did arise from the want of a
due notion of this Infinite Power. The heathen thought one God
Avas not suQicient for the managing all thing-s in the world, and
therefore they feigned several gods, that had several charges ; as
Ceres presided over the fruits of the earth; Esculajiius over the
cure of distempers ; Mercury for merchandise and trade ; Mars for
war and battles ; Apollo and Minerva for learning and ingenious
arts ; and Fortune for casual things. Whence doth the other sort
of idolatry, the adoring our bags and gold, our dependencies on, and
trusting in, creatures for help arise, but from ignorance of God's
power, or mean and slender apprehensions of it ? First, there is a
contempt of it. Secondly, An abuse of it.
1. It is contemned in every sin, especially in obstinacy in sin.
All sin whatsoever is built upon some false notion or monstrous
conception of one or other of God's 23erfections, and in particular of
this. It includes a secret and lurking imagination, that we are able
to grapple with Omnipotence, and enter the lists with Almightiness ;
what else can be judged of the apostle's expression (1 Cor. x. 22),
"Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy;' are we stronger than he?"
Do we think we have an arm too powerful for that justice we pro-
voke, and can repel that vengeance we exasperate ? Do we think
we are an even match for God, and are able to despoil him of his
Divinity ? To despise his will, violate his order, practise what he
forbids with a severe threatening, and pawns his power to make it
good, is to pretend to have an arm like God, and be able to thunder
with a voice equal or superior to him, as the expression is (Job
xl. 9). All security in sin is of this strain ; when men are not
concerned at Divine threatenings, nor staggered in their sinful
race, they intimate, that the declarations of Divine Power are but
vain-glorious boastings ; that God is not so strono- and able as he
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 93
reports liimself to be ; and therefore they will venture it, and dare
him to try, whether the strength of his arm be as forcible as the
words of his mouth are terrible in his threats ; this is to believe
themselves Creators, not creatures. We magnify God's power in
our wants, and debase it in our rebellions ; as though Omnipotence
were only able to supply our necessities, and unable to revenge
the injuries we offer him.
2. This power is contemned in distrust of God. All distrust is
founded in a doubting of his truth, as if he would not be as good as
his word ; or of his omniscience, as if he had not a memory to re-
tain his word ; or of his power, as if he could not be as great as his
word. We measure the infinite power of God by the short line of
our understandings, as if infinite strength were bounded within the
narrow compass of our finite reason ; as if he could do no more
than we were able to do. How soon did those Israelites lose the
remembrance of God's outstretched arm, when they uttered that
atheistical speech (Ps. Ixxviii. 19), " Can God furnish a table in the
wilderness ?" As if he that turned the dust of Egypt into lice, for
the punishment of their oppressors, could not turn the dust of the wil-
derness into corn, for the support of their bodies! As if he that
had miraculously rebuked the Red Sea, for their safety, could not
provide bread, tor their nourishment ! Though they had seen the
Egyptians with lost lives in the morning, in the same place where
their lives had been miraculously preserved in the evening, yet they
disgrace that experimental power, by opposing to it the stature of
the Anakims, the strength of their cities, and the height of their
walls (Numb. xiii. 32). And (Numb. xiv. 3). " Wherefore hath
the Lord brought us into this land to fall by the sword ?" As though
the giants of Canaan were too strong for Him, for whom they had
seen the armies of Egypt too weak. How did they contract the
almightiness of God into the littleness of a little man, as if he must
needs sink under the sword of a Canaanite? This distrust must
arise either from a flat atheism, a denial of the being of God, or his
government of the world ; or unworthy conceits of a weakness in
him, that he had made creatures too hard for himself; that he were
not strong enough to grapple with those mighty Anakims, and
give them the possession of Canaan against so great a force. Dis-
trust of him implies either that he was always destitute of power, or
that his power is exhausted by his former works, or that it is limited,
and near a period : it is to deny him to be the Creator that moulded
heaven and earth. Why should we, by distrust, jout a slight upon
that power which he hath so often expressed, and which, in the
minutest works of his hands, surmount the force of the sharpest
understanding ?
3. It is contemned in too great a fear of man, which ariseth from
a distrust of Divine power. Fear of man is a crediting the might
of man with a disrepute of the arm of God, it takes away the glory
of his might, and renders the creature stronger than God ; and God
more feeble than a mortal ; as if the arm of man were a rod of iron,
and the arm of God a brittle reed. How often do men tremble at
the threatenings and hcctorings of ruffians, yet will stand as stakes
94 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTEIBUTES.
against tlie precepts and threatenings of God, as thougli lie had less
power to preserve us, than enemies had to destroy ? With what dis-
dain doth God speak to men infected with this humor (Isa. li. 12, 13) ?
" Wlio art thou, that art afraid of a man that shall die, and the
Son of man that shall be made as grass ; and forgettest the Lord
thy Maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foun-
dation of the earth ; and hast feared continually every day, because
of the fury of the oppressor?" To fear man that is as grass, that
cannot think a thought without a Divine concourse, that cannot
breathe, but by a Divine power, nor touch a hair without license
first granted from heaven ; this is forgetfulness, and consequently a
slight of that Infinite Power, which hath been manifested in found-
ing the earth and garnishing the heavens. All fear of man, in the
way of our duty, doth in some sort thrust out the remembrance,
and discredit the great actions of the Creator. Would not a mighty
prince think it a disparagement to him, if his servant should decline
his command for fear of one of his subjects? and hath not the
great God just cause to think himself disgraced by us, when we deny
him obedience for fear of a creature : as though he had but an
infant ability too feeble to bear us out in duty, and incapable to
balance the strength of an arm of flesh ?
4. It is contemned by trusting in ourselves, in means, in man,
more than in God. When in any distress we will try every creature
refuge, before we have recourse to God ; and when we apply our-
selves to him, we do it with such slight and perfunctory frames,
and with so much despondency, as if we despaired either of his
ability or will to help us ; and implore him with cooler affections
than we solicit creatures : or, when in a disease we depend upon
the virtue of the medicine, the ability of the physician, and reflect
not upon that power that endued. the medicine with that virtue, and
supports the quality in it, and concure to the operation of it. When
we depend upon the activity of the means, as if they had power
originally in themselves, and not derivatively ; and do not eye the
power of God animating and assisting them. We cannot expect re-
lief from anything with a neglect of God, but we render it in our
thoughts more powerftd than God: we acknowledge a greater
fulness in a shallow stream, than in an eternal spring ; we do, in
effect, depose the true God, and create to ourselves a new one ; we
assert, by such a kind of acting, the creature, if not superior, yet
equal with God, and independent on him. When we trust in our
own strength, without begging his assistance ; or boast of our own
strength, without acknowledging his concurrence, as the Assyrian ;
" By the strength of my hand have I done this; I have put down
the inhabitants like a vahant man" (Isa. x. 13). It is, as if the axe
should boast itself against him that hews therewith, and thinks
itself more mighty than the arm that wields it (ver. 15), when we
trust in others more than in God. Thus God upbraids those by the
prophet, that sought help from Egypt, telling them (Isa. xxxi. 3),
" The Egyptians were men, and not gods ; intimating, that by their
dependence on them, they rendered them gods and not men, and
advanced them from the state of creatures to that of almighty
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 95
deities. It is to set a pile of dust, a heap of ashes, above Him that
created and preserves tlie world. To trust in a creature, is to make
it as infinite as God ; to do that which is impossible in itself to be
done. God himself cannot make a creature infinite, for that were
to make him God. It is also contemned when we ascribe what we
receive to the power of instruments, and not to the power of God.
Men, in whatsoever they do for us, are but the tools whereby the
Creator works. Is it not a disgrace to the limner to admire his
pencil, and not himself; to the artificer, to admire his file and en-
gines, and not his power? "It is not I," saith Paul, "that labor,
but the grace, the efficacious grace of God, which is in me." What-
soever good we do is from him, not from ourselves ; to ascribe it to
ourselves, or to instruments, is to overlook and contemn his power.
5. Unbelief of the gospel is a contempt and disowning Divine
power. This perfection hath been discovered in the conception of
Christ, the union of the two natures, his resurrection from the grave,
the restoration of the world, and the conversion of men, more than
in the creation of the world : then what a disgrace is unbelief to all
that power that so severely punished the Jews for the rejecting the
gospel : turned so many nations from their beloved superstitions ;
humbled the power of princes and the wisdom of philosophers ;
chased devils from their temples by the weakness of fishermen;
planted the standard of the gospel against the common notions and
inveterate customs of the world ! What a disgrace is unbelief to
this power which hath preserved Christianity from being extinguish-
ed by the force of men and devils, and kept it flourishing in the
midst of sword, fire, and executioners ; that hath made the simplici-
ty of the gospel overpower the eloquence of orators, and multiplied
it from the ashes of martyrs, when it was destitute of all human as-
sistances ! Not heartily to believe and embrace that doctrine, which
hath been attended with such marks of power, is a high reflection
upon this Divine perfection, so highly manifested in the first publi-
cation, propagation, and preservation of it.
Secondly, The power of God is abused, as well as contemned. 1.
When we make use of it to justify contradictions. The doctrine of
transubstantiation is an abuse of this power. When the maintainers
of it cannot answer the absurdities alleged against it, they have re-
course to the power of God. It implies a contradiction, that the
same body should be on earth and in heaven at the same instant of
time ; that it should be at the right hand of God, and in the mouth
and stomach of a man ; that it should be a body of flesh, and yet
bread to the eye and to the taste ; that it should be visible and in-
visible, a glorious body, and yet gnawn by the teeth of a creature ;
that it should be multiplied in a thousand places, and yet an entire
body in every one, where there is no member to be seen, no flesh to
be tasted ; that it should be above us in the highest heavens, and
yet within us in our lower bowels ; such contracfictions as these are
an abuse of the power of God. Again, we abuse this power when
we believe every idle story that is reported, because God is able to
make it so if he pleased. We may as well believe -^sop's Fables to
be true, that birds spake, and beasts reasoned, because the power of
96 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
God can enable sucli creatures to such acts. God's power is not the
rule of our belief of a thing without the exercise of it in matter of
fact, and the declaration of it upon sufficient evidence.
2. The power of God is abused bj presuming on it, without using
the means he hath appointed. When men sit with folded arms, and
make a confidence in his power a glorious title to their idleness and
disobedience, thej would have his strength do all, and his precept
should move them to do nothing ; this is a trust of his power against
his command, a pretended glorifying his jDOwer with a slight of his
sovereignty. Though God be almighty, yet, for the most part, he
exerciseth his might in giving life and success to second causes and
lawful endeavors. When we stay in the mouth of danger, without
any call ordering us to continue, and against a door of providence
opened for our rescue, and sanctuary ourselves in the power of God
without any promise, without any providence conducting us ; this
is not to glorify the Divine might, but to neglect it, in neglecting the
means which his power affords to us for our escape ; to condemn it
to our humors, to work miracles for us according to our wills, and
against his own.y God could have sent a worm to be Herod's exe-
cutioner when he sought the life of our Saviour, or employed an
angel from heaven to have tied liis hands or stopped his breath, and
not put Joseph upon a flight to Egypt with our Saviour ; yet had it
not been an abuse of the power of God, for Joseph to have neglected
the precept, and slighted the means God gave him for the preserving
his own life and that of the child's ? Christ himself, when the Jews
consulted to destroy him, presumed not upon the power of God to
secure him, but used ordinary means for his preservation, by walking
no more openly, but retiring himself into a city near the wilderness
till the hour was come, and the call of his Father manifest" (John
xi. 53, 54). A rash running upon danger, though for the truth it-
self, is a presuming upon, and consequently an abuse of, this power ;
a proud challenging it to serve our turns against the authority of his
will, and the force of his precept ; a not resting in his ordinate
power, but demanding his absolute power to pleasure our follies and
presumptions ; concluding and expecting more from it than what is
authorized by his will.
Instruct. 9. If infinite power be a peculiar property of God, how
miserable will all wicked rebels be under this power of God ! Men
may break his laws, but not impair his arm ; they may slight his
word, but cannot resist his power. If he swear that he will sweep a
place with the besom of destruction, "as he hath thought, so shall
it come to pass ; and as he hath purposed, so shall it stand," (Isa.
xiv. 23, 24). Rebels against an earthly prince may exceed him in
strength, and be more powerful than their sovereign ; none can equal
God, much less exceed him. As none can exercise an act of hostility
against him without his permissive will, so none can struggle from
under his hand without his positive will. He hath an arm not to be
moved, a hand not to be wrung aside. God is represented on his
throne like a "jasper stone" (Rev. iv. 3), as one of invincible power
when he comes to judge ; the jasper is a stone which withstands the
y Harwood, p. 13.
ON THE POWER OF GOD, 97
greatest force. ^ Though men resist the order of his laws, they can-
not the sentence of their punishment, nor the execution of it. None
can any more exempt themselves from the arm of his strength, than
they can from the authority of his dominion. As they must bow
to his sovereignty, so must they sink under his force. A prisoner
in this world may make his escape, but a prisoner in the world . to
come cannot (Job x, 7). " There is none that can deliver out of
thine hand." There is none to deliver when he tears in pieces" (Ps.
1. 22). His strength is uncontrollable ; hence his throne his repre-
sented as a " fiery flame" (Dan. vii. 9). As a spark of fire hath
power to kindle one thing after another, and increase till it consumes
a forest, a city, swallow up all combustible matter till it consumes a
world, and many worlds, if they were in being, what power hath the
tree to resist the fire, though it seems mighty, when it outbraves the
winds ? What, man, to this day, hath been able to free himself from
that chain of death God clapped upon him for his revolt ? And if
he be too feeble to rescue himself from a temporal, much less from
an eternal death. The devils have, to this minute, groaned under the
pile of wrath, without any success in delivering themselves by all
their strength, which much surmounts all the strength of mankind,
nor have they any hopes to work their rescue to eternity. How
foolish is every sinner ! Can we poor worms strut it out against In-
finite Power ? We cannot resist the meanest creatures when God
commissions them, and puts a sword into their hands. They will
not, no, not the worms, be startled at the glory of a king, when they
have the Creator's warrant to be his executioners (Acts xii. 23).
Who can withstand him, when he commands the waves and inun-
dations of the sea to leap over the shore ; when he divides the
ground in earthquakes, and makes it gape wide to swallow the in-
habitants of it ; when the air is corrupted to breed pestilences ;
when storms and showers, unseasonably falling, putrify the fruits
of the earth ; what created power can mend the matter, and, with
a prevailing voice, say to him, What dost thou? There are two
attributes God will make glister in hell to the full ; his wrath
and his power (Rom. ix. 22) : " What if God, Avilling to show
his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much
long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction ?" If it
were mere wrath, and no power to second it, it were not so ter-
rible ; but it is wrath and power : both are joined together. It
is not only a sharp sword, but a powerful arm ; and not only
that, for then it were well for the damned creature. To have
many sharp blows, and from a strong arm, this may be without
putting forth the highest strength a man hath ; but in this God
makes it his design to make his power known and conspicuous ; he
takes the sword, as it were, in both hands, that he may show the
strength of his arm in striking the harder blow ; and therefore the
apostles calls it (2 Thess. i. 9) " the glory of his power," which puts
a sting into his wrath ; and it is called (Rev. xix. 15) " the fierce-
ness of the wrath of the Almighty." God will do it in such a man-
ner as to make men sensible of his almightiness in every stroke.
» Grot, in loc,
VOL. II, — 7
98 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
How great must that vengeance be, that is backed by all tbe strength
of God ! When there will be a powerful wrath, without a powerful
compassion ; when all his power shall be exercised in punishing, and
not the least mite of it exercised in pitying ; how irresistible will be
the load of such a weighty hand ! How can the dust of the bal-
ance break the mighty bars, or get out of the lists of a powerful
vengeance, or hope for any grain of comfort ? O, that every obsti-
nate sinner would think of this, and consider his unmeasurable bold-
ness in thinking himself able to grapple with Omnipotence ! What
force can any have to resist the presence of Him, before whom rocks
melt, and the heavens, at length, shall be shrivelled up as a parch-
ment by the last fire ! As the light of God's face is too dazzling to
be beheld by us, so the arm of his power is too mighty to be opposed
by us. His almightiness is above the reach of our potsherd strength,
as his infiniteness is above the capacity of our purblind understand-
ing. God were not omnipotent, if his power could be rendered in-
effectual by any.
Use II. A second use of this point, from the consideration of the
infinite power of God, is of comfort. As Omnipotence is an ocean
that cannot be fathomed, so the comforts from it are streams that
cannot be exhausted. What joy can be wanting to him that finds
himself folded in the arms of Omnipotence? This perfection is
made over to believers in the covenant, as well as any other attri-
bute ; " I am the Lord, your God ;" therefore, that power, which is
as essential to the Godhead as any other perfection of his nature, is,
in the rights and extent of it, assured unto you. Nay, may we not
say, it is made over more than any other, because it is that which
animates every other perfection ; and is the Spirit that gives them
motion and appearance in the world. If God had expressed himself
in particular, as, " I am a true God, a wise God, a loving God, a
righteous God, I am yours ;" what would all, or any of those, have
signified, unless the other also had been implied, as, "I am an al-
mighty God, I am your God ?" In God's making over himself in
any particular attribute, this of his power is included in every one,
without which, all his other grants would be insignificant. It is a
comfort that power is in the hands of God ; it can never be better
placed, for he can never use his power to injure his confiding crea-
ture; if it were in our own hands, we might use it to injure our-
selves. It is a power in the hands of an indulgent Father, not a
hard-hearted tyrant ; it is a just power; " His right hand is fall of
righteousness" (Ps. xlviii. 10) ; because of his righteousness he can
never use it ill, and because of his wisdom he can never use it un-
seasonably. Men that have strength, often misplace the actings of
it, because of their folly ; and sometimes employ it to base ends, be-
cause of their wickedness ; but this power in God is always awakened
by goodness, and conducted by wisdom ; it is never exercised by
self-will and passion, but according to the immutable rule of his own
nature, which is righteousness. How comfortable is it to think, that
you have a God that can do what he pleases ; nothing so difficult but
he can effect, nothing so strong but he can overrule ! You need
not dread men, since you have One to restrain them ; nor fear devils,
ON THE POWER OP GOD. 99
since you have One to chain them ; no creature but is acted by this
power; no creature but must fall upon the withdrawing of this
power. It was not all laid out in creation ; it is not weakened by his
preservation of things ; he yet hath a fullness of power, and a residue
of Spirit ; for whom should that eternal arm of the Lord be displayed,
and that incomprehensible thunder of his power be shot out, but for
those for whose sake and for whose comfort it is revealed in his word ?
In particular,
1. Here is comfort in all afflictions and distresses. Our evils can
never Be so great to oppress us, as his power is great to deliver us.
The same power that brought a world out of a chaos, and constitu-
ted, and hath hitherto preserved, the regular motion of the stars, can
bring order out of our confusions, and light out of our darkness.
When our Saviour was in the greatest distress, and beheld the face
of his Father frowning, while he was upon the cross, in his complaint
to him, he exerciseth faith upon his power (Matt, xxvii. 46) : " Eli,
Eli : My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?" that this, My
strong, my strong; El, is a name of power, belonging to God; he
comforts himself in his power, while he complains of his frowns.
Follow his pattern, and forget not that power that can scatter the
clouds, as well as gather them together. The Psalmist's support in
his distress, was in the creative power of God (Ps. cxxi. 2) : " My
help comes from the Lord, which made heaven and earth."
2. It is comfort in all strong and stirring corruptions and mighty
temptations. It is by this we may arm ourselves, and " be strong in
the power of his might" (Eph. vi, 10) ; by this we may conquer prin-
cipalities and powers, as dreadful as hell, but not so mighty as heaven ;
by this we may triumph over lusts within, too strong for an arm of
flesh ; by this the devils that have possessed us may be cast out ; the
battered walls of our souls may be repaired ; and the sons of Anak
laid flat. That power that brought light out of darkness, and over-
mastered the deformity of the chaos, and set bounds to the ocean,
and dried up the Eed Sea by a rebuke, can quell the tumults in our
spirits, and level spiritual Goliahs by his word. When the disciples
heard that terrifying speech of our Saviour, concerning rich men,
that it was " easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle,
than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God" (Matt. xix. 24),
to entertain the gospel, which commanded self-denial ; and that, be-
cause of the allurements of the world, and the strong habits in their
soul ; Christ refers them to the power of God (ver. 26), who could
expel those ill habits, and plant good ones : " With men this is im-
possible, but with God all things are possible." There is no resist-
ance, but he can surmount ; no strong-hold, but he can demolish ; no
tower, but he can level.
3. It is comfort from hence, that all promises shall be performed.
Goodness is sufficient to make a promise, but power is necessary to
perform a promise. Men that are honest, cannot often make good
their words, because something may intervene that may shorten
their ability : but nothing can disable God, without diminishing his
godhead. He hath an infiniteness of power to accomplish his word,
as well as an infiniteness of goodness to make and utter his word.
100 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
That might whereby he made heaven and earth, and his keeping
truth forever, are joined together (Ps. cxlvi. 5, 6) ; his Father's ftiith-
fulness, and his creative power are Hnked together. It is upon this
basis the covenant, and every part of it, is established, and stands
as firm as the al mightiness of God, whereby he sprung up the earth,
and reared the heavens. " No power can resist his will" (Rom. ix.
19) ; " Who can disannul his purpose, and turn back his hand when
it is stretched out" (Isa. xiv. 27)? His word is unalterable, and his
power is invincible. He could not deceive himself, for he knew his
own strength when he promised : no unexpected event can "change
his resolution, because nothing can happen without the compass of
his foresight. No created strength can stop him in his action, be-
cause all creatures are ready to serve him at his command ; not the
devils in hell, nor all the wicked men on earth, since he hath strength
to restrain them, and an arm to punish them. What can be too hard
for Him that created heaven and earth ? Hence it was, that when
God promised anything anciently to his people, he used often the
name of the Almighty, the Lord that created heaven and earth, as
that which was an undeniable answer to any objection, against any-
thing that might be made against the greatness and stupendousness
of any promise ; by that name, in all his works of grace, was he
known to them (Exod. vi. 3). AYhen we are sure of his will, we
need not question his strength, since he never over-engaged himself
above his ability. He that could not be resisted by anything in cre-
ation, nor vanquished by devils in redemption, can never want
power to glorify his faithfalness in his accomplishment of whatsoever
he hath promised.
4. From this infiniteness of power in God, we have ground of as-
surance for perseverance. Since conversion is resembled to the work?
of creation and resurrection, two great marks of his strength, he doth
not surely employ himself in the first of changing the heart, to let
any created strength baffle that power which he began and intends
to glorify. It was this might that struck off the chain, and expelled
that strong one that possessed you. What, if you are too weak to
keep him out of his lost possession, will God lose the glory of his
first strength, by suffering his foiled adversary to make a re-entry,
and regain his former usurpation ? His out-stretched arm will not do
less by his spiritual, than it did by his national Israel : it guarded
them all the way to Canaan, and left them not to shift for themselves
after he had struck off the fetters of Egypt, and buried their enemies
in the Red Sea (Deut. i. 31). This greatness of the Father, above
all, our Saviour makes the ground of believers' continuance forever,
against the blasts of hell and engines of the world (John x. 29). " My
Father is greater than all, and none is able to pluck them out of my
Father's hands." Our keeping is not in our own weak hands, but in
the hands of Him who is mighty to save. That power of God keeps us
which intends our salvation. In all fears of falling away, shelter
yourselves in the power of God : " He shall be holden up," saith the
apostle, speaking concerning one weak in faith ; and no other reason
is rendered by him but this, " For God is able to make him to stand"
(Rom. xiv. 4).
ON THE POWER OF GOD, 101
5. From this attribute of tlie infinite power of God, we liave a
ground of comfort in the lowest estate of the church. Let the state
of the church be never so deplorable, the condition never so desper-
ate, that Power that created the world, and shall raise the bodies of
men, can create a happy state for the church, and raise her from an
overwhelming grave ; though the enemies trample upon her, they
cannot upon the arm that holds her, which by the least motion of it,
can lift her up above tlie heads of her adversaries, and make them
feel the thunder of that Power that none can understand : by the
" blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils they are
consumed" (Job iv. 9) ; they " shall be scattered as chaff before the
wind." If once he " draw his hand out of his bosom," all must fly
before him, or sink under him (Ps. Ixxiv, 11) : and when there is
" none to help, his own arm sustains him, and brings salvation, and
his fury doth uphold him" (Isa. Ixiii. 5). What if the church totter
under the underminings of hell ? What if it hath a sad heart and
wet eyes ? In what a little moment can he make the night turn into
day, and make the Jews, that were preparing for death in Shushan,
triumph over the necks of their enemies, and march in one hour with
swords in their hands, that expected the last hour "ropes about their
necks (Esth. ix. 1, 6) ? If Israel be pursued by Pharaoh, the sea
shall open its arms to protect them : if they be thirsty, a rock shall
spout out water to refresh them : if they be hungry, heaven shall be
their granary for manna : if Jerusalem be besieged, and hath not force
enough to encounter Sennacherib, an angel shall turn the camp into
an Aceldema, a field of blood. His people shall not want deliver-
ances, till God want a power of working miracles for their security :
he is more jealous of his power, than the church can be of her safety.
And if we should want other arguments to press him, we may im-
plore him by virtue of his power : for when there is nothing in the
church as a motive to him to save it, there is enough in his own
name, and " the illustration of his power" (Ps. cvi. 8). Who can
grapple with the omnipotency of that God, who is jealous of, and
zealous for, the honor of it? And therefore God, for the most part,
takes such opportunities to deliver, wherein his almightiness may be
most conspicuous, and his counsels most admirable. He awakened
not himself to deliver Israel, till they were upon the brink of the
Red Sea ; nor to rescue the three children, till they were in the fiery
furnace ; nor Daniel, till he was in the lion's den. It is in the weak-
ness of his creature that his strength is perfected, not in a way of ad-
dition of perfectness to it, but in a way of manifestation of the per-
fection of it ; as it is the perfection of the sun to shine and enlighten
the world, not that the sun receives an increase of light by the dart-
ing of his beams, but discovers his glory to the admiration of men,
and pleasure of the world. If it were not for such occasions, the
world would not regard the mightiness of God, nor know what power
were in him. It traverses the stage in its fulness and liveliness upon
such occasions, when the enemies are strong, and their strength edged
with an intense hatred, and but little time between tlie contrivance
and execution. It is a great comfort that the lowest distresses of the
church are a fit scene for the discovery of this attribute, and that the
102 CHARNOCK ON TUE ATTEIBUTES.
glorj of God's omnipotence, and the cliurch's security, are so straitly
linked together. It is a promise that will never be forgotten by
God, and ought never to be forgotten by us, that " in this mountain
the hand of the Lord shall rest" (Isa. xxv. 10) ; that isj the power of
the Lord shall abide; and Moab " shall be trodden under him, even
as straw is trodden down for the dunghill." And the " plagues of
Babylon shall come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine ;
for strong is the Lord who judgeth her" (Rev. xviii. 8).
Use III. The third use is for exhortation.
1. Meditate on this power of God, and press it often upon your
minds. We conclude many things of God that we do not practically
suck the comfort of, for want of deep thoughts of it, and frequent in-
spection into it. We believe God to be true, yet distrust him ; we
acknowledge him powerful, yet fear the motion of every straw.
Many truths, though assented to in our understandings, are kept
under hatches by corrupt affections, and have not their due influ-
ence, because they are not brought forth into the open air of our
souls by meditation. If we will but search our hearts, we shall find
it is the power of God we often doubt of When the heart of Ahaz
and his subjects trembled at the combination of the Syrian and Isra-
elitish kings against him, for want of a confidence in the power of
God, God sends his prophet with commission to work a miraculous
sign at his own choice, to rear up his fainting heart ; and when he
refused to ask a sign out of diffidence of that almighty Power, the
prophet complains of it as an affront to his Master (Isa. vii. 12, 13).
Moses, so great a friend of God, was overtaken with this kind of un-
belief, after all the experiments of God's miraculous acts in Egypt ;
the answer God gives him manifests this to be at the core : "Is the
Lord's hand waxed short" (Numb. xi. 23) ? For want of actuated
thoughts of this, we are many times turned from our known duty by
the blast of a creature ; as though man had more power to dismay
us, than God hath to support us in his commanded way. The be-
lief of God's power is one of the first steps to all religion ; without
settled thoughts of it, we cannot pray lively and believingly for the
obtaining the mercies we want, or the averting the evils we fear ; we
should not love him, unless we are persuaded he hath a power to
bless us ; nor fear him, unless we were persuaded of his power to
punish us. The frequent thoughts of this would render our faith
more stable, and our hopes more stedfast ; it would make us more
feeble to sin, and more careful to obey. When the virgin staggered
at the message of the angel, that she should " bear a Son," he, in his
answer, turns her to the creative power of God (Luke i. 35), " The
power of the Highest shall overshadow thee ;" which seems to be in
allusion to the Spirit's moving upon the face of the deep, and bring-
ing a comely world out of a confused mass. Is it harder for God to
make a virgin conceive a Son by the power of his Spirit, than to
make a world ? Why doth he reveal himself so often under the
title of Almighty, and press it upon us, but that we should press it
upon ourselves ? And shall we be forgetful of that which every
thing about us, everything within us, is a mark of? How come we
by a power of seeing and hearing, a faculty, and act of understanding
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 103
and will, but by this power framing us, tliis power assisting us ?
What though the thunder of his power cannot be understood, no
more can any other perfection of his nature ; shall we, therefore,
seldom think of it ? The sea cannot be fathomed, yet the merchant
excuseth not himself from sailing upon the surface of it. We can-
not glorify God without due consideration of this attribute ; for his
power is his glory as much as any other, and called both by the
name of glory (Rom, vi. 4), speaking of Christ's resurrection by the
glory of the Father ; and also " the riches of his glory" (Eph. iii. 16).
Those that have strong temptations in their course and over-pressing
corruptions in their hearts, have need to think of it out of interest,
since nothing but this can relieve them. Those that have experi-
mented the working of it in their new creation, are obliged to think
of it out of gratitude. It was this mighty power over himself that
gave rise to all that pardoning grace already conferred, or hereafter
expected ; without it our souls had been consumed, the world over-
turned ; we could not have expected a happy heaven, but have lain
yelling in an eternal hell, had not the power of his mercy exceeded
that of his justice, and his infinite power executed what his infinite
wisdom had contrived for our redemption. How much also should
we be raised in our admirations of God, and ravish ourselves in con-
templating that might that can raise innumerable worlds in those in-
finite imaginary spaces without this globe of heaven and earth, and
exceed inconceivably what he hath done in the creation of this ?
2. From the pressing the consideration of this upon ourselves, let
us be induced to trust God upon the account of his power. The
main end of the revelation of his power to the patriarchs, and of the
miraculous operations of it in Egypt, was to induce them to an entire
reposing themselves in God : and the Psalmist doth scarce speak of
the Divine Omnipotence without making this inference from it ; and
scarce exhorts to a trust in God, but backs it with a consideration of
his power in creation, it being the chief support of the soul (Ps.
cxlvi. 1) : " Happy is he whose hope is in the Lord his God, which
made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that therein is." That
Power is invincible that drew the world out of nothing : nothing can
happen to us harder than the making the world without the concur-
rence of instruments : no difl&culty can nonplus that strength, that
hath drawn all things out of nothing, or out of a confused matter
next to nothing : no power can rifle what we commit to him (2 Tim.
i. 12). He is all power, above the reach of all power ; all other
powers in the world flowing from him, or depending on him, he is
worthy to be trusted, since we know him true, without ever breaking
his word; and Omnipotent, never failing of his purpose; and a con-
fidence in it is the chief act whereby we can glorify this power, and
credit his arm. A strong God, and a weak faith in omnipotence, do
not suit well together. Indeed, we are more engaged to a trust in
Divine power than the ancient patriarchs were ; they had the verbal
declaration of his power, and many of them little other evidence of
it, than in the creation of the world ; and their faith in God being
established in this iirst discovery of his omnipotence, drew out itself
further to believe, that whatsoever God promised by his word, he
104: CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
was able to perform, as well as the creation of tlie world out of
nothing ; which seems to be the intendment of the apostle (Heb. xi. 3) ;
not barely to speak of the creation of the world by God, which was
a thing the Hebrews understood well enough from their ancient
oracles; but to show the foundation of the patriarch's faith, viz.
God making the world by his "Word, and what use they made of the
discovery of his power in that, to lead them to believe the promise
of God concerning the Seed of the woman to be brought into the
world. But we have not only the same foundation, but superadded
demonstrations of this attribute in the conception of our Saviour, the
union of the two natures, the glorious redemption, the propagation
of the gospel, and the new creation of the world. They relied upon
the naked power of God, without those more illustrious appearances
of it, which have been in the ages since, and arrived to their notice ;
we have the wonderful effects of that which they had but obscure ex-
pectations of
(1.) Consider, trust in God can never be without taking in God's
power as a concurrent foundation with his truth. It is the main
ground of trust, and so set forth in the prophet (Isa. xxvi. 4) ;
" Trust ye in the Lord for ever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlast-
ing strength." And the faith of the ancients so recommended (Heb.
xi), had this chiefly for its ground ; and the faith in gospel times is
called a " trusting on his arm" (Isa. li. 5.) All the attributes of God
are the objects of our veneration, but they do not equally contribute
to the producing trust in our hearts ; his eternity, simplicity, infinite-
ness, ravish and astonish our minds when we consider them ; but
there is no immediate tendency in their nature to allure us to a con-
fidence in him, no, not in an innocent state, much less in a lapsed
and revolted condition : but the other jDerfections of his nature, as
his holiness, righteousness, mercy, are amiable to us in regard of the
immediate operations of them upon and about the creature, and so
have something in their own nature to allure us to repose ourselves
in him ; but yet those cannot engage to an entire trust in him with-
out reflecting upon his ability, which can only render those useful
and successful to the creature.^ For whatsoever bars stand in the
way of his holy, righteous, and merciful proceedings towards his
creatures, are not overmastered by those perfections, but by that
strength of his which can only relieve us in concurrence with the
other attributes. How could his mercy succor us without his arm,
or his wisdom guide us without his hand, or his truth perform pro-
mises to us without his strength ? As no attribute can act without
it, so in our addresses to him upon the account of an}^ particular
perfection in the Godhead according to our indigency, our eye must
be perpetually fixed upon this of his power, and our faith would be
feeble and dispirited without eyeing this : without this, his holiness,
which hates sin, would not be regarded ; and his mercy, pitying a
grieving sinner, would not be valued. As this power is the ground
of a wicked man's fear, so it is the ground of a good man's trust.
This was that which was the principal support of Abraham, not
barely his promise, but his ability to make it good (Rom. iv. 21) ;
» Amy rant Moral. Tom. V. p. 170.
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 105
and wlien he was commanded to sacrifice Isaac, tlie ability of God
to raise him up again (Heb. xi. 19). All faith would droop, and be
in the mire, without leaning upon this ; all those attributes which
we consider as moral in God, would have no influence upon us with-
out this, which we consider physically in God. Though we ' value
the kindness men may express to us in our distresses, yet we make
them not the objects of our confidence, unless they have an ability
to act what they express. There can be no trust in God without an
eye to his power.
(2.) Sometimes the power of God is the sole object of trust. As
when we have no promise to assure us of his will, we have nothing
else to pitch upon but his ability ; and that not his absolute jiower,
but his ordinate, in the way of his providence ; we must not trust in
it so as to expect he should please our humor with fresh miracles,
but rest upon his power, and leave the manner to his will. Asa,
when ready to conflict with the vast Ethiopian army, pleaded noth-
ing else but this power of God (2 Chron. xiv. 11). And the three
children, who had no particular promise of deliverance (that we
read of) stuck to God's ability to preserve them against the king's
threatening, and owned it in the face of the king, yet with some
kind of inward intimations in their own spirits, that he would also
deliver them (Dan. iii. 17). "Our God, whom we serve, is able to
deliver us from the burning fiery furnace." And accordingly the
fire burnt the cords that tied them, Avithout singeing any thing else
about them. But when this power hath been exercised upon like
occasions, it is a precedent he hath given us to rest upon. Prece-
dents in law are good pleas, and strong encouragements to the client
to expect success in his suit. " Our fathers trusted in thee, and thou
didst deliver them," saith David (Ps. xxii. 4). And Jehoshaphat,
in a case of distress (2 Chron. xx. 7), " Art not thou our God, that
didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel ?"
When we have not any statute law and promise to plead, we may
plead his power, together with the former precedents and act of it.
The centurion had nothing else to act his faith upon but the power
of Christ, and some evidences of it in the miracles reported of him ;
but he is silent in the latter, and casts himself only upon the former,
acknowledging that Christ had the same command over diseases, as
himself had over his soldiers (Matt. viii. 10). And our Saviour,
when he receives the petition of the blind men, requires no more of
them in order to a cure, but a belief of his ability to perform it
(Matt. ix. 28). " Believe you that I am able to do this ?' His will is
not known but by revelation, but his power is apprehended by
reason, as essentially and eternally linked with the notion of a God.
God also is jealous of the honor of this attribute ; and since it is so
much virtually discredited, he is pleased when any do cordially own
it, and entirely resign themselves to the assistance of it. Well, then,
in all duties where faith is particularly to be acted, forget not this as
the main prop of it : do you pray for a flourishing and triumphing
grace? Consider him "as able to make all grace to abound in
you" (2 Cor. ix. 8). Do you want comfort and reviving under your
contritions and godly sorrow ? Consider him, as he declares himself,
106 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
"tlie liigli and lofty One' (Isa. Ivii. 15). Are you under pressing
distresses ? take Elipliaz's advice to Job, when lie tells him what lie
liimself would do if lie were in liis case (Job v. 8), "I would seek
unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause:" but observe
under what consideration (ver. 9) as to one " that doth great things,
and unsearchable ; marvellous things without number." When you
beg of him the melting your rocky hearts, the dashing in pieces your
strong corruptions, the drawing his beautiful image in your soul,
the quickening your dead hearts, and reviving your drooping spirits,
and supplying your spiritual wants, consider him as one " able to
do abundantly," not only " above what you can ask," but " above
what you can think" (Eph. iii. 20). Faith will be spiritless, and
prayer will be liveless, if power be not eyed by us in those things
which cannot be done without an arm of Omnipotence.
3. This doctrine teacheth us humility and submission. The vast
disproportion between the mightiness of God, and the meanness of
a creature, inculcates the lesson of humility in his presence. How
becoming is humility under a mighty hand (1 Pet. v. 6) ! What is
an infant in a giant's hand, or a lamb in a lion's paw ? Submission
to irresistible power is the best policy, and the best security ; this
gratifies and draws out goodness, whereas murmuring and resistance
exasperates and sharpens power. We sanctify his name, and glorify
his strength, by falling down before it; it is an acknowledgment of
his invisible strength, and our inability to match it. How low
should we therefore lie before him, against whose power our pride
and murmuring can do no good, who can out-wrestle us in our con-
tests, and alway overcome when he j udges (Rom. iii. 4) !
4. This doctrine teacheth us not to fear the pride and force of
man. How unreasonable is it to fear a limited, above an unbounded
power ! How unbecoming is the fear of man in him, who hath an
interest in a strength able to curb the strongest devils ! Who would
tremble at the threats of a dwarf, that hath a mighty and watchful
giant for his guard ? If God doth but arise, his enemies are scattered
(Ps. Ixviii. 1) : the least motion makes them fly before him : it is no
difficult thing for Him, that made them by a word, to unmake their
designs, and shiver them in pieces by the breath of his mouth : " He
brings princes to nothing, and makes the j udges of the earth vanity ;
they wither when he blows upon them, and their stock shall not
take root in the earth. He can command a whirlwind to take them
away as stubble" (Isa. xl. 23, 24); yea, with the "shaking of his
hand he makes servants to become rulers of those that were their
masters (Zecli. ii. 9). Whole nations are no more in his hands than
a " morning cloud,' or the " dew upon the ground," or " the chaff
before the wind," or the smoke against the motion of the air, which,
though it appear out of a chimney like a black invincible cloud, is
quickly dispersed, and becomes invisible (Hos. xiii. 3). How incon-
siderable are the most mighty to this strength, which can puff away
a whole world of proud grasshoppers, and a whole sky of daring
clouds ! He that by his word masters the rage of the sea, can over-
rule the pride and power of men. Where is the fury of the oppres-
sor ? It cannot overleap the bounds he hath set it, nor march an inch
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 107
beyond the point lie hatli prescribed it. Fear not the confederacies
of man, but " sanctify the Lord of hosts ; let him be your fear, and
let him be your dread" (Isa. viii. 18). To fear men is to dishonor
the name of God, and regard him as a feeble Lord, and not as the
Lord of hosts, who is mighty in strength, so that they that harden
themselves against him shall not prosper.
6. Therefore this doctrine teacheth us the fear of God. The pro-
phet Jeremiah counts it as an impossible thing for men to be desti-
tute of the fear of God, when they seriously consider his name to be
great and mighty (Jer. x. 6, 7) : " Thou art great, and thy name is
great in might : who would not fear thee, O thou King of nations ?"
Shall we not tremble at his presence, who hath placed the " sand for
the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree ;" that though the waves
thereof toss themselves, yet they cannot prevail (Jer. v. 22). He
can arm the weakest creature for our destruction, and disarm the
strongest creatures which appear for our preservation. He can com-
mand a hair, a crumb, a kernel, to go awry, and strangle us. He
can make the heavens brass over our head, stop close the bottles
of the clouds, and make the fruit of the fields droop, when there is a
small distance to the harvest; he can arm men's wit, wealth, hands,
against themselves ; he can turn our sweet morsels into bitter, and
our own consciences into devouring lions ; he can root up cities by
moles, and conquer the proudest by lice and worms. The omnipo-
tence of God is not only the object of a believer's trust, but a be-
liever's fear. It is from the consideration of this power only, that
our Saviour presses his disciples, whom he entitles his friends, to fear
God ; which lesson he presses by a double repetition, and with a
kind of asseveration, without rendering any other reason than this
of the ability of God to cast into hell (Luke xii. 5). We are to fear
Him because he can ; but bless his goodness because he will not. In
regard of his omnipotence, he is to be reverenced, not only by mor-
tal men, but by the blessed angels, who are past the fear of any
danger by his power, being confirmed in a happy state by his unal-
terable grace : when they adore him for his holiness, they reverence
him for his power with covered faces: the title of the "Lord of
hosts" is joined in their reverential praise with that of his holiness
(Isa. vi. 8), " Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts." How should
we adore that Power which can preserve us, when devils and men
conspire to destroy us ! How should we stand in awe of that Power
which can destroy us, though angels and men should combine to
preserve us ! The parts of his ways which are discovered, are suffi-
cient motives to an humble and reverential adoration : but who can
fear and adore him according to the vastness of his power, and his
excellent greatness, since " the thunder of his power who can under-
stand ?"
DISCOURSE XL
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD.
Exodus XV. 11. — Who is like unto thee, 0 Lord, among tlie gods? Who is like thee^
glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders ?
This verse is one of tlie loftiest descriptions of the majesty and
excellency of God in the whole Scripture. '' It is a part of Moses'
'Enifiitioi'j or " triumphant song," after a great and real, and a typical
victory ; in the womb of which all the deliverances of the church
were couched. It is the first song upon holy record, and it consists
of gratulatory and prophetic matter ; it casts a look backward to
what God did for them in their deliverance from Egypt ; and a look
forward to what God shall do for the church in future ages. That
deliverance was but a rough draught of something more excellent to
be wrought towards the closing up of the world ; when his plagues
shall be poured out upon the anti-christian powers, which should re-
vive the same song of Moses in the church, as fitted so many ages
before for such a scene of affairs (Rev. xv. 2, 3). It is observed,
therefore, that many words in this song are put in the future tense,
noting a time to come ; and the very first word, ver. 1, " Then sang
Moses and the children of Israel this song ;" t't::"', shall sing ; imply-
ing, that it was composed and calculated for the celebrating some
greater action of God's, which was to be wrought in the world."
Upon this account, some of the Jewish rabbins, from the considera-
tion of this remark, asserted the doctrine of the resurrection to be
meant in this place ; that Moses and those Israelites should rise
again to sing the same song, for some greater miracles God should
work, and greater triumphs he should bring forth, exceeding those
wonders at their deliverance from Egypt.
It consists of, 1. A preface (ver. 1); "I will sing unto the Lord."d
2. An historical narration of matter of fact (ver. 3, 4), " Pharaoh's
chariots and his host hath he cast into the Red Sea;" which he solely
ascribes to God (ver. 6), " Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glori-
ous in power : thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the
enemy ;" which he doth prophetically, as respecting something to be
done in after-times ; or further for the completing of that deliver-
ance ; or, as others think, respecting their entering into Canaan ; for
the words, in these two verses, are put in the future tense. The man-
ner of the deliverance is described (ver. 8) ; " The floods stood up-
'' Trap, in loc. " Manass. bea Israel, de Resurr. lib. 1, cap. 1, p. 7.
<> Pareus in Exod, xv.
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 109
right as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea."
In the 9th verse, he magnifies the victory from the vain glory and se-
curity of the enemy; "Tiie enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake,
I will divide the spoil," &c. And ver. 16, 17, He prophetically describes
the fruit of this victory, in the influence it shall have upon those na-
tions, by whose confines they were to travel to the promised land ;
" Fear and dread shall fall upon them ; by the greatness of thy arm
they shall be as still as a stone, till thy people pass over which thou
hast purchased." The phrase of this and the 17th and 18th verses,
seems to be more magnificent than to design only the bringing the
Israelites to the earthly Canaan ; but seems to respect the gathering
his redeemed ones together, to place them in the spiritual sanctuary
which he had established, wherein the Lord should reign forever
and ever, without any enemies to disturb his royalty ; " The Lord
shall reign forever and ever" (ver. 18). The prophet, in the midst of
his historical narrative, seems to be in an ecstasy, and breaks out in
a stately exaltation of God in the text.
Who is like unto thee, 0 Lord, among the gods? &c. Interrogations
are, in Scripture, the strongest affirmations or negations ; it is here
a strong affirmation of the incomparableness of God, and a strong
denial of the worthiness of all creatures to be partners with him in
the degrees of his excellency ; it is a preference of God before all
creatures in holiness, to which the purity of creatures is but a
shadow in desert of reverence and veneration, he being " fearful in
praises," The angels cover their faces when they adore him in his
particular perfections.
Amongst the gods. Among the idols of the nations, say some ;
others say,^ it is not to be found that the Heathen idols are ever dig-
nified with the title of " strong or mighty," as the word translated '
gods, doth import ; and therefore understand it of the angels, or
other potentates of the world ; or rather inclusively, of all that are
noted for, or can lay claim to, the title of strength and might upon
the earth or in heaven. God is so great and majestic, that no crea-
ture can share with him in his praise.
Fearfid in praises. Various are the interpretations of this passage :
to be " reverenced in praises ;" his praise ought to be celebrated
with a religious fear. Fear is the product of his mercy as well as
his justice ; "He hath forgiveness that he may be feared" (Ps. cxxx.
4). Or, "fearful in praises;" whom none can praise without amaze-
ment at the considerations of his works. None can truly praise him
without being affected with astonishment at his greatness.^ Or,
" fearful in praises ;" whom no mortal can sufficiently praise,
since he is above all praise.s Whatsoever a human tongue can
speak, or an angelical understanding think of the excellency of
his nature and the greatness of his works, falls short of the vast-
ness of the Divine perfection. A creature's praises of God are as
much below the transcendent cminency of God, as the meanness
of a creature's being is below the eternal fulness of the Creator.
Or, rather, "fearful," or terrible, "in praises;" that is, in the
matter of thy praise : and the learned Eivet concurs with me in
« Rivet. '' Calvin. e Munster.
110 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTEIBUTES.
tliis sense. The works of God, celebrated in this song, were ter-
rible ; it was the miraculous overthrow of the strength and flower
of a mighty nation ; his judgments were severe, as well as his
mercy was seasonable. The word n-iis signifies glorious and illus-
trious, as well as terrible and fearful. No man can hear the praise
of thy name, for those great judicial acts, without some astonish-
ment at thy justice, the stream, and thy holiness, the spring of those
mighty works. This seems to be the sense of the following words,
" doing wonders :" fearful in the matter of thy praise ; they being
wonders which thou hast done among us and for us.
Doing wonders. Congealing the waters by a wind, to make them
stand like walls for the rescue of the Israelites ; and melting them by
a wind, for the overthrow of the Egyptians, are prodigies that chal-
lenge the greatest adorations of that mercy which delivered the one,
and that justice which punished the other; and of the arm of that
power whereby he effected both his gracious and righteous purposes.
Whence observe, that the judgments of God upon his enemies, as
well as his mercies to his people, are matters of praise. The perfec-
tions of God appear in both. Justice and mercy are so linked to-
gether in his acts of providence, that the one cannot be forgotten
whilst the other is acknowledged. He is never so terrible as in the
assemblies of his saints, and the deliverance of them (Ps. Ixxxix. 7).
As the creation was erected by him for his glory ; so all the acts of
his government are designed for the same end : and his creatures
deny him his due, if they acknowledge not his excellency in what-
soever dreadful, as well as pleasing garbs, it appears in the world.
His terror as well as his righteousness ajDpears, when he is a God of
salvation (Ps. ]xv. 5). " By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou
answer us, O God of our salvation." But the expression I pitch
upon in the text to handle, is glorious in holiness. He is magnified
or honorable in holiness ; so the word "iixa is translated (Isa. xlii.
21). " He will magnify the law, and make it honorable." Thy holi-
ness hath shone forth admirably in this last exploit, against the ene-
mies and oppressors of thy people. The holiness of God is his glory,
as his grace is his riches : holiness is his crown, and his mercy is his
treasure. This is the blessedness and nobleness of his nature ; it
renders him glorious in himself, and glorious to his creatures, that
understand any thing of this lovely perfection. Holiness is a glori-
ous perfection belonging to the nature of God. Hence he is in Scrip-
ture styled often the Holy One, the Holy One of Jacob, the Holy
One of Israel ; and oftener entitled Holy, than Almighty, and set
forth by this part of his dignity more than by any other. This is more
affixed as an epithet to his name than any other : you never find it
expressed. His mighty name, or his His wise name ; but His great
name, and most of all, His holy name. This is his greatest title of
honor; in this doth the majesty and venerableness of his name ap-
pear. "When the sinfulness of Sennacherib is aggravated, the Holy
Ghost takes the rise from this attribute (2 Kings xix. 22). " Thou
hast lift up thine eyes on high, even against the Holy One of Israel ;"
not against the wise, mighty, &c., but against the Holy One of
Israel, as that wherein the majesty of God was most illustrious. It
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. Ill
is "apon this account he is called light, as impurity is called dark-
ness ; both in this sense are opposed to one another : he is a pure
and unmixed light, free from all blemish in his essence, nature, and
operations.
1. Heathens have owned it. Proclus calls him, the undefiled Go-
vernor of the world.^i The poetical transformations of their false
gods, and the extravagancies committed by them, was — in the ac-
count of the wisest of them — an unholy thing to report and hear.'
And some vindicate Epicurus from the atheism wherewith he was
commonly charged ; that he did not deny the being of God, but
those adulterous and contentious deities the people worshipped, which
were practices unworthy and unbecoming the nature of God.i^
Hence they asserted, that virtue was an imitation of God, and a
virtuous man bore a resemblance to God : if virtue were a copy from
God, a greater holiness must be owned in the original. And when
some of them were at a loss how to free God from being the author
of sin in the world, they ascribe the birth of sin to matter, and run
into an absurd opinion, fancying it to be uncreated, that thereby they
might exempt God from all mixture of evil ; so sacred with them
was the conception of God, as a Holy God.
2. The absurdest heretics have owned it. The Maniches and
Marchionites, that thought evil came by necessity, yet would salve
God's being the author of it, by asserting two distinct eternal prin-
ciples, one the original of evil, as God was the fountain of good : so
rooted Avas the notion of this Divine purity, that none would ever
slander goodness itself with that which was so disparaging to it.i
3. The nature of God cannot rationally be conceived without it.
Though the power of God be the first rational conclusion, drawn
from the sight of his works, wisdom the next, from the order and
connexion of his works, purity must result from the beauty of his
works : that God cannot be deformed by evil, who hath made every
thing so beautiful in its time. The notion of a God cannot be en-
tertained without separating from him whatsoever is impure and be-
spotting both in his essence and actions. Though we conceive him
infinite in Majesty, infinite in essence, eternal in duration, mighty in
power, and wise and imnmtable in his counsels; merciful in his
proceedings with men, and whatsoever other perfections may dig-
nify so sovereign a Being, yet if we conceive him destitute of this
excellent perfection, and imagine him possessed with the least con-
tagion of evil, we make him but an infinite monster, and sully all
those perfections we ascribed to him before ; we rather own him a
devil than a God. It is a contradiction to be God and to be dark-
ness, or to have one mote of darkness mixed with his light. It is a
less injury to him to deny his being, than to deny the purity of it;
the one makes him no god, the other a deformed, unlovely, and a
detestable god. Plutarch said not amiss, That he should count him-
self less injured by that man, that should deny that there was such a
man as Plutarch, than by him that should affirm that there was such
•^ "kxpavTog JiyEjiuv. ' ov6' aKovea' uatov. Ammon. in Plut. de 'Ei apud Delphos,
p. 393. k Gasseud. Tom. I, Phys. § 1, Lb, 4, cap. 2, p. 289.
» Petav. Theol Dogmat. Tom. I. lib. 6, cap. 5, p. 415.
112 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
a one indeed, but lie was a debauched fellow, a loose and vicious
person. It is a less wrong to God to discard any acknowledgments
of his being, and to count him nothing, than to believe him to exist,
but imagine a base and unholy Deity : he that saith, God is not holy,
speaks much worse than he that saith, There is no God at all. Let
these two things be considered.
I. If any, this attribute hath an excellency above his other perfec-
tions. There are some attributes of God we prefer, because of our
interest in them, and the relation they bear to us : as we esteem his
goodness before his power, and his mercy whereby he relieves us,
before his justice whereby he punishethus; as there are some we
more deligtit in, because of the goodness we receive by them ; so there
are some that God delights to honor, because of their excellency.
1. None is sounded out so loftily, with such solemnity, and so
frequently by angels that stand before his throne, as this. Where
do you find any other attribute trebled in the praises of it, as this
(Isa. vi. 3) ? " Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth
is full of his glory ;" and (Rev. iv. 8), "The four beasts rest not day
and night, saying. Holy, holy, holy. Lord God Almighty," &c. His
power or sovreignty, as Lord of hosts, is but once mentioned, but
with a ternal repetition of his holiness. Do you hear, in any angeli-
cal song, any other perfection of the Divine Nature thrice repeated ?
Where do we read of the crying out Eternal, eternal, eternal ; or.
Faithful, faithful, faithful. Lord God of Hosts ? Whatsoever other
attribute is left out, this God would have to fill the mouths of angels
and blessed spirits for ever in heaven.
2. He singles it out to swear by (Ps. Ixxxix. 35) : " Once have I
sworn by my holiness, that I will not lie unto David :" and (Amos
iv. 2), " The Lord will swear by his holiness :" he twice swears by
his holiness ; once by his power (Isa. Ixii. 8) ; once by all, when he
swears by his name (Jer. xliv. 26). He lays here his holiness to
pledge for the assurance of his promise, as the attribute most dear to
him, most valued by him, as though no other could give an assur-
ance parallel to it in this concern of an everlasting redemption which
is there spoken of: he that swears, swears by a greater than himself;
God having no greater than himself, swears by himself: and swear-
ing here by his holiness, seems to equal that single one to all his
other attributes, as if he were more concerned in the honor of it,
than of all the rest. It is as if he should have said. Since I have not
a more excellent perfection to swear by, than that of my holiness, I
lay this to pawn for your security, and bind myself by that which I
will never part with, were it possible for me to be stripped of all the
rest. It is a tacit imprecation of himself. If I lie unto David, let me
never be counted holy, or thought righteous enough to be trusted by
angels or men. This attribute he makes most of.
3. It is his glory and beauty. Holiness is the honor of the crea-
ture ; sanctification and honor are linked together (1 Thess. iv, 4) ;
much more is it the honor of God ; it is the image of God in the
creature (Eph. iv. 24). When we take the picture of a man, we
draw the most beautiful part, the face, which is a member of the
greatest excellency. When God would be drawn to the life, as much
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 113
as can be, in tlie spirit of his creatures, he is drawn in this attribute,
as being the most beautiful perfection of God, and most valuable
with him. Power is his hand and arm ; omniscience, his eye ; mercy,
his bowels ; eternity, his duration ; his holiness is his beauty (2 Chron.
XX. 21); — " should praise the beauty of holiness." In Ps. xxvii. 4,
David desires "to behold the beauty of the Lord, and inquire in his
holy temple;" that is, the holiness of God manifested in his hatred
of sin in the daily sacrifices. Holiness was the beauty of the temple
(Isa. xlvi. 11); holy and beautiful house are joined together; much
more the beauty of God that dwelt in the sanctuary. This renders him
lovely to all his innocent creatures, though formidable to the guilty
ones. A heathen philosopher could call it the beauty of the Divine
essence, and say, that God was not so happy by an eternity of life,
as by an excellency of virtue.™ And the angels' song intimate it to
be his glory (Isa. vi. 3); "The whole earth is full of thy glory;" that
is, of his holiness in his laws, and in his judgments against sin, that
being the attribute applauded by them before.
4. It is his very life. So it is called (Eph. iv. 18), " Alienated
from the life of God," that is, from the holiness of God : speaking of
the opposite to it, the unclcanness and profaneness of the Gentiles.
We are only alienated from that which we are bound to imitate ; but
this is the perfection alway set out as the pattern of our actions,
" Be ye holy, as I am holy;" no other is proposed as our copy ; alien-
gtted from that purity of God, which is as much as his life, without
which he could not live. If he were stripped of this, he would be a
dead God, more than by the want of any other perfection. His
swearing by it intimates as much ; he swears often by his own life ;
" As I live, saith the Lord :" so he swears by his holiness, as if it
were his life, and more his life than any other. Let me not live, or
let me not be holy, are all one in his oath. His Deity could not
outlive the life of his purity.
II. As it seems to challenge an excellency above all his other per-
fections, so it is the glory of all the rest. As it is the glory of the God-
head, so it is the glory of every perfection in the Godhead, As his
power is the strength of them, so his holiness is the beauty of them.
As all would be weak, without almightiness to back them, so all
would be uncomely without holiness to adorn them. Should this be
sullied, all the rest would lose their honor and their comfortable
efficacy : as, at the same instant that the sun should lose its light, it
would lose its heat, its strength, its generative and quickening virtue.
As sincerity is the lustre of every grace in a Christian, so is purity
the splendor of every attribute in the Godhead. His justice is a
holy justice ; his wisdom a holy wisdom ; his arm of power a holy
arm (Ps. xcviii. 1) ; his truth or promise a holy promise (Ps. cv. 42).
Holy and true go hand in hand (Rev. vi. 10). His name, which
signifies all his attributes in conjunction, is holy (Ps. ciii. 1); yea,
he is " righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works" (Ps. cxlv.
17): it is the rule of all his acts, the source of all his punishments.
If every attribute of the Deity were a distinct member, purity would
be the form, the soul, the spirit to animate them. Without it, his
" Plutarch Eugabiu. dc Pereuai Phil. lib. 6, cap. 6.
114 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
patience would be an indulgence to sin, his mercy a fondness, his
wrath a madness, his j^ower a tyranny, his wisdom an unworthy
subtilty. It is this gives a decorum to all. His mercy is not ex-
ercised without it, since he pardons none but those that have an
interest, by union, in the obedience of a Mediator, which was so
delightful to his infinite purity. His justice, which guilty man is
apt to tax with cruelty and violence in the exercise of it, is not acted
out of the compass of this rule. In acts of man's vindictive justice
there is something of impurity, perturbation, passion, some mixture
of cruelty ; but none of these fall upon God in the severest acts of
wrath. When God appears to Ezekiel, in the resemblance of fire,
to signify his anger against the house of Judah for their idolatry,
" from his loins downward" there was " the appearance of fire ;" but,
from the loins upward, "the appearance of brightness, as the color of
amber" (Ezek. viii. 2). His heart is clear in his most terrible acts
of vengeance ; it is a pure flame, wherewith he scorcheth and burns
his enemies : he is holy in the most fiery appearance. This attribute,
therefore, is never so much applauded, as when his sword hath been
drawn, and he hath manifested the greatest fierceness against his ene-
mies. The magnificent and triumphant expression of it in the text,
follows just upon God's miraculous defeat and ruin of the Egyptian
army: "The sea covered them; they sank as lead in the mighty
waters:" then it follows, " Who is like unto thee, O Lord, glorious
in holiness ?" And when it was so celebrated by the seraphims (Isa.
vi. 3), it was when the "posts moved, and the house was filled with
smoke" (ver. 4), which are signs of anger (Ps. xviii. 7, 8). And
when he was about to send Isaiah upon a message of spiritual and
temporal judgments, that he would make the " heart of that people
fat, and their ears heavy, and their eyes shut ; waste their cities with-
out inhabitant, and their houses without man, and make the land
desolate" (ver. 9-12): and the angels which here applaud him for
his holiness, are the executioners of his justice, and here called sera-
phims, from burning or fiery spirits, as being the ministers of his
wrath. His justice is part of his holiness, whereby he doth reduce
into order those things that are out of order. When he is consuming
men by his fury, he doth not diminish, but manifest purity (Zeph.
iii. 5) ; " The just Lord is in the midst of her ; he will do no iniquity."
Every action of his is free from all tincture of evil. It is also cele-
brated with praise, by the four beasts about his throne, when he ap-
pears in a covenant garb with a rainbow about his throne, and yet with
thunderings and lightnings shot against his enemies (Rev. iv. 8,
compared with ver. 3, 5), to show that all his acts of mercy, as well
as justice, are clear from any stain. This is the crown of all his
attributes, the life of all his decrees, the brightness of all his actions:
nothing is decreed by him, nothing is acted by him, but what is
worthy of the dignity, and becoming the honor, of this attribute.
For the better understanding this attribute, observe, I. The nature
of this holiness. II. The demonstration of it. III. The purity of
his nature in all his acts about sin. IV. The use of all to ourselves.
I. The nature of Divine holiness in general. The holiness of God
negatively^ is a perfect and unpolluted freedom from all evil. As we
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 115
call gold pure that is not embased by any dross, and that garment
clean that is free from any spot, so the nature of God is estranged
from all shadow of evil, all imaginable contagion. Positively, It is
the rectitude or integrity of the Divine nature, or that conformity of
it, in affection and action, to the Divine will, as to his eternal law,
whereby he works with a becomingness to his own excellency, and
whereby he hath a delight and complacency in everything agreeable
to his will, and an abhorrency of everything contrary thereunto.
As there is no darkness in his understanding, so there is no spot in
his will : as his mind is possessed with all truth, so there is no devia-
tion in his will from it. He loves all truth and goodness ; he hates
all falsity and evil. In regard of his righteousness, he loves right-
eousness (Ps. xi. 7); " The righteous Lord loveth righteousness," and
" hath no pleasure in wickedness" (Ps. v. 4). He values purity in
his creatures, and detests all impurity, whether inward or outward.
We may, indeed, distinguish the holiness of God from his righteous-
ness in our conceptions : holiness is a perfection absolutely considered
in the nature of God; righteousness, a perfection, as referred to
others, in his actions towards them and upon them."
In particular, this property of the Divine nature is, 1. An essential
and necessary perfection : he is essentially and necessarily holy. It
is the essential glory of his nature : his holiness is as necessary as his
being ; as necessary as his omniscience : as he cannot but know what
is right, so he cannot but do what is just. His understanding is not
as created understanding, capable of ignorance as well as knowledge ;
so his will is not as created wills, capable of unrighteousness, as well
as righteousness. There can be no contradiction or contrariety in
the Divine nature, to know what is right, and to do what is wrong ;
if so, there would be a diminution of his blessedness, he would not
be a God alway blessed, " blessed forever," as he is (Rom. ix. 6).
He is as necessarily holy, as he is necessarily God ; as necessarily
without sin, as without change. As he was God from eternity, so he
was holy from eternity. He was gracious, merciful, just in his own
nature, and also holy; though no creature had been framed by him
to exercise his grace, mercy, justice, or holiness upon.o If God
had not created a world, he had, in his own nature, been Almighty,
and able to create a world. If there never had been anything but
himself, yet he had been omniscient, knowing everything that was
within the verge and compass of his infinite power; so he was pure
in his own nature, though he never had brought forth any rational
creature whereby to manifest this purity. These perfections are so
necessary, that the nature of God could not subsist without them.
And the acts of those, ad intra, or within himself, are necessary ; for
being omniscient in nature, there must be an act of knowledge of
himself and his own nature. Being infinitely holy, an act of holiness
in infinitely loving himself, must necessarily flow from this perfec-
tion.? As the Divine will cannot but be perfect, so it cannot be
wanting to render the highest love to itself, to its goodness, to the
Divine nature, which is due to him. Indeed, the acts of those, ad
" Martin, de Deo, p. 86. • Turretin. de Satisfact. p. 28.
P Ochino, Predic. Part III. Bodic. 51, pp. 347, 348.
116 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
extra^ are not necessary, but upon a condition. To love righteous-
ness, without himself, or to detect sin, or inflict punishment for the
committing of it, could not have been, had there been no righteous
creature for him to love, no sinning creature for him to loathe, and
to exercise his justice upon, as the object of punishment. Some
attributes require a condition to make the acts of them necessary ;
as it is at God's liberty, whether he will create a rational creature,
or no ; but when he decrees to make either angel or man, it is neces-
sary, from the perfection of his nature, to make them righteous. It
is at God's liberty whether he will speak to man, or no ; but if he
doth, it is impossible for him to speak that which is false, because
of his infinite perfection of veracity. It is at his liberty whether he
will permit a creature to sin ; but if he sees good to suffer it, it is im-
possible but that he should detest that creature that goes cross to his
righteous nature. His holiness is not solely an act of his will, for
then he might be unholy as well as holy; he might love iniquity
and hate righteousness ; he might then command that which is good,
and afterwards command that which is bad and unworthy ; for what
is only an act of his will, and not belonging to his nature, is indiffer-
ent to him. As the positive law he gave to Adam, of not eating the
forbidden fruit, was a pure act of his will, he might have given him
liberty to eat of it, if he had pleased, as well as prohibited him. But
what is moral and good in its own nature, is necessarily willed by God,
and cannot be changed by him, because of the transcendent eminency
of his nature, and righteousness of his will. As it is impossible for
God to command his creature to hate him, or to dispense with a
creature for not loving him, — for this would be to command a thing
intrinsically evil, the highest ingratitude, the very spirit of all wick-
edness, which consists in the hating God, — yet, though God be thus
necessarily holy, he is not so by a bare and simple necessity, as the
sun shines, or the fire burns ; but by a free necessity, not compelled
thereunto, but inclined from the fulness of the perfection of his own
nature and will ; so as by no means he can be unholy, because he
will not be unholy ; it is against his nature to be so,
2. God is only absolutely holy ; " There is none holy as the
Lord" (1 Sam. ii. 2) ; it is the peculiar glory of his nature ; as
there is none good but God, so none holy but God. No crea-
ture can be essentially holy, because mutable ; holiness is the sub-
stance of God, but a quality and accident in a creature. God is in-
finitely holy, creatures finitely holy. He is holy from himself, crea-
tures are holy by derivation from him. He is not only holy, but
holiness ; holiness in the highest degree, is his sole prerogative. As
the highest heaven is called the heaven of heavens, because it em-
braceth in its circle all the heavens, and contains the magnitude of
them, and hath a greater vastness above all that it encloseth, so is
God the Holy of holies ; he contains the holiness of all creatures put
together, and infinitely more. As all the wisdom, excellency, and
power of the creatures if compared with the wisdom, excellency, and
power of God, is but folly, vileness, and weakness ; so the highest
created purity, if set in parallel with God, is but impurity and un-
cleanness (Eev. xv. 4) : " Thou only art holy." It is like the light
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 117
of a glow-worm to that of tlie sun (Job xiii. 15) ; " The heavens are
not pure in his sight, and his angels he charged with folly" (Job
iv. 18). Though Grod hath crowned the angels with an unspotted
sanctity, and placed them in a habitation of glory, yet, as illustrious
as they are, they have an unworthiness in their own nature to ap-
pear before the throne of so holy a God ; their holiness grows dim
and pale in his presence. It is but a weak shadow of that Divine
purity, whose light is so glorious, that it makes them cover their
faces out of weakness to behold it, and cover their feet out of shame
in themselves. They are not pure in his sight, because, though they
love God (which is a principle of holiness) as much as they can,
yet, not so much as he deserves ; they love him with the intensest
degree, according to their power ; but not with the intensest degree,
according to his own amiableness ; for they cannot infinitely love
God, unless they were as infinite as God, and had an understanding
of his perfections equal with himself, and as immense as his own
knowledge. God, having an infinite knowledge of himself, can only
have an infinite love to himself, and, consequently, an infinite holi-
ness without any defect ; because he loves himself according to the
vastness of his own amiableness, which no finite being can. There-
fore, though the angels be exempt from corruption and soil, they
cannot enter into comparison with the purity of God, without ac-
knowledgment of a dimness in themselves. Besides, he charges
them with folly, and puts no trust in them ; because they have the
power of sinning, though not the act of sinning ; they have a pos-
sible folly in their own nature to be charged with. Holiness is a
quality separable from them, but it is inseparable from God. Had
they not at first a mutability in their nature, none of them could
have sinned, there had been no devils ; but because some of them
sinned, the rest might have sinned. And though the standing
angels shall never be changed, jei they are still changeable in their
own nature, and their standing is due to grace, not to nature ; and
though they shall be for ever preserved, yet they are not, nor ever
can be, immutable by nature, for then they should stand upon the
same bottom with God himself; but they are supported by grace
against that changeableness of nature which is essential to a crea-
ture; the Creator only hath immortality, that is, immutability
(1 Tim. iii. 16). It is as certain a truth, that no creature can be
naturally immutable and impeccable, as that God cannot create any
anything actually polluted and imperfect. It is as possible that
the highest creature may sin, as it is possible that it may be anni-
hilated ; it may become not holy, as it may become not a crea-
ture, but nothing. The holiness of a creature may be reduced
into nothing, as well as his substance ; but the holiness of the
Creator cannot be diminished, dimmed, or overshadowed (James i.
17): " He is the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness or
shadow of turning." It is as impossible his holiness should be
blotted, as that his Deity should be extinguished : for whatsoever
creature hath essentially such or such qualities, cannot be stripped
of them, without being turned out of its essence. As a man is es-
sentially rational ; and if he ceaseth to be rational, he ceaseth to be
118 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
man. The suu is essentially luminous ; if it should become dark in
its own body, it would cease to be the sun. In regard to this abso-
lute and only holiness of God, it is thrice repeated by the seraphims
(Isa. vi. 3). The three-fold repetition of a word notes the certainty
or absoluteness of the thing, or the irreversibleness of the resolve ;
as (Ezek. xxi. 27), " I will overturn, overturn, overturn," notes the
certainty of the judgment; also, (Rev. viii. 8), " Woe, woe, woe;"
three times repeated, signifies the same. The holiness of God is so
absolutely peculiar to him, that it can no more be exjDressed in
creatures, than his omnipotence, whereby they may be able to create
a world ; or his omniscience, whereby they may be capable of know-
ing all things, and knowing God as he knows himself.
3. God is so holy, that he cannot possibly approve of any evil done
by another, but doth perfectly abhor it; it would not else be a
glorious holiness (Ps. v. 3). " He hath no pleasure in wickedness."
He doth not onl}^ love that which is just, but abhor, with a perfect
hatred, all things contrary to the rule of righteousness. Holiness
can no more approve of sin than it can commit it : to be delighted
with the evil in another's act, contracts a guilt, as well as the com-
mission of it ; for approbation of a thing is a consent to it. Some-
times the approbation of an evil in another is a more grievous
crime than the act itself, as aj^pears in Rom. i. 32, who knowing
the judgment of God, "not only" do the same, but have pleasure in
them that do it ;" where the " not only" manifests it to be a greater guilt
to take pleasure in them. Every sin is aggravated by the delight in it ;
to take pleasure in the evil of another's action, shows a more ardent
affection and love to sin, than the committer himself may have. This,
therefore, can as little fall upon God, as to do an evil act himself ; yet,
as a man may be delighted with the consequences of another's sin,
as it may occasion some public good, or private good to the guilty
person, as sometimes it may be an occasion of his repentance, when
the horridness of a fact stares him in the face, and occasions a self-
reflection for that, and other crimes, which is attended with an in-
dignation against them, and sincere remorse for them ; so God is
pleased with those good things his goodness and wisdom bring forth
upon the occasion of sin. But in regard of his holiness, he cannot
approve of the evil, whence his infinite wisdom drew forth his own
glor}^, and his creature's good. His pleasure is not in the sinful act
of the creature, but in the act of his own goodness and skill, turn-
ing it to another end than what the creature aimed at.
. (1.) He abhors it necessarily. Holiness is the glory of the Deity,
therefore necessary. The nature of God is so holy, that he cannot
but hate it (Hab. i. 13) : " Thou art of purer eyes than to behold
evil, and canst not look on iniquity :" he is more opposite to it than
light to darkness, and, therefore, it can expect no coantenance from
him. A love of holiness cannot be without a hatred of everything
that is contrary to it. As God necessarily loves himself, so he must
necessarily hate everything that is against himself : and as he loves
himself for his own excellency and holiness, he must necessarily de-
test whatsoever is repugnant to his holiness, because of the evil of
it. Since he is infinitely good, he cannot but love goodness, as it is
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 119
a resemblance to himself, and cannot but ablior unrighteousness, as be-
ing most distant from him, and contrary to him. If he have any
esteem for his own perfections, he must needs have an implacable
aversion to all that is so repugnant to him, that would, if it were
possible, destroy him, and is a point directed, not only against his
glory, but against his life. If he did not hate it, he would hate
himself: for since righteousness is his image, and sin would deface
his image ; if he did not love his image, and loathe what is against
his image, he would loathe himself, he would be an enemy to his
own nature. Nay, if it were possible for him to love it, it were
possible for him not to be holy, it were possible then for him to deny
himself, and will that he were no God, which is a palpable contra-
diction.i Yet this necessity in God of hating sin, is not a brutish
necessity, such as is in mere animals, that avoid, by a natural in-
stinct, not of choice, what is prejudicial to them ; but most free, as
well as necessary, arising from an infinite knowledge of his own na-
ture, and of the evil nature of sin, and the contrariety of it to his
own excellency, and the order of his works.
(2.) Therefore intensely. Nothing do men act for more than their
glory. As he doth infinitely, and therefore perfectly know himself,
so he infinitely, and therefore perfectly knows what is contrary to
himself, and, as according to the manner and measure of his knowl-
edge of himself, is his love to himself, as infinite as his knowledge,
and therefore inexpressible and unconceivable by us : so, from the
perfection of his knowledge of the evil of sin, which is infinitely
above what any creature can have, doth arise a displeasure against
it suitable to that knowledge. In creatures the degrees of affection
to, or aversion from a thing, arc suited to the strength of their ap-
prehensions of the good or evil in them. God knows not only the
workers of wickedness, but the wickedness of their works (Job xi.
11), for " he knows vain men, he sees wickedness also." The ve-
hemency of this hatred is expressed variously in Scripture ; he
loathes it so, that he is impatient of beholding it ; the very sight of it
affects him with detestation (Hab. i. 13) ; he hates the first spark of
it in the imagination (Zech. viii. 17) ; with what variety of expres-
sions doth he repeat his indignation at their polluted services (Amos
V. 21, 22); "I hate, I detest, I despise, I will not smell, I will not
regard ; take away from me the noise of thy songs, I will not hear !"
So, (Isa. i. 14), " My soul hates, they are a trouble to me, I am
weary to bear them." It is the abominable thing that he hates (Jer.
xliv. 4) ; he is vexed and fretted at it (Isa. Ixiii. 10 ; Ezek. xvi. 33).
He abhors it so, that his hatred redounds upon the person that com-
mits it. (Ps. V. 5), " He hates all workers of iniquity." Sin is the
only primary object of his displeasure : he is not displeased with the
nature of man as man, for that was derived from him ; but with the
nature of man as sinful, which is from the sinner himself. When a
man hath but one object for the exercise of all his anger, it is
stronger than when diverted to many objects : a mighty torrent,
when diverted into many streams, is weaker than when it comes in
a full body upon one place only. The infinite anger and hatred of
1 Turretiu. de Satisfact. pp. 35, 86.
120 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
God, whicli is as infinite as his love and mercy, lias no other object,
against which he directs the mighty force of it, but only unright
eousness. He hates no person for all the penal evils upon him, though
they were more by ten thousand times than Job was struck with,
but only for his sin. Again, sin being only evil, and an unmixed
evil, there is nothing in it that can abate the detestation of God, or
balance his hatred of it; there is not the least grain of goodness in
it, to incline him to the least affection to any part of it. This ha-
tred cannot but be intense ; for as the more any creature is sancti-
fied, the more is he advanced in the abhorrence of that which is
contrary to holiness ; therefore, God being the highest, most absolute
and infinite holiness, doth infinitely, and therefore intensely, hate
unholiness ; being infinitely righteous, doth infinitely abhor un-
righteousness ; being infinitely true, doth infinitely abhor falsity, as
it is the greatest and most deformed evil. As it is from the right-
eousness of his nature that he hath a content and satisfaction in
righteousness (Ps. xi, 7), "The righteous Lord loveth righteous-
ness ;" so it is from the same righteousness of his nature, that he de-
tests whatso&ver is morally evil : as his nature therefore is infinite,
so must his abhorrence be.
(3.) Tlierefore universally, because necessarily and intensely. He
doth not hate it in one, and indulge it in another, but loathes it
wherever he finds it ; not one worker of iniquity is exempt from it
(Ps. V. 5) : " Thou hatest all workers of iniquity." For it is not
sin, as in this or that person, or as great or little ; but sin, as sin is
the object of his hatred ; and, therefore, let the person be never so
great, and have particular characters of his image upon him, it se-
cures him not from God's hatred of any evil action he shall commit.
He is a jealous God, jealous of his glory (Exod. xx. 5) ; a metaphor,
taken from jealous husbands, who will not endure the least adultery
in their wives, nor God the least defection of man from his law.
Every act of sin is a spiritual adultery, denying God to be the chief
good, and giving that prerogative by that act to some vile thing.
He loves it no more in his own people than he doth in his enemies ;
he frees them not from his rod, the testimony of his loathing their
crimes : whosoever sows iniquity, shall reap afliiction. It might be
thought that he affected their dross, if he did not refine them, and
loved their filth, if he did not cleanse them ; because of his detesta-
tion of their sin, he will not spare them from the furnace, though
because of love to their persons in Christ, he will exempt them from
Tophet. How did the sword ever and anon drop down upon David's
family, after his unworthy dealing in Uriah's case, and cut ofl" ever
and anon some of the branches of it ? He doth sometimes punish
it more severely in this life in his own people, than in others. Upon
Jonah's disobedience a storm pm'sues him, and a whale devours him,
while the profane world lived in their lusts without control. Moses,
for one act of unbelief, is excluded from Canaan, when greater sin-
ners attained that happiness. It is not a light punishment, but a
vengeance he takes on their inventions (Ps. xcix, 8), to manifest that
he hates sin as sin, and not because the worst persons commit it.
Perhaps, had a profane man touched the ark, the hand of God had
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 121
not so suddenly readied him ; but when Uzzah, a man zealous for
him, as may be supposed by his care for the support of the tottering
ark, would step out of his place, he strikes him down for his dis-
obedient action, by the side of the ark, which he would indirectly
(as not being a Levite) sustain (2 Sam. vi. 7). Nor did our Saviour
so sharply reprove the Pharisees, and turn so short from them as he
did from Peter, when he gave a carnal advice, and contrary to that
wherein was to be the greatest manifestation of God's holiness, viz.
the death of Christ (Matt. xvi. 23). He calls him Satan, a name
sharper than the title of the devil's children wherewith he marked
the Pharisees, and given (besides him) to none but Judas, who made
a profession of love to him, and was outwardly ranked in the num-
ber of his disciples. A gardener hates a weed the more for being
in the bed with the most precious flowers. God's hatred is univer-
sally fixed against sin, and he hates it as much in those whose per-
sons shall not fall under his eternal anger, as being secured in the
arms of a Redeemer, by whom the guilt is wiped off, and the filth
shall be totally washed away : though he hates their sin, and cannot
but hate it, yet he loves their persons, as being united as members
to the Mediator and mystical Head. A man may love a gangrened
member, because it is a member of his own body, or a member of a
dear relation, but he loathes the gangrene in it more than in those
wherein he is not so much concerned. Though God's hatred of be-
lievers' persons is removed by faith in the satisfactory death of Jesus
Christ, yet his antipathy against sin was not taken away by that
blood ; nay, it was impossible it should. It was never designed, nor
had it any capacity to alter the unchangeable nature of God, but to
manifest the unspottedness of his will, and his eternal aversion to
anything that was contrary to the purity of his Being, and the
righteousness of his laws.
(4.) Perpetually : this must necessarily follow upon the others.
He' can no more cease to hate impurity than he can cease to love
holmess : if he should in the least instant approve of anything that
is filth}^, in that moment he would disapprove of his own nature and
being ; there would be an interruption in his love of himself, which
is as eternal as it is infinite. How can he love any sin which is con-
trary to his nature, but for one moment, without hating his own na-
ture, which is essentially contrary to sin ? Two contraries cannot be
loved at the same time ; God must first begin to hate himself before
he can approve of any evil which is directly opposite to himself.
We, indeed, are changed with a temptation, sometimes bear an affec-
tion to it, and sometimes testify an indignation against it ; but God
is always the same without any shadow of change, and " is angry
with the wicked every day" (Ps. vii. 11), that is, uninterruptedly in
the nature of his anger, though not in the effects of it. God indeed
may be reconciled to the sinner, but never to the sin ; for then he
should renounce himself, deny his own essence and his own divinity,
if his inclinations to the love of goodness, and his aversion from evil,
could be changed, if he sufiered the contempt of the one, and en-
couraged the practice of the other.
4. God is so holy, that he cannot but love holiness in others.
122 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTEIBUTES.
Not that lie owes anything to liis creature, but from tlie unspeakable
holiness of his nature, whence affections to all things that bear a re-
semblance of him do flow ; as light shoots out from the sun, or any
glittering body : it is essential to the infinite righteousness of his na-
ture to love righteousness wherever he beholds it (Ps. xi. 7) : " The
righteous Lord loveth righteousness," He cannot, because of his na-
ture, but love that which bears some agreement with his nature, that
which is the curious draught of his own wisdom and purity : he can-
not but be delighted with a copy of himself: he would not have a
holy nature, if he did not love holiness in every nature : his own
nature would be denied by him, if he did not affect everything that
had a stamp of his own nature uj)on it. There was indeed nothing
without God, that could invite him to manifest such goodness to
man, as he did in creation : but after he had stamped that rational
nature with a righteousness convenient for it, it was impossible but
that he should ardently love that impression of himself, because he
loves his own Deity, and consequently all things which are any sparks
and images of it : and were the devils capable of an act of righteous-
ness, the holiness of his nature would incline him to love it, even in
those dark and revolted spirits.
5. God is so holy, that he cannot positively will or encourage sin
in any. How can he give any encouragement to that which he can-
not in the least approve of, or look upon without loathing, not only
the crime, but the criminal ? Light may sooner be the cause of
darkness than holiness itself be the cause of unholiness, absolutely
contrary to it : it is a contradiction, that he that is the Fountain of
good should be the source of evil ; as if the same fountain should
bubble up both sweet and bitter streams, salt and fresh (James iii.
11) ; since whatsoever good is in man acknowledges God for its au-
thor, it follows that men are evil by their own fault. There is no
need for men to be incited to that to which the corruption of their
own nature doth so powerfully bend them. Water hath a forcible
principle in its own nature to carry it downward ; it needs no force
to hasten the motion : " God tempts no man, but every man is drawn
away by his own lust" (James i. 13, 14). All the preparations for
glory are from God (Rom. ix. 23) ; but men are said to " be fitted to
destruction" (ver. 22) ; but God is not said to fit them ; they, by
their iniquities, fit themselves for ruin, and he, by his long-suffering,
keeps the destruction from them for awhile.
(1.) God cannot command any unrighteousness. As all virtue is
summed up in a love to God, so all iniquity is summed up in an en-
mity to God : every wicked worlc declares a man an enemy to God
(Col. i. 21) : " enemies in your minds by wicked works." If he could
command his creature anything which bears an enmity in its nature
to himself, he would then implicitly command the hatred of himself,
and he would be, in some measure, a hater of himself : he that com-
mands another to deprive him of his life, cannot be said to bear any
love to his own life. God can never hate himself, and therefore can-
not command anything that is hateful to him and tends to a hating
of him, and driving the creature further from him ; in that very mo-
ment that God should command such a thing, he would cease to be
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 123
good. What can be more absurd to imagine, tban that Infinite
Goodness should enjoin a thing contrary to itself, and contrary to
the essential duty of a creature, and order him to do anything that
bespeaks an enmity to the nature of the Creator, or a deflouring and
disparaging his works ? God cannot but love himself, and his own
goodness ; he were not otherwise good ; and, therefore, cannot order
the creature to do anything opposite to this goodness, or anything
hurtful to the creature itself, as unrighteousness is,
(2.) Nor can God secretly inspire any evil into us. It is as much
against his nature to incline the heart to sin as it is to command it :
as it is impossible but that he should love himself, and therefore im-
possible to enjoin anything that teuds to a hatred of himself; by the
same reason it is as impossible that he should infuse such a principle
in the heart, that might carry a man out to any act of enmity against
him. To enjoin one thing, and incline to another, would be an ar-
gument of such insincerity, unfaithfulness, contradiction to itself,
that it cannot be conceived to fall within the compass of the Divine
nature (Deut. xxxii. 4), who is a " God without iniquity," because
" a God of truth" and sincerity, "just and right is he." To bestow
excellent faculties upon man in creation, and incline him, by a sud-
den impulsion, to things contrary to the true end of him, and induce
an inevitable ruin upon that work which he had composed with so
much wisdom and goodness, and pronounced good with so much de-
light and pleasure, is inconsistent with that love which God bears to
the creature of his own framing : to incline his will to that which
would render him the object of his hatred, the fuel for his justice,
and sink him into deplorable misery, it is most absurd, and unchris-
tian-like to imagine.
(3.) Nor can God necessitate man to sin. Indeed sin cannot be
committed by force ; there is no sin but is in some sort voluntary ;
voluntary in the root, or voluntary in the branch ; voluntary by an
immediate act of the will, or voluntary by a general or natural incli-
nation of the will. That is not a crime to which a man is violenced,
without any concurrence of the faculties of the soul to that act ; it is
indeed not an act, but a passion ; a man that is forced is not an
agent, but a patient under the force : but what necessity can there
be upon man from God, since he hath implanted such a principle in
him, that he cannot desire anything but what is good, either really
or apparently ; and if a man mistakes the object, it is his own fault ;
for God hath endowed him with reason to discern, and liberty of
will to choose upon that judgment. And though it is to be ac-
knowledged that God hath an absolute sovereign dominion over his
creature, without any limitation, and may do what he pleases, and
dispose of it according to his own will, as a " potter doth with his
vessel" (Rom. ix. 21) ; according as the church speaks (Isa. Ixiv. 8),
" We are the clay, and thou our potter ; and we all are the work of
thy hand ;" yet he cannot pollute any undefiled creature by virtue
of that sovereign power, which he hath to do what he will with it ;
because such an act would be contrary to the foundation and right
of his dominion, which consists in the excellency of his nature, his
immense wisdom, and unspotted purity ; if God should therefore do
124 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
any sucli act, he would expunge the right of his dominion by blot-
ting out that nature which renders him fit for that dominion, and the
exercise of itj Any dominion which is exercised without the rules
of goodness, is not a true sovereignty, but an insupportable tyranny.
G od would cease to be a rightful Sovereign if he ceased to be good ;
and he would cease to be good, if he did command, necessitate, or by
any positive operation, incline inwardly the heart of a creature di-
rectly to that which were morally evil, and contrary to the eminency
of his own nature. But that we may the better conceive of this, let
us trace man in his first fall, whereby he subjected himself and all
his posterity to the curse of the law and hatred of God ; we shall
find no footsteps, either of precept, outward force, or inward impul-
sion.s The plain story of man's apostasy dischargeth God from any
interest in the crime as an encouragement, and excuseth him from
any appearance of suspicion, when he showed him the tree he had
reserved, as a mark of his sovereignty, and forbad him to eat of the
fruit of it ; he backed the prohibition with the threatening the great-
est evi], viz. death ; which could be understood to imply nothing less
than the loss of all his happiness ; and in that couched an assurance
of the perpetuity of his felicity, if he did not, rebelliously, reach forth
his hand to take and "eat of the fruit" (Gen. ii. 16, 17). It is true
God had given that fruit an excellency, " a goodness for food, and a
pleasantness to the eye" (Gen. iii. 6). lie had given man an appe-
tite, whereby he was capable of desiring so pleasant a fruit ; but God
had, by creation, arranged it under the command of reason, if man
would have kept it in its due obedience; he had fixed a severe
threatening to bar the unlawful excursions of it ; he had allowed him
a multitude of other fruits in the garden, and given him liberty
enough to satisfy his curiosity in all, except this only. Could there
be anything more obliging to man, to let God have his reserve of
that one tree, than the grant of all the rest ; and more deterring from
any disobedient attempt than so strict a command, spiiited with so
dreadful a penalty ? God did not solicit him to rebel against him ;
a solicitation to it, and a command against it, were inconsistent.
The devil assaults him, and God permitted it, and stands, as it were,
a spectator of the issue of the combat. There could be no necessity
upon man to listen to, and entertain the suggestions of the serpent ;
he had a power to resist him, and he had an answer ready for all the
devil's arguments, had they been multiplied to more than they were ;
the opposing the order of God had been a sufficient confutation of
all the devil's plausible reasonings ; that Creator, who hath given me
my being, hath ordered me not to eat of it. Though the pleasure
of the fruit might allure him, yet the force of his reason might have
quelled the liquorishness of his sense ; the perpetual thinking of, and
sounding out, the command of God, had silenced both Satan and his
own appetite ; had disarmed the tempter, and preserved his sensitive
part in its due subjection. What inclination can we suppose there
could be from the Creator, when, upon the very first offer of the
temptation, Eve opposes to the tempter the prohibition and threat-
ening of God, and strains it to a higher peg than we find God had
' Amyrald. Disert. pp. 103, 104. « Amyrald. Defens. de Calvin, pp. 151, 152.
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 125
delivered it in? For in Gen. ii. 17, it is, " You shall not eat of it ;"
but she adds (Gen. iii. 3), " Neither shall you touch it ;" which was
a remark that might have had more influence to restrain her. Had
our first parents kept this fixed upon their understandings and
thoughts, that God had forbidden any such act as the eating of the
fruit, and that he was true to execute the threatening he had uttered,
of which truth of God they could not but have a natural notion, with
what ease might they have withstood the devil's attack, and defeated
his design ! And it had been easy with them, to have kept their
understandings by the force of such a thought, from entertaining any
contrary imagination. There is no ground for any jealousy of any
encouragements, inward impulsions, or necessity from God in this
affair. A discharge of God from this first sin will easily induce a
freedom of him from all other sins which follow upon it. God doth
not then encourage, or excite, or incline to sin. How can he excite
to that which, when it is done, he will be sure to condemn ? How
can he be a righteous Judge to sentence a sinner to misery for a
crime acted by a secret inspiration from himself? Iniquity would
deserve no reproof fi-om him, if he were any way positively the
author of it. Were God the author of it in us, what is the reason
our own consciences accuse us for it, and convince us of it ? that,
being God's deputy, would not' accuse us of it, if the sovereign power
by which it acts, did incline us to it. How can he be thought to
excite to that which he hath enacted such severe laws to restrain, or
incline man to that which he hath so dreadfully punished in his Son,
and which it is impossible but the excellency of his nature must in-
cline him eternally to hate ? We may sooner imagine, that a pure
flame shall engender cold, and darkness be the offspring of a sun-
beam, as imagine such a thing as this. " What shall we say, is there
unrighteousness with God ? God forbid." The apostle execrates
such a thought (Eom. ix. 14.)
6. God cannot act any evil, in or by himself. If he cannot ap-
prove of sin in others, nor excite any to iniquity, which is less, he
cannot commit evil himself, which is greater ; what he cannot pos-
itively will in another, can never be willed in himself ; he cannot do
evil through ignorance, because of his infinite knowledge; nor
through weakness, because of his infinite power ; nor through malice,
because of his infinite rectitude. He cannot will any unjust thing,
because, having an infinitely perfect understanding, he cannot judge
that to be true which is false ; or that to be good which is evil : his
will is regulated by his wisdom. If he could will any unjust and
irrational thing, his will would be repugnant to his understanding ;
there would be a disagreement in God, will against mind, and will
against wisdom ; he being the highest reason, the first truth, cannot
do an unreasonable, false, defective action. It is not a defect in God
that he cannot do evil, but a fulness and excellency of power ; as it
is not a weakness in the light, but the perfection of it, that it is un-
able to produce darkness ; " God is the Father of lights, with whom
is no variableness" (James i. 17). Nothing pleases him, nothing is
acted by him, but what is beseeming the infinite excellency of his
own nature ; the voluntary necessity whereby God cannot be unjust.
126 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
renders him a God blessed forever ; he would hate himself for the
chief good, if, in any of his actions, he should disagree with his good-
ness. He cannot do any unworthy thing, not because he wants an
infinite power, but because he is possessed of an infinite wisdom, and
adorned with an infinite purity ; and being infinitely pure, cannot
have the least mixture of impurity. As if you can suppose fire in-
finitely hot, you cannot suppose it to have the least mixture of cold-
ness ; the better anything is, the more unable it is to do evil ; God
being the only goodness, can as little be changed in his goodness as
in his essence.
II. The next inquiry is. The proof that God is holy, or the mani-
festation of it. Purity is as requisite to the blessedness of God, as
to the being of God ; as he could not be God without being blessed,
so he could not be blessed without being holy. He is called by the
title of Blessed, as well as by that of holy (Mark xiv. 61); "Art
thou the Christ, the son of the Blessed ?" Unrighteousness is a misery
and turbulency in any spirit wherein it is ; for it is a privation of an
excellency which ought to be in every intellectual being, and what
can follow upon the privation of an excellency but unquietness and
grief, the moth of happiness ? An unrighteous man, as an unright-
eous man, can never be blessed, though he were in a local heaven.
Had God the least spot upon his purity, it would render him as mis-
erable in the midst of his infinite sufficiency, as iniquity renders a
man in the confluence of his earthly enjoyments. The holiness and
felicity of God are inseparable in him. The apostle intimates that
the heathen made an attempt to sully his blessedness, when they
would liken him to corruptible, mutable, impure man (Rom. i. 23,
25): "They changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an
image, made like to corruptible man ;" and after, he entitles God a
" God blessed forever." The gospel is therefore called, " The glorious
gospel of the blessed God" (1 Tim. i. 11), in regard of the holiness
of the gospel precepts, and in regard of the declaration of the holi-
ness of God in all the streams and branches, wherein his purity, in
which his blessedness consists, is as illustrious as any other perfection
of the Divine Being. God hath highly manifested this attribute in
the state of nature ; in the legal administration ; in the dispensation
of the gospel. His wisdom, goodness, and power, are declared in
creation ; his sovereign authority in his law ; his grace and mercy
in the gospel, and his righteousness in all. Suitable to this threefold
state, may be that eternal repetition of his holiness in the prophecy
(Isa. vi. 3) ; holy, as Creator and Benefactor ; holy, as Lawgiver and
Judge ; holy, as Restorer and Redeemer.
First, His holiness appears, as he is Creator, in framing man in a
perfect uprightness. Angels, as made by God, could not be evil ; for
God beheld his own Avorks with pleasure, and could not have pro-
nounced them all good, had some been created pure, and others im-
pure ; two moral contrarieties could not be good. The angels had a
first estate, wherein they were happy (Jude 6) ; and had they not
left their own habitation and state, they could not have been miser-
able. But, because the Scripture speaks only of the creation of
man, we will consider, that the human nature was well strung and
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 127
tuned by God, according to the note of liis own holiness (Eccles. vii.
29) ; " God hath made man upright:" he had declared his power in
other creatures, but would declare in his rational creature, what he
most valued in himself; and, therefore, created him upright, with a
wisdom which is the rectitude of the mind, with a purity which is
the rectitude of the will and affections. He had declared a purity
in other creatures, as much as they were capable of, viz. in the exact
tuning them to answer one another. And that God, who so well
tuned and composed other creatures, would not make man a jarring
instrument, and place a cracked creature to be Lord of the rest of his
earthly fabric. God, being holy, could not set his seal upon any
rational creature, but the impression would be like himself, pure and
holy also ; he could not be created with an error in his understand-
ing ; that had been inconsistent with the goodness of God to his
rational creature ; if so, the erroneous motion of the will, which was
to follow the dictates of the understanding, could not have been im-
puted to him as his crime, because it would have been, not a volun-
tary, but a necessary effect of his nature ; had there been an error in
the first wheel, the error of the next could not have been imputed
to the nature of that, but to the irregular motion of the first wheel
in the engine. The sin of men and angels, proceeded not from any
natural defect in their understandings, but from inconsideration ; he
that was the author of harmony in his other creatures, could not be
the author of disorder in the chief of his works. Other creatures
were his footsteps, but man was his image (Gen. i. 26, 27): "Let us
make man in our image, after our likeness;" which, though it seems
to imply no more in that place, than an image of his dominion over
the creatures, yet the apostle raises it a peg higher, and gives us a
larger interpretation of it (Col. iii. 10): " And have put on the new
man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that
created him ;" making it to consist in a resemblance to his righteous-
ness. Image, say some, notes the form, as man was a spirit in regard
of his soul ; likeness, notes the quality implanted in his spiritual na-
ture ; the image of God was drawn in him, both as he was a rational,
and as he was a holy creature. The creatures manifested the being
of a superior power, as their cause, but the righteousness of the first
man evidenced, not only a sovereign power, as the donor of his being,
but a holy power, as the pattern of his work. God appeared to be a
holy God in the righteousness of his creature, as well as an under-
standing God in the reason of his creature, while he formed him
with all necessary knowledge in his mind and all necessary upright-
ness in his will. The law of love to God, with his whole soul, his
whole mind, his whole heart and strength, was originally written
upon his nature ; all the parts of his nature were framed in a moral
conformity with God, to answer tliis law, and imitate God in his
purity, which consists in a love of himself, and his own goodness
and excellency. Thus doth the clearness of the stream point us to
the purer fountain, and the brightness of the beam evidence a greater
splendor in the sun which shot it out.
Secondly, His holiness appears in his laws, as he is a Lawgiver
and a Judge. Since man was bound to be subject to God, as a crea-
128 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
ture, and liad a capacity to be ruled by the law, as an understand-
ing and willing creature ; God gave him a law, taken from the
depths of his holy nature, and suited to the original faculties of man.
The rules which God hath fixed in the world, are not the resolves
of bare will, but result particularly from the goodness of his nature;
they are nothing else but the transcripts of his infinite detestation
of sin, as he is the unblemished governor of the world. This being
the most adorable property of his nature, he hath impressed it upon
that law which he would have inviolably observed as a perpetual
rule for our actions, that we may every moment think of this beau-
tifal perfection. God can command nothing but what hath some
similitude with the rectitude of his own nature ; all his laws, every
paragraph of them, therefore, scent of this, and glitter with it (Deut.
iv. 8): "What nation hath statutes and judgments so righteous as
all this law I set before you this day ?" and, therefore, they are com-
pared to fine gold, that hath no speck or dross (Ps. xix. 10).
This purity is evident — 1. In the moral law, or law of nature. 2.
In the ceremonial law. 3. In the allurements annexed to it, for
keeping it, and the afFrightments to restrain from the breaking of it.
4. In the judgments inflicted for the violation of it.
1. In the moral law : which is therefore dignified with the title of
Holy, twice in one verse (Rom. vii. 12): "Wherefore, the law is holy,
and the commandment is holy, just, and good ;" it being the express
image of God's will, as our Saviour was of his person, and bearing a re-
semblance to the purity of his nature. The tables of this law were put
into the ark, that, as tlie mercy seat was to represent the grace of God,
so the law was to represent the holiness of God (Ps. xix. 1). The Psalm-
ist, after he had spoken of the glory of God in the heavens, wherein the
power of God' is exposed to our view, introduceth the law, wherein the
purity of God is evidenced to our minds (ver. 7, 8, &c.) : " Perfect, pure,
clean, righteous," are the titles given to it. It is clearer in holiness
than the sun is in brightness ; and more mighty in itself, to command
the conscience, than the sun is to run its race. As the holiness of
the Scripture demonstrates the divinity of its Author ; so the holi-
ness of the law doth the purity of the Lawgiver.
(1.) The purity of this law is seen in the matter of it. It prescribes
all that becomes a creature towards God, and all that becomes one
creature towards another of his own rank and kind. The image of
God is complete in the holiness of the first table, and the righteous-
ness of the second ; which is intimated by the apostle (Eph. iv. 24),
the one being the rule of what we owe to God, the other being the
rule of what we owe to man : there is no good but it enjoins, and
no evil but it disowns. It is not sickly and lame in any part of it ;
not a good action, but it gives it its due praise ; and not an evil ac-
tion, but it sets a condemning mark upon. The commands of it are
frequently in Scripture called judgments, because they rightly judge
of good and evil ; and are a clear light to inform the judgment of
man in the knowledge of both. By this was the understanding of
David enlightened to know every false way, and to " hate it" (Ps.
cxix. 104). There is no case can happen, but may meet with a de-
termination from it ; it teaches men the noblest manner of living a
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 129
life like God himself; honorably for the Lawgiver, and joyfully for
the subject. It directs us to the highest end ; sets us at a distance
from all base and sordid practices ; it proposeth light to the under-
standing, and goodness to the will. It would tune all the strings,
set right all the orders of mankind : it censures the least mote, coun-
tenanceth not any stain in the life. Not a wanton glance can meet
with any justification from it (Matt. v. 28) ; not a rash anger but it
frowns upon (ver. 22). As the Lawgiver wants nothing as an ad-
dition to his blessedness, so his law wants nothing as a supplement
to its perfection (Deut. iv. 2). What our Saviour seems to add, is
not an addition to mend any defects, but a restoration of it from the
corrupt glosses, wherewith the Scribes and Pharisees had eclipsed
the brightness of it : they had curtailed it, and diminished part of
its authority, cutting off its empire over the least evil, and left its
power only to check the grosser practices. But Christ restores it to
the due extent of its sovereignty, and shows it those dimensions in
which the holy men of God considered it as " exceeding broad" (Ps.
cxix. 96), reaching to all actions, all motions, all circumstances at-
tending them ; full of inexhaustible treasures of righteousness. And
though this law, since the fall, doth irritate sin, it is no disparage-
ment, but a testimony to the righteousness of it ; which the apostle
manifests by his " Wherefore (Rom. vii. 8), sin, taking occasion by
the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence ;"
and repeating the same sense (ver. 11), subjoins a " Wherefore"
(ver. 12), " Wherefore the law is holy." The rising of men's sinful
hearts against the law of God, when it strikes with its preceptive
and minatory parts upon their consciences, evidenceth the holiness
of the law and the Lawgiver. In its own nature it is a directing
rule, but the malignant nature of sin is exasperated by it ; as an
hostile quality in a creature will awaken itself at the appearance of
its enemy. The purity of this beam, and transcript of God, bears
witness to a greater clearness and beauty in the sun and original.
Undefiled streams manifest an untainted fountain.
(2.) It is seen in the manner of its precepts. As it prescribes all
good, and forbids all evil, so it doth enjoin the one, and banish the
other as such. The laws of men command virtuous things ; not as
virtuous in themselves, but as useful for human society ; which the
magistrate is the conservator of, and the guardian of justice.* The
laws of men contain not all the precepts of virtue, but only such as
are accommodated to their customs, and are useful to preserve the
ligaments of their government. The design of them is not so much
to render the subjects good men, as good citizens : they order the
practice of those virtues that may strengthen civil society, and dis-
countenance those vices only which weaken the sinews of it : but
God, being the guardian of universal righteousness, doth not only
enact the observance of all righteousness, but the observance of it
as righteousness. He commands that which is just in itself, enjoins
virtues as virtues, and prohibits vices as vices : as they are profitable
or injurious to ourselves, as well as to others. Men command tem-
perance and justice ; not as virtues in themselves, but as they pre-
* Ames de Consc. lib. v. cap. 1. quest. 7.
VOL. II. — 9
130 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
vent disorder and confusion in a commonwealtli ; and forbid adultery
and theft, not as vices in themselves, but as they are intrenchments
upon property ; not as hurtful to the person that commits them, bnt
as hurtful to the person against whose right they are committed.
Upon this account, perhaps, Paul applauds the holiness of the law
of God in regard of its own nature, as considered in itself, more
than he doth the justice of it in regard of man, and the goodness
and conveniency of it to the world (Kom. vii. 12) ; the law is holy
twice, and just and good but once.
(3.) In the spiritual extent of it. The most righteous powers of
the world do not so much regard in their laws what the inward af-
fections of their subjects are : the external acts are only the objects
of their decrees, either to encourage them if they be useful, or dis-
courage them if they be hurtful to the community. And, indeed,
they can do no other, for they have no power proportioned to in-
ward affections, since the inward disposition falls not under their
censure ; and it would be foolish for any legislative power to make
such laws, which it is impossible for it to put in execution. They
can prohibit the outward acts of theft and murder, but they cannot
command the love of God, the hatred of sin, the contempt of the
world ; they cannot prohibit unclean thoughts, and the atheism of
the heart. But the law of God surmounts in righteousness all the
laws of the best-regulated commonwealths in the world : it restrains
the licentious heart, as well as the violent hand ; it damps the very
first bubblings of corrupt nature, orders a purity in the spring, com-
mands a clean fountain, clean streams, clean vessels. It would frame
the heart to an inward, as well as the life to an outward righteous-
ness, and make the inside purer than the outside. It forbids the first
belchings of a murderous or adulterous intention : it obligeth a man
as a rational creature, and therefore exacts a conformity of every
rational faculty, and of whatsoever is under the command of them.
It commands the private closet to be free from the least cobweb, as
well as the outward porch to be clean from mire and dirt. It frowns
upon all stains and pollutions of the most retired thoughts : hence
the apostle calls it a "spiritual law" (Rom. vii. 14), as not political,
but extending its force further than the frontiers of the man ; placing
its ensigns in the metropolis of the heart and mind, and curbing
with its sceptre the inward motions of the spirit, and commanding
over the secrets of every man's breast.
(4). In regard of the perpetuity of it. The purity and perpetuity
of it are linked together by the Psalmist (Ps. xix. 9): "The fear of
the Lord is clean, enduring for ever ;" the fear of the Lord,- that i.s,
that law which commands the fear and worship of God, and is the
rule of it. And, indeed, God values it at such a rate, that rather
than part with a tittle, or let the honor of it lie in the dust, he
would not only let "heaven and earth pass away," but expose his
Son to death for the reparation of the wrong it had sustained. So
holy it is, that the holiness and righteousness of God cannot dis-
pense with it, cannot abrogate it, without despoiling himself of his
own being: it is a copy of the eternal law. Can he ever abrogate
the command of love to himself, without showing some contempt
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 131
of Ms own excellency and very being ? Before lie can enjoin a
creature not to love him, lie must make himself unworthy of love,
and worthy of hatred ; this would be the highest unrighteousness,
to order us to hate that which is only worthy of our highest affec-
tions. So God cannot change the first command, and order us to
worship many gods ; this would be against the excellency and unity
of God: for God cannot constitute another God,- or make anything
worthy of an honor equal with himself" Those things that are
good, only because they are commanded, are alterable by God:
those things that are intrinsically and essentially good, and there-
fore commanded, are unalterable as long as the holiness and right-
eousness of God stand firm. The intrinsic goodness of the moral
law, the concern God hath for it ; the perpetuity of the precepts of
the first table, and the care he hath had to imprint the precepts of
the second upon the minds and consciences of men, as the Author
of nature for the preservation of the world, manifests the holiness
of the Lawmaker and Governor.
2. His holiness appears in the ceremonial law : in the variety of
sacrifices for sin, wherein he writ his detestation of unrighteousness
in bloody characters. His holiness was more constantly expressed
in the continual sacrifices, than in those rarer sprinklings of judg-
ments now and then upon the world ; which often reached, not the
worst, but the most moderate sinners, and were the occasions of
the questioning of the righteousness of his providence both by
Jews and Gentiles. In judgments his purity was only now and
then manifest : by his long patience, he might be imagined by some
reconciled to their crimes, or not much concerned in them ; but by the
morning and evening sacrifice he witnessed a perpetual and unin-
terrupted abhorrence of whatsoever was evil. Besides those, the
occasional washings and sprinklings upon ceremonial defilements,
which j)olluted only the body, gave an evidence, that everything
that had a resemblance to evil, was loathsome to him. Add, also,
the prohibitions of eating such and such creatures that were filthy ;
as the swine that wallowed in the mire, a fit emblem for the pro-
fane and brutish sinner ; which had a moral signification, both of
the loathsomeness of sin to God, and the aversion themselves ought
to have to everything that was filthy.
3. This holiness appears in the allurements annexed to the law
for keeping it, and the affrightments to restrain from the breaking
of it. Both promises and threatenings have their fundamental root
in the holiness of God, and are both branches of this peculiar perfec-
tion. As they respect the nature of God, they are declarations of his
hatred of sin, and his love of righteousness ; the one belong to his
threatenings, the other to his promises ; both join together to repre-
sent this divine perfection to the creature, and to excite to an imi-
tation in the creature. In the one, God would render sin odious,
because dangerous, and curb the practice of evil, which would
otherwise be licentious ; in the other, he would commend righteous-
ness, and excite a love of it, which would otherwise be cold. By
there God suits the two great affections of men, fear and hope ;
" Suarez.
132 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES,
both the branches of self-love in man : the promises and threaten-
ings are both the branches of holiness in God. The end of the
promises is the same with tlie exhortation the apostle concludes from
them (2 Cor. vii. 1); "Having these promises, let us cleanse our-
selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in
the fear of God." As the end of prece23t is to direct, the end of
threatenings is to deter from iniquity, so that the promises is to
allure to obedience. Thus God breathes out his love to righteous-
ness in every promise ; his hatred of sin in every threatening. The
rewards offered in the one, are the smiles of pleased holiness ; and
the curses thundered in the other, are the sparklings of enraged
righteousness.
4. His holiness appears in the judgment inflicted for the violation
of this law. Divine holiness is the root of Divine justice, and Divine
justice is the triumph of Divine holiness. Hence both are expressed
in Scripture by one word of righteousness, which sometimes signi-
fies the rectitude of the Divine nature, and sometimes the vindicative
stroke of his arm (Ps. ciii. 6); "The Lord executeth righteousness
and judgment for all that are oppressed." So (Dan. ix. 7) " Eigh-
teousness (that is, justice) belongs to thee." The vials of his wrath
are filled from his implacable aversion to iniquity. All penal evils
shower down upon the heads of wicked men, spread their root in,
and branch out from, this perfection. All the dreadful storms and
tempests in the world are blown up by it. Why doth he "rain
snares, fire and brimstone, and a horrible tempest !" Because " the
righteous Lord loveth righteousness" (Ps. xi. 6, 7). And, as was
observed before, when he was going about the dreadfulest work that
ever was in the world, the overturning the Jewish state, hardening
the hearts of that unbelieving people, and cashiering a nation, once
dear to him, from the honor of his protection ; his holiness, as the
spring of all this, is applauded by the seraphims (Isa. vi. 3, com-
pared with ver. 9 — 11), &;c. Impunity argues the approbation of a
crime, and punishment the abhorrency of it. The greatness of the
crime, and the righteousness of the Judge, are the first natural sen-
timents that arise in the minds of men upon the appearance of Di-
vine judgments in the world, by those that are near them;-"' as, when
men see gibbets erected, scaffolds prepared, instruments of death
and torture provided, and grievous punishments inflicted, the first
reflection in the spectator is the malignity of the crime, and the de-
testation the governors are possessed with.
(1). How severely hath he punished his most noble creatures for
it ! The once glorious angels, upon whom he had been at greater
cost than upon any other creatures, and drawn more lively linea-
ments of his own excellency, upon the transgression of his law, are
thrown into the furnace of justice, without any mercy to pity them
(Jude 6). And though there were but one sort of creatures upon
the earth that bore his image, and were only fit to publish and keep
up his honor below the heavens, yet, upon their apostasy, though
upon a temptation from a subtle and insinuating spirit, the man,
with all his posterity, is sentenced to misery in life, and death at
=' Amirant. Moral. Tom. V. p. 388.
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 133
last ; and the woman, witli all her sex, have standing punishments
inflicted on them, which, as they begun in their persons, were to
reach as far as the last member of their successive generations. So
holy is God, that he will not endure a spot in his choicest work.
Men, indeed, when there is a crack in an excellent piece of Avork, or
a stain upon a rich garment, do not cast it away ; they value it for
the remaining excellency, more than hate it for the contracted spot ;
but God saw no excellency in his creature worthy regarding, after
the image of that which he most esteemed in himself was defaced.
(2). How detestable to him are the very instruments of sin ! For the
ill use the serpent, an irrational creature, Avas put to by the devil, as
an instrument in the fall of man, the whole brood of those animals
are cursed (Gen. iii. 14), " cursed above all cattle, and above every
beast of the field." Not only the devil's head is threatened to be
for ever bruised, and, as some think, rendered irrecoverable upon
this further testimony of his malice in the seduction of man, who,
perhaps, without this new act, might have been admitted into the
arms of mercy, notwithstanding his first sin ; " though the Scrip-
ture gives us no account of this, only this is the only sentence we
read of pronounced against the devil, which puts him into an irre-
coverable state by a mortal bruising of his head." But, I sa}'', he
is not only punished, but the organ, whereby he blew in his temp-
tation, is put into a worse condition than it was before. Thus God
hated the sponge, whereby the devil deformed his beautiful image :
thus God, to manifest his detestation of sin, ordered the beast,
whereby any man was slain, to be slain as well as the malefactor
(Lev. XX. 15). The gold and silver that had been abused to idolatry,
and were the ornaments of images, though good in themselves, and
incapable of a criminal nature, were not to be brought into their
houses, but detested and abhorred by them, because they were
cursed, and an abomination to the Lord. See with what loathing
expressions this law is enjoined to them (Dent. vii. 25, 26). So
contrary is the holy nature of God to every sin, that it curseth
everything that is instrumental in it.
(3.) How detestable is everything to him that is in the sinner's
possession I The very earth, which God had made Adam the pro-
prietor of, was cursed for his sake (Gen. iii. 17, 18). It lost its beauty,
and lies languishing to this day ; and, notwithstanding the redemp-
tion by Christ, hath not recovered its health, nor is it like to do, till
the completing the fruits of it upon the children of God (Eom. viii.
20-22). The whole lower creation was made subject to vanity, and
put into pangs, upon the sin of man, by the righteousness of God
detesting his offence. How often hath his implacable aversion from
sin been shown, not only in his judgments upon the offender's per-
son, but by wrapping up, in the same judgment, those which stood
in a near relation to them ! Achan, with his children and cattle,
are overwhelmed with stones, and burned together (Josh. vii. 24, 26).
In the destruction of Sodom, not only the grown malefactors, but
the young spawn, the infants, at present incapable of the same wick-
edness, and their cattle, were burned up by the same fire from
heaven ; and the place where their habitations stood, is, at this day,
134 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
partly a lieap of ashes, and partly an infectious lake, that chokes any fish
that swims into it from Jordan, and stifles, as is related, by its vapor,
any bird that attempts to fly over it. O, how detestable is sin to God,
that causes him to turn a pleasant land, as the " garden of the Lord" (as
it is styled Gen. xiii. 10), into a lake of sulphur ; to make it, both in his
word and works, as a lasting monument of his abhorence of evil !
(4.) What design hath God in all these acts of severity and vin-
dictive justice, but to set off the lustre of his holiness ? He testifies
himself concerned for those laws, which he hath set as hedges and
limits to the lusts of men ; and, therefore, when he breathes forth
his fiery indignation against a people, he is said to get himself hon-
or : as when he intended the Red Sea should swallow up the Egyp-
tian army (Exod. xiv. 17, 18), which Moses, in his triumphant song,
echoes back again (Exod. xv. 1) : " Tiiou hast triumphed glorious-
ly ;" gloriously in his holiness, which is the glory of his nature, as
Moses himself interprets it in the text. When men will not own
the holiness of God, in a way of duty, God will vindicate it in a way
of justice and punishment. In the destruction of Aaron's sons, that
were will- worshippers, and would take strange fire, " sanctified" and
" glorified" are coupled (Lev. x. 3) : he glorified himself in that act,
in vindicating his holiness before all the people, declaring that he
will not endure sin and disobedience. He doth therefore, in this
life, more severely punish the sins of his people, when they presume
upon any act of disobedience, for a testimony that the nearness and
dearness of any person to him shall not make him unconcerned in
his holiness, or be a plea for impurity. The end of all his judg-
ments is to witness to the world his abominating of sin. To punish
and witness against men, are one and the same thing (Micah i. 2) :
" The Lord shall witness against you ;" and it is the witness of God's
holiness (Hos. v. 5) : " And the pride of Israel doth testify to his
face :" one renders it the excellency of Israel, and understands it of
God : the word rss, which is here in our translation, " pride," is
rendered " excellency" (Amos viii. 7) : " The Lord God hath sworn
by his excellency ;" which is interpreted " holiness" (Amos iv. 2) :
" The Lord God hath sworn by his holiness." What is the issue or
end of this swearing by "holiness," and of his " excellency" testify-
ing against them ? In all those places you will find them to be
sweeping judgments: in one, Israel and Ephraim shall " fall in their
iniquity ;" in another, he will ** take them away with hooks," and
" their posterity with fish-hooks ;" and in another, he would " never
forget any of their works," He that punisheth wickedness in those
he before used with the greatest tenderness, furnisheth the world
with an undeniable evidence of the detestableness of it to him. Were
not judgments sometimes poured out upon the world, it would be
believed that God were rather an approver than an enemy to sin.
To conclude, since God hath made a stricter law to guide men, an-
nexed promises above the merit of obedience to allure them, and
threatenings dreadful enough to affright men from disobedience, he
cannot be the cause of sin, nor a lover of it. How can he be the
author of that which he so severely forbids ; or love that which he
delights to punish ; or be fondly indulgent to any evil, when he
ON" THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 135
liates the ignorant instruments in the offences of his reasonable
creatures ?
Thirdly. The holiness of God appears in our restoration. It is in
the glass of the gospel we behold the " glory of the Lord" (2 Cor.
iii, 18) ; that is, the glory of the Lord, into whose image we are
changed ; but we are changed into nothing, as the image of God,
but into holiness : we bore not upon us by creation, nor by regene-
ration, the image of any other perfection : Ave cannot be changed
into his omnipotence, omniscience, &c., but into the image of his
righteousness. This is the pleasing and glorious sight the gospel
mirror darts in our eyes. The whole scene of redemption is nothing
else but a discovery of judgment and righteousness (Isa. i. 27) : " Zion
shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness,"
1. This holiness of God appears in the manner of our restoration,
viz. by the death of Christ. Not all the vials of judgments, that have,
or shall be poured out upon the wicked world, nor the flaming furnace
of a sinner's conscience, nor the irreversible sentence pronounced
against the rebellious devils, nor the groans of the damned creatures,
give such a demonstration of God's hatred of sin, as the wrath of God
let loose upon his Son. Never did Divine holiness appear more beau-
tiful and lovely, than at the time our Saviour's countenance was most
marred in the midst of his dying groans. This himself acknowledges in
that prophetical psalm (xxii. 1, 2), when God had turned his smiling
face from him, and thrust his sharp knife into his heart, which forced
that terrible cry from him, " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me ?" He adores this perfection of holiness (ver. 3), " But thou art
holy ;" thy holiness is the spring of all this sharp agony, and for this
thou inhabitest, and shalt forever inhabit, the praises of all thy Israel.
Holiness drew the veil between God's countenance and our Saviour's
soul. Justice indeed gave the stroke, but holiness ordered it. In
this his purity did sparkle, and his irreversible justice manifested
that all those that commit sin are worthy of death ; this was the
perfect index of his " righteousness" (Eom. iii. 25), that is, of his
holiness and truth ; then it was that God that is holy, was " sanctified in
righteousness" (Isa. v. 16). It appears the more, if you consider,
(1.) The dignity of the Eedeemer's person. One that had been
from eternity ; had laid the foundations of the world ; had been the
object of the Divine delight : he that was God blessed forever, be-
come a curse ; he who was blessed by angels, and by whom God
blessed the world, must be seized with horror ; the Son of eternity
must bleed to death ! When did ever sin appear so irreconcileable
to God ? "Where did God ever break out so furiously in his detes-
tation of iniquity ? The Father would have the most excellent per-
son, one next in order to himself, and equal to him in all the glori-
ous perfections of his nature (Phil. ii. 6), die on a disgraceful cross, and
be exposed to the flames of Divine wrath, rather than sin should live,
and his holiness remain forever disparaged by the violations of his law.
(2.) The near relation he stood in to the Father. He was his
"own Son that he delivered up" (Rom. viii. 32) ; his essential image,
as dearly beloved by him as himself ; yet he would abate nothing
of his hatred of those sins imputed to one so dear to him, and who
136 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
never bad done anything contrary to liis will. The strong cries
uttered by him could not cause him to cut off the least fringe of this
royal garment, nor part with a thread the robe of his holiness was
woven with. The torrent of wrath is opened upon him, and the
Father's heart beats not in the least notice of tenderness to sin, in the
midst of his Son's agonies, God seems to lay aside the bowels of a
father, and put on the garb of an irreconcileable enemy, y upon which
account, probably, our Saviour in the midst of his passion gives him
the title of God ; not of Father, the title he usually before addressed
to him with, (Matt, xxvii. 46), " My God, my God ;" not, My Father,
my Father ; " why hast thou forsaken me ?" He seems to hang upon
the cross like a disinherited son, while he appeared in the garb and
rank of a sinner. Then was his head loaded with curses, Avhen he
stood under that sentence of " Cursed is every one that hangs upon
a tree" (Gal. iii. 13), and looked as one forlorn and rejected by
the Divine purity and tenderness. God dealt not with him as if he
had been one in so near a relation to him. He left him not to the
will only of the instruments of his death ; he would have the chiefest
blow himself of bruising of him (Isa. liii. 10) : "It pleased the Lord
to bruise him :" the Lord, because the power of creatures could not
strike a blow strong enough to satisfy and secure the rights of infi-
nite holiness. It was therefore a cup tempered and put into his
hands by his Father ; a cup given him to drink. In other judg-
ments he lets out his wrath against his creatures ; in this he lets out
his wrath, as it were, against himself, against his Son, one as dear to
him as himself. As in his making creatures, his power over nothing
to bring it into being appeared ; but in pardoning sin he hath power
over himself; so in punishing creatures, his holiness appears in his
wrath against creatures, against sinners by inherency ; but by pun-
ishing sin in his Son, his holiness sharpens his wrath against him
who was his equal, and only a reputed sinner ; as if his affection to
his own holiness surmounted his affection to his Son : for he chose
to suspend the breakings out of his affections to his Son, and see
him plunged in a sharp and ignominious misery, without giving
him any visible token of his love, rather than see his holiness lie
groaning under the injuries of a transgressing world.
(3.) The value he puts upon his holiness appears further, in the
advancement of this redeeming person, after his death. Our Saviour
was advanced, not barely for his dying, but for the respect he had
in his death to this attribute of God (Heb. i. 9) : " Thou hast loved
righteousness, and hated iniquity: therefore God, even thy God,
hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness," &c. By righteousness
is meant this perfection, because of the opposition of it to iniquity.
Some think " therefore" to be the final cause ; as if this were the sense,
"Thou art anointed with the oil of gladness, that thou mightest love
righteousness and hate iniquity." But the Holy Ghost seeming to
speak in this chapter not only of the Godhead of Christ but of his
exaltation ; the doctrine whereof he had begun in ver. 3, and pro-
secutes in the following verses, I would rather understand "there-
fore," for " this cause, or reason, hath God anointed thee ;" not " to
y Lingend. Tom. III. pp. 699, 100.
ON THE HOLINESS OP GOD. 137
this end." Christ indeed had an unction of grace, whereby he was
fitted for his mediatory work; he had also an unction of glory,
whereby he was rewarded for it. In the first regard, it was a
qualifying him for his office ; in the second regard, it was a solemn
inaugurating him in his royal authority. And the reason of his
being settled upon a "throne for ever and ever," is, "because he
loved righteousness." He suffered himself to be pierced to death,
that sin, the enemy of God's purity, might be destroyed, and the
honor of the law, the image of God's holiness, might be repaired
and fulfilled in the fallen creature. He restored the credit of Divine
holiness in the world, in manifesting, by his death, God an irrecon-
cileable enemy to all sin ; in abolishing the empire of sin, so hateful
to God, and restoring the rectitude of nature, and new framing the
image of God in his chosen ones. And God so valued this vindica-
tion of his holiness, that he confers upon him, in his human nature,
an eternal royalty and empire over angels and men. Holiness was
the great attribute respected by Christ in his dying, and manifested
in his death ; and for his love to this, God would bestow an honor
upon his person, in that nature wherein he did vindicate the honor
of so dear a perfection. In the death of Christ, he showed his
resolution to preserve its rights ; in the exaltation of Christ, he
evinced his mighty pleasure for the vindication of it ; in both, the
infinite value he had for it, as dear to him as his life and glory.
(4.) It may be further considered, that in this way of redemption,
his holiness in the hatred of sin seems to be valued above any other
attribute. He proclaims the value of it above the person of his
Son ; since the Divine nature of the Eedeemer is disguised, obscured,
and vailed, in order to the restoring the honor of it. And Christ
seems to value it above hi» own person, since he submitted himself
to the reproaches of men, to clear this perfection of the Divine
nature, and make it illustrious in the eyes of the world. You heard
before, at the beginning of the handling this argument, it was the
beauty of the Deity, the lustre of his nature, the link of all his
attributes, his very life ; he values it equal with himself, since he
swears by it, as well as by his life ; and none of his attributes would
have a due decorum without it ; it is the glory of power, mercy,
justice, and wisdom, that they are all holy ; so that though God
had an infinite tenderness and compassion to the fallen creature, yet
it should not extend itself in his relief to the prejudice of the rights
of his purity : he would have this triumph in the tenderness of his
mercy, as well as the severities of his justice. His mercy had not
appeared in its true colors, nor attained a regular end, without
vengeance on sin. It would have been a compassion that would,
in sparing the sinner, have encouraged the sin, and afironted holi-
ness in the issues of it : had he dispersed his compassions about the
world, without the regard to his hatred of sin, his mercy had been
too cheap, and his holiness had been contemned ; his mercy would
not have triumphed in his own nature, whilst his holiness had
suffered; he had exercised a mercy with the impairing his own
glory ; but now, in this way of redemption, the rights of both are
secured, both have their due lustre : the odiousness of sin is equally
138 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTEIBUTES.
discovered -witli tlie greatest of liis compassions ; an infinite aLlior-
rence of sin, and an infinite love to the world, march hand in hand
together. Never was so much of the irreconcileableness of sin to
him set forth, as in the moment he was opening his bowels in the
reconciliation of the sinner. Sin is made the chiefest mark of his
displeasure, while the poor creature is made the highest object of
Divine pity. There could have been no motion of mercy, with the
least injury to purity and holiness. In this way mercy and truth,
mercy to the misery of the creature, and truth to the purity of the
law, "have met together ;" the righteousness of God, and the peace
of the sinner, " have kissed each other" (Ps. Ixxxv. 10).
2. The holiness of God in his hatred of sin appears in our justifi-
cation, and the conditions he requires of all that would enjoy the
benefit of redemption. His wisdom hath so tempered all the condi-
tions of it, that the honor of his holiness is as much preserved, as
the sweetness of his mercy is experimented by us ; all the conditions
are records of his exact purity, as well as of his condescending grace.
Our justification is not by the imperfect works of creatures, but by
an exact and infinite righteousness, as great as that of the Deity
which had been offended : it being the righteousness of a Divine per-
son, upon which account it is called the righteousness of God ; not
only in regard of God's appointing it, and God's accepting it, but as
it is a righteousness of that person that was God, and is God. Faith
is the condition God requires to justification ; but not a dead, but an
active faith, such a "faith as purifies the heart" (James ii. 20 ; Acts
XV. 9). He calls for repentance, which is a moral retracting our of-
fences, and an approbation of contemned righteousness and a vio-
lated law ; an endeavor to gain what is lost, and to pluck out the heart
of that sin we have committed. He requires mortification, which is
called crucifying ; whereby a man would strike as full and deadly a
blow at his lusts, as was struck at Christ upon the cross, and make
them as certainly die, as the Eedeerner did. Our own righteousness
must be condemned by us, as impure and imperfect : we must dis-
own everj^thing that is our own, as to righteousness, in reverence to
the holiness of God, and the valuation of the righteousness of Christ.
He hath resolved not to bestow the inheritance of glory without the
root of grace. None are partakers of the Divine blessedness that
are not partakers of the Divine nature : there must be a renewing
of his image before there be a vision of his face (Heb. xii. 14). He
will not have men brought only into a relative state of happiness by
justification, without a real state of grace by sanctification ; and so
resolved he is in it, that there is no admittance into heaven of a start-
ing, but a persevering holiness (Rom. ii. 7), "a patient continuance
in well-doing :" patient, under the sharpness of affliction, and contin-
uing, under the pleasures of prosperity. Hence it is that the gospel,
the restoring doctrine, hath not only the motives of rewards to allure
to good, and the danger of punishments to scare us from evil, as the
law had ; but they are set forth in a higher strain, in a way of stronger
engagement ; the rewards are heavenly, and the punishments eter-
nal : and more powerful motives besides, from the choicer expres-
sions of God's love in the death of his Son. The whole design of
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 139
it is to reinstate us in a resemblance to this Divine perfection ; wliere-
by he shows what an affection he hath to this excellency of his
nature, and what a detestation he hath of evil, which is contrary
to it.
8. It apj)ears in the actual regeneration of the redeemed souls,
and a carrying it on to a full perfection. As election is the effect
of God's sovereignty, our pardon the fruit of his mercy, our knowl-
edge a stream from his wisdom, our strength an impression of his
power ; so our j)urity is a beam from his holiness. The whole work
of sanctification, and the preservation of it, our Saviour begs for his
disciples of his Father, under this title (John xvii. 11, 17) : " Holy
Father, keep them through thy own name," and "sanctify them
through thy truth ;" as the proper source whence holiness was to
flow to the creature : as the sun is the proper fountain whence light
is derived, both to the stars above, and the bodies here below.
Whence He is not only called Holy, but the Holy One of Israel
(Isa. xliii. 15), "I am the Lord your Holy One, the Creator of Is-
rael :" displaying his holiness in them, by a new creation of them as
his Israel. As the rectitude of the creature at the first creation was
the effect of his holiness, so the purity of the creature, by a new
creation, is a draught of the same perfection. He is called the Holy
One of Israel more in Isaiah, that evangelical prophet, in erecting
Zion, and forming a people for himself, than in the whole Scripture
besides. As he sent Jesus Christ to satisfy his justice for the expia-
tion of the guilt of sin, so he sends the Holy Ghost for the cleans-
ing of the filth of sin, and overmastering the power of it : Himself
is the fountain, the Son is the pattern, and the Holy Ghost the im-
mediate imprinter of this stamp of holiness upon the creature. God
hath such a value for this attribute, that he designs the glory of this
in the renewing the creature, more than the happiness of the crea-
ture ; though the one doth necessarily follow upon the other, yet
the one is the principal design, and the other the consequent of the
former : whence our salvation, is more frequently set forth, in Scrip-
ture, by a redemption from sin, and sanctification of the soul, than
by a possession of heaven. ^ Indeed, as God could not create a ra-
tional creature, without interesting this attribute in a special manner,
so he cannot restore the fallen creature without it. As in creating a
rational creature, there must be holiness to adorn it, as well as wis-
dom to form the design, and power to effect it ; so in the restoration
of the creature, as he could not make a reasonable creature unholy,
so he cannot restore a fallen creature, and put him in a meet posture
to take pleasure in him, without communicating to him a resem-
blance of himself As God cannot be blessed in himself without
this perfection of purity, so neither can a creature be blessed without
it. As God would be unlovely to himself without this attribute, so
would the creature be unlovely to God, without a stamp and mark
of it upon his nature. So much is this perfection one with God,
valued by him, and interested in all his works and ways !
III. The third thing I am to do, is to lay down some proposition
in the defence of God's holiness in all his acts, about, or concerning
» Tit. ii. 11 — 14, and many other places.
140 CHARNOCK ON" THE ATTRIBUTES.
sin. It was a prudent and pious advice of Camero, not to be too
busy and rash in inquiries and conclusions about the reason of God's
providence in the matter of sin. The Scripture hath put a bar in
the way of such curiosity, by telhng us, that the ways of God's wis-
dom and righteousness in his judgments are " unsearchable" (Rom.
xi. 33) : much more the ways of God's holiness, as he stands in re-
lation to sin, as a Governor of the world ; we cannot consider those
things without danger of slipping : our eyes are too weak to look
upon the sun without being dazzled : too much curiosity met with a
just check in our first parent. To be desirous to know the reason
of all God's proceedings in the matter of sin, is to second the am-
bition of Adam, to be as wise as God, and know the reason of his
actings equally with himself. It is more easy, as the same author
saith, to give an account of God's providence since the revolt of
man, and the poison that hath universally seized upon human na-
ture, than to make guesses at the manner of the fall of the first man.
The Scripture hath given us but a short account of the manner of
it, to discourage too curious inquiries into it. It is certain that God
made man upright ; and when man sinned in paradise, God was ac-
tive in sustaining the substantial nature and act of the sinner while
he was sinning, though not in supporting the sinfulness of the act :
he was permissive in suffering it : he was negative in witholding
that grace which might certainly have prevented his crime, and con-
sequently his ruin ; though he withheld nothing that was sufficient
for his resistance of that temptation wherewith he was assaulted.
And since the fiill of man, God, as a wise governor, is directive of
the events of the transgression, and draws the choicest good out of
the blackest evil, and limits the sins of men, that they creep not so
far as the evil nature of men would urge them to ; and as a right-
eous Judge, he takes away the talent from idle servants, and the
light from wicked ones, whereby they stumble and fiill into crimes,
by the inclinations and proneness of their own corrupt natures, leaves
them to the bias of their own vicious habits, denies that grace which
they have forfeited, and have no right to challenge, and turns their sin-
ful actions into punishments,both to the committers of them and others.
Prop. I. God's holiness is not chargeable with any blemish for his
creating man in a mutable state. It is true, angels and men were
created with a changeable nature ; as though there was a rich and
glorious stamp upon them by the hand of God, yet their natures
were not incapable of a base and vile stamp from some other prin-
ciple : as the silver which bears upon it the image of a great prince,
is capable of being melted down, and imprinted with no better an
image than that of some vile and monstrous beast. Though God
made man upright, yet he was capable of seeking " many inven-
tions" (PjccI. vii. 29) ; yet the hand of God was not defiled by form-
ing man with such a nature. It was suitable to the wisdom of God
to give the rational creature, whom he had furnished with a power
of acting righteously, the liberty of choice, and not fix him in an
unchangeable state without a trial of him in his natural ; that if he
did obey, his obedience might be the more valuable ; and if he did
freely offend, his offence might be more inexcusable.
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. lil
1. No creature can be capable of immutability by nature. Mu-
tability is so essential to a creature, that a creature cannot be sup-
posed without it ; you must suppose it a Creator, not a creature, if
you allow it to be of an immutable nature. Immutability is the pro-
perty of the Supreme Being. God " only hath immortality" (1 Tim.
vi. 16); immortality, as opposed not only to a natural, but to a sin-
ful death ; the word only appropriates every sort of immortality to
God, and excludes every creature, whether angel or man, from a
partnership with God in this by nature. Every creature, therefore,
is capable of a death in sin. " None is good but God," and none is
naturally free from change but God, which excludes every creature
from the same prerogative ; and certainly, if one angel sinned, all
might have sinned, because there was the same root of mutability in
one as well as another. It is as possible for a creature to be a
Creator, as for a creature to have naturally an incommunicable pro-
perty of the Creator. All things, whether angels or men, are made
of nothing, and therefore, capable of defection ;=^ because a creature
being made of nothing, cannot be good, per essentiam^ or essentially
good, but by participation from another. Again, every rational
creature, being made of nothing, hath a superior which created him
and governs him, and is capable of a precept ; and, consequently,
capable of disobedience as well as obedience to the precept, to
transgress it, as well as obey it. God cannot sin, because he can
have no superior to impose a precept on him. A rational creature,
with a liberty of will and power of choice, cannot be made by na-
ture of such a mould and temper, but he must be as well capable of
choosing wrong, as of choosing right ; and, therefore, the standing
angels, and glorified saints, though they are immutable, it is not by
nature that they are so, but by grace, and the good pleasure of God ;
for though they are in heaven, they have still in their nature a re-
mote power of sinning, but it shall never be brought into act, be-
cause God will always incline their wills to love him, and never
concur with their wills to any evil act. Since, therefore, mutability
is essential to a creature as a creature, this changeableness cannot
properly be charged upon God as the author of it ; for it was not
the term of God's creating act, but did necessarily result from the
nature of the creature, as unchangeableness doth result from the es-
sence of God. The brittleness of a glass is no blame to the art of
him that blew up the glass into such a fashion ; that imperfection
of brittleness is not from the workman, but the matter ; so, though
unchangeableness be an imperfection, yet it is so necessary a one,
that no creature can be naturally without it ; besides, though angels
and men were mutable by creation, and capable to exercise their
wills, yet they were not necessitated to evil, and this mutability did
not infer a necessity that they should fall, because some angels,
which had the same root of changeableness in their natures with
those that fell, did not fall, which they would have done, if
capableness of changing, and necessity of changing, were one and
the same thing.
2. Though God made the creature mutable, yet he made him not
» Suarez, Vol. 11. p. 548.
142 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
evil. There could be nothing of evil in him that God created after
his own image, and pronounced "good" (Gen. i. 27, 31). Man had
an ability to stand, as well as a capacity to fall: he was created with
a principal of acting freely, whereby he was capable of loving God
as his chief good, and moving to him as his last end ; there was a
beam of light in man's understanding to know the rule he was to
conform to, a harmony between his reason and his affections, an
original righteousness : so that it seemed more easy for him to de-
termine his will to continue in obedience to the precept, than to
swerve from it ; to adhere to God as his chief good, than to lis-
ten to the charms of Satan. God created him with those advan-
tages, that he might with more facility have kept his eyes fixed
upon the Divine beauty, than turn his back upon it, and with
greater ease have kept the precept God gave him, than have broken
it. The very first thought darted, or impression made, by God, upon
the angelical or human nature, was the knowledge of himself as
their Author, and could be no more than such whereby both angels
and men might be excited to a love of that adorable Being, that had
framed them so gloriously out of nothing ; and if they turned their
wills and affections to another object it was not by the direction
of God, but contrary to the impression God had made upon them,
or the first thought he flashed into them. They turned themselves
to the admiring their own excellency, or afiecting an advantage dis-
tinct from that which they were to look for only from God (1 Tim.
iii. 6). Pride was the cause, of the condemnation of the devil.
Though the wills of angels and men were created mutable, and so
were imperfect, yet they were not created evil. Though they might
sin, yet they might not sin, and, therefore, were not evil in their own
nature. What reflection, then, could this mutability of their nature
be upon God ? So far is it from any, that he is fully cleared, by
storing up in the nature of man sufficient provision against his de-
parture from him. God was so far from creating him evil, that he
fortified him with a knowledge in his understanding, and a strength
in his nature to withstand any invasion. The knowledge was ex-
ercised by Eve, in the very moment of the serpent's assaulting her
(Gen. iii. 3) ; Eve said to the serpent, " God hath said, ye shall not
eat of it:" and had her thoughts been intent upon this, " God hath
said," and not diverted to the motions of the sensitive appetite and
liquorish palate, it had been sufficient to put by all the passes the
devil did, or could have made at her. So that you see, though God
made the creature mutable, yet he made him not evil. This clears
the holiness of God.
3. Therefore it follows. That though God created man changeable,
yet he was not the cause of his change by his fall. Though man
was created defectible, yet he was not determined by God influencing
his will by any positive act to that change and apostasy. God placed
him in a free i30sture, set life and happiness before him on the one
hand, misery and death on the other ; as he did not draw him into
the arms of perpetual blessedness, so he did not drive him into the
gulf of his misery, b He did not incline him to evil. It was repugnant
^ Amyr. Moral. Tom. I. pp. 615, 616.
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 143
to the goodness of God to corrupt the righteousness of those faculties
he had so lately beautified him with. It was not likely he should
deface the beauty of that work he had comj)osed with so much wis-
dom and skill. Would he, by any act of his own, make that bad,
which, but a little before, he had acquiesced in as good ? Angels
and men were left to their liberty and conduct of their natural facul-
ties; and if God inspired them with any motions, they could not but
be motions to good, and suited to that righteous nature he had endued
them with. But it is most probable that God did not, in a supernatural
way, act inwardly upon the mind of man, but left him wholly to that
power, which he had, in creation, furnished him with. The Scrip-
ture frees God fully from any blame in this, and lays it wholly upon
Satan, as the tempter, and upon man, as the determiner of his own
will (Gen. iii. 6); Eve "took of the fruit, and did eat;" and Adam
took from her of the fruit, "and did eat." And Solomon (Eccles.
vii. 29) distinguisheth God's work in the creation of man " upright,"
from man's work in seeking out those ruining inventions. God
created man in a righteous state, and man cast himself into a forlorn
state. As he was a mutable creature, he was from God ; as he was
a changed and corrupted creature, it was from the devil seducing,
and his own pliableness in admitting. As silver, and gold, and other
metals, were created by God in such a form and figure, yet capable
of receiving other forms by the industrious art of man ; when the
image of a man is put upon a piece of metal, God is not said to create
that image, though he created the substance with such a property,
that it was capable of receiving it ; this capacity is from the nature
of the metal by God's creation of it, but the carving the figure of this
or that man is not the act of God, but the act of man. As images,
in Scripture, are called the work of men's hands, in regard of the
imagery, though the matter, wood or stone, upon which the image
was carved, was a work of God's creative power. When an artificer
frames an excellent instrument, and a musician exactly tunes it, and
it comes out of their hands without a blemish, but capable to be un-
tuned by some rude hand, or receive a crack by a sudden fall, if it
meet with a disaster, is either the workman or musician to be blamed ?
The ruin of a house, caused by the wastefulness or carelessness of the
tenant, is not to be imputed to the workman that built it strong, and
left it in a good posture.
Prop. II. God's holiness is not blemished by enjoining man a law,
which he knew he would not observe.
1. The law was not above his strength. Had the law been impos-
sible to be observed, no crime could have been imputed to the sub-
ject, the fault had lain wholly upon the Governor; the non-observ-
ance of it had been from a want of strength, and not from a want of
will. Ilad God commanded Adam to fly up to the sun, when he
had not given him wings, Adam might have a will to obey it, but
his power would be too short to perform it. But the law set him for
a rule, had nothing of impossibility in it ; it was easy to be observed ;
the command was rather below, than above his strength ; and the
sanction of it was more apt to restrain and scare him from the breach
of it, than encourage any daring attempts against it ; he had as much
144 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
power, or ratlier more, to conform to it, than to warp from it ; and
greater arguments and interest to be observant of it, than to violate
it ; his all was secured by the one, and his ruin ascertained by the
other. The commands of God are not grievous (1 John v. 3) ; from
the first to the last command, there is nothing impossible, nothing
hard to the original and created nature of man, which were all sum-
med up in a love to God, which was the pleasure and delight of man,
as well as his duty, if he had not, by inconsiderateness, neglected the
dictates and resolves of his own understanding. The law was suited
to the strength of man, and fitted for the improvement and perfection
of his nature ; in which respect, the apostle calls it " good," as it refers
to man, as well as "holy," as it refers to God (Rom. vii. 12). Now,
since God created man a creature capable to be governed by a law,
and as a rational creature endued with understanding and will, not
to be governed, according to his nature, without a law ; was it con-
gruous to the wisdom of God to respect only the future state of man,
which, from the depth of his infinite knowledge, he did infallibly
foresee would be miserable, by the wilful defection of man from the
rule ? Had it been agreeable to the wisdom of God, to respect only
this future state, and not the present state of the creature ; and there-
fore leave him lawless, because he knew he would violate the law ?
Should God forbear to act like a wise governor, because he saw that
man would cease to act like an obedient subject ? Shall a righteous
magistrate forbear to make just and good laws, because he foresees,
either from the dispositions of his subjects, their ill-humor, or some
circumstances which will intervene, that multitudes of them will
incline to break those laws, and fall under the jDenalty of them ? No
blame can be upon that magistrate who minds the rule of righteous-
ness, and the necessary duty of his government, since he is not the
cause of those turbulent affections of men, which he wisely foresees
will rise up against his just edicts.
2. Though the law now be above the strength of man, yet is not
the holiness of God blemished by keeping it up. It is true, God hath
been graciously pleased to mitigate the severity and rigor of the law,
by the entrance of the gospel ; yet where men refuse the terms of the
gospel, they continue themselves under the condemnation of the law,
and are justly guilty of the breach of it, though they have no strength
to observe it. The law, as I said before, was not above man's strength,
when he was possessed of original righteousness, though it be above
man's strength, since he was stripped of original righteousness. The
command was dated before man had contracted his impotency, when
he had a power to keep it as well as to break it. Had it been enjoined
to man only after the fall, and not before, he might have had a better
pretence to excuse himself, because of the impossibility of it ; yet he
would not have had sufficient excuse, since the impossibility did not
result from the nature of the law, but from the corrupted nature of
the creature. It was "weak through the flesh" (Rom. viii. 3), but it
was promulged when man had a strength proportioned to the com-
mands of it. And now, since man hath unhappily made himself
incapable of obeying it, must God's holiness in his law be blemished
for enjoining it ? Must he abrogate those commands, and prohibit
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 145
"vvTiat before lie enjoined, for the satisfaction of tlie corrupted creature?
"Would not this be his "ceasing to be holy," that his creature might
be unblameably unrighteous ? Must God strip himself of his holi-
ness, because man will not discharge his iniquity ? He cannot be
the cause of sin, by keeping up the law, who would be the cause of
all the unrighteousness of men, by removing the authority of it.
Some things in the law that are intrinsically good in their own
nature, are indispensable, and it is repugnant to the nature of God
not to command them. If he were not the guardian of his indispen-
sable law, he would be the cause and countenancer of the creatures'
iniquity. So little reason have men to charge God with being the
cause of their sin, by not repealing his law to gratify their impotence,
that he would be unholy if he did. God must not lose his purity,
because man hath lost his, and cast away the right of his sovereignty,
because man hath cast away his power of obedience.
3. God's foreknowledge that his law would not be observed, lays
no blame upon him. Though the foreknowledge of God be infallible,
yet it doth not necessitate the creature in acting. It was certain
from eternity, that Adam would fall, that men would do such and
such actions, that Judas would betray our Saviour; God foreknew
all those things from eternity ; but, it is as certain that this fore-
knowledge did not necessitate the will of Adam, or any other branch
of his posterity, in the doing those actions that were so foreseen by
God ; they voluntarily run into such courses, not by any impulsion.
God's knowledge was not suspended between certainty and uncer-
tainty ; he certainly foreknew that his law would be broken by
Adam ; he forekncAV it in his own decree of not hindering him, by
giving Adam the efficacious grace which would infallibly have pre-
vented it ; yet Adam did freely break this law, and never imagined
that the foreknowledge of God did necessitate him to it ; he could
find no cause of his own sin, but the liberty of his own will ; he
charges the occasion of his sin upon the woman, and consequently
upon God in giving the woman to him (Gen. iii. 12). He could not
be so ignorant of the nature of God, as to imagine him without a
foresight of future things : since his knowledge of what was to be
known of'God by creation, was greater than any man's since, in all
probability. But, however, if he were not acquainted with the no-
tion of God's foreknowledge, he could not be ignorant of his own act ;
there could not have been any necessity upon him, any kind of con-
straint of him in his action, that could have been unknown to him ;
and he would not have omitted a plea of so strong a nature, when he
was upon his trial for life or death ; especially when he urgeth so
weak an argument, to impute his crime to God, as the gift of the
woman ; as if that which was designed him for a help, were intend-
ed for his ruin. If God's prescience takes away the liberty of the
creature, there is no such thing as a free action in the world (for there
is nothing done but is foreknown by God, else we render God of a
limited understanding), nor ever was, no, not by God himself, ad ex-
tra ; for whatsoever he hath done in creation, whatsoever he hath
done since the creation, was foreknown by him : he resolved to do
it, and, therefore, foreknew that he would do it. Did God do it,
VOL. II. — 10
146 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
therefore, necessarily, as necessity is opposed to liberty ? As lie
freely decrees what he will do, so he effects what he freely decreed.
Foreknowledge is so far from intrenching upon the liberty of the will,
that predetermination, which in the notion of it speaks something
more, doth not dissolve it ; God did not only foreknow, but deter-
mine the suffering of Christ (Acts iv. 27, 28). It was necessary,
therefore, that Clirist should suffer, that God might not be mistaken
in his foreknowledge, or come short of his determinate decree ; but
did this take away the liberty of Christ in suffering ? (Eph, v. 2) :
" Who offered himself up to God ;" that is, by a voluntary act, as
well as designed to do it by a determinate counsel. It dicl infallibly
secure the event, but did not annihilate the liberty of the action,
either in Christ's willingness to suffer, or the crime of the Jews that
made him suffer. God's prescience is God's provision of things
arising from their proper causes ; as a gardener foresees in his plants
the leaves and the flowers that will arise from them in the spring,
because he knows the strength and nature of their several roots
which lie under ground ; but his foresight of these things is not the
cause of the rise and appearance of those flowers. If any of us see a
ship moving towards such a rock or quicksand, and know it to be
governed by a negligent pilot, we shall certainly foresee that the
ship will be torn in pieces by the rock, or swallowed up by the sands ;
but is this foresight of ours from the causes, any cause of the effect ;
or can we from hence be said to be the authors of the miscarriage
of the ship, and the loss of the passengers and goods ? The fall of
Adam was foreseen by God to come to pass by the consent of his
free will, in the choice of the proposed temptation. God foreknew
Adam would sin, and if Adam would not have sinned, God would
have foreknown that he would not sin. Adam might easily have
detected the serjjents fraud, and made a better election ; God foresaw
that he would not do it ; God's foreknowledge did not make Adam
guilty or innocent : whether God had foreknown it or no, he was
guilty by a free choice, and a willing neglect of his own duty.
Adam knew that God foreknew that he might eat of the fruit, and
fall and die, because God had forbidden him ; the foreknowledge
that he would do it, was no more a cause of his action,,than the
foreknowledge that he might do it. Judas certainly knew that his
Master foreknew that he would betray him, for Christ had acquaint-
ed him with it (John xiii. 21, 26) ; yet he never charged this fore-
knowledge of Christ with any guilt of his treachery.
Pro'p. III. The holiness of God is not blemished by decreeing the
eternal rejection of some men. Keprobation, in its first notion, is an
act of pretention, or passing by. A man is not made wicked by the
the act of God ; but it supposeth him wicked ; and so it is nothing
else but God's leaving a man in that guilt and filth wherein he be-
holds him. In its second notion, it is an ordination, not to a crime,
but to a punishment (Jude 4) : " an ordaining to condemnation."
And though it be an eternal act of God, yet, in order of nature, it
follows upon the foresight of the transgression of man, and supposeth
the crime. God considers Adam's revolt, and views the whole mass
of his corrupted posterity, and chooses some to reduce to himself by
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 147
his grace, and leaves otliers to lie sinking in tlieir ruins. Since all
mankind fell by tlie fall of Adam, and have corruption conveyed to
them successively by that root, whereof they are branches ; all men
might justly be left wallowing in that miserable condition to which they
are reduced by the apostasy of their common head ; and God might
have passed by the whole race of man, as well as he did the fallen
angels, without any hope of redemption. He was no more bound to
restore man, than to restore devils, nor bound to repair the nature
of any one son of Adam ; and had he dealt with men as he dealt
with the devils, they had had, all of them, as little just ground to
complain of God ; for all men deserved to be left to themselves, for
all were concluded under sin ; but God calls out some to make
monuments of his grace, which is an act of the sovereign mercy of
that dominion, whereby " he hath mercy on whom he will have
mercy" (Rom. ix. 18) ; others he passes by, and leaves them remain-
ing in that corruption of nature wherein they were born. If men
have a power to dispose of their own goods, without any unright-
eousness, why should not God dispose of his own grace, and bestow
it upon whom he pleases ; since it is a debt to none, but a free gift
to any that enjoy it ? God is not the cause of sin in this, because
his, operation about this is negative ; it is not an action, but a denial
of action, and therefore cannot be the cause of the evil actions of
men.c God acts nothing, but withholds his power ; he doth not en-
lighten their minds, nor incline their wills so powerfully, as to expel
their darkness, and root out those evil habits which possess them by
nature. God could, if he would, savingly enlighten the minds of all
men in the world, and quicken their hearts with a new life by an in-
vincible grace ; but in not doing it, there is no positive act of God,
but a cessation of action. We may with as much reason say, that
God is the cause of all the sinful actions that are committed by the
corporation of devils, since their first rebellion, because he leaves
them, to themselves, and bestows not a new grace upon them, — as
say, God is the cause of the sins of those that he overlooks and leaves
in that state of guilt wherein he found them. God did not pass by
any without the consideration of sin ; so that this act of God is not
repugnant to his holiness, but conformable to his justice.
Prop. lY. The holiness of God is not blemished by his secret will
to suft'er sin to enter into the world. God never willed sin by his
preceptive will. It was never founded upon, or produced by any
word of his, as the creation was. He never said, Let there be sin
under the heaven, as he said, "Let there be water under the hea-
ven." Nor doth he will it by infusing any habit of it, or stirring up
inclinations to it ; no, " God tempts no man" (James i. 13). Nor
doth he will it by his approving will ; it is detestable to him, nor
ever can he be otherwise ; he cannot approve it either before com-
mission or after.
1. The will of God is in some sort concurrent with sin. He doth
not properly will it, but he wills not to hinder it, to which, by his
omnipotence, he could put a bar. If he did positively will it, it
might be wrought by himself, and so could not be evil. If he did
•= Amyral. Defence de Calv. p. 145.
148 CHAENOCK OX THE ATTRIBUTES.
in no sort will it, it would not be committed by his creature ; sin
entered into the world, either God willing the permission of it, or
not willing the permission of it. The latter cannot be said ; for then
the creature is more powerful than God, and can do that which God
will not permit. God can, if he be pleased, banish all sin in a mo-
ment out of the world: he could have prevented the revolt of angels,
and the fall of man ; they did not sin whether he would or no : he
might, by his grace, have stepped in the first moment, and made a
special impression upon them of the happiness they already possessed,
and the misery they would incur by any wicked attempt. He could
as well have prevented the sin of the fallen angels, and confirmed
them in grace, as of those that continued in their happy state : he
might have appeared to man, informed him of the issue of his de-
sign, and made secret impressions upon his heart, since he was ac-
quainted with every avenue to his will. God could have kept all
sin out of the world, as well as all creatures from breathing in it ; he
was as well able to bar sin forever out of the world, as to let crea-
tures lie in the womb of nothing, wherein they were first wrapped.
To say God doth will sin as he doth other things, is to deny his ho-
liness ; to say it entered without anything of his will, is to deny his
omnipotence. If he did necessitate Adam to fall, what shall we
think of his purity ? If Adam did fall without any concern of God's
will in it, what shall we say of his sovereignty ? The one taints his
holiness, and the other clips his power. If it came without anything
of his will in it, and he did not foresee it, where is his omniscience ?
If it entered whether he would or no, where is his omnipotence
(Eom. ix. 19) ? " Who hath resisted his will ?" There cannot be a
lustful act in Abimelech, if God will withhold his power (Gen. xx.
6) ; "I withheld thee :" nor a cursing word in Balaam's mouth, un-
less God give power to speak it (Numb. xxii. 38): " Have I now any
power at all to say anything? The word that God puts in my mouth,
that shall I speak." As no action could be sinful, if God had not
forbidden it ; so no sin could be committed, if God did not will to
give way to it.
2. God doth not will directly, and by an efficacious will. He doth
not directly will it, because he hath prohibited it by his law, which
is a discovery of his will : so that if he should directly will sin, and
directly prohibit it, he would will good and evil in the same manner,
and there would be contradictions in God's will : to will sin abso-
lutely, is to work it (Ps. cxv. 3): "God hath done whatsoever he
pleased." God cannot absolutely will it, because he cannot work it.
God wills good by a positive decree, because he hath decreed to effect
it.d He wills evil by a private decree, because he hath decreed not
to give that grace which would certainly prevent it. God doth not
will sin simply, for that were to approve it, but he wills it, in order to
that good his wisdom will bring forth from it.<^ He wills not sin for
itself, but for the event. To will sin as sin, or as purely evil, is not
in the capacity of a creature, neither of man nor devil. The will of
a rational creature cannot will anything but under the appearance
of good, of some good in the sin itself, or some good in the issue of it.
^ Rispolis. * Bradward. lib. i. cap. 34. " God wills it secundum quid.''
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 149
Mucli more is this far from God, who, being infinitely good, cannot
will evil as evil ; and being infinitely knowing, cannot will that for
good which is evil/ Infinite wisdom can be under no error or mis-
take : to will sin as sin, would be an unanswerable blemish on God ;
but to will to suffer it in order to good, is the glory of his wisdom ;
it could never have peeped up its head, unless there had been some
decree of God concerning it. And there had been no decree of God
concerning it, had he not intended to bring good and glory out of it.
If God did directly will the discovery of his grace and mercy to the
world, he did in some sort will sin, as that without which there could
not have been any appearance of mercy in the world ; for an inno-
cent creature is not the object of mercy, but a miserable creature :
and no rational creature but must be sinful before it be miserable.
3. God wills the permission of sin. Pie doth not positively will
sin, but he positively wills to permit it. And though he doth not
approve of sin, yet he approves of that act of his will, whereby he
permits it. For since that sin could not enter into the world without
some concern of God's will about it, that act of his will that gave
way to it, could not be displeasing to him : God could never be dis-
pleased with his own act : " He is not as man, that he should repent"
(1 Sam. XV. 29). What God cannot repent of, he cannot but approve
of: it is contrary to the blessedness of God to disapprove of, and
be displeased with any act of his own will. If he hated any act
of his own will, he would hate himself, he would be under a torture :
every one that hates his own acts, is under some disturbance and
torment for them. That which is permitted by him, is in itself, and
in regard of the evil of it, hateful to him : but as the prospect of that
good which he aims at in the permission of it is pleasing to him, so
that act of his will, whereby he permits it, is ushered in by an ap-
proving act of his understanding. Either God approved of the per-
mission, or not ; if he did not approve his own act of permission, he
could not have decreed an act of permission. It is inconceivable
that God should decree such an act which he detested, and positively
will that which he hated. Though God hated sin, as being against
his holiness, yet he did not hate the permission of sin, as being sub-
servient by the immensity of his wisdom to his own glory. He could
never be displeased with that which was the result of his eternal
counsel, as this decree of permitting sin was, as well as any other
decree, resolved upon in his own breast. For as God acts nothing in
time, but what he decreed from eternity, so he permits nothing in
time but what he decreed from eternity to permit. To speak prop-
erly, therefore, God doth not will sin, but he wills the permission of
it, and this will to permit is active and positive in God.
4. This act of permission is not a mere and naked permission, but
such an one as is attended with a certainty of the event. The decrees
of God to make use of the sin of man for the glory of his grace in
the mission and passion of his Son, hung upon this entrance of sin.
Would it consist with the wisdom of God to decree such great and
stupendous things, the event whereof sliould depend upon an un-
certain foundation which he might be mistaken in ? God would have
f Aquin. cont. Geut. lib. i. cap. 95.
150 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
sat in counsel from eternity to no purpose, if lie had only permitted
those things to be done, without any knowledge of the event of this
permission. God would not have made such provision for redemj)-
tion to no purpose, or an uncertain purpose, which would have been,
if man had not fallen ; or if it had been an uncertainty with God
whether he would fall or no. Though the will of God about sin was
permissive, yet the will of God about that glory he would promote
by the defect of the creature, was positive ; and, therefore, he would
not suffer so many positive acts of his will to hang upon an uncer-
tain event ; and, therefore, he did wisely and righteously order all
things to the accomplishment of his great and gracious purposes.
5. This act of permission doth not taint the holiness of God.
That there is such an act as permission, is clear in Scripture (Acts
xiv. 16): " Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their
own ways." But that it doth not blemish the holiness of God, will
appear,
1st. From the nature of this permission.
1. It is not a moral permission, a giving liberty of toleration by
any law to commit sin with impunity ; when, what one law did for-
bid, another law doth leave indifferent to be done or not, as a man
sees good in himself As when there is a law made among men,
that no man shall go out of such a city or country without license ;
to go out without license is a crime by the law ; but when that law is
repealed by another, that gives liberty for men to go and come at
their pleasure, it doth not make their going or coming necessary, but
leaves those which were before bound, to do as they see good in
themselves. Such a permission makes a fact lawful, though not nec-
essary ; a man is not obliged to do it, but he is left to his own discre-
tion to do as he pleases, without being chargeable with a crime for
doing it. Such a permission there was granted by God to Adam of
eating of the fruits of the garden, to choose any of them for food,
except the tree of " knowledge of good and evil." It was a precept
to him, not to " eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good
and evil ;" but the other was a permission, whereby it was lawful for
him to feed upon any other that was most agreeable to his appetite :
but there is not such a permission in the case of sin ; this had been
an indulgence of it, which had freed man from any crime, and, con-
sequently, from punishment ; because, by such a permission by law,
he would have had authority to sin if he pleased. God did not re-
move the law, which he had before placed as a bar against evil, nor
ceased that moral impediment of his threatening : such a permission
as this, to make sin lawful or indifferent, had been a blot upon God's
holiness.
2. But this permission of God, in the case of sin, is no more than
the not hindering a sinful action, which he could have prevented.
It is not so much an action of God, as a suspension of his influence,
which might have hindered an evil act, and a forbearing to restrain
the faculties of man from sin ; it is, properly, the not exerting that
efficacy which might change the counsels that are taken, and prevent
the action intended ; as when one man sees another read}^ to fall,
and can preserve him from falling by reaching out his hand, he per-
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 151
mits him to fall, that is, he hinders him not from falling. So God
describes his act about Abimelech (Gen. xx. 6); " I withheld thee
from sinning against me, therefore suffered I thee not to touch her."
If Abimelech had sinned, he had sinned by God's permission ; that
is, by God's not hindering, or not restraining him by making any im-
pressions upon him. So that permission is only a withholding that
help and grace, which, if bestowed, would have been an effectual
remedy to prevent a crime ; and it is rather a suspension, or cessa-
tion, than properly a permission, and sin may be said to be commit-
ted, not without God's permission, rather than by his permission.
Thus, in the fall of man, God did not hold the reins strict upon
Satan, to restrain him from laying the bait, nor restrain Adam from
swallowing the bait : he kept to himself that efficacious grace which
he might have darted out upon man to prevent his fall. God left
Satan to his malice of tempting, and Adam to his liberty of resisting,
and his own strength, to use that sufEicient grace he had furnished
him with, whereby he might have resisted and overcome the temp-
tation. As he did not drive man to it, so he did not secretly restrain
him from it. So, in the Jews crucifying our Saviour, God did not
imprint upon their minds, by his Spirit, a consideration of the great-
ness of the crime, and the horror of his justice due to it; and, being
without those impediments, they run furiously, of their own accord,
to the commission of that evil ; as, when a man lets a wolf or dog
out upon his prey, he takes off the chain which held them, and they
presently act according to their natures. g In the fall of angels and
men, God's act was leaving them to their own strength ; in sins after
the fall, it is God's giving them up to their own corruption ; the first
is a pure suspension of grace ; the other hath the nature of a punish-
ment (Ps. Ixxxi. 12): " So I gave them up to their own hearts' lusts."
The first object of this permissive will of God was to leave angels
and men to their liberty, and the use of their free will, which was
natural to them,h not adding that supernatural grace which was
necessary, not that they should not at all sin, but that they should
infallibly not sin : they had a strength sufficient to avoid sin, but not
sufficient infallibly to avoid sin ; a grace sufficient to preserve them,
but not sufficient to confirm them.
3. Now this permission is not the cause of sin, nor doth blemish
the holiness of God. It doth not intrench upon the freedom of men,
but supposeth it, establisheth it, and leaves man to it. God acted
nothing, but only ceased to act ; and therefore could not be the efii-
cient cause of man's sin. As God is not the author of good, but by
willing and effecting it, so he is not the author of evil, but by willing
and effecting it, : but he doth not positively will evil, nor effect it by
any efficacy of his own. Permission is no action, nor the cause of
that action which is permitted ; but the will of that person who is
permitted to do such an action is the cause.' God can no more be
said to be the cause of sin, by suffering a creature to act as it will,
than he can be said to be the cause of the not being of any creature,
by denying it being, and letting it remain nothing; it is not from
God that it is nothing, it is nothing in itself Though God be said
K Lawson, p. 64.^ •» Suarez, Vol. IV. p. 414. ' Suarez, de Legib. p. 43,
152 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTEIBUTES.
to be tlie cause of creation, jet he is never by any said to be the
cause of that nothing which was before creation. This permission of
God is not the cause of sin, but the cause of not hindering sin. Man
and angels had a physical power of sinning from God, as they were
created with freewill, and supported in their natural strength ; but
the moral power to sin was not from God ; he counselled them not
to it, laid no obligation upon them to use their natural power for
such an end ; he only left them to their freedom, and not hindered
them in their acting what he was resolved to permit.
2d. The holiness of God is not tainted by this, because he was
under no obligation to hinder their commission of sin. Ceasing to
act, whereby to prevent a crime or mischief, brings not a person
permitting it under guilt, unless where he is under an obligation to
prevent it ; but God, in regard of his absolute dominion, cannot be
charged with any such obligation. One man, that doth not hinder
the murder of another, when it is in his power, is guilty of the mur-
der in part ; but, it is to be considered, that he is under a tie by
nature, as being of the same kind, and being the other's brother, by
a communion of blood, also under an obligation of the law of cha-
rity, enacted by the common Sovereign of the Avorld : but what tie
was there upon God, since the infinite transcendancy of his nature,
and his sovereign dominion, frees him from any such obligation
(Job ix. 12)? " If he takes away, who shall say, What dost thou ?"
God might have prevented the fall of men and angels ; he might
have confirmed them all in a state of perpetual innocency ; but where
is the obligation ? He had made the creature a debtor to himself,
but he owed nothing to the creature. Before God can be charged
with any guilt in this case, it must be proved, not only that he could,
but that he was bound to hinder it. No person can be justly charged
with another's fault, merely for not preventing it, unless he be bound
to prevent it ; else, not only the first sin of angels and man would
be imputed to God, as the Author, but all the sins of men. He
could not be obliged by any law, because he had no superior to im-
pose any law upon him ; and it will be hard to prove that he was
obliged, from his own nature, to j^revent the entrance of sin, which
he would use as an occasion to declare his own holiness, so trans-
cendent a perfection of his nature, more than ever it could have been
manifested by a total exclusion of it, viz. in the death of Christ. He
is no more bound, in his own nature, to preserve, by supernatural
grace, his creature from falling, after he had framed him with a suffi-
cient strength to stand, than he was obliged, in his own nature, to
bring his creature into being when it was nothing. He is not bound
to create a rational creature, much less bound to create him with
supernatural gifts ; though, since God would make a rational crea
ture, he could not but make him with a natural uprightness and
rectitude. God did as much for angels and men as became a wise
governor : he had published his law, backed it with severe penalties,
and the creature wanted not a natural strength to observe and obey
it. Had not man power to obey all the precepts of the law, as well
as one ? How was God bound to give him more grace, since what
he had already was enough to shield him, and keep up his resistance
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 153
against all tlie power of liell ? It had been enough to have pointed
his will against the temptation, and he had kept off the force of it.
Was there any promise past to Adam of any further grace which he
could plead as a tie upon God? No such voluntary limit upon
God's supreme dominion appears upon record. Was anything due
to man which he had not ? anything promised him which was not
performed? What action of debt, then, can the creature bring
against God ? Indeed, when man began to neglect the light of his
OAvn reason, and became inconsiderate of the precept, God might
have enlightened his understanding by a special flash, a supernatural
beam, and imprinted upon him a particular consideration of the
necessity of his obedience, the misery he was approaching to by his
sin, the folly of any apprehension of an equality in knowledge ; he
might have convinced him of the falsity of the serpent's arguments,
and uncased to him the venom that lay under those baits. But how
doth it appear that God was bound to those additional acts when he
had already lighted up in him a " spirit, which was the candle of the
Lord" (Prov. xx. 27), whereby he was able to discern all, if he had
attended to it. It was enough that God did not necessitate man to
sin, did not counsel him to it ; that he had given him sufficient warn-
ing in the threatening, and sufficient strength in his faculties, to for-
tify him against temptation. He gave him what was due to him as
a creature of his own framing; he withdrew no help from him, that
was due to him as a creature, and what was not due he was not bound
to impart. Man did not beg preserving grace of God, and God was
not bound to offer it, when he was not petitioned for it especially:
yet if he had begged it, God having before furnished him sufficiently,
might, by the right of his sovereign dominion, have denied it with-
out any impeachment of his holiness and righteousness. Though he
would not in such a case have dealt so bountifully with his creature
as he might have done, yet he could not have been impleaded, as
dealing unrighteously with his creature. The single word that God
had already uttered, when he gave him his precept, was enough to
oppose against all the devil's wiles, which tended to invalidate that
Avord: the understanding of man could not imagine that the word
of God was vainly spoken ; and the very suggestion of the devil, as
if the Creator should envy his creature, would have appeared ridic-
ulous, if he had attended to the voice of his own reason. God had
done enough for him, and was obliged to do no more, and dealt not
unrighteously in leaving him to act according to the principles of his
nature. To conclude, if God's permission of sin were enough to
charge it upon God, or if God had been obliged to give Adam super-
natural grace, Adam, that had so capacious a brain, could not be
Avithoutthat plea in his mouth, "Lord thoumightest have prevented
it ; the commission of it by me could not have been without thy ]:)er-
mission of it:" or, " Thou hast been wanting to me, as the author of
my nature." No such plea is brought by Adam into the court,
when God tried and cast him ; no such pleas can have any strength
in them. Adam had reason enough to know, that there was suffi-
cient reason to overrule such a plea.
Since the permission of sin casts no dirt upon the holiness of God,
154 CHARNOCK ON" THE ATTRIBUTES.
as I think liatli been cleared, we may under this head consider two
things more.
1, That God's permission of sin is not so much as his restraint or
limitation of it. Since the entrance of the first sin into the world by
Adam, God is more a hinderer than a permitter of it. If he hath
permitted that which he could have prevented, he prevents a world
more, that he might, if he pleased, permit : the hedges about sin are
larger than the outlets ; they are but a few streams that glide about
the world, in comparison of that mighty torrent he dams up both in
men and devils. He that understands what a lake of Sodom is in
every man's nature, since the universal infection of human nature,
as the apostle describes it (Rom. iii. 9, 10, &;c.), must acknowledge,
that if God should cast the reins upon the necks of sinful men, they
would run into thousands of abominable crimes, more than they do:
the impression of all natural laws would be rased out, the world
would be a public stew, and a more bloody slaughter house ; human
society would sink into a chaos ; no starlight of commendable mo-
rality would be seen in it ; the world would be no longer an earth,
but an hell, and have lain deeper in wickedness than it doth. If
God did not limit sin, as he doth the sea, and put bars to the waves
of the heart, as well as those of the waters, and say of them, "Hither-
to you shall go, and no further ;" man hath such a furious ocean in
him, as would overflow the banks ; and where it makes a breach in
one place, it would in a thousand, if God should suffer it to act ac-
cordmg to its impetuous current. As the devil hath lust enough to
destroy all mankind, if God did not bridle him ; deal with every
man as he did with Job, ruin their comforts, and deform their bodies
with scabs ; infect religion with a thousand more errors ; fling dis-
orders into commonwealths, and make them as a fiery furnace, full
of nothing but flame ; if he were not chained by that powerful arm,
that might let him loose to fulfil his malicious fury ; what raj)ines,
murders, thefts, would be committed, if he did not stint him ! Abi-
melech would not only lust after Sarah, but deflour her ; Laban not
only pursue Jacob, but rifle him; Saul not only hate David, but
murder him ; David not only threaten Nabal, but root him up, and
his family, did not God girdle in the wrath of man :^ a greater re-
mainder of wrath is pent in, than flames out, which yet swells for an
outlet. God may be concluded more holy in preventing* men's sins,
than the author of sin in permitting some ; since, were it not for his
restraints by the pull-back of conscience, and infused motions and
outward impediments, the world would swarm more with this cursed
brood.
2. His permission of sin is in order to his own glory, and a greater
good. It is no reflection upon the Divine goodness to leave man to
his own conduct, whereby such a deformity as sin sets foot in the
world ; since he makes his wisdom illustrious in bringing good out
of evil, and a good greater than that evil he suffered to spring up.^
God did not permit sin, as sin, or permit it barely for itself As sin
is not lovely in its own nature, so neither is the permission of sin
intrinsically good or amiable for itself, but for those ends aimed at in
^ Ps. Ixxvi. 10, as the word "restrain" sigaifies. i Alajus bonwn, saith Bradward.
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 155
the permission of it. God permitted sin, but approved not of the
object of that permission, sin ; because that, considered in its own
nature, is solely evil : nor can we think that God could approve of
the act of permission, considered only in itself as an act ; but as it
respected that event which his wisdom would order by it. We can-
not suppose that God should permit sin, but for some great and glo-
rious end : for it is the manifestation of his own glorious perfections
he intends in all the acts of his will (Prov. xvi. 4), " The Lord hath
made all things for himself " — ^j'S hath wrought all things; which
is not only his act of creation, but ordination : "for himself," that is,
for the discovery of the excellency of his nature, and the communi-
cation of himself to his creature. Sin indeed, in its own nature, hath
no tendency to a good end ; the womb of it teems with nothing but
monsters ; it is a spurn at God's sovereignty, and a slight of his good-
ness : it both deforms and torments the person that acts it ; it is
black and abominable, and hath not a mite of goodness in the nature
of it. If it ends in any good, it is only from that Infinite transcen-
dency of skill, that can bring good out of evil, as well as light out
of darkness. Therefore God did not permit it as sin, but as it was
an occasion for the manifestation of his own glory. Though the
goodness of God would have appeared in the preservation of the
world, as well as it did in the creation of it, yet his mercy could not
have appeared without the entrance of sin, because the object of
mercy is a miserable creature ; but man could not be miserable as
long as he remained innocent. The reign of sin opened a door for
the reign and triumph of grace (Rom. v. 21), " As sin hath reigned
unto death, so might grace reign through righteousness to eternal
life ;" without it, the bowels of mercy had never sounded, and the
ravishing music of Divine grace could never have been heard by the
creature. Mercy, which renders God so amiable, could never else
have beamed out to the world. Angels and men upon this occasion
beheld the stirrings of Divine grace, and the tenderness of Divine na-
ture, and the glory of the Divine persons in their several functions
about the redemption of man, which had else been a spring shut up,
and a fountain sealed ; the song of glory to God, and good will to
men in a way of redemption had never been sung by them. It ap-
pears in his dealing with Adam, that he permitted his fall, not only
to show his justice in punishing, but principally his mercy in rescu-
ing ; since he proclaims to him first the promise of a Redeemer to
" bruise the serpent's head," before he settled the punishment he
should smart under in the world (Gen. iii. 15 — 17). And what fairer
prospect could the creature have of the holiness of God, and his ha-
tred of sin, than in the edge of that sword of justice, which punished
it in the sinner ; but glittered more in the punishment of a Surety so
near allied to him ? Had not man been criminal, he could not have
been punishable, nor any been punishable for him : and the pulse of
Divine holiness could not have beaten so quick, and been so visible,
without an exercise of his vindicative justice. He left man's mutable
nature, to fall under righteousness, that thereby he might commend
the righteousness of his own nature (Rom. iii. 7). Adam's sin in its
nature tended to the ruin of the world, and God takes an occasion
156 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTEIBUTES.
from it for tlie glory of his grace in the redemption of the world ; he
brings forth thereby a new scene of wonders from heaven, and a sur-
prising knowledge on earth ; as the sun breaks out more strongly
after a night of darkness and tempest. As God in creation framed
a chaos by his power, to manifest his Avisdom in bringing order out
of disorder, light out of darkness, beauty out of confusion and de-
formity, when he was able by a word to have made all creatures
stand up in their beauty, without the precedency of a chaos ; so God
permitted a moral chaos to manifest a greater wisdom in the repair-
ing a broken image, and restoring a deplorable creature, and bring-
ing out those perfections of his nature, which had else been wrapt up
in a perpetual silence in his own bosom. It was therefore very con-
gruous to the holiness of God to permit that which he could make
subservient for his own glory, and particularly for the manifestation
of this attribute of holiness, which seems to be in opposition to such
a permission.'"
Prop. V. The holiness of God is not blemished by his concurrence
with the creature in the material part of a sinful act. Some to free
God from having any hand in sin, deny his concurrence to the ac-
tions of the creature ; because, if he concurs to a sinful action, ho
concurs to the sin also : not understanding how there can be a dis-
tinction between the act, and the sinfulness or viciousness of it ; and
how God can concur to a natural action, without being stained by
that moral evil which cleaves to it. For the understanding of this,
observe,
1. There is a concurrence of God to all the acts of the creature
(Acts xvii. 28) ; "in him we live, and move, and have our being.''
We depend upon God in our acting as well as in our being : there is
as much an efficacy of God in our motion as in our production ; as
none have life without his power in producing it, so none have any
operation without his providence concurring with it. In him, or by
him, that is, by his virtue preserving and governing our motions, as
well as by his power bringing us into being. Hence man is com-
pared to an axe (Isa. x. 15), an instrument that hath no action, with-
out the co-operation of a superior agent handling it : and the actions
of the second causes are ascribed to God ; the grass, that is, the pro-
duct of the sun, rain, and earth, he is said to make to grow upon the
mountains (Ps. cxlvii. 8) ; and the skin and flesh, which is by natural
generation, he is said to clothe us with (Job x. 5), in regard of his
co-working with second causes, according to their natures. As
nothing can exist, so nothing can operate without him ; let his con-
currence be removed, and the being and action of the creature cease ;
remove the sun from the horizon, or a candle from a room, and the
light which flowed from either of them ceaseth. Without God's
preserving and concurring power, the course of nature would sink,
and the creation be in vain. All created things depend upon God
as agents, as well as beings, and are subordinate to him in a way of
action, as well as in a way of existing. "^ If God suspend his influ-
ence from their action, they would cease to act, as the fire did from
"> But of the wisdom of God in the permitting sin in order to redemption, I have han-
dled in the attribute of " Wisdom." ° Suarez, Metaph. Part I. p. 552.
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 157
burning tlie tliree children, as well as if God suspend his influence
from their being, they would cease to be. God supports the nature
whereby actions are wrought, the mind where actions are consulted,
and the will where actions are determined, and the motive-power
whereby actions are produced. The mind could not contrive, nor
the hand act, a wickedness, if God did not support the power of the
one in designing, and the strength of the other in executing a wicked
intention. Every faculty in its being, and every faculty in its mo-
tion, hath a dependence upon the influence of God, To make the
creature independent upon God in anything which speaks perfection,
as action considered as action is, is to make the creature a sovereign
being. Indeed, we cannot imagine the concurrence of God to the
good actions of men since the fall, without granting a concurrence
of God to evil actions ; because there is no action so purely good but
hath a mixture of evil in it, though it takes its denomination of good
from the better part (Eccles. vii, 20), " There is no man that doth
good, and sins not,"
2. Though the natural virtue of doing a sinful action be from God,
and supported by him, yet this doth not blemish the holiness of
God ; while God concurs with them in the act, he instils no evil into
men.
(1.) No act, in regard of the substance of it, is evil. Most of the
actions of our faculties, as they are actions, might have been in the
state of innocency. Eating is an act Adam would have used if he
had stood firm, but not eating to excess. Worship was an act that
should have been performed to God in innocence, but not hypocriti-
cally. Every action is good by a ph3^sical goodness, as it is an act of
the mind or hand, which have a natural goodness by creation ; but
every action is not morally good : the physical goodness of the ac-
tion depends on God, the moral evil on the creature. There is no
action, as a corporeal action, is prohibited by the law of God ; but
as it springs from an evil disposition, and is tainted by a venomous
temper of mind.o There is no action so bad, as attended with such
objects and circumstances ; but if the objects and circumstances
were changed, might be a brave and commendable action : so that
the moral goodness or badness of an act is not to be esteemed from
the substance of the act, which hath always a physical goodness ;
but from the objects, circumstances, and constitution of the mind in
the doing of it. Worship is an act good in itself ; but the worship
of an image is bad in regard of the object. Were that act of wor-
ship directed to God that is paid to a statue, and offered up to him
with a sincere frame of mind, it would be morally good. The act,
in regard of its substance, is the same in both, and considered as
separated from the object to which the worship is directed, hath the
same real goodness in regard of the substance ; but when you con-
sider this action in relation to the different objects, the one hath a
moral goodness, and the other a moral evil. So in speaking : speak-
ing being a motion of the tongue in the forming of words, is an ex-
cellency belonging to a reasonable creature ; an endowment bestow-
ed, continued, and supported by God. Now, if the same tongue
" Amyrald. de Libero arbit. pp. 98, 99.
158 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
forms words Tvhereby it curseth. God this minute, and forms words
whereby it blesses and praises God the next minute, the faculty of
Sjieaking is the same, the motion of the tongue is the same in pro-
nouncing the name of God either in a way of cursing or blessing
(James iii. 9, 10) ; it is the " same mouth that blesseth and curseth ;"
and the motion of it is naturally good in regard of the substance of
the act in both ; it is the use of an excellent power God hath given,
and which God preserves, in the use of it. But the estimation of
the moral goodness or evil is not from the act itself, but from the
disposition of the mind. Once more : killing, as an act is good ;
nor is it unlawful as an act ; for if so, God would never have com-
manded his people Israel to wage any war, and justice could not be
done upon malefactors by the magistrate. A man were bound to
sacrifice his life to the fury of an invader, rather than secure it by
dispatching that of an enemy ; but killing an innocent, or killing
without authority, or out of revenge, is bad. It is not the material
part of the act, but the object, manner, and circumstance, that makes
it good or evil. It is no blemish to God's holiness to concur to the
substance of an action, without having any hand in the immorality
of it ; because, whatsoever is real in the substance of the action
might be done without evil. It is not evil as it is an act, as it is a
motion of the tongue or hand, for then every motion of the tongue
or hand would be evil.
(2.) Hence it follows, that an act, as an act, is one thing, and the
viciousness another. The action is the efficacy of the faculty, ex-
tending itself to some outward object; but the sinfulness of an act
consists in a privation of that comeliness and righteousness which
ought to be in an action ; in a want of conformity of the act with
the law of God, either Avritten in nature, or revealed in the Word.P
Now, the sinfulness of an action is not the act itself, but is considered
in it as it is related to the law, and is a deviation from it ; and so it
is something cleaving to the action, and therefore to be distinguished
from the act itself, which is the subject of the sinfulness. When we
say such an action is sinful, the action is the subject, and the sinful-
ness of the action is that which adheres to it. The action is not the
sinfulness, nor the sinfulness the action ; they are distinguished as
the member, and a disease in the member, the arm and the palsy in
it : the arm is not the palsy, nor is the palsy the arm ; but the palsy
is a disease that cleaves to the arm : so sinfulness is a deformity that
cleaves to an action. The evil of an action is not the effect of an
action, nor attends it as it is an action, but as it is an action so circum-
stantiated, and conversant about this or that object ; for the same
action done by two several persons, may be good in one, and bad in
the other ; as when two judges are in joint commission for the trial
of a malefactor, both upon the appearance of his guilt condemn
him. This action in both, considered as an action, is good ; for it is
an adjudging a man to death, whose crime deserves such a punish-
ment. But this same act, which is but one joint act of both, may
be morally good in one judge, and morally evil in the other: morally
good in him that condemns him out of an unbiassed consideration
P Amyrald, pp. 321, 332.
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 169
of the demerit of his fact, obedience to the law, and conscious of the
duty of his place ; and morally evil in the other, who hath no
respect to those considerations, but joins in the act of condemnation,
principally moved by some private animosity against the prisoner,
and desire of revenge for some injury he hath really received, or
imagines that he hath received from him. The act in itself is the
same materially in both ; but in one it is an act of justice, and in the
other an act of murder, as it respects the principles and motives of it
in the two judges ; take away the respect of private revenge, and
the action in the ill judge had been as laudable as the action of the
other. The substance of an act, and the sinfulness of an act, are
separable and distinguishable ; and God may concur with the sub-
stance of an act, without concurring with the sinfulness of the act :
as the good judge, that condemned the prisoner out of conscience,
concurred with the evil judge, who condemned the prisoner out of pri-
vate revenge ; not in the principle and motive of condemnation, but
in the material part of condemnation. So God assists in that action
of a man wherein sin is placed, but not in that which is the formal
reason of sin, which is a privation of some perfection the action
ought morally to have.
(3.) It will appear further in this, that hence it follows that the
action, and the viciousness of the action, may have two distinct
causes. That may be a cause of the one that is not the cause of the
other, and hath n*; hand in the producing of it. God concurs to the
act of the mind as it counsels, and to the external action upon that
counsel, as he preserves the faculty, and gives strength to the mind
to consult, and the other parts to execute ; yet he is not in the least
tainted with the viciousness of the action. Though the action be
from God as a concurrent cause, yet the ill quality of the action is
solely from the creature with whom God concurs. The sun and the
earth concur to the production of all the plants that are formed in
the womb of the one, and midwifed by the other. The sun dis-
tributes heat, and the earth communicates sap ; it is the same heat
dispersed by the one, and the same juice bestowed by the other : it
hath not a sweet juice for one, and a sour juice for another. This gen-
eral influx of the sun and earth is not the immediate cause that one
plant is poisonous, and another wholesome ; but the sap of the earth
is turned by the nature and quality of each plant : if there were not
such an influx of the sun and earth, no plant could exert that
poison which is in its nature ; but yet the sun and earth are not the
cause of that poison which is in the nature of the plant. If God
did not concur to the motions of men, there could be no sinful ac-
tion, because there could be no action at all ; yet this concurrence is
not the cause of that venom that is in the action, which ariseth from
the corrupt nature of the creature, no more than the sun and earth
are the cause of the poison of the plant, which is purely the effect
of its own nature upon that general influx of the sun and earth.
The influence of God picrceth through all subjects ; but the action
of man done by that influence is vitiated according to the nature of
its own corruption. As the sun equally shines through all the
quarrels in the window ; if the glass be bright and clear, there is a
160 CHARNOCK ON" THE ATTRIBUTES.
pure splendor ; if it be red or green, the splendor is from tlie sun ;
but the discoloring of that light upon the wall, is from the quality
of the glass. But to be yet plainer : the soul is the image of God,
and by the acts of the soul, we may come to the knowledge of the
acts of God ; the soul gives motion to the body and every member
of it, and no member could move without a concurrent virtue of the
soul ; if a member be paralytic or gouty, whatsoever motion that
gouty member hath, is derived to it from the soul ; but the goutiness
of the member was not the act of the soul, but the fruit of ill hu-
mors in the body ; the lameness of the member, and the motion of
the member, have two distinct causes ; the motion is from one cause,
and ill motion from another, q As the member could not move
irregularly without some ill humor or cause of that distemper, so it
could not move at all without the activity of the soul : so, though
God concur to the act of understanding, willing, and execution, why
can he not be as free from the irregularity in all those, as the soul is
free from the irregularity of the motion of the body, while it is the
cause of the motion itself? There are two illustrations generally
used in this case, that are not unfit ; the motion of the pen in writ-
ing is from the hand that holds it, but the blurs by the pen are from
some fault in the pen itself: and the music of the instrument is from
the hand that touches it, but the jarring from the faultiness of the
strings ; both are the causes of the motion of the pen and strings,
but not the blurs or jarrings.
(4). It is very congruous to the wisdom of God, to move his crea-
tures according to their particular natures ; but this motion makes
him not the cause of sin. Had our innocent nature continued, God
had moved us according to that innocent nature ; but when the
state was changed for a corrupt one, God must either forbear all
concourse, and so annihilate the world, or move us according to
that nature he finds in us. If he had overthrown the world upon
the entrance of sin, and created another upon the same terms, sin
might have as soon defaced his second work, as it did the first ; and
then it would follow, that God would have been alway building and
demolishing. It was not fit for God to cease from acting as a wise
governor of his creature, because man did cease from his loyalty as
a subject. Is it not more agreeable to God's wisdom as a governor,
to concur with his creature according to his nature, than to deny
his concurrence upon every evil determination of the creature ?
God concurred with Adam's mutable nature in his first act of sin ;
he concurred to the act, and left him to his mutability. If Adam
had put out his hand to ea^ f any other unforbidden fruit, God would
have supported his natural faculty then, and concurred with him in
his motion. When Adam would put out his hand to take the
forbidden fruit, God concurred to that natural action, but left him
to the choice of the object, and to the use of his mutable nature :
and when man became apostate, God concurs with him according
to that condition wherein he found him, and cannot move him
otherwise, unless he should alter that nature man had contracted.
God moving the creature as he found him, is no cause of the ill
1 Zanch. Tom. II. lib. iii. cap. 4, quest, iv. p. 226.
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 161
motion of the creature : as wlien a wheel is broken the space of a
foot, it cannot but move ill in that part till it be mended. He that
moves it, uses the same motion (as it is his act) which he would
have done had the wheel been sound ; the motion is good in the
mover, but bad in the subject : it is not the fault of him that moves
it, but the fault of that wheel that is moved, whose breaches came
by some other cause. A man doth not use to lay aside his watch
for some irregularity, as long as it is capable of motion, but winds
it up : why should God cease from concurring with his creature in
its vital operations and other actions of his will, because there was
a flaw contracted in that nature, that came right and true out of his
hand ? And as he that winds up his disordered watch, is in the
same manner the cause of its motion then, as he was when it was
regular, yet, by that act of his, he is not the cause of the false
motion of it. but that is from the deficiency of some j^art of the watch
itself: so, though God concurs to that action of the creature, whereby
the wickedness of the heart is drawn out, yet is not God therefore
as unholy as the heart.
(5.) God hath one end in his concurrence, and man another in
his action : so that there is a righteous, and often a gracious end in
God, when there is a base and unworthy end in man. God concurs
to the substance of the act ; man produceth the circumstance of the
act, whereby it is evil. God orders both the action wherein he con-
curs, and the sinfulness over which he presides, as a governor, to
his own ends. In Joseph's case, man was sinful, and God merciful ;
his brethren acted "envy," and God designed "mercy" (Gen. xlv.
4, 5). They would be rid of him as an eye-sore, and God concurred
witli their action to make him their preserver (Gen. 1, 20), " Ye
thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good." God con-
curred to Judas his action of betraying our Saviour ; he supported
his nature while he contracted with the priests, and supported his
members while he was their guide to apprehend him ; God's end
was the manifestation of his choicest love to man, and Judas' end
was the gratification of his own covetousness. The Assyrian did a
divine work against Jerusalem, but not with a Divine end (Isa. x.
5 — 7). He had a mind to enlarge his empire, enrich his coffers
with the spoil, and gain the title of a conqueror ; he is desirous to
invade his neighbors, and God employs him to punish his rebels ;
but he means not so, nor doth his heart think so; he intended not
as God intended. The axe doth not think what the carpenter in-
tends to do with it. But God used the rapine of ambitious nature
as an instrument of his justice ; as the exposing malefactors to wild
beasts was an ancient punishment, whereby the magistrates intended
the execution of justice, and to that purpose used the natural
fierceness of the beasts to an end different from what those ravaging
creatures aimed at. God concurred with Satan in spoiling Job of
his goods, and scarifying his body ; God gave Satan licence to do
it, and Job acknowledges it to be God's act (Job i. 12 — 21) ; but
their ends were different ; God concurred with Satan for the clearing
the integrity of his servant, when Satan aimed at nothing but the
provoking him to curse his Creator. The physician apj)lies leeches
VOL. It — 11
162 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRII JTES.
to suck the superfluous blood, but the leeciies suck to glut them-
selves, without any regard to the intention of the physician, and the
welfare of the patient. In the same act where men intend to hurt,
God intends to correct ; so that his concurrence is in a holy manner,
while men commit unrighteous actions. A judge commands the
executioner to execute the sentence of death, which he hath justly
pronounced against a malefactor, and admonisheth him to do it out
of love to justice ; the executioner hath the authority of the judge
for his commission, and the protection of the judge for his security ;
the judge stands by to countenance and secure him in the doing of
it ; but if the executioner hath not the same intention as the judge,
viz. a love to justice in the performance of his office, but a private
hatred to the offender, the judge, though he commanded the fact of
the executioner, yet did not command this error of his in it ; and
though he protects him in the fact, yet he owns not this corrupt dis-
position in him in the doing what was enjoined him, as any act of
his own.
To conclude this. Since the creature cannot act without God,
cannot lift up a hand, or move his tongue, without God's preserving
and upholding the faculty, and preserving the power of action, and
preserving every member of the body in its actual motion, and in
every circumstance of its motion, we must necessarily suppose God
to have such a way of concurrence as doth not intrench upon his
holiness. We must not equal the creature to God, by denying his
dependence on him ; nor must we imagine such a concurrence to
the sinfulness of an act, as stains the Divine purity, which is, I
think, sufficiently salved by distinguishing the matter of the act
from the evil adhering to it ; for since all evil is founded in some
good, the evil is distinguishable from the good, and the deformity
of the action from the action itself; which, as' it is a created act,
hath a dependence on the will and influence of God ; and as it is a
sinful act, is the product of the will of the creature.
Prop. VI. The holiness of God is not blemished by proposing
objects to a man, which he makes use of to sin. There is no object
proposed to man, but is directed by the providence of God, which
influenceth all the motions in the world ; and there is no object pro-
posed to man, but his active nature may, according to the goodness
or badness of his disposition, make a good or an ill use of That
two men, one of a charitable, the other of a hard-hearted disposition,
meet with an indigent and necessitous object, is from the providence
of God ; yet this indigent person is relieved by the one, and neglected
by the other. There could be no action in the world, but about some
object ; there could be no object offered to us but by Divine Provi-
dence ; the active nature of man would be in vain, if there were not
objects about which it might be exercised. Nothing could present
itself to man as an object, either to excite his grace, or awaken his
corruption, but by the conduct of the Governor of the world. That
David should walk upon the battlements of his palace, and Bath-
sheba be in the bath at the same time, was from the Divine Provi-
dence which orders all the affairs of the world (2 Sam, xi, 7) ; and so
some understand (Jer, vi, 21): "Thus saith the Lord, I will lay
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 163
stumbling-blocks before this people, and tbe fathers and sons together
shall fall upon them." Since they have offered sacrifices without
those due qualifications in their hearts, which were necessary to ren-
der them acceptable to me, I will lay in their way such objects, which
their corruption will use ill to their farther sin and ruin ; so (Ps. cv.
25), "He turned their heart to hate his people;" that is, by the multi-
plying his people, he gave occasion to the Egyptians of hating them,
instead of caressing them, as they had formerly done. But God's
holiness is not blemished by this ; for,
1. This proposing or presenting of objects invades not the liberty
of any man. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil, set in the
midst of the garden of Eden, had no violent influence on man to
force him to eat of it ; his liberty to eat of it, or not, was reserved
entire to himself; no such charge can be brought against any object
whatsoever. If a man meet accidentally at a table with meat that is
grateful to his palate, but hurtful to the present temper of his body,
doth the presenting this sort of food to him strip him of his liberty
to decline it, as well as to feed of it? Can the food have any internal
influence upon his will, and lay the freedom of it asleep whether he
will or no ? Is there any charm in that, more than in other sorts of
diet ? No ; but it is the habit of love which he hath to that particu-
lar dish, the curiosity of his fancy, and the strength of his own appe-
tite, Avhereby he is brought into a kind of slavery to that particular
meat, and not anything in the food itself. When the word is pro-
posed to two persons, it is embraced by the one, rejected by the
other; is it from the word itself, which is the object, that these two
persons perform different acts ? The object is the same to both, but
the manner of acting about the object is not the same ; is there any
invasion of their liberty b}'' it ? Is the one forced by the word to
receive it, and the other forced by the word to reject it? Two such
contrary effects cannot proceed from one and the same cause ; out-
ward things have only an objective influence, not an inward ; if the
mere proposal of things did suspend or strike down the liberty of
man, no angels in heaven, no man upon earth, no, not our Saviour
himself, could do anything freely, but by force ; objects that are ill
used are of God's creation, and though they have allurements in
them, yet they have no compulsive power over the will.'' The fruit
of the tree of knowledge of good and evil was pleasing to the sight ;
it had a quality to allure ; there had not else needed a prohibition to
bar the eating of it ; but it could not have so much power to allure,
as the Divine threatening to deter.
2. The objects are good in themselves, but the ill use of them is
from man's corruption. Bathsheba was, by God's providence, pre-
sented to David's sight, but it was David's disposition moved him to
so evil an act ; what if God knew that he would use that object ill ?
yet he knew he had given him a power to refrain from any ill use
of it; the objects are innocent, but our corruption poisons them.
The same object hath been used by one to holy purposes and holy
improvements, that hath been used by another to sinful ends ; when
a charitable object is presented to a good man, and a cruel man, one
"■ Aniyral. de Libero arbit. p. 224.
164 CHAnx>rOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
relieves him, the other reviles him ; the object was rather an occasion
to draw out the charity of one, as well as the other ; but the refusing
to reach out a helping hand, was not from the person in calamity,
but the disposition of the refuser to whom he was presented ; it is
not from the nature of the object that men do good or evil, but from
the disposition of the person ; what is good in itself, is made bad by
our corruption. As the same meat which nourishes and strengthens
a sound constitution, cherisheth the disease of another that eats at
the same table, not from any unwholesome quality in the food, but
the vicious quality of the humors lodging in the stomach, which turn
the diet into fuel for themselves, which in its own nature was apt to
engender a wholesome juice. Some are perfected by the same things
whereby others are ruined. Kiches are used by some, not only for
their own, but the advantage of others in the world ; by others only
for themselves, and scarcely so much as their necessities require. Is
this the fault of the wealth, or the dispositions of the persons, who
are covetous instead of being generous ? It is a calumny, therefore,
upon God to charge him with the sin of man upon this account.
The rain that drops from the clouds upon the plants is sweet in
itself, but when it moistens the root of any venomous plant, it is
turned into the juice of the plant, and becomes venomous with it.
The miracles that our Saviour wrought, were applauded by some,
and envied by the Pharisees ; the sin arose not from the nature of
the miracles, but the malice of their spirits. The miracles were fitter
in their own nature to have induced them to an adoration of our
Saviour, than to excite so vile a passion against one that had so
many marks from heaven to dignify him, and proclaim him worthy
of their respect. The person of Christ was an object proposed to the
Jews; some worship him, others condemn and crucify him, and
according to their several vices and base ends they use this object.
Judas to content his covetousness, the Pharisees to glut their revenge,
Pilate for his ambition, to preserve himself in his government, and
avoid the articles the people might charge him with of countenancing
an enemy to Caesar. God at that time put into their minds a rational
and true proposition which they apply to ill purposes.^ Caiaphas
said, that "it was expedient for one man to die for the people," which
"he spake not of himself" (John xi. 50, 51). God put it into his
mind ; but he might have applied it better than he did, and consid-
ered, though the maxim was commendable, whether it might justly
be applied to Christ, or whether there was such a necessity that he
must die, or the nation be destroyed by the Eomans. The maxim
was sound and holy, decreed by God ; but what an ill use did the
high-priest make of it to put Christ to death as a seditious person, to
save the nation from the Eoman fury !
3. Since the natural corruption of men will use such objects ill,
may not God, without tainting himself, present such objects to them
in subserviency to his gracious decrees? Whatsoever God should
present to men in that state, they would make an ill use of; hath
not God, then, the sovereign prerogative to present what he pleases,
and suppress others ? To offer that to them which may serve his
• Amyrakl, Ironic, p. 337.
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 165
holy purpose, and hide other things from them which are not so con-
ducing to his gracious ends, which would be as much the occasions
of exciting their sin, as the others which he doth bring forth to theii-
view? The Jews, at the time of Christ, were of a turbulent and
seditious humor; they expected a Messiah, a temporal king, and
would readily have embraced any occasion to have been up in arms
to have delivered themselves from the Roman yoke ; to this purpose
the people attempted once to make him king: and probably the
expectation they had that he had such a design to head them, might
be one reason of their "hosannas;" because without some such con-
ceit it was not probable they should so soon change their note, and
vote him to the cross in so short a time, after they had applauded
him as if he had been upon a throne ; but their being defeated of
strong expectations, usually ended in a more ardent fury. This tur-
bulent and seditious humor God directs in another channel, suppres-
seth all occurrences that might excite them to a rebellion against the
Romans, which, if he had given way to, the crucifying Christ, which
was God"s design to bring about at that time, had not probably been
effected, and the salvation of mankind been hindered or stood at a
stay for a time. God, therefore, orders such objects and occasions,
that might direct this seditious humor to another channel, which
would else have run out in other actions, which had not been conduc-
ing to the great design he had then in the world. Is it not the right
of God, and without any blemish to his holiness, to use those corrup-
tions which he finds sown in the nature of his creature by the hand
of Satan, and to propose such objects as may excite the exercise of
them for his own service? Sure God hath as much right to serve
himself of the creature of his own framing, and what natures soever
they are possessed with, and to present objects to that purpose, as a
falconer hath to offer this or that bird to his hawk to exercise his
courage, and excite his ravenousness, without being termed the author
of that ravenousness in the creature. God planted not those corrup-
tions in the Jews, but finds them in those persons over whom he
hath an absolute sovereignty in the right of a Creator, and that of a
Judge for their sins : and by the right of that sovereignty may offer
such objects and occasions, which, tliough innocent in themselves,
he knows they will make use of to ill purposes, but which by the
same decree that he resolves to present such occasions to them, he
also resolves to make use of them for his own glory. It is not con-
ceivable by us what way that death of Christ, which was necessary
for the satisfaction of Divine justice, could be brought about without
ordering the evil of some men's hearts by special occasions to effect
his purpose ; we cannot suppose that Christ can be guilty of any
crime that deserved death by the Jewish law ; had he been so a
criminal, he could not have been a Redeemer: a perfect innocence
was necessary to the design of his coming.* Had God himself put
him to that death, without using instruments of wickedness in it, by
some remarkable hand from heaven, the innocence of his nature had
been forever eclipsed, and the voluntariness of his sacrifice had been
obscured : the strangeness of such a judgment would have made his
* This I have spokeu of before, but it is necessary now.
166 CHAKNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
innocence incredible ; lie could not reasonably have been proposed
as an object of faith. What, to believe in one that was struck dead
by a hand from heaven ? The propagation of the doctrine of redemp-
tion had wanted a foundation ; and though God might have raised
him again, the certainty of his death had been as questionable as his
innocence in dying, had he not been raised. But God orders every-
thing so as to answer his own most wise and holy ends, and maintain
his truth, and the fulfilling the predictions of the minutest concerns
about them, and all this by presenting occasions innocent in them-
selves, which the corruptions of the Jews took hold of, and whereby
God, unknown to them, brought about his own decrees : and may
not this be conceived without any taint upon God's holiness? for
when there are seeds of all sin in man's nature, why may not God
hinder the sprouting up of this or that kind of seed, and leave liberty
to the growth of the other, and shut up other ways of sinning, and
restrain men from them, and let them loose to that temptation which
he intends to serve himself of, hiding from them those objects which
were not so serviceable to his purpose, wherein they would have
sinned, and offer others, which he knew their corruption would use
ill, and were serviceable to his ends ; since the depravation of their
natures would necessarily hurry them to evil without restraining
grace, as a scale will necessarily rise up when the weight in it, which
kept it down, is taken away ?
Proip. VII. The holiness of God is not blemished by withdrawing
his grace from a sinful creature, whereby he falls into more sin.
That God withdraws his grace from men, and gives them up some-
times to the fury of their lusts, is as clear in Scripture as anything
(Deut. xxix. 4) : " Yet the Lord hath not given you a heart to per-
ceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear," &c. Judas was delivered
to Satan after the sop, and put into his power, for despising former
admonitions. He often leaves the reins to the devil, that he may
use what efl&cacy he can in those that have offended the Majesty of
God ; he withholds further influences of grace, or withdraws what
before he had granted them. Thus he withheld that grace irom the
sons of Eli, that might have made their father's pious admonitions
effectual to them (I Sam, ii. 25) : " They hearkened not to the voice
of their father, because the Lord would slay them." He gave grace
to Eli to reprove them, and withheld that grace from them, which
might have enabled them against their natural corruption and ob-
stinacy to receive that reproof But the holiness of God is not blem-
ished by this,
1. Because the act of God in this is only negative," Thus God is
said to " harden" men : not by positive hardening, or working any-
thing in the creature, but by not working, not softening, leaving a
man to the hardness of his own heart, whereby it is unavoidable by
the depravation of man's nature, and the fury of his passions, but
that he should be further hardened, and "increase unto more un-
godliness," as the expression is (2 Tim, ii. 19). As a man is said to
give another his life, when he doth not take it away when it lay at
his mercy ; so God is said to "harden" a man, when he doth not
" Testard, deNatur, et Grat. Thcs. 150, 151. Amy ou Divers Texts, p. 311.
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 167
mollify liim when it was in his power, and inwardly quicken liim
with that grace whereby he might infallibly avoid any further pro-
voking of him. God is said to harden men when he removes not
from them the incentives to sin, curbs not those principles which
are ready to comply with those incentives, withdraws the common
assistances of his grace, concurs not with counsels and admonitions
to make them eflPectual ; flasheth not in the convincing light which
he darted upon them before. If hardness follows upon God's with-
holding his softening grace, it is not by any positive act of God, but
from the natural hardness of man. If you put fire near to wax or
rosin, both will melt ; but when that fire is removed, they return to
their natural quality of hardness and brittleness ; the positive act of
the fire is to melt and soften, and the softness of the rosin is to be
ascribed to that ; but the hardness is from the rosin itself, wherein
the fire hath no influence, but only a negative act by a removal of
it : so, when God hardens a man, he only leaves him to that stony
heart which he derived from Adam, and brought with him into the
world. All men's understandings being blinded, and their wills
perverted in Adam, God's withdrawing his grace is but a leaving
them to their natural pravity, which is the cause of their farther sin-
ning, and not God's removal of that special light he before afibrded
them, or restraint he held over them. As when God withdraws his
preserving power from the creature, he is not the efficient, but de-
ficient cause of the creature's destruction ; so, in this case, God only
ceaseth to bind and dam up that sin which else would break out.
2. The whole positive cause of his hardness is from man's corrup-
tion. God infuseth not any sin into his creatures, but forbears to
infuse his grace, and restrain their lusts, which, upon the removal of
his grace, work impetuously : God only gives them up to that which
he knows will work strongly in their hearts. And, therefore, the
apostle wipes off from God any positive act in that uncleanness the
heathens were given up to (Rom. i. 24, " Wherefore God gave them
up to uncleanness, through the lusts of their own hearts." And, ver.
26, God gave them up to " vile affections ;" but they were their own
affections, none of God's inspiring,) by adding, " through tlie lusts
of their own hearts." God's giving them up was the logical cause,
or a cause by way of argument ; their own lusts were the true and
natural cause ; their own they were, before they were given up to
them, and belonging to none, as the author, but themsslves, after
they were given up to them. The lust in the heart, and the temp-
tation without, easily close and mix interests with one another : as
the fire in a coal pit will with the fuel, if the streams derived into it
for the quenching it be dammed up : the natural passions will run
to a temptation, as the waters of a river tumble towards the sea.
When a man that hath bridled in a high-mettled horse from running
out, gives him the reins ; or a huntsman takes off the string that
held the dog, and lets him run after the hare, — are they the imme-
diate cause of the motion of the one, or the other ? — no, but the
mettle and strength of the horse, and the natural inclination of the
hound, both which are left to their own motions to pursue their own
natural instincts. Man doth as naturallv tend to sin as a stone to
168 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
the centre, or as a weighty thing inclines to a motion to the earth :
it is from the propension of man's nature that he " drinks up iniquity
like water :" and God doth no more when he leaves a man to sin, by
taking away the hedge which stopped him, but leave him to his na-
tural inclination. As a man that breaks up a dam he hath placed,
leaves the stream to run in their natural channel ; or one that takes
away a prop from a stone to let it fall, leaves it only to that nature
which inclines it to a descent ; both have their motion from their
own nature, and man is sin from his own corruption. The with-
drawing the sunbeams is not the cause of darkness, but the shadi-
ness of the earth ; nor is the departure c^f the sun the cause of
winter, but the coldness of the air and earth, which was tempered
and beaten back into the bowels of the earth by the vigor of
the sun, upon whose departure they return to their natural state:
the sun only leaves the earth and air as it found them at the
beginning of the spring or the beginning of the day.'^ If God
do not give a man grace to melt him, yet he cannot be said to
communicate to him that nature which hardens him, which man
hath from himself. As God was not the cause of the first sin of
Adam, Avliich was the root of all other, so he is not the cause
of the following sins, which, as branches, spring from that root ;
man's free-will was the cause of the first sin, and the corruption
of his nature by it the cause of all succeeding sins. God doth
not immediately harden any man, but doth propose those things,
i'rom whence the natural vice of man takes an occasion to
strengthen and nourish itself Hence, God is said to "harden
Pharaoh's heart" (Exod, vii. 13), by concurring with the magicians
in turning their rods into serpents, which stiffened his heart
against Moses, conceiving him by reason of that, to have no more
power than other men, and was an occasion of his father harden-
ing: and Pharaoh is said to "harden himself" (Exod. viii. 32);
that is, in regard of his own natural passion.
3. God is holy and righteous, because he doth not withdraw from
man, till man deserts him. To say, that God withdrew that grace
from Adam, which he had afforded him in creation, or anything that
was due to him, till he had abused the gifts of God, and turned them
to an end contrary to that of creation, would be a reflection upon
the Divine holiness. God was first deserted by man before man
was deserted by God ; and man doth first contemn and abuse the
common grace of God, and those relics of natural light, that " en-
lighten every man that comes into the world" (John i. 9) ; before
God leaves him to the hurry of his own passions. Ephraim was
first joined to idols, before God pronounced the fatal sentence, " Let
him alone" (Hos. iv. 17) : and the heathens first changed the glorj-
of the incorruptible God, before God withdrew his common grace
from the corrupted creature (Rom. i. 23, 24) ; and they first "served
the creature more than the Creator," before the Creator gave them
up to the slavish chains of their vile affections (ver. 25, 26). Israel
first cast off God before God cast off them ; but then ' ' he gave them
up to their own hearts' lusts, and they walked in their own couDsels"
* Amyi-idJ, de ProJcst. p. 107.
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 169
(Ps. Ixxxi. 11, 12). Since sin entered into the world by the fall of
Adam, and the blood of all his posterity was tainted, man cannot do
anything that is formally good ; not for want of faculties, but for
the want of a righteous habit in those faculties, especially in the
will ; yet God discovers himself to man in the works of his hands ;
he hath left in him footsteps of natural reason ; he doth attend him
with common motions of his Spirit ; corrects him for his faults with
gentle chastisements. He is near unto all in some kind of instruc-
tions : he puts many times providential bars in their way of sinning ;
but when they will rush into it as the horse into the battle, when
they will rebel against the light, God doth often leave them to their
own course, sentence him that is " filthy to be filthy still" (Rev. xxii.
11), which is a righteous act of God, as he is rector and governor of
the world. Man's not receiving, or not improving what God gives,
is the cause of God's not giving further, or taking away his own,
which before he had bestowed ; this is so far from being repugnant
to the holiness and righteousness of God, that it is rather a commen-
dable act of his holiness and righteousness, as the rector of the world,
not to let those gifts continue in the hand of a man who abuses them
contrary to his glory. ^Yho will blame a father, that, after all the
good counsels he hath given to his son to reclaim him, all the correc-
tions he hath inflicted on him for his irregular practice, leaves him
to his own courses, and withdraws those assistances which he scoifed
at, and turned the deaf ear unto ? Or, who will blame the physician
for deserting the patient, who rejects his counsel, will not Ibllow his
prescriptions, but dasheth his physic against the wall ? No man
will blame him, no man will say that he is the cause of the patient's
death, but the true cause is the fury of the distemper, and the obsti-
nacy of the diseased person, to which the physician left him. And
who can justly blame God in this case, who yet never denied sup-
plies of grace to any that sincerely sought it at his hands ; and what
man is there that lies under a hardness, but first was guilty of very
provoking sins ? What unholiness is it to deprive men of those as-
sistances, because of their sin, and afterwards to direct those counsels
and practices of theirs, which he hath justly given them up unto, to
serve the ends of his own glory in his own methods?
4. Which will appear further by considering, that God is not
obliged to continue his grace to them. It was at his liberty whether
he could give any renewing grace to Adam after his fall, or to any
of his posterity : he was at his own liberty to withhold it or com-
municate it : but, if he were under any obligation then, surely he
must be under less now, since the multiplication of sin by his crea-
tures : but, if the obligation were none just after the fall, there is no
pretence now to fasten any such obligation on God. That God had
no obligation at first, hath been spoken to before ; he is less obliged
to continue his grace after a repeated refusal, and a peremptory abuse,
than he was bound to proffer it after the first apostasy. God cannot
be charged with unholiness in withdrawing his grace after we have
received it, unless we can make it appear that his grace was a thing
due to us, as we are his creatures, and as he is governor of the world.
What prince looks upon himself as obliged to reside in any purticu-
170 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
lar place of liis kingdom ? But suppose he be bound to inhabit in
one particular city, yet after the city rebels against him, is he bound
to continue his court there, spend his revenue among rebels, endanger
his own honor and security, enlarge their charter, or maintain their
ancient privileges ? Is it not most just and righteous for him to
withdraw himself, and leave them to their own tumultuousness and
sedition, whereby they should eat the fruit of their own doings ? If
there be an obligation on God as a governor, it would rather lie on
the side of justice to leave man to the power of the devil whom he
courted, and the prevalency of those lusts he hath so often caressed ;
and wrap up in a cloud all his common illuminations, and leave him
destitute of all common workings of his Spirit,
Prop. VIII. God's holiness is not blemished by his commanding
those things sometimes which seem to be against nature, or thwart
some other of his precepts ; as when God commanded Abraham with
his own hand to sacrifice his son (Gen. xxii. 2), there was nothing
of unrighteousness in it. God hath a sovereign dominion over the
lives and beings of his creatures, whereby as he creates one day, he
might annihilate the next ; and by the same right that he might de-
mand the life of Isaac, as "being his creature, he might demand the
obedience of Abraham, in a ready return of that to him, which he
had so long enjoyed by his grant. It is true, killing is unjust when
it is done without cause, and by a private authority ; but the author-
ity of God surmounts all private and public authority whatsoever.
Our lives are due to him when he calls for them ; and they are more
than once forfeit to him by reason of transgression. But, howsoever
the case is, God commanded him to do it for the trial of his grace,
but suffered him not to do it in favor to his ready obedience ; but
had Isaac been actually slain and offered, how had it been unright-
eous in God, who enacts laws for the regulation of his creature, but
never intended them to the prejudice of the rights of his sovereignty ?
Another case is that of the Israelities borrowing jewels of the Egyp-
tians, by the order of God (Exod. xi. 2, 3 ; xii. 36). Is not God
Lord of men's goods, as well as their lives ? What have any, they
have not received ? and that not as proprietors independent on God,
but his stewards ; and may not he demand a portion of his steward
to bestow upon his favorite ? He that had power to dispose of the
Egyptians' goods, had power to order the Israelites to ask them.
Besides, God acted the part of a just judge in ordering them their
wages for their service in this method, and making their task-masters
give them some recompense for their unjust oppression so many
years ; it was a command from God, therefore, rather for the preser-
vation of justice (the basis of all those laws which link human
society), than any infringement of it. It was a material recompense
in pai-t, though not a formal one in the intention of the Egyptians ;
it was but in part a recompense ; it must needs come short of the
damage the poor captives had sustained by the tyranny of their
masters, who had enslaved them contrary to the rules of hospitality ;
and could not make amends for the lives of the poor infants of Israel,
whom they had drowned in the river. He that might for the unjust
oppression of his people have taken away all their lives, destroyed
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 171
the whole nation, and put the Israelites into the possession of their
lands, could, without any unrighteousness, dispose of part of their
goods ; and it was rather an act of clemency to leave them some
part, who had doubly forfeited all. Again, the Egyptians were as
ready to lend by God's influence, as the Israelites were to ask by
Grod's order: and though it was a loan, God, as Sovereign of the
world, and Lord of the earth, and the fulness thereof, alienated the
property by assuming them to the use of the tabernacle, to which
service, most, if not all of them, were afterwards dedicated. God,
who is lawgiver, hath power to dispense with his own laAV, and make
use of his own goods, and dispose of them as he pleases ; it is no un-
holiness in God to dispose of that which he hath a right unto. In-
deed, God cannot command that which is in its own nature intrinsi-
sically evil ; as to command a rational creature not to love him, not
to worship him, to call God to witness to a lie ; these are intrinsi-
cally evil ; but for the disposing of the lives and goods of his crea-
tures, which they have from him in right, and not in absolute pro-
priety, is not evil in him, because there is no repugnancy in his own
nature to such acts, nor is it anything inconsistent with the natural
duty of a creature, and in such cases he may use what instruments
he please. The point was, that holiness is a glorious perfection of
the nature of God. We have showed the nature of this holiness in
God ; what it is ; and we have demonstrated it, and proved that
God is holy, and must needs be so ; and also the purity of his nature
in all his acts about sin : let us now improve it by way of use.
IV. Is holiness a transcendent perfection belonging to the nature
of God? The first use shall be of instruction and information.
Inform. 1. How great and how frequent is the contempt of this
eminent perfection in the Deity ! Since the fall, this attribute, which
renders God most amiable in himself, renders him most hateful to
his apostate creature. It is impossible that he that loves iniquity,
can affect that which is irreconcileably contrary to the iniquity he
loves. Nothing so contrary to the sinfulness of man as the holiness
of God, and nothing is thought of by the sinner with so much detes-
tation. How do men account that which is the most glorious perfec-
tion of the Divinity, unworthy to be regarded as an accomplishment
of their own souls ! and when they are pressed to an imitation of it,
and a detestation of what is contrary to it, have the same sentiment
in their heart which the devil had in his language to Christ, Why
art thou come to torment us before our time ? What an enmity the
world naturally hath to this perfection, I think is visible in the prac-
tice of the heathen, who among all their heroes which they deified,
elevated none to that diguity among them for this or that moral vir-
tue that came nearest to it, but for their valor or some usefulness in
the concerns of this life, ^sculapius was deified for his slvill in the
cure of diseases ; Bacchus, for the use of the grape ; Vulcan, for his
operations by fire ; Hercules, for his destroying of tyrants and mon-
sters ; but none for their mere virtue ; as if anything of purity were
unworthy their consideration in the frame of a Deity, when it is the
glory of all other perfections ; so essential it is, that when men reject
the imitation of this, God regards it as a total rejection of himself,
172 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
tliougli they own all the other attributes of his nature (Ps. Ixxxi. 11) :
" Israel would none of me :" why ? because " they walked not in his
ways" (ver. 13) ; those ways wherein the purity of the Divine nature
was most conspicuous ; they would own him in his power, when they
stood in need of a deliverance ; they would own him in his mercy,
when they were plunged in distress ; but they would not imitate
him in his holiness. This being the lustre of the Divine nature, the
contempt of it is an obscuring all his other perfections, and a dash-
ing a blot upon his whole escutcheon. To own all the rest, and deny
him this, is to frame him as an unbeautiful monster, — a deformed
power. Indeed, all sin is against this attribute ; all sin aims in gen-
eral at the being of God, but in particular at the holiness of his Be-
ing. All sin is a violence to this perfection ; there is not an iniquity
in the world, but directs its venomous sting against the Divine pu-
rity ; some sins are directed against his omniscience, as secret wick-
edness ; some against his providence, as distrust ; some against his
mercy, as unbelief; some against his wisdom, as neglecting the
means instituted by him, censuring his ways and actings ; some
against his power, as trusting in means more than in God, and the
immoderate fear of men more than of God ; some against his truth,
as distrusting his promise, or not fearing his threatening ; but all
agree together in their enmity against this, which is the peculiar
glory of the Deity : every one of them is a receding from the Divine
image ; and the blackness of every one is the deeper, by how much
the distance of it from the holiness of God is the greater. This con-
trariety to the holiness of God, is the cause of all the absolute athe-
ism (if there be any such) in the world ; what was the reason " the
fool hath said in his heart. There is no God," but because the fool is
" corrupt, and hath done abominable work" (Ps, xiv. 1) ? If they
believe the being of a God, their own reason will enforce them to
imagine him holy ; therefore, rather than fancy a holy God, they
would fain fancy none at all. — In particular,
1. The holiness of God is injured, in unworthy representations of
God, and imaginations of him in our own minds. The heathen fell
under this guilt, and ascribed to their idols those vices which their
own sensuality inclined them to, unworthy of a man, much more un-
worthy of a God, that they might find a protection of their crimes in
the practice of their idols. But is this only the notion of the hea-
thens ? may there not be many among us whose love to their lusts,
and desires of sinning without control, move them to slander God in
their thoughts, rather than reform their lives, and are ready to frame,
by the power of their imaginative faculty, a God, not only winking,
but smiling, at their impurities? I am sure God charges the im-
pieties of men upon this score, in that Psalm (1. 21) which seems to
be a representation of the day of judgment, as some gather from ver.
6, when God sums up all together : " These things hast thou done,
and I kejDt silence ; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an
one as thyself;" not a detester, but approver of thy crimes: and the
Psalmist seems to express God's loathing of sin in such a manner, as
intimates it to be contrary to the ideas and resemblances men make
of him in their minds (Ps. v. 4) ; " For thou art not a God that hast
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 173
pleasure in wickedness ;" as wc say, in vindication of a man, lie is
not such a man as you imagine liim to be ; thou art not such a God
as the world commonly imagines thee to be, a God taking pleasure
in iniquity. It is too common for men to fancy God not as he is,
but as they would have him ; strip him of his excellency for their
own security. As God made man after his image, man would dress
God after his own modes, as may best suit the content of his lusts,
and encourage him in a course of sinning ; for, when they can frame
such a notion of God, as if he were a countenancer of sin, they will
derive from thence a reputation to their crimes, commit wickedness
with an unbounded licentiousness, and crown their vices with the
name of virtues, because thay are so like to the sentiments of that
God they fancy : from hence (as the Psalmist, in the Psalm before
mentioned) ariseth that mass of vice in the world ; such conceptions
are the mother and nurse of all impiety. I question not but the first
spring is some wrong notion of God, in regard of his holiness : we
are as apt to imagine God as we Avould have him, as the black Ethi-
opians were to draw the image of their gods after their own dark hue,
and paint him with their own color : as a philosopher in Theodoret
speaks ; If oxen and lions had hands, and could paint as men do,
they would frame the images of their gods according to their own
likeness and complexion. Such notions of God render him a swinish
being, and worse than the vilest idols adored by the Egyjjtians, wdien
men fancy a God indulgent to their appetites and most sordid lusts.
2. In defacing the image of God in our own souls. God, in the
first draught of man, conformed him to his own image, or made him
an image of himself; because we find that in regeneration this image
is renewed (Eph. iv. 24) ; " The new man, which, after God, is crea-
ted in righteousness and true holiness. He did not take angels for
his pattern, in the first polishing the soul, but himself In defacing
this image we cast dirt upon the holiness of God, which was his pat-
tern in the framing of us, and rather choose to be conformed to Sa-
tan, who is God's grand enemy, to have God's image wiped out of
us, and the devil's pictured in us : therefore, natural men, in an un-
regenerate state, may justly be called devils, since our Saviour called
the worst man, Judas, so (John vi. 1), and Peter, one of the best
(Matt. xvi. 23) : and if this title be given, by an infallible Judge, to
one of the worst, and one of the best, it may, without wrong to any,
be ascribed to all men that wallow in their sin, which is directly con-
trary to that illustrious image God did imprint upon them. How
often is it seen that men control the light of their own nature, and
stain the clearest beams of that candle of the Lord in their own
spirits, that fly in the face of their own consciences, and say to them,
as Ahab to 'Micaiah, Thou didst "never prophesy good to me;"
thou didst never encourage me in those things that are pleasing to
the flesh ; and use it at the same rate as the wicked king did the
prophet, "imprison it in unrighteousness" (Rom. i. 18), because it
starts up in them sometimes sentiments of the holiness of God,
which it represents in the soul of man ! How jolly are many men
when the exhalations of their sensitive part rise up to cloud the ex-
actest principle of moral nature in their minds, and render the mon-
174 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
strous principles of the law of corruption more lively ! Whence
ariseth the wickedness which hath been committed with an open
face in the world, and the applause that hath been often given to
the worst of villanies ? Have we not known, among ourselves, men
to glory in their shame, and esteem that a most gentle accomplish-
ment of man, which is the greatest blot upon his nature, and which,
if it were upon God, would render him no God, but an impure devil ;
so that to be a gentleman among us hath been the same as to be an
incarnate devil ; and to be a man, was to be no better, but worse,
than a brute ? Vile wretches ! is not this a contempt of Divine holi-
ness, to kill that Divine seed which lies languishing in the midst of
corrupted nature ; to cut up any sprouts of it as weeds unworthy to
grow in their gardens, and cultivate what is the seed of hell ; prefer
the rotten fruits of Sodom, marked with a Divine curse, before those
relics of the fruits of Eden, of God's own planting ?
3. The hoHness of God is injured in charging our sin upon God.
Nothing is more natural to men, than to seek excuses for their sin,
and transfer it from themselves to the next at hand, and rather than
fail, shift it upon God himself; and if they can bring God into a
society with them in sin, they will hug themselves in a security that
God cannot punish that guilt wherein he is a partner. Adam's chil-
dren are not of a different disposition from Adam himself, who, after
he was arraigned and brought to his trial, boggles not at flinging his
dirt in the face of God, his Creator, and accuseth him as if he had
given him the woman, not to be his help, but his ruin (Gen. iii. 12) ;
" And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me,
she gave me of the tree, and I did eat." He never supplicates for
pardon, nor seeks a remedy, but reflects his crime upon God : Had
I been alone, as I was first created, I had not eaten ; but the woman,
whom I received as a special gift from thee, hath proved my tempter
and my bane. When man could not be like God in knowledge, he
endeavored to make God like him in his crime ; and when his am-
bition failed of equalizing himself with God, he did, with an inso-
lence too common to corrupted nature, attempt, by the imputation
of his sin, to equal the Divinity with himself. Some think Cain had
the same sentiment in his answer to God's demand where his brother
was (Gen. ii. 9); "Am I my brother's keeper?" Art not thou the
Keeper and Governor of the world ? why didst not thou take care
of him, and hinder my killing him, and drawing this guilt upon my-
self, and terror upon my conscience ? David was not behind, when,
after the murder of Uriah, he sweeps the dirt from his owm door to
God's (2 Sam. xi. 25); "The sword devoureth one as Avell as an-
other;" fathering that solely upon Divine Providence which was his
own wicked contrivance : though afterwards he is more ingenuous
in clearing God, and charging himself (Ps. li. 4): "Against thee,
thee only have I sinned ;" and he clears God in his judgment too.
It is too common for the " foolishness of man to pervert his way;"
and then " his heart frets against the Lord" (Pro v. xix. 3). He
studies mischief, runs in a way of sin, and when he hath conjured up
troubles to himself, by his own folly, he excuseth himself, and, with
indignation, charges God as the author both of his sin and misery,
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 175
and sets his mouth against the heavens. It is a more horrihle thing
to accuse God as a principal or accessary in our guilt, than to con-
ceive him to be a favorer of our iniquity; yet both are bad enough.
4. The holiness of God is injured when men will study arguments
from the holy word of God to color and shelter their crimes. When
men will seek for a shelter for their lies, in that of the mid wives to
preserve the children, or in that of Rahab to save the spies, as if,
because God rewarded their fidelity, he countenanced their sin.
How often is Scripture wrested to be a plea for unbecoming prac-
tices, that God, in his word, may be imagined a patron for their in-
iquity ? It is not unknown that some have maintained their quaff-
ing and carousing (from Eccles. viii. 11), " That a man hath no
better thing under the sun than to eat, drink, and be merry :" and
their gluttony (from Matt. v. 11), "That which goes into the belly
defiles not a man." The Jesuits' morals are a transcript of this.
How often hath the Passion of our Saviour, the highest expression
of God's holiness, been employed to stain it, and encourage the most
debauched practices ! Grace hath been turned into wantonness, and
the abundance of grace been used as a blast to increase the flames
of sin, as if God had no other aim in that work of redemption, but
to discover himself more indulgent to our sensual appetites, and by
his severity with his Son, become more gracious to our lusts ; this is
to feed the roots of hell with the dews of heaven, to make grace a
pander for the abuse of it, and to employ the expressions of his holi-
ness in his word to be a sword against the essential holiness of his
nature : as if a man should draw an apology for his treason out of
that law that was made to forbid, not to protect, his rebellion. Not
the meanest instrument in the temple was to be alienated from the
use it was by Divine order appointed to, nor was it to be employed
in any common use ; and shall the word of God, which is the image
of Jiis holiness, be transferred by base interpretations to be an advo-
cate for iniquity? Such an ill use of his word reflects upon that
hand which imprinted those characters of purity and righteousness
upon it : as the misinterpretation of the wholesome laws of a prince,
made to discourage debauchery, reflects upon his righteousness and
sincerity in enacting them.
5. The holiness of God is injured, when men will put up petitions
to God to favor them in a wicked design. Such there are, and taxed
by the apostle (James iv. 8), " Ye ask amiss, that you may consume
it upon your lusts," who desired mercies from God, with an intent
to make them instruments of sin, and weapons of unrighteousness ;
as it is reported of a thief, that he always prayed for the success of
his robbery. It hath not been rare in the world to appoint fasts and
prayers for success in wars manifestly unjust, and commenced upon
breaches of faith. Many covetous men petition God to prosper them
in their unjust gain; as if the blessed God sat in his pure majesty
upon a throne of grace, to espouse unjust practices, and make iniquity
prosperous. There are such as " offer sacrifice with an evil mind"
(Prov, xxi. 27), to barter with God for a divine blessing to spirit a
wicked contrivance. How great a contempt of the holiness of God
is this ! How inexcusable would it be for a favorite to address him-
176 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
self to a just prince with this language : Sir, I desire a boon of such
lands that lie near me, for an addition to my estate, that I may have
supports for my debauchery, and be able to play the villain more
powerfully among my neighbors ! Hereby he implies that his prince
is a friend to such crimes and wickedness he intends his petition for.
Is not this the language of many men's hearts in the immediate pre-
sence of God? The order of prayer runs thus, "Hallowed be thy
name ;" first to have a deep sense of the holiness of the Divine na-
ture, and an ardent desire for the glory of it. This order is inverted
by asking those things which are not agreeable to the will of God,
not meet for us to ask, and not meet for God to give ; or asking
things agreeable to the will of God, but with a wicked intention.
This is, in effect, to desire God to strip himself of his holiness, and
commit sacrilege upon his own nature to gratify our lusts,
6. The purity of God is contemned, in hating and scofiing at the
holiness which is in a creature. Whoever looks upon the holiness
of a creature as an unlovely thing, can have no good opinion of the
amiableness of Divine purity. Whosoever hates those qualities and
graces that resemble God in any person, must needs contemn the
original pattern, which is more eminent in God, If there be no
comeliness in a creature's holiness, to render it grateful to us, we
should say of God himself, were he visible among us, with those in
the prophet (Isa, liii,), " There is no beauty in him, that we should
desire him." Holiness is beautiful in itself. If God be the most
lovely Being, that which is a likeness to him, so far as it doth resem-
ble him, must needs be amiable, because it partakes of God ; and,
therefore, those that see no beauty in an inferior holiness, but con-
temn it because it is a purity above them, contemn God much more.
He that hates that Avhich is imperfect merely for that excellency
which is in it, doth much more hate that which is perfect, without
any mixture or stain. Holiness being the glory of God, the pecu^ar
title of the Deity, and from him derived unto the nature of a crea-
ture, he that mocks this in a person, derides God himself; and, when
he cannot abuse the purity in the Deity, he will do it in his image ;
as rebels that cannot wrong the king in his person, will do it in his
picture, and his subjects that are loyal to him. He that hates the
picture of a man, hates the person represented by it much more ; he
that hates the beams, hates the sun ; the holiness of a creature is but
a beam from that infinite Sun, a stream from that eternal Fountain.
Where there is a derision of the purity of any creature, there is a greater
reflection upon God in that derision, as he is the Author of it. If a
mixed and stained holiness be more the subject of any man's scoffs
than a great deal of sin, that person hath a disposition more roundly
to scoff at God himself, should he appear in that unblemished and un-
spotted purity which infinitely shines in his nature. O ! it is a dan-
gerous thing to scoff and deride holiness in any person, though never
so mean ; such do deride and scoff at the most holy God.
7. The holiness of God is injured by our unprepared addresses to
him, when, like swine, we come into the presence of God with all
our mire reeking and steaming upon us. A holy God requires a
holy worship ; and if our best duties, having filth in every part, as
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 177
performed by us, are unmeet for God, liow mucli more unsuitable
are dead and dirty duties to a living and immense holiness ! Slight
approaches and drossy frames speak us to have imaginations of God
as of a slight and sottish being. This is worse than the heathens
practised, who would purge tlieir flesh before they sacrificed, and
make some preparations in a seeming purity, before they would enter
into their temples. God is so holy, that were our services as refined
as those of angels, we could not present him with a service meet for
his holy nature (Josh. xxiv. 19). We contemn, then, this perfection,
v,^hen we come before him without due preparation ; as if God him-
self were of an impure nature, and did not deserve our purest
thoughts in our applications to him ; as if any blemished and polluted
sacrifice were good enough for him, and his nature deserved no
better. When we excite not those elevated frames of spirit which
are due to such a being, when we think to put him off with a lame
and imperfect service, we worship him not according to the excel-
lency of his nature, but put a slight upon his majestic sanctity.
When we nourish in our duties those foolish imaginations which
creep upon us ; when we bring into, and continue our worldly, car-
nal, debauched fancies in his presence, worse than the nasty servants,
or bemired dogs, a man would blush to be attended with in his visits
to a neat person. To be conversing with sordid sensualities, when
we are at the feet of an infinite God, sitting upon the throne of his
holiness, is as much a contempt of him, as it would be of a prince,
to bring a vessel full of nasty dung with us, when we come to present
a petition to him in his royal robes ; or as it would have been to
God, if the high priest should have swept all the blood and excre-
ments of the sacrifices from the foot of the altar into the Holy of
holies, and heaped it up before the mercy -seat, where the presence
of God dwelt between the cherubims, and afterwards shovelled it up
into the ark, to be lodged with Aaron's rod and the pot of manna.
8. God's holiness is slighted in depending upon our imperfect
services to bear us out before the tribunal of God. This is. too or-
dinary. The Jews were often infected with it (Rom. iil 10), who,,
not well understanding the enormity of their taansgressions, the-
interweaving of sin with their services, and the unspottedness-of the;
Divine purity, mingled an opinion of merit with their sacrifices,,
and thought, by the cutting the throat of a beast, and offering it
upon God's altar, they had made a sufl&cient compensation to that
holiness they had offended. Not to speak of 'many among the
Romanists who have the same notion, thinking to make satisfaction
to God by erecting an hospital, or endowing a church, as if this in-
jared perfection could be contented with the dregs of their purses,
and the offering of an unjust mammon, more likely to mind God of
the injury they have done him, than contribute to the appeasing of
him. But is it not too ordinary with miserable men, whose con-
sciences accuse them of their crimes, to rely upon the mumbling of
a few formal prayers, and in the strength of them, to think to stand
before the tremendous tribunal of God, and meet with a discharge
upon this account from any accusation this Divine perfection can
present against them ? Nay, do not the best Christians sometimes
VOL. II. — 12
178 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
find a principle in tliem, that makes them stumble in tlieir goings
forth to Christ, and glorifying the holiness of God in that method
which he hath appointed? Sometimes casting an eye at their
grace, and sticking awhile to this or that duty, and gazing at the
glory of the temple-building, while they should more admire the
glorious Presence that fdls it. What is all this but a villify-ing of
tlie holiness of the Divine nature, as though it would be well enough
contented with our impurities and imperfections, because they look
like a righteousness in our estimation ? As though dross and dung,
which are the titles the apostles gives to all the righteousness of a
fallen creature (Phil. iii. 8), were valuable in the sight of God, and
sufficient to render us comely before him. It is a blasphemy against
this attribute, to pretend that anything so imperfect, so daubed, as
the best of our services are, can answer to that which is infinitely
perfect, and be a ground of demanding eternal life : it is at best, to
set up a gilded Dagon, as a fit companion for the ark of his Holi-
ness ; our own righteousness as a suitable mate for the righteousness
of God : as if he had repented of the claim he made by the law to an
exact conformity, and thrown off the holiness of his nature for the
fondling of a corrupted creature. Eude and foolish notions of the
Divine purity are clearly evidenced by any confidence in any right-
eousness of our own, though never so splendid. It is a rendering
the righteousness of God as dull and obscure as that of men; a
mere outside, as their own ; as blind as the heathens pictured their
Fortune, that knew as little how to discern the nature and value of
■the offerings made to her, as to distribute her gifts, as if it were all
one to them, to have a dog or a lamb presented in sacrifice. As if
God did not well understand his own nature, when he enacted so
holy a law, and strengthened it with so severe a threatening ; which
must follow upon our conceit, that he will accept a righteousness
lower than that which bears some suitableness to the holiness of his
own nature, and that of his law ; and that he could easily be put off
with a pretended and counterfeit service. What are the services of
the generality of men, but suppositions, that they can bribe God to
an indulgence of them in their sins, and by an oral sacrifice, cause
him to divest himself of his hatred of their former iniquities, and
countenance their following practises. As the harlot, that would
return fresh to her uncleanness, upon the confidence that her peace
offering had contented the righteousness of God (Prov. vii. 14) : as
though a small service could make him wink at our sins, and lay
aside the glory of his nature ; when, alas ! the best duties in the
most gracious persons in this life, are but as the steams of a spiced
dung-hill, a composition of myrrh and froth, since there are swarms
of corruptions in their nature, and secret sins that they need a
cleansing from.
9. It is a contemning the holiness of God, when we charge the
law of God with rigidness. We cast dirt upon the holiness of God
when we blame the law of God, because it shackles us, and pro-
hibit our desired pleasures ; and hate the law of God, as they did
the prophets, because they did not prophesy smooth things; but
called to them, to " get" them " out of the way, and turn aside out
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 179
of tlie path, and cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before
them" .(Isa. xxx. 10, 11). Put us no more in mind of the holiness
of God, and the holiness of his law ; it is a troublesome thing for
us to hear of it : let him be gone from us, since he will not
countenance our vices, and indulge our crimes ; we would rather
hear there is a God, than you would tell us of a holy one. "We are
contrary to the law, when we wish it were not so exact ; and, there-
fore, contrary to the holiness of God, which set the stamp of exact-
ness and righteousness upon it. We think him injurious to our
liberty, when, by his precept he thwarts our pleasure; we wish
it of another frame, more mild, more suitable to our minds: it
is the same, as if we should openly blame God for consulting with
his own righteousness, and not with our humors, before he set-
tled his law ; that he should not have drawn from the depths of his
righteous nature, but squared it to accommodate our corruption.
This being the language of such complaints, is a reproving God, be-
cause he would not be unholy, that we might be unrighteous with
impunity. Had the Divine law been suited to our corrupt state,
God must have been unholy to have complied with his rebellious
creature. To charge the law with rigidness, either in language or
practice, is the highest contempt of God's holiness ; for it is an im-
plicit wish, that God were as defiled, polluted, disorderly, as our
corrupted selves.
10. The holiness of God is injured opinionatively, (1). In the
opinion of venial sins. The Komanists divide sins into venial and
mortal : mortal, are those which deserve eternal death ; venial, the
lighter sort of sins, which rather deserve to be pardoned than pun-
ished ; or if punished, not with an eternal, but temporal punish-
ment. This opinion hath no foundation in, but is contrary to. Scrip-
ture. How can any sin be in its own nature venial, when the due
" wages of every sin is death" (Rom. vi. 23) ? and he who " con-
tinues not in every thing that the law commands," falls under a
"curse" (Gal, iii. 10). It is a mean thought of the holiness and ma-
jesty of God to imagine, that any sin which is against an infinite
majesty, and as infinite a purity both in the nature of God and the
law of God, should not be considered as infinitely heinous. All
sins are transgressions of the eternal law, and in every one the in-
finite holiness of God is some way slighted. (2). In the opinion of
works of supererogation. That is, such works as are not commanded
by God, which yet have such a dignity and worth in their own
nature, that the performers of them do not only merit at God's hands
for themselves, but fill up a treasure of merits for others, that come
short of fulfilling the precepts God hath enjoined. It is such a mean
thought of God's holiness, that the Jews, in all the charges brought
against them in Scripture, were never guilty of And if you con-
sider what pitiful things they are, which are within the compass of
such works, you have sufficient reason to bewail the ignorance of
man, and the low esteem he hath of so glorious a perfection. The
whipping themselves often in a week, extraordinary watchings, fast-
ings, macerating their bodies, wearing a capuchin's habit, &c. are
pitiful things to give content to an Infinite Purity. As if the pre-
180 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
cept of God required only the inferior degrees of virtue, and tlie
counsels the more high and excellent ; as if the law of God, which
the Psalmist counts " perfect" (Ps. xix.7), did not command all good,
and forbid all evil ; as if the holiness of God had forgotten itself in
the framing the law, and made it a scanty and defective rule ; and
the righteousness of a creature were not only able to make an eternal
righteousness, but surmount it. As man would be at first as know-
ing as God, so some of his posterity would be more holy than God ;
set up a wisdom against the Avisdom of God, and a purity above the
Divine purity. Adam was not so presumptuous ; he intended no
more than an equalling God in knowledge ; but those would exceed
him in righteousness, and not only presume to render a satisfaction
for themselves to the holiness they have injured, but to make a
purse for the supply of others that are indigent, that they may stand
before the tribunal of God with a confidence in the imaginary right-
eousness of a creature. How horrible is it for those that come
short of the law of God themselves, to think that they can have
enough for a loan to their neighbors ! An unworthy opinion.
Inform. 2. It may inform us, how great is our fall from God, and
how distant we are from him. View the holiness of God, and take
a prospect of the nature of man, and be astonished to see a person
created in the Divine image, degenerated into the image of the devil.
We are as far fallen from the holiness of God, which consists in a
hatred of sin, as the lowest point of the earth is from the highest
point of the heavens. The devil is not more fallen from the rectitude
of his nature and likeness to God, than we are ; and that we are not
in the same condition with those apostate spirits, is not from any-
thing in our nature, but from the mediation of Christ, upon whicli
account God hath indulged in us a continuance of some remainders
of that which Satan is wholly deprived of. We are departed from
our original pattern; we were created to live the "life of God," that
that is, a life of "holiness;" but now we are "alienated from the
life of God" (Eph. iv. 18), and of a beautiful piece we are become
deformed, daubed over with the most defiling mud : we " work un-
cleanness with greediness," according to our ability, as creatures; as
God doth work "holiness" with affection and ardency, according to
his infiniteness, as Creator. More distant we are from God by reason
of sin, than the vilest creature, the most deformed toad, or poisonous
serpent, is from the highest and most glorious angel. By forsaking
our innocence, we departed from God as our original copy. The
apostle might well say (Rom. iii. 23), that by sin " we are come short
of the glory of God." Interpreters trouble themselves much about
that place, " Man is come short of the glory of God," that is, of the
holiness of God, which is the glory of the Divine nature, and was
pictured in the rational, innocent creature. By the " glory of God,"
is meant the holiness of God ; (as 1 Cor. iii. 18), " Beholding, as in a
glass, the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image
from glory to glory ;" that is the glory of God in the text, into the
image of which we are changed ; but the Scripture speaks of no other
image of God, but that of holiness ; " we are come short of the glory
of God ;" of the holiness of God, which is the glory of God ; and
ON" THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 181
the image of it, which was the glory of man. By sin, which is par-
ticular in opposition to the purity of God, man was left many leagues
behind any resemblance to God ; he stripped off that which was the
glory of his nature, and was the only means of glorifying God as
Ids Creator. The word ixjtfQovt'nti.^ the apostle uses, is very signifi-
cant,— postponed by sin an infinite distance from any imitation of
God's holiness, or any appearance before him in a garb of nature
pleasing to him. Let us lament our fall and distance from God.
Inform. 3. All unholinesss is vile, and opposite to the nature of
God. It is such a loathsome thing, that the " purity of God's eye is
averse from beholding" (Hab. i. 3). It is not said there, that he will
not, but he cannot, look on evil ; there cannot be any amicableness
between God and sin, the natures of both are so directly and un-
changeably contrary to one another. Holiness is the life of God ; it
endures as long as his life ; he must be eternally averse from sin, he
can live no longer than he lives in the hatred and loathing of it. If
he should for one instant cease to hate it, he would cease to live. To
be a holy God, is as essential to him, as to be a living God ; and he
would not be a living God, but a dead God, if he were in the least
point of time an unholy God. He cannot look on sin without loath-
ing it ; he cannot look on sin but his heart riseth against it ; it must
needs be most odious to him, as that which is against the glory of
his nature, and directly opposite to that which is the lustre and var-
nish of all his other perfections. It is the " abominable thing which
his soul hates" (Jer. xliv. 4) ; the vilest terms imaginable are used to
signify it. Do you understand the loathsomeness of a miry swine,
or the nauseousness of the vomit of a dog ? these are emblems of
sin (2 Peter ii. 22). Can you endure the steams of putrefied carcasses
from an open sepulchre (Rom. iii. 23)? is the smell of the stinking
sweat or excrements of a body delightful? the word ^vnuijia in James
i. 21, signifies as much. Or is the sight of a body overgrown with
scabs and leprosy grateful to you ? So vile, so odious is sin, in the
sight of God. It is no light thing, then, to fly in the face of God;
to break his eternal law ; to dash both the tables in pieces : to tram-
ple the transcript of God's own nature under our feet ; to cherish
that which was inconsistent with his honor; to lift up our heels
against the glory of his nature ; to join issue with the devil in stab-
bing his heart, and depriving him of his life. Sin, in every part of
it, is an opposition to the holiness of God, and consequently an envy-
ing him a being and life, as well as a glory. If sin be such a thing,
" ye that love the Lord, hate evil."
Inform. 4. Sin cannot escape a due punishment. A hatred of un-
righteousness, and consequently a will to punish it, is as essential to
God as a love of righteousness. Since he is not as an heathen idol,
but hath eyes to see, and purity to hate every iniquity, he will have
an infinite justice to punish whatsoever is against infinite holiness.
As he loves everything that is amiable, so he loathes everything that
is filthy, and that coustantl}^, without any change : his whole nature
is set against it; he abhors nothing but this. It is not the devil's
knowledge or activity that his hatred is terminated in, but the malice
and unholiness of his nature ; it is this only is the object of his se-
182 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTEIBUTES.
verity ; it is in the recompense of this only that there can be a man-
ifestation of his justice. Sin must be punished ; for,
1. This detestation of sin must be manifested. How should we
certainly know his loathing of it, if he did not manifest, by some act,
how ungrateful it is to him ? As his love to righteousness would
not appear, without rewarding it ; so his hatred of iniquity would be
as little evidenced, without punishing it; his justice is the great
witness to his purity. The punishment, therefore, inflicted on the
wicked, shall be, in some respect, as great as the rewards bestowed
upon the righteous. Since the hatred of sin is natural to God, it
is as natural to him to show, one time or other, his hatred of it.
And since men have a conceit that God is like them in impurity, there
is a necessity of some manifestation of himself to be infinitely distant
from those conceits they have of him (Ps. 1. 21); "I will reprove
thee, and set them in order before thine eyes." He would else en-
courage the injuries done to his holiness, favor the extravagances of
the creature, and condemn, or at least slight, the righteousness both
of his own nature, and his sovereign law. What way is there for
God to manifest his hatred, but by threatening the sinner ? and what
would this be but a vain affrightment, and ridiculous to the sinner,
if it were never to be put in execution ? There is an indissoluble
connection between his hatred of sin, and punishment of the offender
(Ps. xi. 5, 6) ; " The wicked, his soul hates. Upon the wicked he shall
rain snares, fire, and brimstone," &c. He cannot approve of it without
denying himself; and a total impunity would be a degree of appro-
bation. The displeasure of God is eternal and irreconcileable against
sin ; for sin being absolutely contrary to his holy nature, he is eter-
nally contrary to it ; if there be not, therefore, a way to separate the
sin from the sinner, the sinner must lie under the displeasure of God ;
no displeasure can be manifested without some marks of it upon the
person that lies under that displeasure. The holiness of God will
right itself of the wrongs done to it, and scatter the profaners of it
at the gi^eatest distance from him, which is the greatest punishment
that can be inflicted ; to be removed far from the Fountain of Life is
the worst of deaths ; God can as soon lay aside his purity, as always
forbear his displeasure against an impure person ; it is all one not to
hate it, and not to manifest his hatred of it.
2. As his holiness is natural and necessary, so is the punishment of
unholiness necessary to him. It is necessary that he should abomi-
nate sin, and therefore necessary he should discountenance it. The
severities of God against sin are not vain scare-crows ; they have
their foundation in the righteousness of his nature ; it is because he
is a righteous and holy God, that he " will not forgive our transgres-
sions and sins" (Josh. xxiv. 19), that is, that he will punish them.
The throne of his "holiness is a fiery flame" (Dan. vii. 9); there is
both a pure light and a scorching heat. Whatsoever is contrary to
the nature of God, will fall under the justice of God ; he would else
violate his own nature, deny his own perfection, seem to be out of
love with his own glory and life. He doth not hate it out of choice,
but from the immutable propension of his nature ; it is not so free
an act of his will, as the creation of man and angels, which he might
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 183
have forborne as well as effected. As the detestation of sin results
from the universal rectitude of his nature, so the punishment of sin
follows upon that, as he is the righteous Governor of the world: it
is as much against his nature not to punish it, as it is against his na-
ture not to loathe it; he would cease to be holy if he ceased to hate
it, and he would cease to hate it if he ceased to punish it. Neither
the obedience of our Saviour's life, nor the strength of his cries,
could put a bar to the cup of his passion ; God so hated sin, that
when it was but imputed to his Son, without any commission of it,
he would bring a hell upon his soul. Certainly if God could have
hated sin without punishing it, his Son had never felt the smart of
his wrath ; his love to his Son had been strong enough to have caused
him to forbear, had not the holiness of his nature been stronger to
move him to inflict a punishment according to the demerit of his
sin. God cannot but be holy, and therefore cannot but be just, be-
cause injustice is a part of unholiness.
3. Tlierefore there can be no communion between God and un-
holy spirits. How is it conceivable, that God should hate the sin,
and cherish the sinner, with all his filth in his bosom ? that he
should eternally detest the crime, and eternally fold the sinner in
his arms ? Can less be expected from the purity of his nature, than
to separate an impure soul, as long as it remains so ? Can there be
any delightful communion between those whose natures are contrary ?
Darkness and light may as soon kiss each other, and become one
nature : God and the devil may as soon enter into an eternal league
and covenant together. For God to have pleasure in wickedness,
and to admit evil to dwell with him, are equally impossible to his
nature (Ps. v. 4) : while he hates impurity, he cannot have com-
mmiion with an impure person. It may as soon be expected, that
God should hate himselfj offer violence to his own nature, lay aside
his purity as an abominable thing, and blot his own glory, as love
an impure person, entertain him as his delight, and set him in the
same heaven and happiness with himself, and his holy angels. He
must needs loathe him, he must needs banish him from his presence,
which is the greatest punishment, God's holiness and hatred of sin
necessarily infer the punishment of it.
Inform. 5. There is, therefore, a necessity of the satisfaction of the
holiness of God by some sufficient mediator. The Divine j^urity
could not meet with any acquiescence in all mankind after the fall :
sin was hated ; the sinner would be ruined, unless some way were
found out to repair the wrongs done to the holiness of God ; either
the sinner must be condemned for ever, or some satisfaction must be
made, that the holiness of the Divine nature might eternally appear
in its full lustre. That it is essential to the nature of God to hate all
unrighteousness, as that which is absolutely repugnant to his nature,
none do question. That the justice of God is so essential to him, as
that sin could not be pardoned without satisfaction, some do ques-
tion ; though this latter seems rationally to folloAV upon the forraer.y
That holiness is essential to the nature of God, is evident ; because,
else, God may as much be conceived without purity, as he might be
y Tuii-ctin. do Satisfac. p. 8.
184 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
conceived without the creating the sun or stars. No man can, in
his right wits, frame a right notion of a Deity without purity. It
would be less blasphemy against the excellency of God, to conceit
him not knowing, than to imagine him not holy : and, for the essen-
tialness of his justice, Joshua joins both his holiness and his jealousy
as going hand in hand together (Josh. xxiv. 19) ; " He is a holy
God, he is a jealous God, he will not forgive your sin." But con-
sider only the purity of God, since it is contrary to sin, and, conse-
quently, hating the sinner ; the guilty person cannot be reduced to
God, nor can the holiness of God have any complacency in a filthy
person, but as fire hath in stubble, to consume it. How the holy
God should be brought to delight in man without a salvo for the
rights of his holiness, is not to be conceived without an impeach-
ment of the nature of God. The law could not be abolished ; that
would reflect, indeed, upon the righteousness of the Lawgiver : to
abolish it, because of sin, would imply a change of the rectitude of
his nature. Must he change his holiness for the sake of that which
was against his holiness, in a compliance with a profane and un-
righteous creature ? This should engage him rather to maintain his
law, than to null it ; and to abrogate his law as soon as he had en-
acted it, since sin stepped into the world presently after it, would be
no credit to his wisdom. There must be a reparation made of the
honor of God's holiness ; by ourselves it could not be without con-
demnation ; by another it could not be without a sufficiency in the
person : no creature could do it. All the creatures being of a finite
nature, could not make a compensation for the disparagements of
Infinite Holiness. He must have despicable and vile thoughts of this
excellent perfection, that imagines that a few tears, and the glaver-
ing fawnings at the death of a creature, can be sufficient to repair
the wrongs, and restore the rights of this attribute. It must, therelbre,
be such a compensation as might be commensurate to the holiness of
the Divine nature and the Divine law, which could not be wrought
by any, but Him that was possessed of a Godhead to give efficacy
and exact congruity to it. The Person designed and appointed by
God for so great an affair, was " one in the form of God, one equal
with God," (Phil. ii. 6), who could not be termed by such a title of
dignity, if he had not been equal to God in the universal rectitude
of the Divine nature, and therefore in his holiness. The punishment
due to sin is translated to that person for the righting Divine holi-
ness, and the righteousness of that Person is communicated to the
sinner for the pardon of the oftending creature. If the sinner had
been eternally damned, God's hatred of sin had been evidenced by
the strokes of his justice; but his mercy to a sinner had lain in ob-
scurity. If the sinner had been pardoned and saved without such a
reparation, mercy had been evident; but his holiness had hid its
head for ever in his own bosom. There was therefore a necessity of
such a way to manifest his purit}^, and yet to bring forth his mercy :
that mercy might not alway sigh for the destruction of the creature,
and that holiness might not mourn for the neglect of its honor.
Inform. 6. Hence it will follow, there is no justification of a sin-
ner by any thing in himself. After sin had set foot in the world,
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 185
man could present nothing to God acceptable to Lim, or bearing any
proportion to the holiness of his law, till God set forth a Person,
upon whose account the acceptation of our persons and services is
founded (Eph. i. 6), " Who hath made us accepted in the Beloved."
The Infinite purity of God is so glorious, that it shames the holiness
of angels, as the light of the sun dims the light of the fire ; much
more will the righteousness of fallen man, who is vile, and " drinks
up iniquity like water," vanish into nothing in his presence. With
what self-abasement and abhorrence ought he to be possessed that
comes as short of the angels in purity, as a dunghill doth of a star !
The highest obedience that ever was performed by any mere man,
since lapsed nature, cannot challenge any acceptance with God, or
stand before so exact an inquisition. What person hath such a clear
innocence, and unspotted obedience in such a perfection, as in any
degree to suit the holiness of the Divine nature ? (Ps. cxliii. 2) : " Enter
not into judgment with thy servant, for in thy sight shall no man
living be j ustified." If God should debate the case simply with a
man in his own person, without respecting the Mediator, he were
not able to " answer one of a thousand." Though we are his ser-
vants, as David was, and perform a sincere service, yet there are
many little motes and dust of sin in the best works, that cannot lie
undiscovered from the eye of his holiness ; and if we come short in
the least of what the law requires, we are " guilty of all" (James ii.
10). So that "In thy sight shall no man living be justified;" in
the sight of thy infinite holiness, which hates the least spot ; in the
sight of thy infinite justice, which punishes the least transgres-
sion. God would descend below his own nature, and vilify both
his knowledge and his purity, should he accept that for a righteous-
ness and holiness which is not so in itself; and nothing is so, which
hath the least stain upon it contrary to the nature of God. The
most holy saints in Scripture, upon a prospect of his purity, have
cast away all confidence in themselves ; every flash of the Divine
purity has struck them into a deep sense of their own impurity and
shame for it (Job xlii. 6), " Wherefore I abhor myself in dust and
ashes." What can the language of any man be that lies under a
sense of infinite holiness and his own defilement in the least, but
that of the prophet (Isa. vi. v), " Woe is me, I am undone ?" And
what is there in the world can administer any other thought than
this, unless God be considered in Christ, "reconciling the world to
himself?" As a holy God, so righted, as that he can dispense with
the condemnation of a sinner, without dispensing with his hatred of
sin ; pardoning the sin in the criminal, because it hath been punish-
ed in the Surety. That righteousness which God hath " set forth"
for justification, is not our own, but a "righteousness which is of
God" (Phil. iii. 9, 10), of God's appointing, and of God's per-
forming ; appointed by the Father, who is God, and performed by the
Son, who is one with the Father ; a righteousness surmounting that
of all the glorious angels, since it is an immutable one which can
never fail, an " everlasting righteousness" (Dan. ix. 24); a righteous-
ness wherein the holiness of God can acquiesce, as considered in it-
self, because it is a righteousness of one equal Avith God. As we
186 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
therefore dishonor tlie Divine Majesty when we insist upon our own
bemired righteousness for our justification (as if a "a mortal man
were as just as God," and a " man as pure as his Maker" (Job iv.
17), so we highly honor the purity of his nature, Avhen we charge
ourselves with folly, acknowledge ourselves unclean, and accept
of that righteousness which gives a full content to his infinite
jDurity. There can be no justification of a sinner by anything in
himself.
Inform. 7. If holiness be a glorious perfection of the Divine na-
ture, then the Deity of Christ might be argued from hence. He is
indeed dignified with the title of the " Holy One" (Acts iii. 14, 16),
a title often given to God in the Old Testament ; and he is called
the " Holy of holies" (Dan. ix. 24) ; but because the angels seemed
to be termed " Holy ones" (Dan. iv. 13, 17), and the most sacred
place in the temple was also called the "Holy of holies," I shall not
insist upon that. But you find our Saviour particularly applauded
by the angels, as " holy," when this perfection of the Divine nature,
together with the incommunicable name of God, are linked together,
and ascribed to him (Isa. vi. 3) : " Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of
Hosts ; and the whole earth is full of his glory ;" which the apostle
interprets of "Christ" (John xii. 39, 41). Isaiah, again: "He hath
blinded their eyes, and hardened their hearts, that they should not
see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, and be con-
verted, and I should heal them." These things said Isaiah, when he
saw his glory, and spake of him. He that Isaiah saw environed
with the seraph ims, in a reverential posture before his face, and
praised as most holy by them, was the true and eternal God ; such
acclamations belong to none but the great Jehovah, God, blessed
forever ; but, saitli John, it was the " glory of Christ" that Isaiah
saw in this vision ; Christ, therefore, is " God blessed forever," of
whom it was said, " Holy, holy, holy Lord of Hosts."^ The evan-
gelist had been speaking of Christ, the miracles which he wrought,
the obstinacy of the Jews against believing on him ; his glory, there-
fore, is to be referred to the subject he had been speaking of The
evangelist was not speaking of the Father, but of the Son, and cites
those words out of Isaiah ; not to teach anything of the Father, but
to show that the Jews could not believe in Christ. He speaks of
him that had wrought so many miracles ; but Christ wrought those
miracles : he speaks of him whom the Jews refused to believe on ;
but Christ was the person they would not believe on, while they ac-
knowledged God. It was the glory of this person Isaiah saw, and
this person Isaiah spake of, if the words of the evangelist be of any
credit. The angels are too holy to give acclamations belonging to
God, to any but him that is God.
Inform-. 8. God is fully fit for the government of the world. The
righteousness of God's nature qualifies him to be Judge of the world ;
if he were not perfectly righteous and holy, he were incapable to
govern and judge the world (Rom. iii. 5) : "If there be unrighteous-
ness with God, how shall he judge the world ?" " God will not do
wickedly, neither will the Almighty pervert judgment" (Job xxxiv.
^ Placeus, de Deitat. Cbristi, in he.
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 187
12). How despicable is a judge that wants innocence ! As omni-
science fits God to be a judge, so holiness fits him to be a righteous
judge (Ps. i. 6) : " The Lord knows," that is, loves, " the way of the
righteous ; but the way of the ungodly shall perish."
Inform. 9. If holiness be an eminent perfection of the Divine na-
ture, the Christian religion is of a Divine extraction : it discovers
the holiness of God, and forms the creature to a conformity to him.
It gives us a prospect of his nature, represents him in the " beauty of
holiness" (Ps. ex. 3), more than the whole glass of the creation. It
is in this evangelical glass the glory of the Lord is beheld, and ren-
dered amiable and imitable (2 Cor. iii. 18). It is a doctrine " accord-
ing to godliness" (1 Tim. vi. 3), directing us to live the life of God ;
a life worthy of God, and worthy of our first creation by his hand.
It takes us off from ourselves, fixeth us upon a noble end, jjoints
our actions, and the scope of our lives to God. It quells the mon-
sters of sin, discountenanceth the motes of wickedness ; and it is no
mean argument for the divinity of it, that it sets us no lower a pat-
tern for our imitation, than the holiness of the Divine Majesty.
God is exalted upon the throne of his holiness in it, and the creature
advanced to an image and resemblance of it (1 Pet, i. 16 > : " Be ye
holy, for I am holy."
tlse 2. The second use is for comfort. This attribute frowns upon
lapsed nature, but smiles in the restorations made by the gospel.
God's holiness, in conjunction with his justice, is terrible to a guilty
sinner ; but now, in conjunction with his mercy, by the satisfaction
of Christ, it is sweet to a believing penitent. In the " first cove-
nant," the purity of his nature was joined with the rigors of his jus-
tice ; in the " second covenant," the purity of his nature is joined
with the sweetness and tenderness of his mercy. In the one, j ustice
flames against the sinner in the right of injured holiness ; in the
other, mercy yearns towards a believer, with the consent of righted
holiness. To rejoice in the holiness of God is the true and genuine
spirit of a renewed man : "My heart rejoiceth in the Lord ;" — what
follows ? — " There is none holy as the Lord" (1 Sam. ii. 1, 2). Some
perfections of the Divine nature are astonishing, some affrighting ;
but this may fill us both with astonishment at it, and a joy in it.
1. By covenant, we have an interest in this attribute, as well as
any other. In that clause of " God's being our God," entire God
with all his glorj^, all his perfections are passed over as a portion,
and a gracious soul is brought into union with God, as his God ; not
with a part of God, but with God in the simplicity, extent, integrity
of his nature ; and therefore in this attribute. And, upon some ac-
count, it may seem more in this attribute than in any other ; for if
he be our God, he is our God in his life and glory, and therefore in
his purity especially, without which he could not live ; he could not
be happy and blessed. Little comfort will it be to have a dead God,
or a vile God, made over to us ; and as, by this covenant, he is our
Father, so he gives us his nature, and communicates his holiness in
all his dispensations ; and in those that are severest, as well as tliose
that are sweetest (Ileb. xii. 10) : " But he corrects us for our profit,
that we might be partakers of his holiness." Not simply "partak-
188 CHARlSrOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
ers of holiness," but of "his holiness;" to have a portraiture of it in
our nature, a medal of it in our hearts, a spark of the same nature
with that immense splendor and flame in himself The holiness of
a covenant soul is a resemblance of the holiness of God, and formed
by it ; as the picture of the sun in a cloud is a fruit of his beams,
and an image of its author. The fulness of the perfection of holi-
ness remains in the nature of God, as the fulness of the light doth
in the sun ; yet there are transmissions of light from the sun to the
moon, and it is a light of the same nature both in the one and in the
other. The holiness of a creature is nothing else but a reflection of
the Divine holiness upon it ; and to make the creature capable of it,
God takes various methods, according to his covenant grace.
2. This attribute renders God a fit object for trust and dependence.
The notion of an unholy and unrighteous God, is an uncomfortable
idea of him, and beats off our hands from laying any hold of him.
It is upon this attribute the reputation and honor of God in the
world is built ; what encouragement can we have to believe him, or
what incentives could we have to serve him, without the lustre of
this in his nature ? The very thought of an unrighteous God is
enough to drive men at the greatest distance from him ; as the hon-
esty of a man gives a reputation to his word, so doth the holiness of
God give credit to his promise. It is by this he would have us stifle
our fears and fortify our trust (Isa. xli. 14) : " Fear not, thou worm
Jacob, and ye men of Israel ; I will help thee, saith the Lord, and
thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel :" he will be in his actions
what he is in his nature. Nothing shall make him defile his own
excellency ; unrighteousness is the ground of mutability ; but the
promise of God doth never fail, because the rectitude of his nature
doth never languish : were his attributes without the conduct of
this, they would, be altogether formidable. As this is the glory of
all his other perfections, so this only renders him comfortable to a be-
lieving soul. Might we not fear his power to crush us, his mercy to
overlook us, his wisdom to design against us, if this did not influ-
ence them ? "What an oppression is power without righteousness in
the hand of a creature ; destructive, instead of protecting ! The
devil is a mighty spirit, but not fit to be trusted, because he is an im-
pure spirit. When God would give us the highest security of the
sincerity of his intentions, he swears by this attribute (Ps. viii. 35) :
his holiness, as well as his truth, is laid to pawn for the security of
his promise. As we make God the judge between us and others,
when we swear by him, so he makes his holiness the judge between
himself and his people, when he swears by it.
(1.) It is this renders him fit to be confided in for the answer of
our prayers. This is the ground of his readiness to give. " If you,
being evil, know how to give good gifts, how much more shall your
Father which is in heaven give good gifts to them that ask him"
(Matt. vii. 11) ! Though the lioliness of God be not mentioned, yet it
is to be understood; the emphasis lies on these words, "if you, being
evil :" God is then considered in a disposition contrary to this, which
can be nothing but his righteousness. If you that are unholy, and
have so much corruption in you, to render you cruel, can bestow
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 189
upon your children the good things they want, how much more sliall
God, who is holy, and hath nothing in him to check his mercifulness
to his creatures, grant the petitions of his supplicants ! It was this
attribute edged the fiduciary importunity of the souls under the
altar, for the revenging their blood unjustly shed upon the earth :
"How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not avenge our blood
on them that dwell on the earth" (Kev. vi. 10) ? Let not thy holi-
ness stand with folded arms, as careless of the eminent sufferings of
those that fear thee ; we implore thee by the holiness of thy nature,
and tlie truth of thy word.
(2.) This renders him fit to be confided in for the comfort of our
souls in a broken condition. The reviving the hearts of the spirit-
ually afflicted, is a part of the holiness of his nature; " Thus saith
the high and lofty One that inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy ;
I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a con-
trite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble" (Isa. Ivii.
15). He acknowledgeth himself the lofty One ; they might there-
fore fear he would not revive them ; but he is also the holy One,
and therefore he will refresh them ; he is not more lofty than he is
holy ; besides, the argument of the immutability of his promise, and
the might of his power, here is the holiness of his nature moving
him to pity his drooping creature : his promise is ushered in witli
the name of power, " high and lofty One," to bar their distrust of
his strength, and with a declaration of his holiness, to check any
despair of his will : there is no ground to think I should be false to
my word, or misemploy my power, since that cannot be, because of
the holiness of my name and nature.
(3.) This renders him fit to be confided in for the maintenance of
grace, and protection of us against our spiritual enemies. What our
Saviour thought an argument in prayer, we may well take as a
ground of our confidence. In the strength of this he puts up his
suit, when in his mediatory capacity he intercedes for the preserva-
tion of his people (John xvii. 11) ; " Holy Father, keep through
thy own name those that thou hast given me, that they may be one
as we are." " Holy Father," not merciful Father, or powerful, or
wise Father, but "holy ;" and (ver. 25), "righteous Father." Christ
pleads that attribute for the performance of God's word, which was
laid to pawn when he passed his word : for it was by his holiness
that he swore, that " his seed should endure forever, and his throne
as the sun before him" (Ps. Ixxxix. 36) ; which is meant of the per-
petuity of the covenant which he made with Christ, and is also
meant of the preservation of the mystical seed of David, and the
perpetuating his loving-kindness to them (ver. 32, 33). Grace is an
image of God's holiness, and, therefore, the holiness of God is most
proper to be used as an argument to interest and engage him in the
preservation of it. In the midst of church-provocations, he will
not utterly extinguish, because he is the " Holy One" in the midst
of her (IIos. xi. 9) : nor in the midst of judgments will he condemn
his people to death, because he is " their Holy One" (Hab. i. 12) ; but
their enemies shall be ordained for judgment, and established for
correction. One prophet assures them in the name of the Lord,
190 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
upon tlie strength of this perfection ; and the other, upon the same
gromid, is confident of the protection of tlie church, because of
God's lioliness engaged in an inviolable covenant.
3. Comfort. Since holiness is a glorious perfection of the nature
of God, "he will certainly value every holy soul." It is of a
greater value with him than the souls of all men in the world, that
are destitute of it : "wicked men are the worst of vilenesses," mere
dross and dunghill.''^ Purity, then, Avhich is contrary to wickedness,
must be the most precious thing in his esteem ; he must needs love
that quality which he is most pleased with in himself, as a father
looks with most delight upon the child which is possessed with those
dispositions he most values in his own nature. " Hi,s countenance
doth behold the upright" (Ps. xi. 7). He looks upon them with a
full and open face of favor, with a countenance clear, unmasked, and
smiling with a face full of delight. Heaven itself is not such a
pleasing object to him as the image of his own uncreated holiness in
the created holiness of men and angels : as a man esteems that most
which is most like him, of his own generation, more than a piece of
art, which is merely the product of his wit or strength. And he
must love holiness in the creature, he would not else love his own
image, and, consequently, would undervalue himself. He despiseth
the image the wicked bears (Ps. Ixxiii. 20), but he cannot disesteem
his own stamp on the godly ; he cannot but delight in his own
work, his choice work, the master-piece of all his works, the new
creation of things ; that which is next to himself, as being a Divine
nature like himself (2 Pet. i. 4). When he overlooks strength, parts,
knowledge, he cannot overlook this : he " sets apart him that is
godly for himself" (Ps. iv. 3), as a peculiar object to take pleasure
in ; he reserves such for his own complaceny, when he leaves the
rest of the world to the devil's power ; he is choice of them above
all his other works, and will not let any have so great a propriety in
them as himself. If it be so dear to him here in its imperfect and
mixed condition, that he appropriates it as a peculiar object for his
own delight, how much more will the unspotted purity of glorified
saints be infinitely pleasing to him ! so, that he will take less plea-
sure in the material heavens than in such a soul. Sin only is detest-
able to God ; and when this is done away, the soul becomes as lovely
in his account, as before it was loathsome.
4. It is comfort, upon this account, that " God will perfect holi-
ness in every upright soul." "We many times distrust God, and de-
spond in ourselves, because of the infinite holiness of the Divine na-
ture, and the dunghill corruption in our own ; but the holiness of
God engageth him to the preservation of it, and, consequently, to
the perfection of it, as appears by our Saviour's argument (John
xvii. 11), " Holy Father, keep through thy own name, those whom
thou hast given me ;" — to what end? — " that they may be one as we
are ;" one with us, in the resemblances of purity. And the holi-
ness of the soul is used as an argument by the Psalmist (Ps. Ixxxvi.
2), " Preserve my soul, for I am holy ;" that is, I have an ardent de-
sire to holiness : thou hast separated me from the mass of the cor-
* Ps. xii. 8. The vilest men.
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 191
rupted "world, preserve and perfect me witli the assembly of the
glorified choir. The more holy any are, the more communicative
they are ; God being most holy, is most communicative of that
which he most esteems in himself, and delights to see in his crea-
ture : he is, therefore, more ready to impart his holiness to them that
beg for it, than to communicate his knowledge or his power.
Though he were holy, yet he let Adam fall, Avho never petitioned
his holiness to preserve him ; he let him fall, to declare the hoHncss
of his own nature, which had wanted its due manifestation without
it : but since that cannot be declared in a higher manner than it
hath been already in the death of the Surety, that bore our guilt,
there is no fear he should cast the work out of his hands, since the
design of the permission of man's apostasy, in the discovery of the
perfections of his nature, has been fully answered. The "finishing
the good work he hath begun," hath a relation to the glory of
Christ ; and his own glory in Christ to be manifested in the day of
his appearing (Phil. i. 6), wherein the glory, both of his own holi-
ness, and the holiness of the Mediator, are to receive their full man-
ifestation. As it is a part of the holiness of Christ to " sanctify his
church" (Eph. v. 26, 27) till not a wrinkle or spot be left, so it is the
part of God not to leave that work imperfect which his holiness
hath attempted a second time to beautify his creature with. He will
not cease exalting this attribute, which is the believers' by the
new covenant, till he utters that applauding speech of his own
work (Cant. iv. 7), " Thou art all fair, my love ; there is no spot
in thee."
Use 3, is for Exhortation. Is holiness an eminent perfection of
the Divine nature ? then — ■
Exhort. 1. Let us get and preserve right and strong apprehensions
of this Divine perfection. Without a due sense of it, we can never
exalt God in our hearts ; and the more distinct conceptions we have
of this, and the rest of his attributes, the more we glorify him.
When Moses considered God as "his strength and salvation," he
would exalt him (Exod. xv. 2) ; and he could never break out in so
admirable a doxology as that in the text, without a deep sense of
the glory of his purity, which he speaks of with so much admira-
tion. Such a sense will be of use to us.
1. In promoting genuine convictions. A deep consideration of
the holiness of God cannot but be followed with a deep considera-
tion of our impure and miserable condition by reason of sin : we
cannot glance upon it without reflections upon our own vileness.
Adam no sooner heard the voice of a holy God in the garden, but
he considered his own nakedness with shame and fear (Gen. iii. 10) ;
much less can we fix our minds upon it, but we must be touched
with a sense of our own uncleanness. The clear beams of the sun
discover that filthiness in our garments and members, which was not
visible in the darkness of the night. Impure metals are discerned
by comparing them with that which is pure and perfect in its kind.
The sense of guilt is the first natural result upon a sense of this ex-
cellent perfection ; and the sense of the imperfection of our own
righteousness is the next. Who can think of it, and reflect upon
192 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
himself as an object fit for Divine love? Who can have a due
thought of it, without regarding himself as stubble before a consum-
ing fire? Who can, without a confusion of heart and face, glance
upon that pure eye which beholds with detestation the foul motes,
as well as the filthier and bigger spots ? When Isaiah saw his glory,
and heard how liighly the angels exalted God for this perfection, he
was in a cold sweat, ready to swoon, till a seraphim, with a coal from
the altar, both purged and revived him (Isa. vi. 5, 7). They arc
sound and genuine convictions, which have the prospect of Divine
purity for their immediate spring, and not a foresight of our own
misery ; when it is not the punishment we have deserved, but the
holiness we have offended, most grates our hearts. Such convic-
tions are the first rude draughts of the Divine image in our spirits,
and grateful to God, because they are an acknowledgment of the
glory of this attribute, and the first mark of honor given to it by
the creature. Tliose that never had a sense of their own vileness,
were always destitute of a sense of God's holiness. And, by the
way, we may observe, that those that scoff at any for hanging down
the head under the consideration and conviction of sin (as is too
usual with the Avorld), scoff at them for having deeper appre-
hensions of the purity of God than themselves, and consequently
make a mock of the holiness of God which is the ground of those
convictions; a sense of this would prevent such a damnable re-
proaching.
2. A sense of this will render us humble in the possession of the
greatest holiness a creature were capable of. We are apt to be
proud, with the Pharisee, when we look upon others wallowing in
the mire of base and unnatural lusts : but let any clap their wings,
if they can, in a vain boasting and exaltation, when they view the
holiness of God. What torch, if it had reason, would be proud, and
swagger in its own light, if it compared itself with the sun? "Who
can stand before this holy Lord God ?" is the just reflection of the
holiest person, as it was of those (1 Sam. vi. 20) that had felt the
marks of his jealousy after their looking into the ark, though likely
out of affection to it, and triumphant joy at its return. When did
the angels testify, by the covering of their faces, their weakness to
bear the lustre of his majesty, but when they beheld his glory ?
When did they signify, by their covering their feet, the shame of
their own vileness, but when their hearts were fullest of the applaud-
ings of this perfection (Isa. vi. 2, 3) ? Though they found them-
selves without spot, yet not with such a holiness that the}^ could ap-
pear either with their faces or feet unvailed and unmasked in the
presence of God. Doth the immense splendor of this attribute en-
gender shaming reflections in those pure spirits ? What will it, what
should it, do in us, that dwell in houses of clay, and creep up and
down with that clay upon our backs, and too much of it in our
hearts ? The stars themselves, which appear beautiful in the night,
are masked at the awaking of the sun. What a dim light is that of
a glow-worm to that of the sun ! The apprehensions of this made
the elders humble themselves in the midst of their glory, by " cast-
ing down their crowns before his throne" (Ecv. iv. 8, 10) ; a mcta-
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 193
phor taken from tlie triumphing generals among the Romans, who
hung up their victorious laurels in the Capitol, dedicating them to
their gods, acknowledging them their superiors in strength, and au-
thors of their victory. This self-emptiness at the consideration of
Divine purity, is the note of the true church, represented by the
twenty-four elders, and a note of a true member of the church ;
whereas boasting of perfection and merit is the property of the anti-
christian tribe, that have mean thoughts of this adorable perfection,
and think themselves more righteous than the unspotted angels.
What a self-annihilation is there in a good man, when the sense of
Divine purity is most lively in him ! yea, how detestable is he to
himself! There is as little proportion between the holiness of the
Divine Majesty, and that of the most righteous creature, as there is
between a nearness of a person that stands upon a mountain, to the
sun, and of him that beholds him in a vale ; one is nearer than the
other, but it is an advantage not to be boasted of, in regard of the
vast distance that is between the sun and the elevated spectator.
3. This would make us full of an affectionate reverence in all our
approaches to God. By this perfection God is rendered venerable,
and fit to be reverenced by his creature ; and magnificent thoughts
of it in the creature would awaken him to an actual reverence of the
Divine majesty (Ps. iii. 9) : " Holy and reverend is his name ;" a
good opinion of this would engender in us a sincere respect towards
him ; we should then " serve the Lord with fear," as the expression
is (Ps. ii. 11), that is, be afraid to cast anything before him that may
offend the eyes of his purity. Who would venture rashly and garishly
into the presence of an eminent moralist, or of a righteous king upon
his throne ? The fixedness of the angels arose from the continual
prospect of this. What if we had been with Isaiah when he saw the
vision, and beheld him in the same glory, and the heavenly choir in
their reverential posture in the service of God ; would it not have
barred our wanderings, and staked us down to our duty ? Would
not the fortifying an idea of it in our minds produce the same effect?
It is for want of this we carry ourselves so loosely and unbecoming-
ly in the Divine presence, with the same, or meaner, affections than
those wherewith we stand before some vile creature that is our supe-
rior in the world ; as though a piece of filthy flesh were more valua-
ble than this perfection of the Divinity. How doth the Psalmist
double his exhortation to men to sing praise to God (Ps. xlvii. 6) :
" Sing praises to God, sing praises ; sing praises unto our King, sing
praises ;" because of his majesty, and the purity of his dominion ! and
(ver. 8), " God reigneth over the heathen, God sitteth upon the throne
of his holiness." How would this elevate us in praise, and prostrate
us in prayer, when we praise and pray with an understanding and
insight of that nature we bless or implore ; as he speaks (ver. 7),
" Sing ye praises with understanding." The holiness of God in his
government and dominion, the holiness of his nature, and the holi-
ness of his precepts, should beget in us an humble respect in our
approaches. The more we grow in a sense of this, the more shall
we advance in the true performance of all our duties. Those nations
which adored the sun, had they at first seen his brightness wrapped
VOL II. — 13
194 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
and masked in a cloud, and paid a veneration to it, how would their
adorations have mounted to a greater point, after they had seen it
in its full brightness, shaking off those vails, and chasing away the
mists before it ! what a profound reverence would they have paid it,
when they beheld it in its glory and meridian brightness!'' Our
reverence to God in all our addresses to him will arrive to greater
degrees, if every act of duty be ushered in, and seasoned with the
thoughts of God as sitting upon a throne of holiness ; we shall have
a more becoming sense of our own vileness, a greater ardor to his
service, a deeper respect in his presence, if our understanding be
more cleared, and possessed with notions of this perfection. Thus
take a view of God in this part of his glory, before you fall down
before his throne, and assure yourselves you will find your hearts
and services quickened with a new and lively spirit.
4. A due sense of this perfection in God would produce in us a
fear of God, and arm us against temptation and sin. What made
the heathen so wanton and loose, but the representations of their
gods as vicious ? Who would stick at adulteries, and more pro-
digious lusts, that can take a pattern for them from the person he
adores for a deity ? Upon which account Plato would have poets
banished from his commonwealth, because, by dressing up their gods
in wanton garbs in their poems, they encouraged wickedness in the
people. But if the thoughts of God's holiness were impressed upon
us, we should regard sin with the same eye, mark it with the same
detestation in our measures, as God himself doth. So far as we are
sensible of the Divine purity, we should account sin vile as it de-
serves ; we should hate it entirely, without a grain of love to it, and
hate it perpetually (Ps. cxix. 104) : " Through thy precepts I get
understanding, therefore I hate every false way." He looks into
God's statute-book, and thereby arrives to an understanding of the
purity of his nature, whence his hatred of iniquity commenced.
This would govern our motion, check our vices ; it would make us
tremble at the hissing of a temptation : when a corruption did but
peep out, and put forth its head, a look to the Divine Purity would
be attended with a fresh convoy of strength to resist it. There is no
such fortification, as to be wrapped up in the sense of this : this would
fill us with an awe of God ; we should be ashamed to admit any filthy
thing into us, which we know is detestable to his pure eye. As the ap-
proach of a grave and serious man makes children hasten their trifles
out of the way ; so would a consideration of this attribute make us cast
away our idols, and fling away our ridiculous thoughts and designs.
5. A due sense of this perfection would inflame us with a vehe-
ment desire to be conformed to Him. All our desires would be ar-
dent to regulate ourselves according to this pattern of holiness and
goodness, which is not to be equalled; the contemplating it as it
shines forth in the face of Christ, will "transform us into the same
image" (2 Cor. iii. 19). Since our lapsed state, we cannot behold the
holiness of God in itself without affrightment ; nor is it an object of
imitation, but as tempered in Christ to our view. When we cannot,
without blinding ourselves, look upon the sun in its brightness, we
^ Amyrald. Moral. Tom. V. p. 462.
ON THE HOLINESS OF €0D. 195
may behold it tlirougli a colored glass, whereby tbe lustre of it is
moderated, without dazzling our eyes. The sense of it will furnish
us with a greatness of mind, that little things will be contemned by
us ; motives of a greater alloy would have little influence upon us ;
we should have the highest motives to every duty, and motives of
the same strain which influence the angels above. It would change
us, not only into an angelical nature, but a divine nature : we should
act like men of another sphere ; as if we had received our original
in another world, and seen with angels the ravishing beauties of
heaven. How little would the mean employments of the world sink
us into dirt and mud ! How often hath the meditation of the courage
of a valiant man, or acuteness and industry of a learned person,
spurred on some men to an imitation of them, and transformed them
into the same nature ! as the looking upon the sun imprints an image
of the sun upon our eye, that we seem to behold nothing but the su.n
a while after. The view of the Divine purity would fill us with a
holy generosity to imitate him, more than the examples of the best
men upon earth. It was a saying of a heathen, that " if virtue were
visible, it would kindle a noble flame of love to it in the heart, by
its ravishing beauty." Shall the infinite purity of the Author of all
virtue come short of the strength of a creature ? Can we not render
that visible to us by frequent meditation, which, though it be invisi-
ble in his nature, is made visible in his law, in his ways, in his Son ?
It would make us ready to obey him, since we know he cannot com-
mand anything that is sinful, but what is holy, just, and good : it
would put all our affections in their due place, elevate them above
the creature, and subject them to the Creator.
6. It would make us patient and contented under all God's dispen-
sations. All penal evils are the fruits of his holiness, as he is Judge
and Governor of the world : he is not an arbitrary Judge, nor doth
any sentence pronounced, nor warrant for execution issue from him,
but what bears upon it a stamp of the righteousness of his nature ;
he doth nothing by passion or unrighteousness, but according to the
eternal law of his own unstained nature, which is the rule to him in
his works, the basis and foundation of his throne and sovereign do-
minion (Ps. Ixxxix. 14) : " Justice," or righteousness, " and judg-
ment are the habitation of thy throne ;" upon these his sovereign
power is established: so that there can be no just complaint or in-
dictment brought against any of his proceedings with men. How
doth our Saviour, who had the highest apprehensions of God's holi-
ness, justify God in his deepest distresses, when he cried, and was
not answered in the particular he desired, in that prophetic Psalm of
him (Ps. xxii. 2, 8), " I cry day and night, but thou hearest not !"
Thou seemest to be deaf to all my petitions, afar off " from the words
of my roaring ; but thou art holy ;" I cast no blame upon thee : aU
thy dealings are squared by thy holiness: this is the only law to
thee ; in this I acquiesce. It is part of thy holiness to hide thy face
from me, to show thereby thy detestation of sin. Our Saviour adores
the Divine purity in his sharpest agony, and a like sense of it would
guide us in the same steps to acknowledge and glorify it, in our
greatest desertions and afflictions ; especially since as they are the
196 CHAHNPCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
fruit of the holiness of his nature, so they are the means to impart to
us clearer stamps of holiness, according to that in himself, which is
the original copy (Heb, xii. 10). He melts us down as gold, to fit us
for the receiving a new impression, to mortify the affections of the
flesh, and clothe us with the graces of his Spirit. The due sense of
this would make us to submit to his stroke, and to wait upon him
for a good issue of his dealings.
Exhort. 2. Is holiness a perfection of the Divine nature ? Is it the
glory of the Deity ? Then let us glorify this holiness of God. Mo-
ses glorifies it in the text, and glorifies it in a song, which was a
copy for all ages. The whole corporation of seraphims have their
mouths filled with the praises of it. The saints, whether militant on
earth, or triumphant in heaven, are to continue the same acclama-
tion, " Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts" (Eev. iv. 8). Neither
angels nor glorified spirits exalt at the same rate the power which
formed them creatures, nor goodness which preserves them in a
blessed immortality, as they do holiness, which they bear some beams
of in their own nature, and whereby they are capacitated to stand
before His throne. Upon the account of this, a debt of praise is de-
manded of all rational creatures by the Psalmist (Ps. xcix. 8), "Let
them praise thy great and terrible name, for it is holy." Not so
much for the greatness of his Majesty, or the treasures of his justice;
but as they are considered in conjunction with his holiness, which
renders them beautiful ; "for it is holy." Grandeur and majesty,
simply in themselves, are not objects of praise, nor do they merit the
acclamations of men, when destitute of righteousness : this only ren-
ders everything else adorable ; and this adorns the Divine greatness
with an amiableness (Isa. xii. 6) : " Great is the Holy One of Israel
in the midst of thee ;" and makes his might worthy of praise (Luke
i. 49). In honoring this, which is the soul and spirit of all the rest,
we give a glory to all the perfections which constitute and beautify
his nature : and without the glorifying this we glorify nothing of
them, though we should extol every other single attribute a thousand
times. He values no other adoration of his creatures, unless this be
interested, nor accepts anything as a glory from them (Lev. x. 8)
"I will be sanctified in them that come near me, and I will be glori-
fied :" as if he had said, In manifesting my name to be holy, you
truly, you only honor me. And as the Scripture seldom speaks of
this perfection without a particular emphasis, it teaches us not to
think of it without a special elevation of heart : by this act only,
while we are on earth, can we join consort with the angels in heaven ;
he that doth not honor it, delight in it, and in the meditation of it,
hath no resemblance of it ; he hath none of the image, that delights
not in the original. Everything of God is glorious, but this most of
all. If he built the world principally for anything, it was for the
communication of his goodness, and display of his holiness. He
formed the rational creature to manifest his holiness in that law
whereby he was to be governed : then deprive not God of the design
of his own glory. We honor this attribute,
1. When we make it the ground of our love to God. Not be-
cause he is gracious to us, but holy in himself. As God honors it,
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 197
in loving himself for it, we should honor it, by pitching our affections
upon him chiefly for it. What renders God amiable to himself,
should render him lovely to all his creatures (Isa. xlii. 21) : " The
Lord is well pleased for his righteousness' sake." If the hatred of
evil be the immediate result of a love to God, then the peculiar ob-
ject or term of our love to God, must be that perfection which stands
in direct opposition to the hatred of evil (Ps. xcvii. 10) : " Ye that
love the Lord, hate evil." When we honor his holiness in every
stamp and impression of it : his law, not principally because of its
usefulness to us, its accommodateness to the order of the Avorld, but
for its innate purity ; and his people, not for our interest in them, so
much as for bearing upon them this glittering mark of the Deity, we
honor then the purity of the Lawgiver, and the excellency of the
Sanctifier.
2. We lionor it, when we regard chiefly the illustrious appearance
of this in his judgments in the world. In a case of temporal judg-
ment, Moses celebrates it in the text ; in a case of spiritual judg-
ments, the angels applaud it in Isaiah. All his severe proceedings
are nothing but the strong breathings of this attribute. Purity is
the flash of his revenging sword. If he did not hate evil, his ven-
geance would not reach the committers of it. He is a " refiner's fire"
in the day of his anger (Mai. iii. 2). By his separating judgments,
" he takes away the wicked of the earth like dross" (Ps. cxix. 119).
How is his holiness honored, when we take notice of his sweeping
out the rubbish of the world ; how he suits punishment to sin, and
discovers his hatred of the matter and circumstances of the evil, in
the matter and circumstances of the judgment. This perfection is
legible in every stroke of his sword ; we honor it when we read the
syllables of it, and not by standing amazed only at the greatness and
severity of the blow, when we read how holy he is in his most terri-
ble dispensations : for as in them God magnifies the gi'eatness of his
power, so he sanctifies himself; that is, declares the purity of his na-
ture as a revenger of all impiety (Ezek. xxxviii. 22, 23) ; " And I
will plead against him with pestilence, and with blood : and I will
rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the people that are
with him, an overflowing rain and great hailstones ; fire, and brim-
stone. Thus will I magnify m3'self, and sanctify myself."
3. We honor this attribute, when we take notice of it in every
accomplishment of his promise, and every grant of a mercy. His
truth is but a branch of his righteousness, a slip from this root. He
is glorious in holiness in the account of Moses, because he "led forth
his people whom he had redeemed" (Exod. xv. 13); his people by a
covenant with their fathers, being the God of Moses, the God of
Israel, and the God of their fathers (ver. 2). " My God, and my
father's God, I will exalt thee." For what? for his faithfulness to
his promise. The holiness of God, which Mary (Luke i. 49) magni-
fies, is summed up in this, the help he afforded his servant Israel in
the " remembrance of his mercy, as he spake to our fathers, to
Abraham and his seed forever" (ver. 54, 55). The certainty of his
covenant mercy depends upon an unchangeableness of his holiness.
What are "sure mercies," (Isa. Iv. 3), are holy mercies in the Septua-
198 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
gint, and in Acts xiii. 34, wliich makes tliat translation canonical.
His nearness to answer us, when we call upon him for such mercies,
is a fruit of the holiness of his name and nature (Ps. clxv. 17). " The
Lord is holy in all his works ; the Lord is nigh to all them that call
upon him." Hannah, after a return of prayer, sets a particular mark
upon this, in her song (1 Sam. ii. 2) ; " There is none holy as the
Lord ;" separated from all dross, firm to his covenant, and righteous
in it to his suppliants, that confide in him, and plead his word.
When we observe the workings of this in every return of prayer,
we honor it ; it is a sign the mercy is really a return of prayer, and
not a mercy of course, bearing upon it only the characters of a com-
mon providence. This was the perfection David would bless, for the
catalogue of mercies in Ps. ciii. 1, &c. ; " Bless his holy name." Cer-
tainly, one reason why sincere prayer is so delightful to him, is
because it puts him upon the exercise of this his beloved perfection,
which he so much delighteth to honor. Since God acts in all those
as the governor of the world, we honor him not, unless we take
notice of that righteousness which fits him for a governor, and is the
inward spring of all his motions (Gen. xviii. 25). " Shall not the
Judge of all the earth do right ?" It was his design in his pity to
Israel, as well as the calamities he intended against the heathens, to
be " sanctified in them ; that is, declared holy in his merciful as well
as his judicial procedure (Ezra xxxvi. 21, 23). Hereby God credits
his righteousness, which seemed to be forgotten by the one, and con-
temned by the other ;c he removes, by this, all suspicion of unfoith
fulness in him.
4. "We honor this attribute, when we trust his covenant, and
promise against outward appearances. Thus our Saviour, in the
prophecy of him (Ps. xxii. 2^), when God seemed to bar up the
gates of his palace against the entry of any more petitions, this attri-
bute proves the support of the Redeemer's soul; "But thou art holy,
0 thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel:" as it refers to what goes
before, it has been twice explained ; as it refers to Avhat follows, it is
a ground of trust; " Thou inhabitest the praises of Israel :" thou hast
had the praises of Israel for many ages, for thy holiness. How?
" Our fathers trusted in thee, and thou didst deliver them ;" they
honored thy holiness by their trust, and thou didst honor their faith
by a deliverance ; thou always hadst a purity that would not shame
nor confound them. I will trust in thee as thou art holy, and expect
the breaking out of this attribute for my good as well as my prede-
cessors ; " Our fathers trusted in thee," &c.
5. We honor this attribute, when we show a greater affection to
the marks of his holiness in times of the greatest contempt of it. As
the Psalmist (Ps. cxix. 126, 127); "They have made void thy law,
therefore I love thy commandments above gold ;" while they spurn
at the purity of thy law, I will value it above the gold they possess ;
1 will esteem it as gold, because others count it as dross ; by their
scorn of it, my love to it shall be the warmer ; and my hatred of ini-
quity shall be the sharper : the disdain of others should inflame us
with a zeal and fortitude to appear in behalf of his despised honor.
<= rtauct. m loc.
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 199
"We lienor this holiness many other ways ; by preparation for our
addresses to him, out of a sense of his purity ; when we imitate it :
as He honors us by "teaching us his statutes" (Ps. cxix. 135), so we
honor him by learning and observing them. When we beg of him
to show himself a refiner of us, to make us more conformable to him
in holiness, and bless him for any communication of it to us, it ren-
ders us beautiful and lovely in his sight. To conclude : to honor it,
is the way to engage it for us ; to give it the glory of what it hath
done, by the arm of power for our rescue from sin, and beating down
our corruptions at his feet, is the Avay to see more of its marvellous
works, and behold a clearer brightness. As unthankfulness makes
him withdraw his grace (Rom. i. 21, 2-1), so glorifying him causes
him to impart it. God honors men in the same way they honor
him; when we honor him by acknowledging his purity, he will
honor us by communicating of it to us. This is the way to derive a
greater excellency to our souls.
Exhort. 3. Since holiness is an eminent perfection of the Divine
nature, let us labor after a conformity to God in this perfection. The
nature of God is presented to us in the Scripture, both as a pattern
to imitate, and a motive to persuade the creature to holiness (1 John
iii. 3 ; Matt. v. 48 ; Lev. xi. 44 ; 1 Pet. i. 15, 16). Since it is, there-
fore, the nature of God, the more our natures are beautified with it,
the more like we are to the Divine nature. It is not the pattern of
angels, or archangels, that our Saviour, or his apostle, proposeth for
our imitation; but the original of all purity, God himself; the same
that created us, to be imitated by us. Nor is an equal degree of
purity enjoined us; though we are to be pure, and perfect, and mer-
ciful as God is, yet not essentially so ; for that would be to command
us an impossibility in itself; as much as to order us to cease to be
creatures, and commence gods. No creature can be essentially holy
but by participation from the chief Fountain of Holiness ; but we
must have the same kind of holiness, the same truth of holiness. As
a short line may be as straight as another, though it parallel it not
in the immense length of it ; a copy may have the likeness of the
original, though not the same perfection ; we cannot be good, with-
out eyeing some exemplar of goodness as the pattern. No pattern
is so suitable as that which is the highest goodness and purity. That
limner that would draw the most excellent piece, fixes his eyes upon
the most perfect pattern. He that would be a good orator, or poet,
or artificer, considers some person most excellent in each kind, as
the object of his imitation. Who so fit as God to be viewed as the
pattern of holiness, in our intendment of, and endeavor after hoh-
ness ? The Stoics, one of the best sects of philosophers, advised their
disciples to pitch upon some eminent example of virtue, according
to which to form their lives ; as Socrates, &c. But true holiness doth
not only endeavor to live the life of a good man, but chooses to live
a divine life; as bclbre the man was "alienated from the life of God"
(Eph. iv. 19), so, upon his return, he aspires after the life of God. To
endeavor to be like a good man is to make one image like another;
to set our clocks by other clocks, without regarding the sun : but
true holiness consists in a likeness to the most exact sampler. God
200 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
being tlie first purity, is tlie rule as well as tlie spring of all purity
in the creature, the chief and first object of imitation. We disown
ourselves to be his creatures, if we breathe not after a resemblance to
him in what he is imitable. There was in man, as created according
to God's image, a natural appetite to resemble God : it was at first
planted in him by the Author of his nature. The devil's temptation
of him by that motive to transgress the law, had been as an arrow
shot against a brazen wall, had there not been a desire of some like-
ness to his Creator engraven upon him (Gen, iii, 5) : it would have
had no more influence upon him, than it could have had upon a
mere animal. But man mistook the term ; he would have been like
God in knowledge, whereas, he should have affected a greater resem-
blance of him in purity. O that we could exemplify God in our
nature ! Precepts may instruct us more, but examples affect us more ;
one directs us, but the other attracts us. What can be more attrac-
tive of our imitation, than that which is the original of all purity,
both in men and angels? This conformity to him consists in an
imitation of him,
1. In his law. The purity of his nature was first visible in this
glass; hence, it is called a "holy" law (Rom. vii. 12); a "pure" law
(Ps. xix. 8). Holy and pure, as it is a ray of the pure nature of the
Lawgiver. When our lives are a comment upon his law, they are
expressive of his holiness : we conform to his holiness when we regu-
late ourselves by his law, as it is a transcript of his holiness: we do
not imitate it, when we do a thing in the matter of it agreeable to
that holy rule, but when we do it with respect to the purity of the
Lawgiver beaming in it. If it be agreeable to God's will, and con-
venient for some design of our own, and we do anything only with
a respect to that design, we make not God's holiness discovered in
the law our rule, but our own conveniency : it is not a conformity to
God, bat a conformity of our actions to self. As in abstinence from
intemperate courses, not because the holiness of God in his law hath
prescribed it, but because the health of our bodies, or some noble
contentments of life, require it ; then it is riot God's holiness that is
our rule, but our own security, conveniency, or something else which
we make a God to ourselves. It must be a real conformity to the
law : our holiness should shine as really in the practice, as God's
purity doth in the precept. God hath not a pretence of purity in his
nature, but a reality : it is not only a sudden boiling up of an admi-
ration of him, or a starting wish to be like him, from some sudden
impression upon the fancy, which is a mere temporary blaze, but a
settled temper of soul, loving everything that js like him, doing-
things out of a firm desire to resemble his purity in the copy he hath
set ; not a resting in negatives, but aspiring to positives ; holy and
harmless are distinct things: they were distinct qualifications in our
High Priest in his obedience to the law (Heb. vii, 26), so they must
be m us.
2. In his Christ. As the law is the transcript, so Christ is the
image of his holiness : the glory of God is too dazzhng to be beheld
by us : the acute eye of an angel is too weak to look upon that
brio-ht sun without covering his lace : we are much too weak to take
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 201
our measures from that purity which is infinite in his nature. But
he hath made his Son hke us, that by the imitation of him in that
temper, and shadow of human flesh, we may arrive to a resemblance
of him (2 Cor. iii. 18). Then there is a conformity to him, when
that which Christ did is drawn in lively colors in the soul of a Chris-
tian ; when, as he died upon the cross, we die to our sins ; as he rose
from the grave, we rise from our lusts ; as he ascended on high, we
mount our souls thither ; when we express in our lives what shined
in his, and exemplify in our hearts what he acted in the world, and
become one with him, as he was separate from sinners. The holiness
of God in Christ is our ultimate pattern : as we are not only to be-
lieve in Christ, but " by Christ in God" (John xiv. 1), so we are not
only to imitate Christ, but the holiness of God as discovered in Christ.
And, to enforce this upon us, let us consider,
(1.) It is this only wherein he commands our imitation of him. We
are not commanded to be mighty and wise, as God is mighty and wise :
but " be holy, as I am holy." The declarations of his ]30wer are to
enforce our subjection; those of his wisdom, to encourage our direc-
tion by him ; but this only to attract our imitation. When he saith,
" I am holy," the immediate inference he makes, is, " Be ye so too,"
which is not the proper instruction from any other perfection. '^ Man
was created by Divine power, and harmonized by Divine wisdom, but
not after them, or according to them, as the true image ; this was the
prerogative of Divine holiness, to be the pattern of his rational crea-
ture : « wisdom and power were subservient to this, the one as the pencil,
the other as the hand that moved it. The condition of a creature is
too mean to have the communications of the Divine essence; the true
impressions of his righteousness and goodness we are only capable of.
It is only in those moral perfections we are said to resemble God. The
devils, those impure and ruined spirits, are nearer to him in strength
and knowledge than we are ; yet in regard of that natural and intel-
lectual perfection, never counted like him, but at the greatest dis-
tance from him, because at the greatest distance from his purity.
God values not a natural might, nor an acute understanding, nor
vouchsafes such perfections the glorious title of that of his image.
Plutarch saith, God is angry with those that imitate his thunder or
lightning, his works of majesty, but delighted with those that imitate
his virtue.^ In this only we can never incur any reproof from him,
but for falling short of him iind his glory. Had Adam endeavored
after an iniitatiou of this, instead of that of Divine knowledge, he
had escaped his fall, and preserved his standing ; and had Lucifer
wished himself like God in this, as well as his dominion, he had
still been a glorious angel, instead of being now a ghastly devil : to
reach after a union with the Supreme Being, in regard of holiness,
is the only generous and commendable ambition.
(2.) This is the prime way of honoring God. We do not so glorify
God by elevated admirations, or eloquent expressions, or pompous
services of him, as when we aspire to a conversing with him with
unstained spirits, and live to him in living like him. The angels are
*■ " lu tliis," saith Plato, " God is h fieau Trapudeiy/ja. « Epli. iv. 24. Col. iii. 10.
f Eugub. iLide I'ereiiui I'liiloso. lib. vi. cap. 6.
202 CHARXOCK ON THE ATTEIBUTES,
not called lioly for applauding liis purit}^, but conforming to it. The
more perfect any creature is in the rank of beings, the more is the
Creator honored ; as it is more for the honor of God to create an
angel or man, than a m.ere animal ; because there are in such clearer
characters of Divine power and goodness, than in those that are in-
ferior. The more perfect any creature is morally, the more is God
glorified by that creature ; it is a real declaration, that God is the best
and most amiable Being; that nothing besides him is valuable, and
worthy to be object of our imitation. It is a greater honoring of
him, than the highest acts of devotion, and the most religious bodily
exercise, or the singing this song of Moses in the text, with a trium-
phant spirit ; as it is more the honor of a father to be imitated in his
virtues by his son, than to have all the glavering commendations by
the tongue or pen of a vicious and debauched child. By this we
honor him in that perfection which is dearest to him, and counted
by him as the chiefest glory of his nature. God seems to accept the
glorifying this attribute, as if ft were a real addition to that holiness
which is infinite in his nature, and because infinite, cannot admit of
any increase : and, therefore, the word sanctified is used instead of
glorified. (Isa. viii. 13), " Sanctify the Lord of Hosts himself, and
let him be jout fear, and let him be your dread." And (Isa. xxix.
23), "They shall sanctify the holy One of Jacob, and fear the God
of Israel." This sanctification of God is by the fear of him, which
signifies in the language of the Old Testament, a reverence of him,
and a righteousness before him. He doth not say, when he w^ould
have his power or wisdom glorified. Empower me or make me wise ;
but when he would have his holiness glorified by the creature, it is,
Sanctify me ; that is, manifest the purity of my nature by the holi-
ness of your lives : but he expresseth it in such a term, as if it were
an addition to this infinite perfection ; so acceptable it is to him, as
if it were a contribution from his creature for the enlarging an attri-
bute so pleasing to him, and so glorious in his eye. It is, as much
as in the creature lies, a jDreserving the life of God, since this perfec-
tion is his life ; and that he would as soon part with his life as part
with his purity. It keeps up the reputation of God in the world, and
attracts others to a love of him ; whereas, unworthy carriages defame
God in the eyes of men, and bring up an ill report of him, as if he
were such an one as those that profess him, and walk rmsuitably to
their profession, appear to be.
(3.) This is the excellency and beauty of a creature. The title of
" beauty" is given to it in Ps. ex. 3 ; " beauties," in the plural number,
as comprehending it in all other beauties whatsoever. What is a
Divine excellency cannot be a creature's deformity : the natural beauty
of it is a representation of the Divinity ; and a holy man ought to es-
teem himself excellent in being such in his measure as his God is,
and puts his principal felicity in the possession of the same purity in
truth. This is the refined complexion of the angels that stand before
his throne. The devils lost their comeliness when they fell from it.
It was the honor of the human nature of our Saviour, not only to be
united to the Deity, but to be sanctified by it. He was " fairer than
all the children of men," because he had a holiness above the children
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 203
of men : " grace was poured into his lips" (Ps. xlv. 2). It was tlie jewel
of tlie reasonable nature in paradise : conformity to God was man's
original happiness in his created state ; and what was naturally so,
cannot but be immutably so in its own nature. The beauty of every
copied thing consists in its likeness to the original ; everything hath
more of loveliness, as it hath greater impressions of its first pattern :
in this regard hoUness hath more of beauty on it than the whole
creation, because it partakes of a greater excellency of God than the
sun, moon, and stars. No greater glory can be, than to be a con-
spicuous and visible image of the invisible, and holy, and blessed
God. As this is the splendor of all the Divine attributes, so it is the
flower of all a christian's graces, the crown of all religion : it is the
glory of the Spirit, In this regard the king's daughter is said to be
" all glorious within" (Ps. xlv. 13). It is more excellent than the
soul itself, since the greatest soul is but a deformed piece without it :
a " diamond without lustre.''^ What are the noble faculties of the
soul without it, but as a curious rusty watch, a delicate heap of dis-
order and confusion ? It is impossible there can be beauty where there
are a multitude of "spots and wrinkles" that blemish a countenance
(Eph. V. 27). It can never be in its true brightness but Avhen it is
perfect in purity; when it regains what it was possessed of by crea-
tion, and disjDossessed of by the fall, and recovers its primitive temper.
We are not so beautiful by being the work of God, as by having a
stamp of God upon us. Worldly greatness may make men honor-
able in the sight of creeping worms. Soft lives, ambitious reaches,
luxurious pleasures, and a pompous religion, render no man excel-
lent and noble in the sight of God : this is not the excellency and
nobility of the Deity which we are bound to resemble ; other lines
of a Divine image must be drawn in us to render us truly excel-
lent.
(4.) It is our life. What is the life of God is truly the life of a
rational creature.^' The life of the body consists not in the perfection
of its members, and the integrity of its organs ; these remain when
the body becomes a carcass ; but in the presence of the soul, and its
vigorous animation of every part to perform the distinct offices be-
longing to each of them. The life of the soul consists not in its
being, or spiritual substance, or the excellency of its faculties of un-
derstanding and will, but in the moral and becoming operations of
them. The spirit is only " life because of righteousness" (Ptom. viii.
10). The faculties are turned by it, to acquit themselves in their
functions, according to the will of God ; the absence of this doth not
only deform the soul, but, in a sort, annihilate it, in regard of its
true essence and end. Grace gives a Christian being, and a want of
it is the want of a true being (1 Cor. xv. 10). When Adam divested
himself of his original rio-hteousness, he came under the force of
the threatening-, in regard of a spiritual death ; every person is
"morally dead while he lives" an unholy life (1 Tim. v. 6). What
life is to the body, that is righteousness to the spirit ; and the greater
measure of holiness it hath, the more of life it hath, because it is in a
s Vaughau pp. 4, 5. ^ Aniirald. in Heb. pp. 101, 102.
204 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
greater nearness, and partakes more fully of the fountain of life. Is
not that the most worthy life, which God makes most account of,
without which his life could not be a pleasant and blessed life, but a
life worse than death ? What a miserable life is that of the men of
the world, that are carried, with greedy inclinations, to all manner
of unrighteousness, whither their interests or their lusts invite them 1
Tlie most beautiful body is a carcass, and the most honorable person
hath but a brutish life (Ps. xlix. 20) ; miserable creatures when their
life shall be extinct without a Divine rectitude, when all other things
will vanish as the shadows of the night at the appearance of the sun !
Holiiiess is our life.
(5.) It is this only fits us for communion with God. Since it is
our beauty and our life, without it what communion can an excellent
God have with deformed creatures ; a living God with dead creatures ?
" Without holiness none shall see God" (Heb. xii. 14). The creature
must be stripped of his unrighteousness, or God of his purity, before
they can come together. Likeness is the ground of communion, and
of delight in it : the opposition between God and unholy souls is as
great as that between " light and darkness" (IJohni. 6). Divine fruition
is not so much by a union of presence as a union of nature. Heaven
is not so much an outward as an inward life ; the foundation of glory is
laid in grace ; a resemblance to God is our vital happiness, without
which ttie vision of God would not be so much as a cloudy and shadowy
happiness, but rather a torment than a felicity ; unless we be of a
like nature to God, we cannot have a pleasing fruition of him.
Some philosophers think that if our bodies were of the same nature
with the heavens, of an ethereal substance, the nearness to the sun
would cherish, not scorch us. Were we partakers of a Divine
nature, we might enjoy God with delight ; Avhereas, remaining in
our unlikeness to him, we cannot think of him, and api^roacli to
him without terror. As soon as sin had stripped man of the image
of God, he was an exile from the comfortable presence of God, un-
worthy for God to hold any correspondence with : he can no more
delight in a defiled person that a man can take a toad into intimate
converse with him ; he would hereby discredit his own nature, and
justify our impurity. The holiness of a creature only prepares him
for an eternal conjunction with God in glory. Enoch's walking
with God was the cause of his being so soon wafted to the jjlace
of a full fruition of him ; he hath as much delight in such as in
heaven itself ; one is his habitation as well as the other ; the one is
his habitation of glory, and the other is the house of his pleasure :
if he dwell in Zion, it must be a "holy mountain" (Joel iii. 17), and
the members of Zion must be upheld in their rectitude and integrity
before they be " set before the face of God forever" (Ps. xli. 12.)
Such are styled his jewels, his portion, as if he lived uj)on them, as
a man upon his inheritance. As God cannot delight in us, so neither
can we delight in God without it. We must purify ourselves " as
he is pure," if we expect to " see him as he is," in the comfortable
glory and beauty of his nature (1 John iii. 2, 3), else the sight of
God would be terrible and troublesome : we cannot be satisfied with
the likeness of God at the resurrection, unless we have a righteous-
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 205
ness wherewith to "behold his face" (Ps. xvii. 15). It is a vain
imagination in any to think that heaven can bs a place of happiness
to him, in whose eye the beauty of holiness which fills and adorns it,
is an unlovely thing ; or that any can have a satisfaction in that
Divine purity which is loathsome to him in the imitations of it. We
cannot enjoy him, unless we resemble him ; nor take any pleasure
in him, if we were with him, without something of likeness to him.
Holiness fits us for communion with God.
(6.) We can have no evidence of our election and adoption with-
out it. Conformity to God, in purity, is the fruit of electing love
(Eph. i. 4) ; " He hath chosen us that we should be holy." The
goodness of the fruit evidenceth the nature of the root : this is the
seal that assures us the patent is the authentic grant of the Prince.
Whatsoever is holy, speaks itself to be from God ; and whosoever
is holy, speaks himself to belong to God. This is the only evidence
that " we are born of God" (1 John ii. 29). The subduing our souls
to him, the forming us into a resemblance to himself, is a more cer-
tain sign we belong to him, than if we had, with Isaiah, seen his
glory in the vision, with all his train of angels about him. This
justifies us to be the seed of God, when he hath, as it were, taken a
slip from his own purity, and engrafted it in our spirits: he can
never own us for his children without his mark, the stamp of holi-
ness. The devil's stamp is none of God's badge. Our spiritual ex-
traction from him is but pretended, unless we do things worthy of
so illustrious a birth, and becoming the honor of so great a Father :
what evidence can we else have of any child-like love to God, since the
proper act of love is to imitate the object of our affections ? And that
we may be in some measure like to God in this excellent perfection.
1st. Let us be often viewing and ruminating on the holiness of
God, especially as discovered in Christ. It is by a believing medi-
tation on him, that we are "changed into the same image" (2 Cor.
iii. 18). We can think often of nothing that is excellent in the
world, but it draws our faculties to some kind of suitable oj^eration ;
and why should not such an excellent idea of the holiness of God in
Christ perfect our understandings, and awaken all the powers of our
souls to be formed to actions worthy of him? A painter employed
in the limning some excellent piece, has not only his pattern before
his eyes, but his eye frequently upon the pattern, to possess his
fancy to draw forth an exact resemblance. He that would express
the image of God, must imprint upon his mind the purity of his
nature; cherish it in his thoughts, that the excellent beauty of it
may pass from his understanding to his affections, and from his affec-
tions to his practice. How can we arise to a conformity to God in
Christ, whose most holy nature we seldom glance upon, and more
rarely sink our souls into the depths of it by meditation ! Be fre-
quent in the meditation of the holiness of God.
2d. Let us often exericse ourselves in acts of love to God, because
of this perfection. The more adoring thoughts we have ol' God, the
more delightfully we shall aspire to, and more ravishingly catch
after, anything that may promote the more full draught of his
Divine image in our hearts. What we intensely affect, we desire to
206 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
be as near to as we can, and to be that very thing, rather than our-
selves. All imitations of others arise from an intense love to their
persons or excellency. When the soul is ravished with this perfec-
tion of God, it will desire to be united with it ; to have it drawn in
it, more than to have its own being continued to it : it will desire
and delight in its own being, in order to this heavenly and spiritual
work. The impressions of the nature of God upon it, and the imi-
tations of the nature of God by it, will be more desirable than any
natural perfection whatsoever. The will in loving is rendered like
the object beloved; is turned into its nature,' and imbibes its qual-
ities. The soul, by loving God, will find itself more and more trans-
formed into the Divine image ; whereas, slighted ensamples are never
thought worthy of imitation,
3d. Let us make God our end. Every man's mind forms itself to
a likeness to that which it makes its chief end. An earthly soul is
as drossy as the earth he gapes for ; an ambitious soul is as elevated
as the honor he reaches at ; the same characters that are upon the
thing aimed at, will be imprinted upon the spirit of him that aims
at it. When God and his glory are made our end, we shall find a
silent likeness pass in uj)on us ; the beauty of God will by degrees
enter upon our souls.
4th. In every deliberate action, let us reflect upon the Divine
purity as a pattern. Let us examine whether anything we are
prompted unto bear an impression of God upon it ; whether it looks
like a thing that God himself would do in that case, were he in our
natures and in our circumstances. See whether it hath the livery of
God upon it, how congruous it is to his nature ; whether, and in
what manner, the holiness of God can be glorified thereby ; and let
us be industrious in all this ; for can such an imitation be easy which
is resisted by the constant assaults of the flesh, which is discouraged
by our own ignorance, and depressed by our faint and languishing
desires after it ? O ! liappy we, if there were such a heart in us !
Exhort. 4. If holiness be a perfection belonging to the nature of
God ; then, where there is some weak conformity to the holiness of
God, let us labor to grow up in it, and breathe after fuller measures
of it. The more likeness we have to him, the more love we shall
have from him. Communion will be suitable to our imitation ;
his love to himself in his essence, will cast out beams of love to
himself in his image. If God loves holiness in a lower measure,
much more will he love it in a higher degi'ee, because then his
image is more illustrious and beautiful, and comes nearer to the
lively lineaments of his own infinite purity. Perfection in anything
is more lovely and amiable than imperfection in any state ; and the
nearer anything arrives to perfection, the further are those things
separated from it which might cool an affection to it. An increase
in holiness is attended with a manifestation of his love (John xiv.
21) : " He that hath my commandments, and keeps them, he it is
that loves me, and he shall be loved of my Father, and I will love
him, and I will manifest myself to him." It is a testimony of love
to God, and God will not be behind-hand with the creature in kind-
• Amor naturam induit, et mores imbibit rei auiatjB.
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 207
ness; lie loves a holy man for some resemblance to him in his
nature ; but when there is an abounding in sanctified dispositions
suitable to it, there is an increase of favor ; the more we resemble
the original, the more shall we enjoy the blessedness of that original :
as any partake more of the Divine likeness, they partake more of
the Divine happiness.
Exhort. 5. Let us carry ourselves holily, in a spiritual manner, in
all our religious approaches to God (Ps. xciii. 5) ; " Holiness becomes
thy house, O Lord, for ever." This attribute should work in us a
deep and reverential respect to God. This is the reason rendered
why we shoukl "worship at his footstool," in the lowest posture of
humility prostrate before him, because "he is holy" (Ps, xcix. 5).
Shoes must be put off from our feet (Exod. iii. 5), that is, lusts from
our afl'ections, everything that our souls are clogged and bemired
with, as the shoe is with dirt. He is not willing we should
offer to him an impure soul, mired hearts, rotten carcasses, jjutrefied
in vice, rotten in iniquity ; our services are to be as free from pro-
faneness, as the sacrifices of the law were to be free from sickliness
or any blemish. Whatsoever is contrary to his purity, is abhorred
by him, and unlovely in his sight ; and can meet with no other
success at his hands, but a disdainful turning away both of his eye
and ear (Isa. i. 15). Since he is an immense purity, he will reject
from his presence, and from having any communion with him, all
that which is not conformable to him ; as light chases away the
darkness of the night, and will not mix with it. If we " stretch
out" our "hands towards him," we must "put iniquity far away
from us" (Job xi. 13, 14) ; the fruits of all service will else drop oSf
to nothing. " Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be
pleasant to the Lord" : when ? when the heart is j^urged by Christ
sitting as a "purifier of silver" (Mai. iii. 3, 4). Not all the incense
of the Indies yield him so sweet a savor, as one spiritual act of wor-
ship from a heart estranged from the vileness of the world, and
ravished with an affection to, and a desire of imitating, the purity of
his nature.
Exhort. 6. Let us address for holiness to God, the fountain of it.
As he is the author of bodily life in the creature, so he is the author
of his own life, the life of God in the soul. By his holiness he makes
men holy, as the sun by his light enlightens the air. He is not only
the Holy One, but our Holy One (Isa. xliii, 15) ; " The Lord that
sanctifies us" (Levit. xx. 8). As he hath mercy to pardon us, so he
hath holiness to purify us, the excellency of being a sun to comfort
us, and a shield to protect us, giving "grace and glory" (Ps. Ixxiv.
11). Grace whereby we may have communion with him to our
comfort, and strength against our spiritual enemies for our defence ;
grace as our preparatory to glory, and grace growing up till it ripen
in glory. He only can mould us into a Divine frame ; the great
original can only derive the excellency of his own nature to us. We
are too low, too lame, to lift up ourselves to it ; too much in love
with our own deformity, to admit of this beauty without a heavenly
power inclining our desires for it, our affections to it, our willingness
to be partakers of it. He can as soon set the beauty of holiness in
208 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
a deformed lieart, as the beauty of harmony in a confused mass,
when he made the world. He can as soon cause the hght of purity
to rise out of the darkness of corruption, as frame glorious spirits out
of the insufficiency of nothing. His beauty doth not decay ; he
hath as much in himself now as he had in his eternity ; he is as
ready to impart it, as he was at the creation ; only we must wait
upon him for it, and be content to have it by small measures and
degrees. There is no fear of our sanctification, if we come to him
as a God of holiness, since he is a God of peace, and the breach
made by Adam is repaired by Christ (1 Thess. v. 23) : " And the
very God of peace sanctify you wholly," &c. He restores the sanc-
tifying Spirit which was withdrawn by the fall, as he is a God paci-
fied, and his holiness righted by the Eedeemer. The beauty of it
appears in its smiles upon a man in Christ, and is as ready to im-
part itself to the reconciled creature, as before justice was to punish
the rebellious one. He loves to send forth the streams of this per-
fection into created channels, more than any else. He did not de-
sign the making the creature so powerful as he might, because
power is not such an excellency in his own nature, but as it is con-
ducted and managed by some other excellency. Power is in-
different, and may be used well or ill, according as the possessor
of it is righteous or unrighteous. God makes not the creature so
powerful as he might, but he delights to make the creature that
waits upon him as holy as it can be ; beginning it in this world, and
ripening it in the other. It is from him we must expect it, and
from him that we must beg it, and draw arguments from the holi-
ness of his nature, to move him to work holiness in our spirits ; we
cannot have a stronger plea. Purity is the favorite of his own na-
ture, and delights itself in the resemblances of it in the creature.
Let us also go to God, to preserve what he hath already wrought
and imparted. As we cannot attain it, so we cannot maintain it
without him. God gave it Adam, and he lost it ; when God gives
it us, we shall lose it without his influencing and preserving grace ;
the channel will be without a stream, if the fountain do not bubble
it forth ; and the streams will vanish, if the fountain doth not con-
stantly supply them. Let us apply ourselves to him for holiness, as
he is a God glorious in holiness ; by this we honor God, and ad-
vantage ourselves.
r-
>/'2'
DISCOURSE XII.
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD.
Mark X. 18. — And Jesus said unto him, Wliy callest thou me good? There is none
good but one, that is, God.
The words are part of a reply of our Saviour to the young man's
petition to him : a certain person came in haste, " running'" as
being eager for satisfaction, to entreat his directions, what he should
do to inherit everlasting life ; the person is described only in general
(ver. 17), "There came one," a certain man: but Luke describes
him by his dignity (Luke xviii. 18), " A certain ruler ;" one of au-
thority among the Jews. He desires of him an answer to a legal
question, "What he should do?" or, as Matthew hath it, "What
good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life" (Matt. xix. 16) ?
He imagined everlasting felicity was to be purcliased by the works
of the law ; he had not the least sentiments of faith : Christ's answer
implies, there was no hopes of the happiness of another world by
the works of the law, unless they were perfect, and answerable to
every divine precept. He doth not seem to have any ill, or hypo-
critical intent in his address to Christ; not to tempt him, but
to be instructed by him. He seems to come with an ardent desire,
to be satisfied in his demand ; he performed a solemn act of respect
to him, he kneeled to him, yotvieTi'irfcc;^ prostrated himself upon the
ground; besides, Clirist is said (ver. 21) to love him, which had been
inconsistent with the knowledge Christ had of the hearts and
thoughts of men, and the abhorrence he had of hypocrites, had he
been only a counterfeit in this question. But the first reply Christ
makes to him, respects the title of " Good Master," which this ruler
gave him in his salutation.
1st, Some think, that Christ hereby would draw him to an ac-
knowledgment of him as God ; you acknowledge me " good ;" how
come you to salute me with so great a title, since you do not afford
it to your greatest doctors ? Lightfoot, in loc. observes, that the title
of Rabhi hone is not in all the Talmud. You must own me to be
God, since you own me to be "good:" goodness being a title only
due, and properly belonging, to the Supreme Being. If you take
me for a common man, with what conscience can you salute me in
a manner proper to God ? since no man is "good," no, not one, but
the heart of man is evil continually. The Arians used this place,
to back their denying the Deity of Christ : because, say they, he
did not acknowledge himself " good," tlierefore he did not acknow-
ledge himself God. But he doth not here deny his Deity, but re-
VOL. II. — 14
210 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
proves him for calling him good, when he had not yet confessed
him to be more than a man.^ You behold my flesh, but you con-
sider not the fulness of my Deity; if you account me "good," ac-
count me God, and imagine me not to be a simple and a mere man,'
He disowns not his own. Deity, but allures the young man to a
confession of it. Why callest thou me good, since thou dost not
discover any apprehensions of my being more than a man ? Though
thou comest with a greater esteem to me than is commonly en-
tertained of the doctors of the chair, why dost thou own me to be
" good," unless thou own me to be God ? If Christ had denied
'himself in this speech to be "good," he had rather entertained this
person with a frown and a sharp reproof for giving him a title
due to God alone, than have received him with that courtesy
and complaisance as he did."* Had he said, there is none "good"
but the Father, he had excluded himself; but in saying, there is
none " good*^ but God, he comprehends himself.
2d. Others say, that Christ had no intention to draw him to an
acknowledgment of his Deity, but only asserts his divine authority
or mission from God. For which interpretation Maldonat calls Cal-
vin an Arianizer.n He doth not here assert the essence of his Deity,
but the authority of his doctrine ; as if he should have said, You do
without ground give me the title of " good," unless you believe I
have a Divine commission for what I declare and act. Many do think
me an impostor, an enemy of God, and a friend to devils ; you must
firmly believe that I am not so, as your rulers report me, but that I
am sent of God, and authorized by him ; you cannot else give me the
title of good, but of wicked. And the reason they give for this in-
terpretation, is, because it is a question, whether any of the apostles
understood him, at this time, to be God, which seems to have no
great strength in it ; since not only the devil had publicly owned
him to be the " Holy One of God" (Luke iv. 34), but John the Bap-
tist had borne record, that he was the " Son of God" (John i. 82, 34) ;
and before this time Peter had confessed him openly, in the hearing
of the rest of the disciples, that he was " the Christ, the Son of the
living God" (Matt. xvi. 16). But I think Par?eus' interpretation is
best, which takes in both those ; either you are serious or deceitful in
this address; if you are serious, why do you call me "good," and
make bold to fix so great a title upon one you have no higher thoughts
of than a mere man? Christ takes occasion from hence, to assert God
to be only and sovereignly " good :" " There is none good but God."o
God only hath the honor of absolute goodness, and none but God
merits the name of " good." A heathen could say much after the
same manner ; All other things are far from the nature of good ; call
none else good but God, for this would be a profane error : other
things are only good in opinion, but have not the true substance of
goodness: he is "good" in a more excellent way than any creature
can be denominated " good."?
1, God is only originally good, good of himself. All created
goodness is a rivulet from this fountain, but Divine goodness hath
^ Erasm. in loc. ' Augustia. ■" Hensius in Matt. ° Calvin in loc.
• Trismegist. Pcemoeud. cap. 2. P Eugubin. de Peron. Philos. lib. v. cap. 9.
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 211
no spring ; God depends upon no other for his goodness ; he hath it
in, and of, himself: man hath no goodness from himself, God hath no
goodness from without himself: his goodness is no more derived from
another than his being : if we were good bj any external thing, that
thing must be in being before him, or after him ; if before him, he
was not then himself from eternity ; if after him, he was not good
in himself from eternity. The end of his creating things, then, was
not to confer a goodness upon his creatures, but to partake of a good-
ness from his creatures. God is good by and in himself, since all
things are only good by him; and all that goodness which is in
creatures, is but the breathing of his own goodness upon them : they
have all their loveliness from the same hand they have their being
from. Though by creation God was declared good, yet he was not
made good by any, or by all the creatures. He partakes of none,
but all things partake of him. He is so good, that he gives all, and
receives nothing ; only good, because nothing is good but by him :
nothing hath a goodness but from him,
2. God only is infinitely good. A boundless goodness that knows
no limits, a goodness as infinite as his essence, not only good, but
best ; not only good, but goodness itself, the supreme inconceivable
goodness. All things else are but little particles of God, small sparks
from this immense flame, sips of goodness to this fountain. Nothing
that is good by his influence can equal him who is good by himself:
derived goodness can never equal primitive goodness. Divine good-
ness communicates itself to a vast number of creatures in various
degrees ; to angels, glorified spirits, men on earth, to every creature ;
and when it hath communicated all that the present world is capable
of, there is still less displayed, than left to enrich another world. All
possible creatures are not capable of exhausting the wealth, the
treasures, that Divine bounty is filled with.
3. God is only perfectly good, because only infinitely good. He
is good without indigence, because he hath the whole nature of good-
ness, not only some beams that may admit of increase of degree.
As in him is the whole nature of entity, so in him is the whole na-
ture of excellency. As nothing hath an absolute perfect being but
God, so nothing hath an absolutely perfect goodness but God ; as the
sun hath a perfection of heat in it, but what is warmed by the sun
is but imperfectly hot, and equals not the sun in that perfection of
heat wherewith it is naturally endued. The goodness of God is the
measure and rule of goodness in everything else.
4. God only is immutably good. Other things may be perpetually
good by supernatural power, but not immutably good in their own
nature. Other things are not so good, but they may be bad ; God
is so good, that he cannot be bad. It was the speech of a philoso-
pher, that it was a hard thing to find a good man, yea, impossible ;
but though it were possible to find a good man, he would be good
but for some moment, or a short time : for though he should be good
at this instant, it was above the nature of man to continue in a habit
of goodness, without going awry and warping, q But "the goodness
of God endureth forever" (Ps. lii. 1). God always ghtters in good-
1 Eugubiu. de Peron. Philos. lib. v. cap. 9. p. 97. col.
212 CHAKNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
ness, as the sun, which the heathens called the visible image of the
Divinity, doth with light. There is not such a perpetual light in the
sun as there is a fulness of goodness in God; "no variableness" in
him, as he is the "Father of Lights" (James i. 17).
Before I come to the doctrine, that is, the chief scope of the words,
some remarks may be made upon the young man's question and car-
riage : " What must I do to inherit eternal life ?"
1. The opinion of gaining eternal life by the outward observation
of the law, will appear very unsatisfactory to an inquisitive con-
science. This ruler affirmed, and certainly did confidently believe,
that he had fulfilled the law (ver. 20): "All this have I observed
from my youth ;" yet he had not any full satisfaction in his own
conscience ; his heart misgave, and started upon some sentiments in
him, that something else was required, and what he had done might
be too weak, too short to shoot heaven's lock for him. And to that
purpose he comes to Christ, to receive instructions for the piecing up
whatsoever was defective. "Whosoever will consider the nature of
God, and the relation of a creature, cannot with reason think, that
eternal life was of itself due from God as a recompense to Adam,
had he persisted in a state of innocence. Who can think so great a
reward due, for having performed that which a creature in that rela-
tion was obliged to do ? Can any man think another obliged to con-
vey an inheritance of a thousand pounds per annum upon his payment
of a few farthings, unless any compact appears to support such a
conceit ? And if it were not to be expected in the integrity of na-
ture, but only from the goodness of God, how can it be expected
since the revolt of man, and the universal deluge of natural corrup-
tion ? God owes nothing to the holiest creature ; what he gives is a
present from his bounty, not the reward of the creature's merit. And
the apostle defies all creatures, from the greatest to the least, from
the tallest angel to the lowest shrub, to bring out any one creature
that hath first given to God (Eom. xi. 35); " Who hath first given
to him, and it shall be recompensed to him again?" The duty of the
creature, and God's gift of eternal life, is not a bargain and sale. God
gives to the creature, he doth not properly repay ; for he that repays
hath received something of an equal value and worth before. When
God crowns angels and men, he bestows upon them purely what is his
own, not what is theirs by merit and and natural obligation : though
indeed, what God gives by virtue of a promise made before, is, upon
the performance of the condition, due by gracious obligation. God
was not indebted to man in innocence, but every man's conscience
may now mind him that he is not upon the same level as in the state
of integrity ; and that he cannot expect anything from God, as the
salary of his merit, but the free gilt of Divine liberality. Man is
obliged to the practice of what is good, both from the excellency of
the Divine precepts, and the duty he owes to God; and cannot,
without some declaration from God, hope for any other reward, than
the satisfaction of having well acquitted himself ■■
2. It is the disease of human nature, since its corruption, to hope
for eternal life by the tenor of the covenant of works. Though this
' Amyraiit, Morale.
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 213
ruler's conscience was not thoroughly satisfied with what he had
done, but imagined he might, for all that, fall short of eternal life,
yet he still hugs the imagination of obtaining it by doing (ver. 17);
" What shall I do, that I may inherit eternal life ?" This is natural
to corru23ted man. Cain thought to be accepted for the sake of his
sacrifice ; and, when he found his mistake, he was so weary of seek-
ing happiness by doing, that he would court misery by murdering.
All men set too high a value upon their own services. Sinful crea
tures would fain make God a debtor to them, and be purchasers of
felicity : they would not have it conveyed to them by God's sover-
eign bounty, but by an obligation of justice upon the value of their
Avorks. The heathens thought God would treat men according to
the merit of their services ; and it is no wonder they should have
this sentiment, when the Jews, educated by God in a wiser school,
were wedded to that notion. The Pharisees were highly fond of it :
it was the only argument they used in prayer for Divine blessing.
You have one of them boasting of his frequency in fasting, and his
exactness in paying his tithes (Luke xix. 12) ; as if God had been
beholden to hirn, and could not, without manifest wrong, deny him
his demand. And Paul confesseth it to be his own sentiment before
his conversion ; he accounted this " rigliteousness of the law gain to
him" (Phil. iii. 7) ; he thought, by this, to make his market with
God. The whole nation of the Jews affected it, ^ compassing sea and
land to make out a righteousness of their own, as the Pharisees did
to make proselytes. The Papists follow their steps, and dispute for
justification by the merit of works, and find out another key of
works of supererogation, to unlock heaven's gate, than whatever the
Scripture informed us of It is from hence, also, that men are so
ready to make faith, as a work, the cause of our justification. Man
foolishly thinks he hath enough to set up himself after he hath
proved bankrupt, and lost all his estate. This imagination is born
with us, and the best Christians may find some sparks of it in them-
selves, when there are springings up of joy in their hearts, upon the
more close performance of one duty than of another ; as if they had
wiped off their scores, and given God a satisfaction for their former
neglects. " We have forsaken all, and followed thee," was the boast
of his disciples : " What shall we have, therefore ?" was a branch of
this root (Matt. xix. 27). Eternal life is a gift, not by any obliga-
tion of right, but an abundance of goodness ; it is owing, not to the
dignity of our works, but the magnificent bounty of the Divine na-
ture, and must be sued for by the title of God's promise, not by the
title of the creature's services. We may observe,
3. How insufficient are some assents to Divine truth, and some ex-
pressions of affection to Christ, without the practice of christian pre-
cepts. This man addressed Christ with a profound respect, acknow-
ledging him more than an ordinary person, with a more reverential
carriage than we read any of his disciples paid to him in the days of
his finish ; he fell down at his feet, kissed his knees, as the custom
was, when they would testify the gi'eat respect they had to any emi-
nent person, especially to their rabbins. All this some think to be
' Rom, X. 3. " Goiii"; about to establish their own rifrhteousness."
214 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTEIBUTES.
included in the word yofvnBTi^attg.t He seems to acknowledge him
the Messiah by giving him the title of " Good," a title they did not
give to their doctors of the chair; he breathes out his opinion, that
he was able to instruct him beyond the ability of the law ; he came
with a more than ordinary affection to him, and expectation of ad-
vantage from him, evident by his departing sad, when his expecta-
tions were frustrated by his own perversity ; it was a sign he had a
high esteem of him from whom he could not part without marks of
his grief What was the cause of his refusing the instructions he pre-
tended such an affection to receive? He had possessions in the world.
How soon do a few drops of worldly advantages quench the first sparks
of an ill-grounded love to Christ ! How vain is a complimental and
cringing devotion, without a supreme preference of God, and valuation
of Christ above every outward allurement. We may observe this,
4. We should never admit anything to be ascribed to us, which is
proper to God. " Why callest thou me good ? There is none good
but one, that is, God," If you do not acknowledge me God, ascribe
not to me the title of Good. It takes off all those titles which fawn-
ing flatterers give to men, " mighty," " invincible" to princes, "holi-
ness" to the pope. We call one another good, without considering
how evil ; and wise, without considering how foolish ; mighty, with-
out considering how weak, and knowing, without considering how
ignorant. No man, but hath more of wickedness than goodness ;
of ignorance than knowledge ; of weakness than strength. God is
a jealous God of his own honor ; he will not have the creature share
with him in his royal titles. It is a part of idolatary to give men
the titles which are due to God ; a kind of a worship of the creature
together with the Creator. Worms will not stand out, but assault
Herod in his purple, when he usurps the prerogative of God, and
prove stiff and invincible vindicators of their Creator's honor, Avhen
summoned to arms by the Creator's word (Acts xii. 22, 23).
Doctrine. The observation which I intend to prosecute, is this : —
Pure and perfect goodness is only the royal prerogative of God ;
goodness is a choice perfection of the Divine nature. This is the
true and genuine character of God ; he is good, he is goodness, good
in himself^ good in his essence, good in the highest degree, possessing
whatsoever is comely, excellent, desirable ; the highest good, because
first good : whatsoever is perfect goodness, is God ; whatsoever is
truly goodness in any creature, is a resemblance of God." All the
names of God are comprehended in this one of good. All gifts, all
variety of goodness, are contained in him as one common good. He
is the efficient cause of all good, by an overflowing goodness of his
nature ; he refers all things to himself, as the end, for the represen-
tation of his own goodness; "Truly God is good" (Ps. Ixxiii. 1).
Certainly, it is an undoubted truth ; it is written in his works of na-
ture, and his acts of grace (Exod. xxxiv. 6). " He is abundant in
goodness." And every thing is a memorial, not of some fevr sparks,
but of his greater goodness (Ps. cxlv. 7). This is often celebrated in
the Psalms, and men invited more than once, to sing forth the
praises of it (Ps. cvii. 8, 15, 21, 31). It may better be admired than
-' Ver. 17. Lightfoot in loc. " Fieia. in Dionys. de Divin. Nom. cap. 511.
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 215
sufficiently spoken of, or thougbt of, as it merits. It is discovered
in all his works, as the goodness of a tree in all its fruits ; it is easy
to be seen, and more pleasant to be contemplated. In general,
1. All nations in the world have acknowledged God good ; Vo
'jyudov was one of the names the Platonists expressed him by;
and good and God, are almost the same words in our language. All
as readily consented in the notion of his goodness, as in that of his
Deity. Whatsoever divisions or disputes there were among them in
the other perfections of God, they all agreed in this without dispute,
saith Synesius. One calls him Venus, in regard of his loveliness.^
Another calls him "Equitu love, as being the band which ties all things
together.y No perfection of the Divine nature is more eminently,
nor more speedily visible in the whole book of the creation, than this.
His greatness shines not in any part of it, where his goodness doth
not as gloriously glister : whatsoever is the instrument of his work,
as his power ; whatsoever is the orderer of his work, as his wisdom ;
yet nothing can be adored as the motive of his work, but the good-
ness of his nature. This only could induce him to resolve to create :
his wisdom then steps in, to dispose the methods of what he resolved ;
and his power follows to execute, what his wisdom hath disposed,
and his goodness designed. His power in making, and his wis-
dom in ordering, are subservient to his goodness ; and this good-
ness, which is the end of the creation, is as visible to the eyes of men,
as legible to the understanding of men, as his power in forming
them, and his wisdom in tuning them. And as the book of creation,
so the records of his government must needs acquaint them with a
great part of it, when they have often beheld him, stretching out his
hand, to suj^ply the indigent, relieve the oppressed, and punish the
oppressors, and give them, in their distresses, what might " fill their
hearts with food and gladness." It is this the apostle (Rom. i. 20,
21,) means by his Godhead, which he links with his eternity and
power, as clearly seen in the things that are made, as in a pure glass,
" 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." The Godhead which comprehends the
whole nature of God as discoverable to his creatures, was not known,
yea, was impossible to be known, by the works of creation. There had
been nothing then reserved to be manifested in Christ : but his good-
ness, which is properly meant there by his Godhead, was as clearly
visible as his power. The apostle upbraids them with their unthank-
fulness, and argues their inexcusableness, because the arm of his
power in creation made no due impression of fear ujjon their spirits,
nor the beams of his goodness wrought in them sufficient sentiments
of gratitude. Their not glorifying God, was a contempt of the for-
mer ; and their not being thankful, was a slight of the latter. God
is the object of honor, as he is powerful, and the object of thankful-
ness properly as he is bountiful. All the idolary of the heathens,
is a clear testimony of their common sentiment of the goodness of
God: since the more eminently useful any person was in some ad-
vantageous invention for the benefit of mankind, they thought he
» Eiiipedoeles. r Hesiod.
216 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
merited a rank in the number of their deities. The ItaUans esteemed
Pithagoras a god, because he was finhttdijuj.-ioiuiog-.^ to be good and
useful, was an approximation to the Divine nature. Hence it was,
that when the Lystrians saw a resemblance of the Divine goodness
in the charitable and miraculous cure of one of their crippled citi-
zens, presently they mistook Paul and Barnabas for gods, and in-
ferred from thence their right to divine worship, inquiring into noth-
ing else but the visible character of their goodness and usefulness,
to capacitate them for the honor of a sacrifice (Acts xiv. 8-11).
Hence it was, that they adored those creatures that were a common
benefit, as the sun and moon, which must be founded upon a pre-
existent notion, not only of a Being, but of the bounty and good-
ness of God, which was naturally implanted in them, and legible in
all God's works. And the more beneficial anything was to them,
and the more sensible advantages they received from it, the higher
station they gave it in the rank of their idols, and bestowed upon it
a more solemn worship : an absurd mistake to think everything that
was sensibly good to them, to be God, clothing himself in such a
form to be adored by them. And upon this account the Egyptians
worshipped God under the figure of an ox ; and the East Indians,
in some parts of their country, deify a heifer, intimating the good-
ness of God, as their nourisher and preserver, in giving them corn,
whereof the ox is an instrument in serving for ploughing, and pre-
paring the ground.
2. The notion of goodness is inseparable from the notion of a
God. We cannot own the existence of God, but we must confess
also the goodness of his nature. Hence, the apostle gives to his
goodness the title of his Godhead, as if goodness and godhead were
convertible terms (Rom. i. 20). As it is indissolubly linked with the
being of a Deity, so it cannot be severed from the notion of it : we
as soon undeify him by denying him good, as by denying him great :
Optimus, Maximus, the best, greatest, was the name whereby the Ro-
mans entitled Him. His nature is as good, as it is majestic ; so doth
the Psalmist join them (Ps. cxlv. 6, 7), "I will declare my great-
ness ; they shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great good-
ness." They considered his goodness before his greatness, in putting
Optimus before Maximus ; greatness without sweetness, is an unruly
and aflrighting monster in the world ; like a vast turbulent sea, al-
ways casting out mire and dirt. Goodness is the brightness and love-
liness of our majestical Creator. To fancy a God Avithout it, is to
fancy a miserable, scanty, narrow-hearted, savage God, and so an
unlovely, and horrible being : for he is not a God that is not good ;
he is not a God that is not the highest good : infinite goodness is
niore necessary to, and more straitly joined with an infinite Deity,
llian infinite power and infinite wisdom : we cannot conceive him
God, unless we conceive him the highest good, having nothing supe-
rior to himself in goodness, as he hath nothing superior to himself
in excellency and perfection. No man can possibly form a notion
of God in his mind, and yet form a notion of something better than
God ; for whoever thinks anything better than God, fancieth a God
» Iii!nl)lych. Vit. Pytbag. lib. i. col. 6. p. 43.
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 217
witb. some defect : by how mucli the better he thinks that thing to
be, by so much the more imperfect he makes God in his thoughts.
This notion of the goodness of God was so natural, that some philo-
sophers and others, being startled at the evil they saw in the world,
fancied, besides a good God, an evil principle, the author of all pun-
ishments in the world. This was ridiculous ; for those two must be
of equal power, or one inferior to the other ; if equal, the good could
do nothing, but the evil one would restrain him ; and the evil one
could do nothing, but the good one would contradict him ; so they
would be always contending, and never conquering : if one were in-
ferior to the other, then there would be nothing but what that superior
ordered. Good, if the good one were superior ; and nothing but evil,
if the bad one were superior. In the prosecution of this, let us see.
I What this goodness is. II. Some projiositions concerning the
nature of it. III. That God is good. IV. The manifestation of it
in creation, providence, and redemption. V. The use.
I. What this goodness is. There is a goodness of being, which is
the natural perfection of a thing ; there is the goodness of will, which
is the holiness, and righteousness of a person ; there is the good-
ness of the hand, which we call liberality, or beneficence, a doing
good to others.
1. We mean not by this, the goodness of his essence, or the per-
fection of his nature. God is thus good, because his nature is in-
finitely perfect ; he hath all things requisite to the completing of a
most perfect and sovereign Being. All good meets in his essence,
as all water meets in the ocean. Under this notion all the attributes
of God, which are requisite to so illustrious a Being, are compre-
hended. All things that are, have a goodness of being in them, de-
rived to them by the power of God, as they are creatures ; so the
devil is good, as he is a creature of God's making : he hath a natu-
ral goodness, but not a moral goodness : when he fell from God, he
retained his natural goodness as a creature ; because he did not cease
to be, he was not reduced to that nothing, from whence he was
drawn; but he ceased to be morally good, being stripped of his
righteousness by his apostasy ; as a creature, he was God's work ; as
a creature, he remains still God's work ; and, therefore, as a creature,
remains still good, in regard of his created being. The more of be-
ing anything hath, the more of this sort of natural goodness it hath ;
and so the devil hath more of this natural goodness than men have ;
because he hath more marks of the excellency of God upon him, in
regard of the greatness of his knowledge, and the extent of his
power, the largeness of his capacity, and the acuteness of his under-
standing, which are natural perfections belonging to the nature of
an angel, though he hath lost his moral perfections. God is sove-
reignly and infinitely good in this sort of goodness. He is unsearch-
ably perfect (Job xi. 7) ; nothing is wanting to his essence, that is
necessary to the perfection of it ; yet this is not that which the Scrip-
ture expresseth Under the term of goodness, but a perfection of
God's nature as related to us, and which he poureth forth upon
all his creatures, as goodness which flows from this natural per-
fection of the Deity.
218 • CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
2. Nor is it the same witli the blessedness of God, but something
flowing from his blessedness. Were he not first infinitely blessed,
and full in himself, he could not be infinitely good and difi'usive to
us ; had he not an infinite abundance in his own nature, he could
not be overflowing to his creatures ; had not the sun a fulness of
light in itseif, and the .sea a vastness of water, the one could
not enrich the world with its beams, nor the other fill every creek
with its waters.
8. Nor is it the same with the holiness of God. The holiness of
God is the rectitude of his nature, whereby he is pure, and without
spot in himself; the goodness of God is the efiiux of his will, where-
by he is beneficial to his creatures : the holiness of God is manifest
in his rational creatures; but the goodness of God extends to all the
works of his hands. His holiness beams most in his law ; his good-
ness reacheth to everything that had a being from him (Ps. cxlv. 9) :
" The Lord is good to alL" And though he be said in the same
Psalm (ver. 17) to be "holy in all his works," it is to be understood
of his bounty, bountiful in all his works ; the Hebrew word signify-
ing both holy and liberal, and the margin of the Bible reads it
"merciful' or "bountiful."
•1. Nor is this goodness of God the same with the mercy of God.
Goodness extends to more objects than mercy ; goodness stretcheth
itself out to all the works of his hands ; mercy extends only to a
miserable object ; for it is joined with a sentiment of pity, occa-
sioned by the calamity of another. The mercy of God is exer-
cised about those that merit punishment ; the goodness of God is
exercised upon objects that have not merited anything contrary to
the acts of his bounty. Creation is an act of goodness, not of
mercy ; providence in governing some part of the world, is an act
of goodness, not of mercy. '^ The heavens, saith Austin, need the
goodness of God to govern them, but not the mercy of God to re-
lieve them ; the earth is full of the misery of man, and the com-
passions of God ; but the heavens need not the mercy of God to
pity them, because they are not miserable ; though they need the
goodness and power of God to sustain them ; because, as creatures,
they are impotent without him. God's goodness extends to the
angels, that kept their standing, and to. man in innocence, who in
that state stood not in need of mercy. Goodness and mercy are dis-
tinct, though mercy be a branch of goodness ; there may be a mani-
festation of goodness, though none of mercy. Some think Christ
had been incarnate, had not man fallen : had it been so, there had
been a manifestation of goodness to our nature, but not of mercy,
because sin had not made our natures miserable. The devils are
monuments of God's creating goodness, but not of his pardoning
compassions. The grace of God respects the rational creature ;
mercy the miserable creature ; goodness all his creatures, brutes, and
the senseless plants, as well as reasonable man.
5. By goodness, is meant the bounty of God. This is the notion
of goodness in the world ; when we say a good man, we mean either
a holy man in his life, or a charitable and liberal man in the man-
» Lombard lib. iv. distinct. 4G. p. 286.
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 219
agemeut of his goods. A rigliteous man, and a good man, are dis-
tinguished (Rom. V. 7). "For scarcely for a righteous man will one
die ; yet for a good man one would even dare to die ;" for an inno-
cent man, one as innocent of the crime as himself would scarce ven-
ture his life ; but for a good man, a liberal, tender-hearted man, that
had been a common good in the place where he lived, or had done
another as great a benefit as life itself amounts to, a man out of grati-
tude might dare to die. " The goodness of God is his inclination to
deal well and bountifully with his creatures." ^ It is that whereby
he wills there should be something besides himself for his own glory.
God is good himself, and to himself, i. e. highly amiable to himself ;
and, therefore, some define it a perfection of God, whereby he loves
himself and his own excellency ; but as it stands in relation to his
creatures, it is that perfection of God whereby he delights in his
works, and is beneficial to them. God is the highest goodness, be-
cause he doth not act for his own profit, but for his creatures' wel-
fare, and the manifestation of his own goodness. He sends out his
beams, without receiving any addition to himself, or substantial ad-
vantage from his creatures. It is from this perfection that he loves
whatsoever is good, and that is whatsoever he hath made, "for every
creature of God is good" (1 Tiin. iv. 4) ; every creature hath some
communications from him, which cannot be without some affection
to them ; every creature hath a footstep of Divine goodness upon it ;
God, therefore, loves that goodness in the creature, else he would not
love himself. God hates no creature, no, not the devils and damned,
as creatures ; he is not an enemy to them, as they are the works of
his hands ; he is properly an enemy, that doth simply and absolutely
wish evil to another ; but God doth not absolutely wish evil to the
damned ; that justice that he inflicts upon them, the deserved pun-
ishment of their sin, is part of his goodness, as shall afterwards be
shown.c This is the most pleasant perfection of the Divine nature ;
his creating power amazes us ; his conducting wisdom astonisheth
us ; his goodness, as furnishing us with all conveniences, delights us ;
and renders both his amazing power, and astonishing wisdom, de-
lightful to us. As the sun, by efi'ecting things, is an emblem of
God's power ; by discovering things to us, is an emblem of his wis-
dom ; but by refreshing and comforting us, is an emblem of his
goodness ; and without this refreshing virtue it communicates to us,
we should take no pleasure in the creatures it produceth, nor in the
beauties it discovers. As God is great and powerful, he is the ob-
ject of our understanding ; but as good and bountiful, he is the ob-
ject of our love and desire.
6. The goodness of God comprehends all his attributes. All the
acts of God are nothing else but the effluxes of his goodness, distin-
guished by several names, according to the objects it is exercised
about. As the sea, though it be one mass of water, yet we distin-
guish it by several names, according to the shores it washeth, and
beats upon ; as the British and German Ocean, though all be one
sea. When Moses longed, to see his glory, God tells him, he would
give him a prospect of his goodness (Ex. xxxiii. 19) : " I will make
'' Coccei. sum. p. 50. ^ Cajetaa in sccund. secunda. Qu. 34. Ar. 3.
220 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
all my goodness to pass before tliee." His goodness is his glory and
Godhead, as much as is delightfully visible to his creatures, and
whereby he doth benefit man : *' I will cause my goodness," or " come-
liness," as Calvin renders it, "to pass before thee ;" what is this, but
the train of all his lovely perfections springing from his goodness ?
the whole catalogue of mercy, grace, long-sufiering, abundance of
truth, summed up in this one word (Ex. xxxiv. 6). All are streams
from this fountain ; he could be none of this, were he not first good.
When it confers happiness without merit, it is grace ; when it be-
stows happiness against merit, it is mercy ; when he bears with pro-
voking rebels, it is long-suffering ; when he performs his promise, it
is trath ; when it meets with a person to whom it is not obliged, it
is grace ; when he meets with a person in the world, to which he
hath obliged himself by promise, it is truth ;d when it commiserates
a distressed person, it is pity ; when it supplies an indigent person,
it is bounty ; when it succors an innocent person, it is righteousness ;
and when it pardons a penitent person, it is mercy ; all summed up
in this one name of goodness ; and the Psalmist expresseth the same
sentiment in the same words (Ps. cxlv. 7, 8) : "They shall abundantly
utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy right-
eousness. The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger,
and of great mercy ; the Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies
are over his works." He is first good, and then compasssionate.
Eighteousness is often in Scripture taken, not for justice, but charita-
bleness; this attribute, saith one,e is so full of God, that it doth deify
all the rest, and verify the adorableness of him. His wisdom might
contrive against us, his power bear too hard upon us ; one might be
too hard for an ignorant, and the other too mighty for an impotent
creature ; his holiness would scare an impure and guilty creature,
but his goodness conducts them all for us, and makes them all amia-
ble to us ; whatever comeliness they have in the eye of a creature,
whatever comfort they afford to the heart of a creature, we are ob-
liged for all to his goodness. This puts all the rest upon a delight-
ful exercise ; this makes his wisdom design for us, and this makes
his power to act for us ; this veils his holiness from affrighting us,
and this spirits his mercy to relieve us : all his acts towards man,
are but the workmanship of this.^ What moved him at first to cre-
ate the world out of nothing, and erect so noble a creature as man,
endowed with such excellent gifts ; was it not his goodness ? what
made him separate his Son to be a sacrifice for us, after we had en-
deavored to rase out the first marks of his favor ; was it not a strong
bubbling of goodness ? What moves him to reduce a fallen crea-
ture to the due sense of his duty, and at last bring him to an eter-
nal felicity ; is it not, only his goodness ? This is the captain attri-
bute that leads the rest to act. This attends them, and spirits them
in all his ways of acting. This is the complement and perfection of
all his works ; had it not been for this, which set. all the rest on work,
nothing of his wonders had been seen in creation, nothing of his
compassions had been seen in redemption.
^ Herle upon Wisdom, cap. 5. ]ip. 41, 42. « Ingelo Bentivolio, and Uran. Book
IV. pp. 260, 261. ' Daille, Melang. Part II. pp. 704, 705.
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 221
II. The second thing is, some propositions to explain the nature
of this goodness.
1. He is good by his own essence. God is not only good in his
essence, but good by his essence ; the essence of " every created
being is good ;" so the unerring God pronounced everything which
he had made (Gen. i. 31). The essence of the worst creatures, yea,
of the impure and savage devils, is good ; but they are not good
per essentiam^ for then they could not be bad, malicious, and oppres-
sive. God is good, as he is God ; and therefore good by himself, and
from himself, not by participation from another ; he made everything
good, but none made him good ; since his goodness was not received
from another, he is good by his own nature. He could not receive
it from the things he created, they are later than he ; since they re-
ceived all from him, they could bestow nothing on him ; and no God
preceded him, in whose inheritance and treasures of goodness, he
cotild be a successor ; he is absolutely his own goodness, he needed
none to make him good ; but all things needed him, to be good
by him. Creatures are good by being made so by him, and cleav-
ing to him ; he is good without cleaving to any goodness without
him. Goodness is not a quality in him, but a nature ; not a habit
added to his essence, but his essence itself; he is not first God, and
then afterwards good ; but he is good as he is God ; his essence,
being one and the same, is formally and equally God and good.?
\4vxuyudof^ "good of himself," was one of the names the Plato-
nists gave him. He is essentially good in his own nature, and not
by any outward action which follows his essence. He is an inde-
pendent Being, and hath nothing of goodness or happiness from any-
thing without him, or anything he doth act about. If he were not
good by his essence, he could not be eternally good, he could not be
the first good ; he would have something before him, from whence
he derived that goodness wherewith he is possessed ; nor could he
be perfectly good, for he could not be equally good to that from
whom he derived his goodness ; no star, no splendid body, that de-
rives light from the sun, doth equal that sun by which it is enlight-
ened. Hence his goodness must be infinite, and circumscribed by
no limits ; the exercise of his goodness may be limited by himself ;
but his goodness, the principle, cannot ; for since his essence is infi-
nite, and his goodness is not distinguished from his essence, it is in-
finite also ; if it were limited, it were finite ; he cannot be bounded
by anything without him ; if so, then he were not God, because he
would have something superior to him, to put bars in his way ; if
there were anything to fix him, it must be a good or evil being ;
good it cannot be, for it is the property of goodness to encourage
goodness, not to bound it ; evil it cannot be, for then it would ex-
tinguish goodness, as well as limit it ; it would not be content with
the circumscribing it, without destroying it ; for it is the nature of
every contrary, to endeavor the destruction of its opposite. He is
essentially good by his own essence; .therefore, good of himself;
therefore, eternally good ; and therefore, abundantly good.
2. God is the prime and chief goodness. Being good per se, and
P Fic-itii. Epist. lib. xi. cpist. 30.
222 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
by his own essence, lie must needs be tlie cliief goodness, in whom
there can be nothing but good, from whom there can proceed nothing
but good, to whom all good whatsoever must be referred, as the final
cause of all good. As he is the chief Being, so he is the chief good ;
and as we rise by steps from the existence of created things, to ac-
knowledge one Supreme Being, which is God, so we mount by steps
from the consideration of the goodness of created things, to acknowl-
edge one Infinite Ocean of sovereign goodness, whence the streams
of created goodness are derived. When we behold things that par-
take of goodness from another, we must acquiesce in one that hath
goodness by participation from no other, but originally from himself,
and therefore supremely in himself above all other things : so that,
as nothing greater and more majestic can be imagined, so also
nothing better and more excellent can be conceived than God.
Nothing can add to him, or make him better than he is ; nothing
can detract from him, to make him worse ; nothing can be added to
him, nothing can be severed from him ; no created good can render
him more excellent ; no evil, from any creature, can render him
less excellent ; " our goodness extends not to him" (Ps. xvi. 2) ;
" wickedness may hurt a man, as we are, and our righteousness may
profit the son of man ; but, if we be righteous, what give we to Him,
or what receives he at our hands" (Job xxxv. 7, 8) ? as he hath no
superior in place above him, so, being chief of all, he cannot be made
better by any inferior to him. How can he be made better by any
that hath from himself all that he hath ? The goodness of a creature
may be changed, but the goodness of the Creator is immutable ;
he is always like himself, so good that he cannot be evil, as he is so
blessed that he cannot be miserable. Nothing is good but God, be-
cause nothing is of itself but God ; as all things, being from nothing,
are nothing in comparison of God, so all things, being from nothing,
are scanty and evil in comparison of God. If anything had been,
ex Deo^ God being the matter of it, it had been as good as God is ;
but since the principle, whence all things were drawn, was nothing,
though the efiicient cause by which they were extracted from nothing
was God, they are as nothing in goodness, and not estimable in com-
parison of God (Ps. Ixxiii. 25): " Whom have I in heaven but thee?"
&c. God is all good ; every creature hath a distinct variety of good-
ness : God distinctly pronounced every day's work in the creation
" good." Food communicates the goodness of its nourishing virtue
to our bodies; flowers the goodness of their odors to our smell;
every creature a goodness of comeliness to our sight; plants the
goodness of healing qualities for our cure ; and all derive from them-
selves a goodness of knowledge, objectively to our understandings.
The sun, by one sort of goodness, warms us ; metals enrich us ; liv-
ing creatures sustain us, and delight us by another ; all those have
distinct kinds of goodness, which are eminently summed up in God,
and are all but parts of his immense goodness. It is he that en-
lightens us by his sun, nourisheth us by bread (Matt. iv. 4) : " It is
not by bread alone that we live, but by the word of God." It is all
but his own supreme goodness, conveyed to us through those varie-
ties of conduit-pipes. "God is all good;" other things are good in
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 228
their kind ; as, a good man, a good angel, a good tree, a good plant;
but God hatli a good of all kinds eminently in his nature. He is no
less all-good, than lie is almighty, and all-knowing ; as the sun con-
tains in it all the light, and more light than is in all the clearest
bodies in the world, so doth God contain in himself all the good,
and more good than is in the richest creatures. Nothing is good,
but as it resembles him ; as nothing is hot, but as it resembles lire,
the prime subject of heat. God is omnipotent, therefore no good
can be wanting to him. If he were destitute of any which he could
not have, he were not almighty : he is so good, that there is no mix-
ture of anything which can be called not good in him ; everything
besides him wants some good, which others have. Nothing can be
so evil as God is good. There can be no evil but there is some mix-
ture of good with it; no nature so evil but there is some spark of good-
ness in it : but God is a good which hath no taint of evil ; nothmg
can be so supreme an evil as God is supreme goodness. He is only
good, without capacity of increase ; he is all good, and unmixedly
good ; none good but God : a goodness, like the sun, that hath all
light, and no darkness. That is the second thing; he is the su-
preme and chief goodness.
3. This goodness is communicative. None so communicatively
good as God. As the notion of God includes goodness, so the no-
tion of goodness includes diffasiveness ; without goodness he would
cease to be a Deity, and without diffasiveness he would cease to be
good. The being good is necessary to the being God ; for goodness
is nothing else, in the notion of it, but a strong inclination to do
good ; either to find or make an object, wherein to exercise itself,
according to the propension of its own nature ; and it is an inclina-
tion of communicating itself, not for its own interest, but the good
of the object it pitcheth upon. Thus God is good by nature ; and
his nature is not without activity ; he acts conveniently to his own
nature (Ps. cxix. 68) : " Thou art good, and dost good," And
nothing accrues to him, by the communications of himself to others,
since his blessedness was as great before the frame of any creature
as ever it was since the erecting of the world ; so that the goodness
of Christ himself increaseth not the lustre of his happiness (Ps. xvi.
2) : " My goodness extends not to thee." He is not of a niggardly
and envious nature ; he is too rich to have any cause to envy, and
too good to have any will to envy ; he is as liberal as he is rich, ac-
cording to the capacity of the object about which his goodness is
exercised. The Divine goodness, being the supreme goodness, is
goodness in the highest degree of activity ; not an idle, enclosed,
pent up goodness, as a spring shut up, or a fountain sealed, bubbling
up within itself, but bubbling out of itself : a fountain of gardens to
water every part of his creation ; " He is an ointment poured forth"
(Cant. i. 3) : nothing spreads itself more than oil, and takes up a
larger space wheresoever it drops. It may be no less said of the
goodness of God, as it is of the fulness of Christ (Eph. i. 23) ; " He
fills all in all :" he fills rational creatures with understanding, sensi-
tive nature with vigor and motion, the Avhole world with beauty and
sweetness. Every taste, every touch of a creature, is a taste and
224 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
toucli of Divine goodness. Divine goodness offers itself in one spark
in this creature, in another spark in the other creature, and alto-
gether make up a goodness inconceivable by any creature. The
whole mass, and extracted spirit of it, is infinitely short of the good-
ness of the Divine nature, imperfect shadows of that goodness which
is in himself. Indeed, the more excellent anjiihing is, the more
nobly it acts ; how remotely doth light, that excellent brightness of
the creation, disperse itself! How doth that glorious creature, which
God hath set in the heavens, spread its wings over heaven and earth,
roll itself about the world, cast its beams upward and downward,
insinuate into all corners, pierce the depths, and shoot up its rays
into the heights, encircle the higher and lower creatures in its arms,
reach out its communications to influence everything under the
earth, as well as dart its beams of light and heat on things above, or
upon the earth ! " Nothing is hid from it" (Ps. xix. 6) ; not from
its power, nor from its sweetness. How communicative also is
water, a necessary and excellent creature ! How active is it in a
river, to nourish the living creatures engendered in its womb ! re-
fresheth every shore it runs by ; promotes the propagation of fruits
for the nourishment, and bestows a verdure upon the ground, for the
delight of man ; and where it cannot reach the higher ground in its
substance, it doth by its vapors, mounted up and concocted by the
sun, and gently distilled upon the earth, for the opening its womb
to bring forth its fruits. God is more prone to communicate himself,
than the sun to spread its wings, or the earth to mount up its fruits,
or the water to multiply living creatures.'' Goodness is his nature.
Hence were there internal communications of himself from eternity ;
diffusions of himself, without himself" in time, in the creation of the
world, like a full vessel running over. He created the world that
he might impart his goodness to something without him, and diffuse
larger measures of his goodness, after he had laid the first founda-
tion of it in his being ; and therefore he created several sorts of
creatures, that they might be capable of various and distinct
measures of his liberality, according to the distinct capacities of
their nature, but imparted most to the rational creature, because that
is only capable of an understanding to know him, and will to em-
brace him. He is the highest goodness, and therefore a communica-
tive goodness, and acts excellently according to his nature.
4. God is necessarily good. None is necessarily good but God ; he
is as necessarily good, as he is necessarily God. His goodness is as
inseparable from his nature as his holiness. He is good by nature,
not only by will ; as he is holy by nature, not only by will, he is
good in his nature, and good in his actions ; and as he cannot be bad
in his nature, so he cannot be bad in his communications ; he can no
more act contrary to this goodness in any of his actions, than he can
un-God himself. It is not necessary that God should create a world ;
he was at his own choice whether he would create or no ; but when
he resolves to make a world, it is necessary that he should make it
good, because he is goodness itself, and cannot act against his own
nature. He could not create anything without goodness in the very
>> Tom. II. p. 926.
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 225
act ; tlie very act of creation, or communicating being to anything
without himself, is in itself an act of goodness, as well as an act of
power ; had he not been good in himself, nothing could have been
endued with any goodness by him. In the act of giving being, he
is liberal ; the being he bestows is a displaying his own liberality ;
he could not confer what he needs not, and which could not be de-
served, without being bountiful ; since what was nothing, could not
merit to be brought into being, the very act of giving to nothing a
being, was an act of choice goodness. He could not create anything
without goodness as the motive, and the necessary motive ; his good-
ness could not necessitate him to make the world, but his goodness
could only move him to resolve to make a world ; he was not bound
to erect and fashion it because of his goodness, but he could not frame
it without his goodness as the moving cause. He could not create
anything, but he must create it good. It had been inconsistent with
the supreme goodness of his nature, to have created only murderous,
ravenous, injurious creatures; to have created a bedlam rather than
a world : a mere heap of confusion would have been as inconsistent
with his Divine goodness, as with his Divine wisdom. Again, when
his goodness had moved him to make a creature, his goodness would
necessarily move him to be beneficial to his creature ; not that this
necessity results from any merit in the creature, which he had
framed ; but from the excellency and difPusiveness of his own nature,
and his own glory ; the end for which he formed it, which would
have been obscure, yea, nothing, without some degrees of his bounty.
What occasion of acknowledgments and praise could the creature
have for its being, if God had given him only a miserable being,
while it was innocent in action ? The goodness of God would not
suffer him to make a creature, without providing conveniences for
it, so long as he thought good to maintain its being, and furnishing
it with that which was necessary to answer that end for which he
created it ; and his own nature would not suffer him to be unkind
to his rational creature, while it was innocent. It had been injustice
to inflict evil upon the creature, that had not offended, and had no
relation to an offending creature ; the nature of God could not have
brought forth such an act : and, therefore, some say, that God, after
he had created man, could not presently annihilate him, and take
away his life and being.' As a sovereign, he might do it ; as Al-
mighty, he was able to do it, as well as create him ; but in regard of
his goodness, he could not morally do it : for had he annihilated man
as soon as ever he had made him, he had not made man for himself,
and for his own glory ; to be loved, worshipped, sought, and ac-
knowledged by him. He would not then have been the end of
man ; he had created him in vain, and the world in vain, which he
assures us he did not (Isa. xlv. 18, 19). And, certainly, if the gifts
of God be without repentance, man could not have been annihilated
after his creation, without repentance in God, without any cause,
had not sin entered into the world. If God did not say to man, after
sin had made its entrance into the world, " Seek ye me in vain," he
could not, because of his goodness, have said so to man in his inno-
' Cocceii sum Theolog. p. 91.
VOL. II. 15
226 CHARNOCK ON" THE ATTRIBUTES.
cence. As God is necessarily mind, so he is necessarily will ; as lie
is necessarily knowing, so he is necessarily loving. He could not
be blessed, if he did not know himself, and his own perfection ; nor
good, if he did not delight in himself, and his own perfections.
And this goodness whereby he delights in himself, is the source of
his delight in his creatures, wherein he sees the footsteps of himself.
If he loves himself, he cannot but love the resemblance of himself,
and the image of his own goodness. He loves himself, because he is
the highest goodness and excellency ; and loves everything as it re-
sembles himself, because it is an efflux of his own goodness ; and as
he doth necessarily love himself, and his own excellency, so he doth
necessarily love anything that resembles that excellency, which is
the primary object of his esteem. But,
5. Though he be necessarily good, yet he is also freely good. The
necessity of the goodness of his nature hinders not the liberty of his
actions ; the matter of his acting is not at all necessary, but the man-
ner of his acting in a good and bountiful Avay, is necessar}^, as well
as free.'' He created the world and man freely, because he might
choose whether he would create it, but he created them good neces-
sarily, because he was first necessarily good in his nature, before he
was freely a Creator. When he created man, he freely gave him a
positive law, but necessarily a wise and righteous law ; because he
was necessarily wise, and righteous, before he was freely a Lawgiver.
When he makes a promise, he freely lets the word go out of his lips,
but when he hath made it, he is necessarily a faithful performer ; be-
cause he was necessarily true and righteous in his nature, before he
was freely a promiser. God is necessarily good in his nature, but free
in his communications of it ; to make him necessarily to communi-
cate his goodness in the first creation of the creature, would render
him but impotent, good without liberty and without will ; if the
communications of it be not free, the eternity of the world must
necessarily be concluded, which some anciently asserted from the
naturalness of God's goodness, making the world flow from God as
light from the sun. God, indeed, is necessarily good, affective in re-
gard of his nature, but freely good, affective^ in regard of the effluxes
of it to this or that particular subject he pitcheth on. He is not so
necessarily communicative of his goodness as the sun of his light, or
a tree of its cooling shade, that chooseth not its objects, but enlight-
ens all indifferently, without any variation or distinction ; this were
to make God of no more understanding than the sun, to shine not
where it pleaseth, but where it must. He is an understanding agent,
and hath a sovereign right to choose his own subjects; it would not
be a supreme goodness, if it were not a voluntary goodness. It is
agreeable to the nature of the highest good, to be absolutely free, to
dispense his goodness in what methods and measures he pleaseth,
according to the free determinations of his own will, guided by the
wisdom of his mind, and regulated by the holiness of his nature.
He is not to " give an account of any of his matters" (Job xxxiii.
13) ; " He will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and he
will have compassion on whom he will have compassion" (Eom. ix.
^ Gilbert de Del Domlnio, p. 6.
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 227
15) ; and he will be good, to whom lie will be good ; when he doth
act, he cannot but act well, so it is necessary ; yet he may act this
good or that good, to this or that degree, so it is free. As it is the
perfection of his nature, it is necessary ; as it is the communication
of his bounty, it is voluntary. The eye cannot but see if it be open,
yet it may glance upon this or that color, fix upon this or that ob-
ject, as it is conducted by the will. God necessarily loves himself,
because he is good, yet not by constraint, but freedom ; because his
aifectioii to himself is from a knowledge of himself. He necessarily
loves his own image, because it is his image ; yet freely, because not
blindly, but from motions of understanding and will. What neces-
sity could there be upon him, to resolve to communicate his good-
ness ? It could not be to make himself better by it, for he had a
goodness incapable of any addition ; he confers a goodness on his
creatures, but reaps not a harvest of goodness to his own essence
from his creatures. What obligation could there be from the crea-
ture, to confer a goodness on him to this or that degree, for this or
that duration ? If he had not created a man, nor angel, he had done
them no wrong ; if he had given them only a simple being, he had
manifested a part of his goodness, without giving them a right to
challenge any more of him ; if he had taken away their beings after
a time when he had answered his end, he had done them no injury:
for what law obliged him to enrich them, and leave them in that be-
ing wherein he had invested them, but his sole goodness ? What-
ever sparks of goodness any creature hath, are the free effusions of
God's bounty, the offspring of his own inclination to do well, the
simple favor of the donor ; not purchased, not merited by the crea-
ture. God is as unconstrained in his liberty, in all his communica-
tions, as infinite in his goodness, the fountain of them.
6. This goodness is communicative with the greatest pleasure.
Moses desired to see his glory, God assures him he should see his
goodness (Exod. xxxiii. 18, 19) ; intimating that his goodness is his
glory, and his glory his delight also. He sends not forth his bless-
ings with an ill will ; he doth not stay till they are squeezed from
him ; he prevents men with his blessings of goodness (Ps. xxi. 3) ;
he is most delighted when he is most diffusive ; and his pleasure in
bestowing, is larger than his creature's in possessing. He is not cove-
tous of his own treasures. He lays up his goodness in order to lay-
ing it out with a complacency wholly divine. The jealousy princes
have of their subjects makes them sparing of their gifts, for fear of
giving them materials for rebellion : God's foresight of the ill use
men would make of his benefits damped him not in bestowing his
largesses. He is incapable of envy ; his own happiness can no more
be diminished, than it can be increased. None can over-top him in
goodness, because nothing hath any good but what is derived from
him ; his gifts are without repentance : sorrow hath no footing in
him, who is infinitely happy, as well as infinitely good. Goodness
and envy are inconsistent. How unjustly, then, did the devil accuse
God ! What God gives out of goodness, he gives with joy and
gladness. He did not only will that we should be, but rejoice that
he had brought us into being ; he rejoiced in his works (Ps. civ. 31),
228 CHABNOCK ON THE ATTEIBUTES.
and his wisdom stood by liim, " delighting in the habitable parts of
the earth" (Prov. viii. 31). He beheld the world after its creation
with a complacency, and still governs it with the same pleasure
wherewith he reviewed it. Infinite cheerfulness attends infinite
goodness. He would not give, if he had not a pleasure that others
should enjoy his goodness ; since he is better than anything, and
more communicative than anything ; he is more joyful in giving
out, than the sun can be to run its race, in pouring forth light. He
is said only to repent, and grieve, when men answer not the obliga-
tions and ends of his goodness ; which would be their own felicity,
as well as his glory. Though he doth not force greater degrees of
his goodness upon those that neglect it, yet he denies them not to
those that solicit him for it : it is always greater pleasure to him to
impart upon the importunities of the creatures, than it is to a mo-
ther to reach out her breast to her crying and longing infant. He is
not Avearied by the solicitations of men ; he is pleased with their
prayers, because he is pleased with the imparting of his OAvn good-
ness : he seems to be in travail with it, longing to be delivered of it
into the lap of his creature. He is as much delighted with petitions
for his liberality in bestowing his best goodness, as princes are weary
of the craving of their subjects. None can be so desirous to squeeze
those that are under them, as God is delighted to enlarge his hand
towards them. It is the nature of his goodness to be glad of men's
solicitations for it, because they are significant valuations of it, and
therefore fit occasions for him to bestow it. Since he doth not de-
light in the unhappiness of any of his creatures, he certainly de-
lights in what may conduce unto their felicity. He doth with the
same delight multiply the effects of his goodness where his wisdom
sees it convenient, as he beheld the first-fruits of his goodness with
a complacency upon laying the top-stone of the creation.
7. The displaying of this goodness was the motive and end of all
his works of creation and providence.^ God being infinitely wise,
would not act without the highest reason, and for the highest end.
The reason that induced him to create, must be of as great an emi-
nency as himself: the motive could not be taken without him, be-
cause there was nothing but himself in being ; it must be taken,
therefore, from within himself, and from some one of those most ex-
cellent perfections whereby we conceive him. But, upon the exact
consideration of all of them, none can seem to challenge that honor
of being the motive of them, to resolve the setting forth any work,
but his own goodness ; this being the first thing manifest in his crea-
tion, seems to be the first thing moving him to a resolution to create.
Wisdom may be considered as directing, power considered as act-
ing, but it is natural to reflect upon goodness as moving the one to
direct, and the other to act. Power was the principle of his action,
wisdom the rule of his action, goodness the motive of his action ;
principle and rule are awakened by the motive, and subservient to
the end. That which is the most amiable perfection in the Divine
nature, and that which he first took notice of, as the footsteps of
them, in the distinct view of every day's work, and the general view
1 Amyr. Moral. Tom. I. p. 260.
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 229
of the whole frame, seems to claim the best right to be entitled the
motive and end of his creation of things. God could have no end
but himself, because there was nothing besides himself Again, the
end of every agent is that which he esteems good, and the best good
for that kind of action : since nothing is to be esteemed good but
God, nothing can be the ultimate end of God but himself, and his
own goodness. What a man wills chiefly is his end ; but God cannot
will any other thing but himself as his end, because there is nothing
superior to himself in goodness. He cannot will anything that su-
premely serves himself and his own goodness as his end ; for, if he
did, that which he wills must be superior to himself in goodness, and
then he is not God ; or inferior to him in goodness, and then he
would not be righteous, in willing that which is a lower good before
a higher. God cannot will anything as his end of acting, but him
self, without undeifying himself God's will being infinitely good,
cannot move for anything but what is infinitely good ; and, there-
fore, whatsoever God made, he made for himself (Prov. xvi. 4), that
whatsoever he made might bear a badge of this perfection upon it,
and be a discovery of his wonderful goodness: for the making
things for himself doth not signify any indigence in God, that he
made anything to increase his excellency (for that is capable of no
addition), but to manifest his excellency. God possessing everything
eminently in himself, did not create the world for any need he had
of it ; finite things were unable to make any accession to that which
is infinite. Man, indeed, builds a house to be a shelter to him against
wind and weather, and makes clothes to secure him from cold,
and plants gardens for his recreation and health. God is above all
those little helps; he did not make the world for himself in such a
kind, but for himself, i. e. the manifestation of himself and the riches
of his nature ; not to make himself blessed, but to discover his own
blessedness to his creatures, and to communicate something of it to
them. He did not garnish the world with so much bounty, that he
might live more happily than he did before, but that his rational
creatures might have fit conveniences. As the end for which God
demands the performance of our duty is not for his own advantage,
but for our good (Deut. x. 13), so the end why he conferred upon us
the excellency of such a being was for our good, and the discovery
of his goodness to us ; for had not God created the world, he had
been wholly unknown to any but himself; he produced creatures,
that he might be known : as the sun shines not only to dis-
cover other things, but to be seen itself in its beauty and bright-
ness. God would create things, because he would be known in his
glory and liberality ; hence is it that he created intellectual crea-
tures, because witliout them the rest of the creation could not be
taken notice of: it had been in some sort in vain ; for no nature
lower than an understanding nature, was able to know the marks of
God in the creation, and acknowledge him as God. In this regard,
God is good above all creatures, because he intends only to commu-
nicate his goodness in creation, not to acquire any goodness, or ex-
cellency from them, as men do in their framing of things. God is
all, and is destitute of nothing, and, therefore, nothing accrues to
230 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
liim by tlie creation, but the acknowledgment of bis goodness.
This goodness, therefore, must be the motive and end of all his
works.
III. The third thing, that God is good.
1. The more excellent anything is in nature, the more of good-
ness and kindness it hath. For we see more of love and kindness
in creatures that are endued with sense, to their descendants, than in
plants, that have only a principle of growth. Plants preserve their
seeds whole that are enclosed in them ; animals look to their young
only after they are dropped from them ; yet, after some time, take
no more notice of them than of a stranger that never had any birth
from them. Bu"t man, that hath a higher principle of reason,
cherisheth his offspring, and gives them marks of his goodness while
he lives, and leaves not the world at the time of his death without
some testimonies of it : much more must Grod, who is a higher prin-
ciple than sense or reason, be " good" and bountiful to all his off-
spring. The more perfect anything is, the more it doth communi-
cate itself. The sun is more excellent than the stars, and, therefore,
doth more sensibly, more extensively, disperse its liberal beams than
the stars do. And the better any man is, the more charitable he is ;
God being the most excellent nature, having nothing more excellent
than himself, because nothing more ancient than himself, who is the
Ancient of Days : there is nothing, therefore, better and more boun-
tiful than himself
2. He is the cause of all created goodness ; he must therefore him-
self be the Supreme Good. What good is in the heavens, is the pro-
duct of some Being above the earth ; and those varieties of goodness
in the earth, and several creatures, are somewhere in their fulness
and union : that, therefore, which possesses all those scattered good-
nesses in their fulness, must be all good, all that good which is dis-
played in creatures ; therefore sovereignly best. Whatsoever natural
or moral goodness there is in the world, in angels, or men, or inferior
creatures, is a line drawn from that centre, the bubblings of that
fountain. God cannot but be better than all, since the goodness that
is in creatures is the fruit of his own. If he were not good, he could
produce no good: he could not bestow what he had not. If the
creature be " good," as the apostle says " every creature is" (1 Tim.
iv. 4), he must needs be better than all, because they have nothing
but what is derived to them from him ; and much more goodness
than all, because finite beings are not capable of receiving into them,
and containing in themselves, all that goodness which is in an Infi-
nite Being ; when we search for good in creatures, they come short
of that satisfaction which is in God (Ps. iv. 6). As the certainty of a
first principle of all things, is necessarily concluded from the being
of creatures, and the upholding and sustaining power and virtue of
God is concluded from the mutability of those things in the world ;
whence we infer, that there must be some stable foundation of those
tottering things, some firm hinge upon which those changeable things
do move, without which there would be no stability in the kinds of
things, no order, no agreement, or union among them : so from the
goodness of everything, and their usefulness to us, we must conclude
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 231
him good, who made all those things. And since we find distinct
goodnesses in the creature, we must conclude that one principle
whence they did flow, excels in the glory of goodness : all those lit-
tle glimmerings of goodness which are scattered in the creatures, as
the image in the glass, represent the face, posture, motion of him
whose image it is, but not in the fulness of life and spirit, as in the
original ; it is but a shadoAv at the best, and speaks something more
excellent in the copy. As God hath an inliniteness of being above
them, so he hath a supremacy of goodness beyond them : what the}"
have, is but a participation from him ; what he hath, must be infi-
nitely supereminent above them. If anything be good by itself, it
must be infinitely good, it would set itself no bounds ; we must make
as many gods, as particulars of goodness in the world: but being
good by the bounty of another, that from whence they flow must be
the chief goodness. It is God's excellency and goodness, which, like
a beam, pierceth all things: he decks spirits with reason, endues
matter with form, furnisheth everything with useful qualities."! As
one beam of the sun illustrates fire, water, earth ; so one beam of
God enlightens and endows minds, souls, and universal nature:
nothing in the world had its goodness from itself, any more than
it had its being from itself The cause must be richer than the
effect.
But that which I intend is the defence of this goodness.
First, The goodness of God is not impaired by suflering sin to
enter into the world, and man to fall thereby. It is rather a testi-
mony of God's goodness, that he gave man an ability to be happy,
than any charge against his goodness, that he settled man in a capa-
city to be evil. God was first a benefactor to man, before man could
be a rebel against God. May it not be inquired, whether it had not
been against the wisdom of God, to have made a rational creature
with liberty, and not suffer him to act according to the nature he
was endowed with, and to follow his own choice for some time?
Had it been wisdom to frame a free creature, and totally to restrain
that creature from following its liberty ? Had it been goodness, as
it were, to force the creature to be happy against its will ? God's
goodness furnished Adam with a power to stand ; was it contrary to
his goodness, to leave Adam to a free use of that power? To make
a creature, and not let that creature act according to the freedom of
his nature, might have been thought to have been a blot upon his
wisdom, and a constraint upon the creature, not to make use of that
freedom of his nature, which the Divine goodness had bestowed
upon him. To what purpose did God make a law, to govern his
rational creature, and yet resolve that creature should not have his
choice, whether he would obey it or no ? Had he been really con-
strained to observe it, his observation of it could no more have been
called obedience, than the acts of brutes that have a kind of natural
constraint upon them by the instinct of their nature, can be called
obedience: in vain had God endowed a creature with so great and
noble a principle as liberty. Had it been goodness in God, after he had
'" Fieiuus iu Cou. Amor. Orat. 2. cap. p. 1326.
232 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
made a reasonable creature, to govern him in the same manner as he
does brutes by a necessary instinct? It was the goodness of God to
the nature of men and angels, to leave them in such a condition, to
be able to give him a voluntary obedience, a nobler offering than
the whole creation could present him with ; and shall this goodness
be undervalued, and accounted mean, because man made an ill use
of it, and turned it into wantonness ? As the unbelief of man doth
not diminish the redeeming grace of God (Eom. iii. 3), so neither
doth the fall of man lessen the creating goodness of God. Besides,
why should the permission of sin be thought more a blemish to his
goodness, than the providing a way of redemption for the destroying
the works of sin and the devil, be judged the glory of it, whereby
he discovered a goodness of grace that surpassed the bounds of na-
ture ? If this were a thing that might seem to obscure or deface
the goodness of God, in the permission of the fall of angels and
Adam, it was in order to bring forth a greater goodness in a more
illustrious pomp, to the view of the world (Eom. xi. 32): "God hath
concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all."
But if nothing could be alleged for the defence of his goodness in
this, it were most comely for an ignorant creature not to impeach
his goodness, but adore him in his proceedings, in the same language
the apostle doth (ver. 33): "O the depth of the riches both of the
wisdom and knowledge of God ! How unsearchable are his judg-
■uents, and his ways past finding out!"
Secondly, Nor is his goodness prejudiced, by not making all things
the equal subjects of it.
1. It is true all things are not subjects of an equal goodness. The
goodness of God is not so illustriously manifested in one thing as an-
other. In the creation he hath dropped goodness upon some, in giv-
ing them beings and sense, and poured it upon others in endowing
them with understanding and reason. The sun is full of light, but
it hath a want of sense ; brutes excel in the vigor of sense, but they
are destitute of the light of reason ; man hath a mind and reason
conferred on him, but he hath neither the acuteness of mind, nor the
quickness of motion equal with an angel. In providence also he doth
give abundance, and opens his hand to some ; to others he is more spar-
ing: he gives greater gifts of knowledge to some, while he lets oth-
ers remain in ignorance ; he strikes down some, and raiseth others ;
he afflicts some with a continual pain, while he blesseth others with
an uninterrupted health ; he hath chosen one nation wherein to set
up his gospel sun, and leaves another benighted in their own igno-
rance. " Known was God in Judea ; they were a peculiar people
alone of all the nations of the earth" (Deut. xiv. 2). He was not
equally good to the angels : he held forth his hand to support some
in their happy habitation, while he suffered others to sink in irrep-
arable ruin ; and he is not so diffusive here of his goodness to his
own as he will be in heaven. Here their sun is sometimes clouded,
but there all clouds and shades will be blown away, and melted into
nothing : instead of drops here, there will be above rivers of life. Is
any creature destitute of the open marks of his goodness, though all
are not enriched with those signal characters which he vouchsafes to
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 233
others? He that is unerring, pronounced everything good distinctly
in its production, and the wliole good in its universal perfection
(Gen. i. 4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31). Though he made not all things
equally good, yet he made nothing evil ; and though one creature in
regard of its nature may be better than another, yet an inferior crea-
ture, in regard of its usefulness in the order of the creation, may be
better than a superior. The earth hath a goodness in bringing forth
fruits, and the waters in the sea a goodness in multiplying food. That
any of us have a being is goodness ; that we have not so healthful a
being as others is unequal, but not unjust goodness. He is good to
all, though not in the same degree : " The whole earth is full of his
mercy" (Ps. cxix. 64). A good man is good to his cattle, to his ser-
vants ; he makes a provision for all, but he bestows not those floods
of bounty upon them that he doth upon his children. As there are
various gifts, but one Spirit (1 Cor. xii. 4), so there are various distri-
butions, but from one goodness ; the drops, as well as the fuller
streams, are of the same fountain, and relish of the nature of it ; and
though he do not make all men partake of the riches of his grace
after the corruption of their nature, is his goodness disgraced hereby ?
or doth he merit the title of cruelty ? Will any diminish the good-
ness of a father for his not setting up his son after he hath foolishly
and wilfully proved bankrupt ; or not rather admire his liberality in
giving him so large a stock to trade with when he first set him up
in the world ?
2. The goodness of God to creatures, is to be measured by their
distinct usefulness to the common end. It were better for a toad or
serpent to be a man, i, e. better for the creature itself, as it were ad-
vanced to a higher degree of being, but not better for the universe :
he could have made every pebble a living creature, and every liv-
ing creature a rational one ; but that he made everything as we
see, it was a goodness to the creature itself; but that he did not
make it of a higher elevation in nature, was a part of his goodness
to the rational creature. If all were rational creatures, there would
have been wanting creatures of an inferior nature for their con-
veniency ; there would have wanted the manifestation of the variety
and " fulness of his goodness." Had all things in the world been
rational creatures, much of that goodness which he hath communi-
cated to rational creatures would not have appeared : how could
man have showed his skill in taming and managing creatures more
mighty than himself? What materials would there have been to
manifest the goodness of God, bestowed upon the reasonable crea-
tures for framing excellent works and inventions ? Much of the
goodness of God had lain wrapt up from sense and understanding.
All other things partake not of so great a goodness as man ; yet
they are so subservient to that goodness poured forth on man, that
little of it could have been seen without them. Consider man,
every member in his body hath a goodness in itself; but a greater
goodness as referred to the wliole, without which the goodness of
the more noble part would not be manifested. The head is the
most excellent member, and hath greater impressions of Divine
goodness upon it, in regard that it is the organ of understanding :
234 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
were every member of the body a head, what a deformed monster
would man be ! If he were all head, where would be feet for
motion, and arms for action ? Man would be fit only for thought,
and not for exercise. The goodness of God in giving man so noble
a part as the head, could not be known Avithout a tongue, whereby
to express the conception of his mind ; and without feet and hands
whereby to act much of what he conceives, and determines, and
execute the resolves of his will ; all those have a goodness in them-
selves, an honor, a comeliness from the goodness of God (1 Cor.
xii. 22, 23), but not so great a goodness as the nobler part : yet, if
you consider them in their functions, and refer them to that excel-
lent member which they serve, their inferior goodness is absolutely
necessary to the goodness of the other ; without which, the good-
ness of the head and understanding would lie in obscurity, be in-
significant to the whole world, and, in a great measure, to the per-
son himself that wants such members.
3. " The goodness of God is more seen in this inequality." If
God were equally good to all, it would destroy commerce, unity, the
links of human society, damp charity, and render that useless which
is one of the noblest and delightfulest duties to be exercised here ;
it would cool prayer, which is excited by wants, and is a necessary
demonstration of the creature's dependence on God. But in this
inequality every man hath enough in his enjoyments for praise,
and in his wants, matter for his prayer. Besides the inequality of
the creature is the ornament of the world ; what pleasure could a
garden afi:brd if there were but one sort of flowers, or one sort of
plants? far less than when there is variety to please the sight, and
every other sense. Again, the freedom of Divine goodness, which
is the glory of it, is evident hereby ; had he been alike good to
all, it would have looked like a necessary, not a free act ; but by
the inequality, it is manifest that he doth not do it by a natural ne-
cessity as the sun shines, but by a voluntary liberty, as being the
entire Lord, and free disposer of his own goods ; and that is the
gift of the pleasure of his will, as well as the efflux of his nature,
that he hath not a goodness Avithout wisdom, but a wisdom as rich
as his bounty.
4. The goodness of God could not be equally communicated to
all, after their settlement in their several beings, — because they have
not a capacity in their natures for it : he doth bestow the marks of
his goodness according to that natural capacity of fitness he per-
ceives in his creatures ; as the water of the sea fills every creek and
gulf with different measures, according to the compass each have to
contain it ; and as the sun doth disperse light to the stars above,
and the places below, to some more, to some less, according to the
measures of their reception. God doth not do good to all creatures
according to the greatness of his own power, and the extent of his
own wealth, but according to the capacity of the subject; not so
much good as he can do, but so much good as the creature can re-
ceive. The creature would sink, if God would pour out all his
goodness upon it; as Moses would have perished, if God should
have shown him all his glory (Exod. xxxiii. 18, 20). He doth
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 235
manifest more good to liis reasonable creatures, because they are
more capable of acknowledging, and setting forth his goodness.
5. God ought to be allowed the free disposal of his own good-
ness. Is not God the Lord of his own gifts; and will you not allow
him the privilege of having some more peculiar objects of his love
and pleasure, which you allow without blame to man, and use your-
self without any sense of a crime ? Is a prince esteemed good,
though he be not equally bountiful to all his servants, nor equally
gracious in pardoning all his rebels; and shall the goodness of the
great Sovereign of the world be impeached, notwithstanding those
mighty distributions of it, because he will act according to his own
wisdom and pleasure, and not according to men's fancies and hu-
mors? Must purblind reason be the judge and director how God
shall dispose of his own, rather than his own infinite wisdom and
sovereign will ? Is God less good, because there are numberless no-
things, which he is able to bring into being ? He could create a
world of more creatures than he hath done: doth he, therefore,
wish evil to them, by letting them remain in that nothing from
whence he could draw them ? No ; but he denies that good to
them, which he is able, if he pleased, to confer upon them. If God
doth not give that good to a creature which it wants by its own
demerit, can he be said to wish evil to it ; or, only to deny that
goodness which the creature hath forfeited, and which is at God's
liberty to retain or disperse?" Though God cannot but love his
own image where he finds it, yet when this image is lost, and the
devil's image voluntary received, he may choose whether he will
manifest his goodness to such a one or no. Will you not account
that man liberal, that distributes his alms to a great company,
though he rejects some ? Much more will you account him good,
if he rejects none that implore him, but dispenseth his doles to
every one upon their petition : and is he not good, because he
will not bestow a farthing upon those that address not themselves
to him ? God is so good, that he denies not the best good to
those that seek him : he hath promised life and happiness to them
that do so. Is he less good, because he will not distribute his
goodness to those that despise him ? Though he be good, yet his
wisdom is the rule of dispensing his goodness.
6. The severe punishment of offenders, and the afflictions he in-
flicts upon his servants, are no violations of his goodness. The
notion of God's vindictive justice is as naturally inbred, and im-
planted in the mind of man, as that of his goodness, and those two
sentiments never shocked one another. The heathen never thought
him bad, because he was just; nor unrighteous, because he was
good. God being infinitely good, cannot possibly intend or act'
anything but what is good : " Thou art good, and thou doest
good ;" i. e. whatsoever thou dost is good, whatsoever it be, pleasant
or painful to the creature (Ps. cxix. 68) : punishments themselves
are not a moral evil in the person that inflicts, tliongh they are a
natural evil in the person that suffers them.° In ordering pim-
ishment to the wicked, good is added to evil ; in ordering im-
» Camero, p. 30. <» Boetius.
236 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
punity to the wicked, evil is added to evil. To punish wicked-
ness is right, therefore good : to leave men uncontrolled in their
wickedness, is unrighteous, and therefore bad. But, again, shall
his justice in some few judgments in the world, impeach his good-
ness, more than his wonderful patience to sinners is able to silence
the calumnies against him? Is not his hand fuller of gracious
doles, than of dreadful thunderbolts ? Doth he not oftener seem
forgetful of his justice, when he pours out upon the guilty the
streams of his mercy, than to be forgetful of his goodness, when he
sprinkles in the world some drops of his wrath ?
First, God's judgments in the world, do not infringe his goodness;
for,
1. The justice of God is a part of the goodness of his nature.
God himself thought so, when he told Moses he would make all his
goodness pass before him (Exod. xxxiii. 19) : he leaves not out in
that enumeration of the parts of it, his resolution, by no means to
clear the guilty, but to visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the
children (Exod, xxxiv. 7). It is a property of goodness to hate evil,
and, therefore, a property of goodness to punish it : it is no less
righteousness to give according to the deserts of a person in a way
of punishment, than to reward a person that obeys his precepts in a
way of recompense. Whatsoever is righteous is good ; sin is evil ;
and, therefore, whatsoever doth witness against it, is good ; his good-
ness, therefore, shines in his justice, for without being just he could
not be good. Sin is a moral disorder in the world : every sin is in-
justice : injustice breaks God's order in the world ; there is a neces-
sity tlierefore of justice to put the world in order. Punishment
orders the person committing the injury, who, when he will not be
in the order of obedience, must be in the order of suffering for God's
honor. The goodness of all things which God pronounced so, con-
sisted in their order and beneficial helpfulness to one another : when
this order is inverted, the goodness of the creature ceaseth : if it be
a bad thing to spoil this order, is it not a part of Divine goodness to
reduce them into order, that they may be reduced in some measure
to their goodness? Do we ever account a governor less in goodness,
because he is exact in justice, and punisheth that which makes a
disorder in his government ? and is it a diminution of the Divine
goodness, to punish that which makes a disorder in the world ? As
wisdom without goodness would be a serpentine craft, and issue in
destruction ; so goodness without justice would be impotent indul-
gence, and cast things into confusion. When Abel's blood cried
out for engeance against Cain, it spake a good thing; Christ's
blood speaking better things than the blood of Abel, implies that
Abel's blood spake a good thing ; the comparative implies a positive
(Ileb. xii. 24). If it were the goodness of that innocent blood to de-
mand justice, it could not be a badness in the Sovereign of the world
to execute it. How can God sustain the part of a good and right-
eous judge, if he did not preserve human society? and how would
it be preserved, without manifesting himself by public judgments
against public wrongs ? Is there not as great a necessity that good-
ness should have instruments of judgment, as that there should be
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 237
prisons, bridewells, and gibbets, in a good commonwealth ? Did not
the thunderbolts of God sometimes roar in the ears of men, they
would sin with a higher hand than they do, fly more in the face of
God, make the world as much a moral, as it was at first a natural
chaos: the ingenuity of men would be damped, if there were not
something to work upon their fears, to keep them in their due order.
Impunity of the innocent person is worse than any punishment. It
is a misery to want medicines for the cure of a sharp disease ; and a
mark of goodness in a prince to consult for the security of the politi-
cal body, by cutting off a gangrened and corrupting member : and
wliat prince would deserve the noble title of good, if he did not re-
strain, by punishment, those evils which impair the public welfare?
Is it not necessary that the examples of sin, whereby others have
been encouraged to wickedness, should be made examples of justice,
whereby the same persons and others may be discouraged from what
before they were greedily inclined unto ? Is not a hatred of what
is bad and unwortliy, as much a part of Divine goodness, as a love
to what is excellent, and bears a resemblance to himself? Could he
possibly be accounted good, that should bear the same degree of
affection to a prodigious vice, as to a sublime virtue? and should
behave himself in the same manner of carriage to the innocent and
culpable ? could you account him good, if he did always with plea-
sure behold evil, and perpetually suffer the oppressions of the inno-
cent under unpunished wickedness? How should we know the
goodness of the Divine nature, and his affection to the goodness of
his creature, if he did not by some acts of severity witness his impla-
cable aversion against sin, and his care to preserve the good govern-
ment of the world ? If corrupted creatures should always be ex-
empt from the effects of his indignation, he would declare himself
not to be infinitely good, because he would not be really righteous.
No man thinks it a natural vice in the sun, by the power of its
scorching heat, to dry up and consume the unwholesome vapors of
the air ; nor are the demonstrations of Divine justice any blots upon
his goodness, since they are both for the defence and glory of his
holiness, and for the preservation of the beauty and order of the
world.
2. Is it not part of the goodness of God to make laws, and annex
threatenings ; and shall it be an impeachment of his goodness to
support them ? The more severe laws are made for deterring evil,
the better is that prince accounted in making such provision for the
welfare of the community. The design of laws, and the design of
upholding the honor of those laws by the punishment of offenders,
is to promote goodness and restrain evil ; the execution of those
laws must be therefore pursuant to the same design of goodness
which first settled them. Would it not be contrary to goodness, to
suffer that which was designed for the support of goodness, to be
scorned and slighted ? It would neither be prudence nor goodness,
but folly and vice, to let laws, which were made to promote virtue,
be broken with impunity. Would not this be to weaken virtue,
and give a new life and vigor to vice ? Not only the righteousness
of the law itself, but the wisdom of the Lawgiver would be exposed
238 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
to contempt, if the violations of it remained uncontrolled, and the
violence offered by men passed unpunished. None but will ac-
knowledge the Divine precepts to be the image of the righteousness
of God, and beneficial for the common good of the world (Rom, vii.
12): " The law is holy, just, aud good," and so is every precept of
it ; the law is for no other end, but to keep the creature in subjection
to, and dependence on God ; this dependence could not be preserved
Avithout a law, nor that law be kept in reputation, without a penalty ;
nor would that penalty be significant without an execution. Every
law loseth the nature of a laAV, without a penalty ; and the penalty
loseth its vigor, without the infliction of it : how can those laws at-
tain their end, if the transgressions of them be not punished ? Would
not the wickedness of the men's hearts be encouraged by such a kind
of uncomely goodness ? and all the threatenings be to no other end,
than to engender vain and fruitless fears in the minds of men ? Is
it good for the majesty of God to suffer itself to be trampled on by
his vassals ? to suffer men, by their rebellion, to level his law with
the wickedness of their own hearts ; and by impunity slight his own
glory, and encourage their disobedience? Who would give any
man, any prince, any father, that should do so, the name of a good
governor ? If it were a fruit of Divine goodness to make laws, is it
contrary to goodness to support the honor of them ? It is every
whit as rational and as good to vindicate the honor of his laws by
justice, as at first to settle them by authority ; as much goodness to
vindicate it from contempt, as at first to enact it ; as it is as much
wisdom to preserve a law, as at first to frame it : shall his precepts
be thought by him unworthy of a support, that were not thought by
him unworthy to be made ? The same reason of goodness that led
him to enjoin them, Avill lead him to revenge them. Did evil appear
odious to him, while he enacted this law ; and Avould not his good-
ness, as well as his wisdom, appear odious to him, if he did never
execute it ? AVould it not be a denial of his own goodness, to be
led by the foolish and corrupt judgment of his creatures, and slight
his own law, because his rebels spurn at it ? Since he valued it be-
fore they could actually contemn it, would he not misjudge his own
law and his own wisdom, discount from the true value of them, con-
demn his own acts, censure his precepts as unrighteous, and there-
fore evil and injurious ? remove the differences between good and
evil, look upon vice as virtue, and wickedness as righteousness, if
he thought his commands unworthy a vindication ? How can there
be any support to the honor of his precepts, without sometimes exe-
cuting the severity of his threatenings ? And as to his threatenings
of punishment for the breach of his laws, are they not designed to
discourage wickedness, as the promises of reward were designed to
encourage goodness ? Hath he not multiplied the one, to scare men
from sin, as well as the other, to allure men to obedience ? Is not
the same truth engaged to support the one, as well as the other ; and
how could he be abundant in goodness, if he were not abundant in
truth (Exod, xxxiv, 6) ? both are linked together ; if he neglected
his truth, he would be out of love with his own goodness ; since it
cannot be manifested in performing the promises to the obedient, if
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 239
it be not also manifested in executing liis tlireatenings upon tlie re-
bellious. Had not God annexed tlireatenings to his laws, lie would
have had no care of his own goodness. The order between God and
the creature, wherein the declaration of his goodness consisted, might
have been easily broken by his creature; man would have freed
himself from subjection to God; been unaccountable to him, had
this consisted with that infinite goodness whereby he loves himself,
and loves his creatures. As therefore the annexing threatenings to
his law, was a part of his goodness ; the execution of them is so far
from being a blemish, that it is the honor of his goodness. The re-
wards of obedience, and the punishment of disobedience, refer to the
same end, viz. the due manifestation of the valuation of his own lavv^,
the glorifying his own goodness, which enjoined so beneficial a law
for man, and the support of that goodness in the creatures, which by
that law he demands righteously and kindly of them.
3. Hence it follows, That not to punish evil, would be a want of
goodness to himself. The goodness of God is an indulgent good-
ness, in a way of wisdom and reason; not a fond goodness, in a
way of weakness and folly : would it not be a weakness, always to
bear with the impenitent ? a want of expressing a goodness to good-
ness itself? Would not goodness have more reason to complain, for
a want of justice to rescue it, than men have reason to complain, for
the exercise of justice in the vindication of it? If God established
all things in order, with infinite wisdom and goodness, and God
silently beheld, forever, this order broken, would he not either
charge himself with a want of power, or a want of will, to preserve
the marks of his own goodness ? Would it be a kindness to himself
to be careless of the breaches of his own orders ? His throne would
shake, yea, sink from under him, if justice, whereby he sentenceth,
and judgment, whereby he executes his sentence, were not the sup-
ports of it (Ps. Ixxxix. 14). "Justice and judgment are the habita-
tion of thy throne, P'sn, the stability or foundation of thy throne.
So, Ps. xcii. 2. Man would forget his relation to God ; God would
be unknown to be sovereign of the world, were he careless of the
breaches of his own order (Ps. ix. 16). " The Lord is known by the
judgments which he executes;" is it not a part of his goodness, to
preserve the indispensable order between himself and his creatures ?
His own sovereignty, which is good, and the subjection of the crea-
ture to him as sovereign, which is also good ; the one would not be
maintained in its due place, nor the other restrained in due limits,
without punishment. Would it be a goodness in him to see good-
ness itself trampled upon constantly, without some time or other
appearing for the relief of it ? Is it not a goodness to secure his own
honor, to prevent further evil ? Is it not a goodness to discourage
men by judgments, sometimes, from a contempt and ill use of his
bounty ; as well as sometimes patiently to bear with them, and wait
upon them for a reformation ? Must God be bad to himself, to be
kind to his enemies ? And shall it be acounted an unkindness, and
a mark of evil in him, not to suffer himself to be always outraged
and defied? The world is wronged by sin, as well as God is injured
by it. How could God be good to himself, if he righted not his
240 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
own honor ? or be a good governor of the world, if he did not some-
times witness against the injuries it receives sometimes from the
works of his hands ? Would he be good to himself, as a God, to be
careless of his own honor ? or good, as the Rector of the world, and
be regardless of the world's confusion ? That God should give an
eternal good to that creature that declines its duty, and despiseth
his sovereignty, is not agreeable to the goodness of his wisdom, or
that of his righteousness. It is a part of God's goodness to love him-
self Would he love his sovereignty, if he saw it daily slighted,
without sometimes discovering how much he values the honor of it?
Would he have any esteem for his own goodness, if he beheld it
trampled upon, without any will to vindicate it ? Doth mercy de-
serve the name of cruelty, because it pleads against a creature that
hath so often abused it, and hath refused to have any pity exercised
towards it in a righteous and regular way? Is sovereignty destitute
of goodness, because it preserves its honor against one that would
not have it reign over him ? Would he not seem, by such a regard-
lessness, to renounce his own essence, undervalue and undermine
his own goodness, if he had not an implacable aversion to whatso-
ever is contrary to it? If men turn grace into wantonness, is it not
more reasonable he should turn his grace into justice ? All his attri-
butes, which are parts of his goodness, engage him to punish sin ;
without it, his authority would be vilified, his purity stained, his
power derided, his truth disgraced, his justice scorned, his wisdom
slighted ; he would be thought to have dissembled in his laws ; and be
judged, according to the rules of reason, to be void of true goodness.
4. Punishment is not the primary intention of God. It is his
goodness that he hath no mind to punish ; and therefore he hath put
a bar to evil, by his prohibitions and threatenings, that he might
prevent sin, and, consequently, any occasions of severity against
his creature.? The principal intention of God, in his law, was
to encourage goodness, that he might reward it; and when, by
the commission of evil, God is provoked to punish, and takes the
sword into his hand, he doth not act against the nature of his
goodness, but against the first intention of his goodness in his pre-
cepts, which was to reward ; as a good judge principally intends,
in the exercise of his ofhce, to protect good men from violence, and
maintain the honor of the laws, yet, consequently, to punish bad
men, without which the protection of the good would not be secured,
nor the honor of the law be supported ; and a good judge, in the ex-
ercise of his office, doth principally intend the encouragement of the
good, and wisheth there were no wickedness that might occasion
punishment ; and, when he doth sentence a malefactor, in order to
the execution of him, he doth not act against the goodness of his
nature, but pursuant to the duty of his place, but wisheth he had no
occasion for such severity. Thus God seems to speak of himself
(Isa. xxviii. 21); he calls the act of his wrath his " strange work, his
strange act;" a work, not against his nature, as the Governor of the
world, but against his first intention, as Creator, which was to mani-
fest his goodness ; therefore he moves with a slow pace in those acts,
P Zaruovecius, de Satisfact. Part I. cap. i. pp. 3, 4.
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 241
brings out liis judgments witli relentings of heart, and seems to cast
out his thunderbolts with a trembhng hand : " He doth not afflict
wilHngly, nor grieve the children of men" (Lam, iii. 33) ; and there-
fore he " delights not in the death of a sinner" (Ezek. xxxiii. 11);
not in death, as death ; in punishment, as punishment ; but as it re-
duceth the suffering creature to the order of his precept, or reduceth
him into order under his power, or reforms others who are specta-
tors of the punishment upon a criminal of their own nature ; God
only hates the sin, not the sinner ; he desires only the destruction
of the one, not the misery of the other ; the nature of a man doth not
dis]3lease him, because it is a work of his own goodness, but the na-
ture of the sinner displeaseth him, because it is a work of the sinner's
own extravagance. 1 Divine goodness pitcheth not its hatred prima-
rily upon the sinner, but upon the sin : but since he cannot punish
the sin without punishing the subject to which it cleaves, the sinner
falls under his lash. AVhoever regards a good judge as an enemy to
the malefactor, but as an enemy to his crime, when he doth sentence
and execute him ?
5. Judgments in the world have a goodness in them, therefore
they are no impeachments of the goodness of God.
(1.) A goodness in their preparations. He sends not judgments
mthout giving warnings ; his justice is so far from extinguishing his
goodness, that his goodness rather shines out in the preparations of
his justice; he gives men time, and sends them messengers, to per-
suade them to another temjDcr of mind, that he may change his hand,
and exercise his liberality where he threatened his severity. When
the heathen had presages of some evil upon their persons or countries,
they took them for invitations to repentance, excited themselves to
many acts of devotion, implored his favor, and often experimented it.
Tlie Ninevites, upon the proclamation of the destruction of their city
by Jonah, fell to petitioning him, whereby they signified, that they
thought him good, though he were just, and more prone to pity than
severity ; and their humble carriage caused the arrows he had ready
against them to drop out of his hands (Jonah iii. 9, 10). When he
brandisheth his sword, he wishes for some to stand in that gap, to mol-
lify his anger, that he might not strike the fatal blow (Ezek. xxxii. 30);
" I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge, and
stand in the gap before me in the land, that I should not destroy it."
He was desirous that his creatures might be in a capacity to receive
the marks of his bounty.'' This he signified, not obscurely, to Moses
(Exod. xxxii. 10), when he spoke to him to let him alone, that his
anger might wax hot against the people, after they had made a
golden calf and worshipped it. " Let me alone," said God : not that
Moses restrained him, saith Chrysostom, who spake nothing to him,
but stood silent before him, and knew nothing of the people's idola-
try ; but God would give him an occasion of praying for them, that
he might exercise his mercy towards them ; yet in such a manner,
that the people, being struck with a sense of their crime, and the
horror of Divine justice, they might be amended for the future, when
they should understand that their death was not averted by their
<i Suarcz, Vol. I. de Deo, lib. iii. cap. 1. p. 146. ' Cressel. Authol. Decad. II. p. 162.
VOL. II. — IG
242 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
own merit or intercession, but by Moses, his patronage of them, and
pleading for tliem ; as we see sometimes masters and fathers angry
with their servants and children, and preparing themselves to punish
them, but secretly wish some friend to intercede for them, and take
them out of their hands : there is a goodness shining in the prepara-
tions of his judgments.
2. A goodness in the execution of them. They are good, as they
shew God disaffected to evil, and conduce to the glory of his holi-
ness, and deter others from jjresumptuous sins (Deut. x. 3) : "I will
be glorified in all that draw near unto me ; — in his judgment upon
Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, for offering strange fire. By
them God preserves the excellent footsteps of his own goodness in
his creation and his law, and curbs the licentiousness of men, and
contains them within the bounds of their duty. " Thy judgments are
good," saith the Psalmist (Ps. cxix ; xxxix) ; i. e. thy judicial pro-
ceedings upon the wicked ; for he desires God there to turn away,
by some signal act, the reproach the wicked cast upon him. Can
there be any thing more miserable than to live in a world full of
wickedness, and void of the marks of Divine goodness and justice to
repress it? Were there not judgments in the world, men would for-
get God, be insensible of his government of the world, neglect the
exercises of natural and christian duties ; religion would be at its
last gasp, and expire among them, and men would pretend to break
God's precepts by God's authority. Are they not good, then, as
they restrain the creature from further evils ; affright others from
the same crimes which they were inclinable to commit? He strikes
some, to reform others that are spectators ; as Apollonius tamed
pigeons by beating dogs before them. Punishments are God's
gracious warnings to others, not to venture upon the crimes which
they see attended with such judgments. The censers of Corah,
Dathan, and Abiram, were to be wrought into plates for a covering
of the altar, to abide there as a memento to others, not to approach
to the exercise of the priestly ofl&ce without an authoritative call
from God (Numb. xvi. 38, 40) ; and those judgments exercised in
the former ages of the world, were intended by Divine goodness for
warnings, even in evangelical times. Lot's wife was turned into a
pillar of salt, to prevent men from apostasy ; that use Christ himself
makes of it, in the exhortation against "turning back" (Luke xvii.
32, 33). And (Ps. Iviii. 10): "The righteous shall wash his feet in
the blood of the wicked." When God shall drench his sword in the
blood of the wicked, the righteous shall take occasion from thence,
to purify themselves, and reform their ways, and look to the paths
.of their feet. Would not impunity be hurtful to the world, and
men receive encouragement to sin, if severities sometimes did not
bridle them from the practice of their inclinations ? Sometimes the
sinner himself is reformed, and sometimes removed from being an
example to others. Though thunder be an aflfrightening noise, and
lightning a scaring flash, yet they have a liberal goodness in them,
in shattering and consuming those contagious vapors which burden
and infect the air, and thereby render it more clear and healthful.
Again, there are few acts of Divine justice upon a people, but are in
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 243
the very execution of tliem attended witli demonstrations of liis
goodness to others ; he is a protector of his own, while he is a re-
venger on his enemies; when he rides upon his horses in anger
against some, his ehariots are " chariots of salvation" to others (Hab.
iii. 8). Terror makes way for salvation; the overthrow of Pharaoh
and the strength of his nation, completed the deliverance of the Is-
raelites. Had not the Egyptians met with their destruction, the Is-
raelites had unavoidably met with their ruin, against all the promises
God had made to them, and to the defamation of his former justice,
in the former plagues upon their oppressors. The death of Herod
was the security of Peter, and the rest of the maliced christians.
The gracious deliverance of good men is often occasioned by some
severe stroke upon some eminent persecutor ; the destruction of the
oppressor is the rescue of the innocent. Again, where is there a
judgment but leaves more criminals behind than it sweeps away,
that deserved to be involved in the same fate with the rest ? More
Egyptians were left behind to possess and enjoy the goodness of
their fruitful land, than they were that were hurried into another
world by the overflowing waves ; is not this a mark of goodness as
well as severity ? Again, is it not a goodness in Him not to pour
out judgments according to the greatness of his power ? to go gradu-
ally to work with those whom he might in a moment blow to des-
truction with one breath of his mouth ? Again, he sometimes exer-
ciseth judgments upon some, to form a new generation for himself;
he destroyed an old world, to raise a new one more righteous, as a
man pulls down his old buildings to erect a sounder and more stately
fabric. To sum up what hath been said in this particular ; how
could God be a friend to goodness, if he were not an enemy to evil ?
how could he shew his enmity to evil, without revenging the abuse
and contempt of his goodness ? God would rather have the repen-
tance of a sinner than his punishment ; but the sinner would
rather expose himself to the severest frowns of God, than pursue
those methods wherein he hath settled the conveyances of his kind-
ness ; " You will not come to me that you might have life," saith
Christ. How is eternity of punishment inconsistent with the good-
ness of God ? nay, how can God be good without it ? If wickedness
always remain in the nature of man, is it not fit the rod should al-
ways remain on the back of men ? Is it a want of goodness that keeps
an incorrigible offender in chains in a bridewell ? While sin re-
mains, it is fit it should be punished; would not God else be an
enemy to his own goodness, and shew favor to that which doth
abuse it, and is contrary to it? He hath threatened eternal flames
to sinners, that he might the more strongly excite them to a refor-
mation of their ways, and a practice of his precepts. In those threat-
enings he hath manifested his goodness ; and can it be bad in him
to defend what his goodness hath commanded, and execute what
his goodness hath threatened ? His truth is also a part of his good-
ness ; for it is nothing but his goodness performing that which it ob-
liged him to do. That is the first thing; severe judgments in the
world are no impeachments of his goodness.
Secondly, The afflictions God inflicts upon his servants, are no
244 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
violations of his goodness. Sometimes God afflicts men for their
temporal and eternal good ; for the good of their grace, in order to
the good of their glory ; which is a more excellent good, than afflic-
tions can be an evil. The heathens reflected upon Ulysses' hard-
ship, as a mark of Jupiter's goodness and love to him, that his virtue
might be more conspicuous. By strong persecutions brought upon
the church, her lethargy is cured, her chaff purged, the glorious
fruit of the gospel brought forth in the lives of her children ; the
number of her proselytes multiply, and the strength of her weak
ones is increased, by the testimonies of courage and constancy which
the stronger present to them in their sufferings. Do these good ef-
fects speak a want of goodness in God, who brings them into this
condition ? By those he cures his people of their corruptions, and
promotes their glory, by giving them the honor of suffering for the
truth, and raiseth their spirits to a divine pitch. The epistles of
Paul to the Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, wrote by him
while he was in Nero's chains, seem to have a higher strain than
some of those he wrote when he was at liberty. As for afflictions,
they are marks of a greater measure of fatherly goodness than he
discovers to those that live in an uninterrupted prosperity, who are
not dignified with that glorious title of sons, as those are that "he
chasteneth" (Heb. xii. 6, 7). Can any question the goodness of the
father that corrects his child to prevent his vice and ruin, and breed
him up to virtue and honor ? It would be a cruelty in a father leav-
ing his child without chastisement, to leave him to that misery an
ill education would reduce him to : " God judges us that we might
not be condemned with the world" (1 Cor. xi. 82). Is it not a greater
goodness to separate us from the world to happiness by his scourge,
than to leave us to the condemnation of the world for our sins ? Is
it not a greater goodness to make us smart here, than to see us
scorched hereafter ? As he is our Shepherd, it is no part of his en-
mity or ill-will to us, to make us feel sometimes the weight of his
shepherd's crook, to reduce us from our struggling. The visiting
our transgressions with rods, and our iniquities with stripes, is one
of the articles of the covenant of grace, wherein the greatest lustre
of his goodness appears (Ps. Ixxxix. 33). The advantage and gain
of our afflictions is a greater testimony of his goodness to us, than the
pain can be of his unkindness ; the smart is well recompensed by
the accession of clearer graces. It is rather a high mark of good-
ness, than an argument for the want of it, that he treats us as his
children, and will not suffer us to run into that destruction we are
more ambitious of, than the happiness he hath prepared for us, and
by afflictions he fits us for the partaking of, by " imparting his holi-
ness," together with the inflicting his rod (Heb. xii. 10). That is the
third thing, God is good.
IV. The fourth thing is the manifestation of this goodness in Crea-
tion^ Redemption, and Providence.
First, In Creation. This is apparent from what hath been said
before, that no other attribute could be the motive of his creating,
bat his goodness ; his goodness was the cause that he made any
tiling, and his wisdom was the cause that he made every thing in
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 245
order and harmony. He pronounced " every thing good," i. e. such
as became his goodness to bring forth into being, and rested in
them more, as they were stamps of his goodness, than as the}^
were marks of his power, or beams of his wisdom. And if all crea-
tures were able to answer to this question, What that was which
create! them ? the answer would be, Almighty power, but employed
by the motion of infinite goodness.^ All the varieties of creatures
are so many apparitions of this goodness. Though God be one, yet
he cannot appear as a God but in variety. As the greatness of
power is not manifest but in variety of works, and an acute under-
standing not discovered but in variety of reasonings, so an infinite
goodness is not so apparent as in variety of communications.
1, The creation proceeds from goodness. It is the goodness of
God to extract such multitutes of things from the depths of nothing.
Because God is good, things have a being ; if he had not been good,
nothing could have been good ; nothing could have imparted that
which it possessed not ; nothing but goodness could have communi-
cated to things an excellency, which before they wanted. Being is
much more excellent than nothing. By this goodness, therefore, the
whole creation was brought out of the dark womb of nothing ; this
formed their natures, this beautified them with their several orna-
ments and perfections, whereby everything was enabled to act for
the good of the common world. God did not create things because
he was a living Being, but because he was a good Being. No crea-
ture brought forth anything in the world merely because it is, but
because it is good, and by a communicated goodness fitted for such
a production. If God had been the creating principle of things only
as he was a living Being, or as he was an understanding Being, then
all things should have partaken of life and understanding, because
all things were to bear some characters of the Deity upon them. If
by understanding, solely, God were the Creator of all things, all things
should have borne the mark of the Deity upon them, and should
have been more or less understanding ; but he created things as he
was good, and by goodness he renders all things more or less like
himself: hence everything is accounted more noble, not in regard
of its being, but in regard of the beneficialness of its nature. The
being of things was not the end of God in creating, but the goodness
of their being. God did not rest from his works because they were
his works, i. e. because they had a being ; but because they had a
good being (Gen. i.) ; because they were naturally useful to the uni-
verse : nothing was more pleasing to him, than to behold those shad-
ows and copies of his own goodness in his works.
2. Creation was the first act of goodness without hunself. When
he was alone from eternity, he contented himself with himself,
abounding in his own blessedness, delighting in that abundance ; he
was incomprehensively rich in the possession of an unstained felicity.'
This creation was the first efflux of his goodness without himself:
for the work of creation cannot be called a work of mercy." Mercy
supposeth a creature miserable, but that whicli hath no being is suD-
' Cusan, p. 228. » Petav. Theolog. Dogmat. Toiu. i. o. 402.
" Lessius, de Perfect. Div, p. 100.
246 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
ject to no misery ; for to be miserable supposetli a nature in being,
and deprived of tliat good wHch belongs to the pleasure and felicity
of nature ; but since there was no being, there could be no misery.
The creation, therefore, was not an act of mercy, but an act of sole
goodness ; and, therefore, it was the speech of an heathen, that when
God first set upon the creation of the world,- he transformed himself
into love and goodness, Eig efjwru ^tBiuSlr^dui luv Oabv [xiXlonu 8rjUtovi))'tlr,^
This led forth, and animated his power, the first moment it drew the
universe out of the womb of nothing. And,
3. There is not one creature but hath a character of his goodness.
The whole world is a map to represent, and a herald to proclaim
this perfection. It is as difficult not to see something of it in every
creature with the eye of our minds, as it is not to see the beams of
the shining sun with those off our bodies. " He is good to all" (Ps.
cxlv. 9) ; he is, therefore, good in all ; not a drop of the creation, but
is a drop of his goodness. These are the colors worn upon the heads
of every creature. As in every spark the light of the fire is mani-
fested, so doth every grain of the creation wear the visible badges
of this perfection. In all the lights, the Father of Lights hath made
the riches of goodness apparent ; no creature is silent in it ; it is legi-
ble to all nations in every work of his hands. That, as it is said of
Christ (Ps. xl. 7), " In the volume of thy book it is written of me :"
In the volume of the book of the Scripture it is written of me, and
my goodness in redemption : so it may be said of God, In the vol-
ume of the book of the creature it is \\Titten of me, and my good-
ness in creation. Every creature is a page in this book, whose "line
is gone through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world"
(Ps. xix. 4) ; though, indeed, the less goodness in some is obscured
by the more resplendent goodness he hath imparted unto others.
What an admirable piece of goodness is it to communicate life to a
fly ! How should we stand gazing upon it, till we turn our eye in-
wards, and view our own frame, which is much more ravishing !
But let us see the goodness of God in the creation of man, — in
the being and nature of man. God hath, with a liberal hand, conferred
upon every creature the best being it was capable of in that station
and order, and conducing to that end and use in the world he in-
tended it for. But when you have run over all the measures of
goodness God hath poured forth upon other creatures, you will find
a greater fulness of it in the nature of man, whom he hath placed in
a more sublime condition, and endued with choicer prerogatives,
than other creatures : he was made but little lower than the angels,
and much more loftily crowned with glory and honor than other
creatures (Ps. viii. 5). Had it not been for Divine goodness, that ex-
cellent creature had lain wrapt up in the abyss of nothing ; or if he
had called it out of nothing, there might have been less of skill and
less of goodness displayed in the forming of it, and a lesser kind of
being imparted to it, than what he hath conferred.
1. How much of goodness is visible in his body ! God drew out
some part of the dust of the ground, and copied out this perfection,
as well as that of his power, on that mean matter, by erecting it into
* Pherecydes.
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 247
the form of a man, quickening that earth by the inspiration of a
" Kving soul" (Gren, ii, 7) : of this matter he composed an excellent
body, in regard of the majesty of the face, ercctness of its stature,
and grace of every part. How neatly hath he wrought this "taber-
nacle of clay, this earthly house," as the apostle calls it (2 Cor. v. 1) !
a curious wrought piece of needle-work, a comely artifice (Ps. cxxxix.
15), an embroidered case for an harmonious lute. What variety of
members, Avith a due proportion, without confusion, beautiful to
sight, excellent for use, powerful for strength! It hath eyes to
conduct its motion, to serve in matter for the food, and delight of
the understanding ; ears to let in the pleasure of sound, to convey
intelligence of the affairs of the world, and the counsels of heaven,
to a more noble mind. It hath a tongue to express and sound forth
what the learned inhabitant in it thinks ; and hands to act what the
inward counseller directs ; and feet to support the fabric. It is tem-
pered with a kindly heat, and an oily moisture for motion, and en-
dued with conveyances for air, to qualify the fury of the heat, and
nourishment to supply the decays of moisture. It is a cabinet fitted
by Divine goodness for the enclosing a rich jewel ; a palace made
of dust, to lodge in it the viceroy of the world ; an instrument dis-
posed for the operations of the nobler soul which he intended to
unite to that refined matter. What is there in the situation of ever}^
part, in the proportion of every member, in the usefulness of every
limb and string to the offices of the body, and service of the soul ;
what is there in the whole structure that cloth not inform us of the
goodness of God ?
2. But what is this to that goodness which shines in the nature of
the soul ? Who can express the wonders of that comeliness that is
wrapped up in this mask of clay ? A soul endued with a clearness
of understanding and freedom of will : faculties no sooner framed,
but they were able to produce the operation they were intended for ;
a soul tliat excelled the whole world, that comprehended the whole
creation; a soul that evidenced the extent of its skill in giving
names to all that variety of creatures which had issued out of the
hand of Divine Power (Gen. ii. 19) ; a soul able to discover tlie na-
ture of other creatures, and manage and conduct their motions. In
the ruins of a palace we may see the curiosity displayed, and the cost
expended in the building of it ; in the ruins of this fallen structure,
we still find it capable of a mighty knowledge ; a reason able to reg-
ulate affairs, govern states, order more mighty and massy creatures,
find out witty inventions ; there is still an understanding to irradiate
the other faculties, a mind to contemplate its OAvn Creator, a judg-
ment to discern the differences betAveen good and evil, vice and vir-
tue, Avhich the goodness of God hath not granted to any loAver crea-
ture. These excellent faculties, together A\dth the poAver of self-re-
flection, and the swiftness of the inind in running over the things of
the creation, are astonishing gleams of the vast goodness of that Di-
vine Hand Avhich ennobled this frame. To the other creatures of
this Avorld, God had given out some small mites from his treasury ;
but in the perfections of man, he hath opened the more secret parts
248 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
of liis exchequer, and liberally bestowed those doles, wliich lie bath
not expended upon the other creatures on earth.
3, Besides this, he did not only make man so noble a creature in
his frame, but " he made him after his own image in holiness." He
imparted to him a spark of his own comeliness, in order to a com-
munion with himself in happiness, had man stood his ground in his
trial, and used those faculties well, which had been the gift of his
Bountiful Creator: he "made man after his image," after his own
image (Gen. i, 26, 27) ; that as a coin bears the image of the prince,
so did the soul of man the " image of God :" not the image of angels,
though the speech be in the plural number: " Let us make man."
It is not to a creature, but to a Creator ; let " us," that are his makers,
make him in the image of his makers. God created man, angels did
not create him ; God created man in his " own" image, not, there-
fore, in the image of angels : the nature of God, and the nature of
angels, are not the same. Where, in the whole Scripture, is man
said to be made after the image of angels? God made man not in
the image of angels, to be conformed to them as his prototype, but
in the image of the blessed God, to be conformed to the Divine na-
ture : that as he was conformed to the image of his holiness, he
might also partake of the image of his blessedness, which, without it,
could not be attained : for as the felicity of God could not be clear
without an unspotted holiness, so neither can there be a glorious
happiness without purity in the creature ; this God provided for in
his creation of man, giving him such accomplishments in those two
excellent pieces of soul and body, that nothing was wanting to him
but his own will, to instate him in an invariable felicity. He was
possessed with such a nature by the hand of Divine Goodness, such
a loftiness of understanding, and purity of faculties, that he might
have been for ever happy as well as the standing angels : and he
was placed in such a condition, that moved the envy of fallen spirits ;
he had as much grace bestowed upon him, as was proportionable to
that covenant God then made with him : the tenor of which was,
that his life should continue so long as his obedience, and his happi-
ness endure so long as his integrity : and as God, by creation, had
given him an integrity of nature, so he had given him a power to
persist in it, if he would. Herein is the goodness of God displayed,
that he made man after his own image.
4. As to the life of man in this world, God, by an immense good-
ness, copied out in him the whole creation, and made him an abridg-
ment of the higher and lower world, — a little world in a greater one.
The link of the two worlds, of heaven and earth, as the spiritual and
corporeal natures are united in him, the earth in the dust of his body,
and the heavens in the crystal of his soul : he hath the upper springs
of the life of angels in his reason, and the nether springs of the life
of animals in his sense. God displayed those virtues in man, which
he had discovered in the rest of the lower creation ; but, besides the
communication which he had with earth in his nature, God gave
him a participation with heaven in his spirit. A mere bodily being
he hath given to the heavens, earth, elements ; a vegetative life, or a
life of growth, he hath vouchsafed to the plants of the ground : he
0]Sr THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 249
hatli stretched out liis liberality more to animals and beasts, by giv-
ing them sense. All these hath his goodness linked in man, being,
life, sense, with a richer dole than any of those creatures have re-
ceived in a rational, intellectual life, whereby he approachcth to the
nature of angels. This some of the Jews understood (Gen. ii. 7) :
" God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became
a living soul," oiin, breath of lives, in the Hebrew ; not one sort
of life, but that variety of lives which he had imparted to other crea-
tures: all the perfections scattered in other creatures do unitedly
meet in man : so that Philo might well call him "every creature, the
model of the whole creation :" his soul is heaven, and his body is
earth. y So that the immensity of his goodness to man, is as great
as all that goodness you behold in sensitive and intelligible things.
5. All this was free goodness. God eternally possessed his own
felicity in himself, and had no need of the existence of anything
without himself for his satisfaction. Man, before his being, could
have no good qualities to invite God to make him so excellent a
fabric : for, being nothing, he was as unable to allure and merit, as
to bring himself into being ; nay, he created a multitude of men,
who, he foresaw would behave themselves in as ungrateful a manner,
as if they had not been his creatures, but had bestowed that rich
variety upon themselves without the hand of a superior Benefactor.
How great is this goodness, that hath made us models of the whole
creation, tied together heaven and earth in our nature, when he
might have ranked us among the lower creatures of the earth, made
us mere bodies as the stones, or mere animals as the brutes, and de-
nied us those capacious souls, whereby avc might both know him
and enjoy him ! What could man have been more, unless he had
been the original, which Avas impossible? He could not be greater
than to be an image of the Deity, an epitome of the whole. Well
may we cry out with the Psalmist (Ps. viii. 1, 4), " O Lord, our
Lord, how excellent is thy name," the name of thy goodness, " in
all the earth !" How, more particularly in man ! " What is man
that thou art mindful of him?" What is a little clod of earth and
dust, that thou shouldst ennoble him with so rich a nature, and en-
grave upon him such characters of thy immense Being ?
6. The goodness of God appears in the conveniences he provided
for, and gave to man. As God gave him a being morally perfect in
regard of righteousness, so he gave him a being naturally perfect in
regard of delightful conveniences, which was the fruit of excellent
goodness ; since there was no quality in man, to invite God to pro-
vide him so rich a world, nor to bestow upon him so comely a being.
(1). The world was made for man. Since angels have not need
of anything in this world, and are above the conveniences of earth
and air, it will follow, that man, being the noblest creature on the
earth, was the more immediate end of the visible creation. All in-
ferior things are made to be subservient to those that have a more
excellent prerogative of nature ; and, therefore, all things for man,
who exceeds all the rest in dignity : as man was made for the honor
of God, so the world was made for the support and delight of man,
y Eugubiu, lib. V. cap. 9.
250 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTEIEUTES.
in order to his performing the service due from him to God, The
empire God settled man in as his heutenant over the works of his
hands, when he gave him possession of paradise, is a clear manifesta-
tion of it : God put all things under his feet, and gave him a de-
puted dominion over the rest of the creatures under himself, as the
absolute sovereign (Ps. viii. 6 — 8) ; " Thou madest him to have do-
minion over the works of thy hands ; thou hast put all things under
his feet, all sheep and oxen ; yea, and the beasts of the field, the fowl
of the air, and the fish of the sea ; yea, and whatsoever passeth over
the paths of the sea." What less is witnessed to by the calamity all
creatures were subjected to by the corruption of man's nature?
Then was the earth cursed, and a black cloud flung upon the beauty
of the creation, and the strength and vigor of it languisheth to this
day under the curse of God (Gen. ii. 17, 18), and groans under that
vanity the sin of man subjected it to (Rom. viii. 20, 22). The trea-
sons of man against God brought misery upon that which was framed
for the use of man : as when the majesty of a prince is violated by
the treason and rebellion of his subjects, all that which belongs to
them, and was, before the free gift of the prince to them, is forfeit ;
their habitations, palaces, cattle, all that belongs to them bear the
marks of his sovereign fury : had not the delicacies of the earth been
made for the use of man, they had not fallen under the indignation
of God upon the sin of man. God crowned the earth with his good-
ness to gratify man ; gave man a right to serve himself of the de-
lightful creatures he had provided (Gen. i. 28 — 30) ; yea, and after
man had forfeited all by sin, and God had washed again the creature
in a deluge, he renews the creation, and delivers it again into the
hand of man, binding all creatures to pay a respect to him, and re-
cognise him as their Lord, either spontaneously, or by force ; and
commissions them all to fill the heart of man with " food and glad-
ness" (Gen. ix, 2, 8) : and he loves all creatures as they conduce to
the good of, and are serviceable to, his prime creature, which he set
uj) for his own glory : and therefore, when he loves a person, he
loves what belongs to him : he takes care of Jacob and his cattle :
of penitent Nineveh and their cattle (Jonah iv. 11) : as when he
sends judgments upon men he destroys their goods.
2. God richly furnished the world for man. He did not only erect
a stately palace for his habitation, but provided all kind of furniture
as a mark of his goodness, for the entertainment of his creature, man :
he arched over his habitation with a bespangled heaven, and floored
it with a solid earth, and spread a curious wrought tapestry upon the
ground where he was to tread, and seemed to sweep all the rubbish
of the chaos to the two uninhabitable poles. When at the first crea-
tion of the matter the waters covered the earth, and rendered it un-
inhabitable for man, God drained them into the proj^er channels he
had founded for them, and set a bound that they might not pass
over, that they turn not again to " cover the earth" (Gen i. 9.) They
fled and hasted away to their proper stations (Ps. civ. 7 — 9), as if
they were ambitious to deny their own nature, and content them-
selves with an imprisonment for the convenient habitation of Him
who was to be appointed Lord of the world. He hath set up stand-
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD, 251
ing lights in the heaven, to direct our motion, and to regulate the
seasons : the sun was created, that man might see to " go forth to his
labor" (Ps. civ. 22, 23) : both sun and moon, though set in the
heaven, were formed to " give light" on the earth (Gen. i. 15, 17).
The air is his aviary, the sea and rivers his fish-ponds, the valle3^s
his granary, the mountains his magazine ; the first afford man crea-
tures for nourishment, the other metals for perfection : the animals
were created for the support of the life of man ; the herbs of the
ground were provided for the maintenance of their lives ; and gen-
tle dews, and moistening showers, and, in some places, slimy floods
appointed to render the earth fruitful, and capable to offer man and
beast what was fit for their nourishment. He hath peopled every
element with a variety of creatures both for necessity and delight ;
all furnished with useful qualities for the service of man. There is
not the most despicable thing in the whole creation but it is endued
with a nature to contribute something for our welfare : either as food
to nourish us when we are healthful ; or as medicine to cure us when
we are distempered ; or as a garment to clothe us when we are naked,
and arm us against the cold of the season ; or as a refreshment when
we are weary ; or as a delight when we are sad : all serve for neces-
sity or ornament, either to spread our table, beautify our dwellings,
furnish our closets, or store our wardrobes (Ps. civ. 24) : " The whole
earth is full of his riches." Nothing but by the rich goodness of
God is exquisitely accommodated, in the numerous brood of things,
immediately or mediately for the use of man ; all, in the issue, con-
spire together to render the world a delightful residence for man ;
and, therefore, all the living creatures were brought by God to at-
tend upon man after his creation, to receive a mark of his dominion
over them, by the "imposition of their names" (Gen. ii. 19, 20). He
did not only give variety of senses to man, but provided variety of
delightful objects in the world for every sense ; the beauties of light
and colors for our eye, the harmony of sounds for our ear, the fra-
grancy of odors for our nostrils, and a delicious sweetness for our
palates : some have qualities to pleasure ; all, everything, a quality
to pleasure, one or other: he doth not only present those things to
our view, as rich men do in ostentation their goods, he makes us the
enjoy ers as well as the spectators, and gives us the use as well as the
sight ; and, therefore, he hath not only given us the sight, but the
knowledge of them : he hath set up a sun in the heavens, to expose
their outward beauty and conveniences to our sight ; and the candle
of the Lord is in us, to expose their inward qualities and conve-
niences to our knowledge, that we might serve ourselves of, and re-
joice in, all this furniture wherewith he hath garnished the world,
and have wherewithal to employ the inquisitiveness of our reason,
as well as gratify the pleasures of our sense ; and, particularly, God
provided for innocent man a delightful mansion-house, a place of
more special beauty and curiosity, the garden of Eden, a delightful
paradise, a model of the beauties and pleasures of another world,
wherein he had placed whatsoever might contribute to the felicity of
a rational and animal life, the life of a creature composed of mire
and dust, of sense and reason (Gen. ii. 9). Besides the other delica-
252 CIIARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
cies consigned, in that place, to the use of man, there was a tree of
life provided to maintain his being, and nothing denied, in tlie whole
compass of that territory, but one tree, that of the knowledge of
good and evil, which was no mark of an ill-will in his Creator to
him, but a reserve of God's absolute sovereignty, and a trial of man's
voluntary obedience. What blur was it to the goodness of God, to
reserve one tree for his own propriety, when he had given to man,
in all the rest, such numerous marks of his rich bounty and good-
ness? AVhat Israel, after man's fall, enjoyed sensibly, Nehemiah
calls " great goodness" (Neh. ix. 25). How inexpressible, then, was
that goodness manifested to innocent man, when so small a part of
it, indulged to the Israelites after the curse upon the ground, is call-
ed, as trul}^ it merits, such great goodness ! How can we pass through
any part of this great city, and cast our eyes upon the well-furnished
shops, stored with all kinds of commodities, without reflections upon
this goodness of God starting up before our eyes in such varieties,
and plainly telling us that he hath accommodated all things for our
use, suited things, both to supply our need, content a reasonable
curiosity, and delight us in our aims at, and passage to, our supreme
end!
(3.) The goodness of God appears in the laws he hath given to
man, the covenant he hath made with him. It had not been agree-
al:)le to the goodness of God to let a creature, governable by a law,
be without a law to regulate him ; his goodness then which had
broke forth in the creation, had suffered an eclipse and obscurity in
his government. As infinite goodness was the motive to create, so
infinite goodness was the motive of his government. And this
appears,
[1.] In the fitting the law to the nature of man. It was rather
below than above his strength ; he had an integrity in his nature to
answer the righteousness of the precept. God created " man
upright" (Eccles. vii. 29) ; his nature was suited to the law, and the
law to his nature ; it was not above his understanding to know it,
nor his Avill to embrace it, nor his passions to be regulated by it.
The law and his nature were like to exact straight lines, touching
one another in every part when joined together. God exacted no
more by his law than what was written by nature in his heart : he
had a knowledge by creation to observe the law of his creation, and
he fell not for want of a righteousness in his nature : he was enabled
for more than was commanded him, but wilfully indisposed to less
than he was able to perform. The precepts were easy, not only be-
coming the authority of a sovereign to exact, but the goodness of a
father to demand, and the ingenuity of a creature and a son to pay.
" His commands are not grievous" (1 John v. 8) ; the observance of
them had filled the spirit of man with an extraordinary contentment.
It had been no less a pleasure and a delightful satisfaction to have
kept the law in a created state, than it is to keep it in some measure
in a renewed state. The renewed nature finds a suitableness in the
law to kindle a " delight" (Ps. i. 2) : it could not then have anywise
shook the nature of an upright creature, nor have been a burden
too heavy for his shoulders to bear. Though he had not a grace
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 253
given liim above nature, yet lie had not a law given liim that sur-
mounted his nature : it did not exceed his created strength, and was
suited to the dignity and nobility of a rational nature. It was a
"just law" (Rom. vii. 12), and, therefore, not above the nature of
the subject that was bound to obey it. And had it been impossible
to be observed, it had been unrighteous to be enacted : it had not
been a matter of Divine praise, and that seven times a day ; as it is,
" Seven times a day do I praise thee, because of thy righteous judg-
ments" (Ps. cxix. 164). The law was so righteous, that Adam had
every whit as much reason to bless God in his innocence for the
righteousness of it, as David had with the relics of enmity against
it : his goodness shines so much in his law, as merits our praise of
him, as he is a sovereign Lawgiver, as well as a gracious Benefactor,
in the imparting to us a being.
[2.] In fitting it for the happiness of man. For the satisfaction
of his soul, which finds a reward in the very act of keeping it, (Ps.
cxix. 165), " Great peace in the loving it ;" for the preservation of
human society, wherein consists the external felicity of man. It
had been inconsistent with the Divine goodness to enjoin man any-
thing that should be oppressive and uncomfortable. Bitterness can-
not come from that which is altogether sweet : goodness would not
have obliged the creature to anything, but what is not only free from
damaging him, but wholly conducing to his welfare, and perfective
of his nature. Inlinite wisdom could not order anything but what
was agreeable to infinite goodness. As his laws are the most ration-
al, as being the contrivance of infinite wisdom ; so they are the bssr,
as being the fruit of infinite goodness. His laws are not only the
acts of his sovereign authority, but the effluxes of his loving-kind-
ness, and the conductors of man to an enjoyment of a greater bounty :
he minds as well the promotion of his creatures' felicity, as the as-
serting his own authority ; as good princes make laws for their sub-
jects' benefit as well as their own honor. What was said of a more
difficult and burdensome law long after man's fall, may much more
be said of the easy law of nature in the state of man's innocence,
that it was " for our good" (Deut. x. 12, 13). He never pleaded
with the Israelites for the observation of his commands upon the
account of his authority, so much as upon the score of their benefit
by them (Deut. iv. 40 ; xii. 28). And when his precepts were
broken, he seems sometimes to be more grieved for men's impairing
their own felicity by it, than for their violating his authority : " O,
that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments, then had thy peace
been as a river !" (Isa. xlviii. 18). Goodness cannot prescribe a
thing prejudicial : whatsoever it enjoins, is beneficial to the spiritual
and eternal happiness of the rational creature : this was both the
design of the law given, and the end of the law. Christ, in his an-
swer to the young man's question, refers him to the moral law,
which was the law of nature in Adam, as that whereby eternal life
was to be gained : which evidenceth, that when the law was first
given as the covenant of works, it was for the happiness of man ;
and the end of giving it was, that man might have eternal life by
it : there would else be no strensrth or truth in that answer of Christ
254 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
to that Euler. And, therefore, Stephen calls the law given by-
Moses, which was the same with the law of nature in Adam, " the
living oracles" (Acts vii. 38). He enjoined men's services to them
not simply for his own glory, but his glory in men's welfare : as if
there were any being better than himself, his goodness and righteous-
ness would guide him to love that better than himself; because it is
good and righteous to love that best which is most amiable : so, if
there were any that could do us more good, and shower down more
happiness upon us than himself, he would be content we should
obey that as sovereign, and steer our course according to his laws :
" If God be God, follow him ; but if Baal, then follow him" (1
Kings xviii. 21). If the observance of the precepts of Baal be
more beneficial to you ; if you can advance your nature by his ser-
vice, and gain a more mighty crown of happiness than by mine, fol-
low him with all my heart : I never intended to enjoin you anything
to impair, but increase your happiness. The chief design of God
in his law is the happiness of the subject; and obedience is intended
by him as a means for the attaining of happiness, as well as preserv-
ing his own sovereignty : this is the reason why he wished that
Israel had walked in his ways, " that their time might have endured
forever" (Ps. Ixxxi. 13, 15, 16). And by the same reason, this was
his intendment in his law given to man, and his covenant made with
man at the creation, that he might be fed with the finest part of his
bounty, and be satisfied with honey out of the eternal Eock of Ages.
To paraphrase his expression there : — The goodness of God appears
further,
[3]. In engaging man to obedience by promises and threatenings.
A threatening is only mentioned (Gen. ii. 17), but a promise is im-
plied : if eternal death were fixed for transgression, eternal life was
thereby designed for obedience : and that it was so, the answer of
Christ to the Ruler evidenceth, that the first intendment of the pre-
cept was the eternal life of the subject, ordered to obey it.
1st. God might have acted, in settling his law, only as a sover-
eign. Though he might have dealt with man upon the score of
his absolute dominion over him as his creature, and signified his
pleasure upon the right of his sovereignty, threatening only a pen-
alty if man transgressed, without the promising a bountiful acknow-
ledgment of his obedience by a reward as a benefactor: yet he
would treat with man in gentle methods, and rule him in a track
of sweetness as well as sovereignty: he would preserve the rights
of his dominion in the authority of his commands, and honor the
condescensions of his goodness in the allurements of a promise.
He that might have solely demanded a compliance with his will,
would kindly article with him, to oblige him to observe him out
of love to himself as well as duty to his Creator ; that he might
have both the interest of avoiding the threatened evil to affright
him, and the interest of attaining the "promised good to allure him
to obedience. How doth he value the title of Benefactor above
that of a Lord, when he so kindly solicits, as well as commands ;
and engageth to reward that obedience which he might have abso-
lutely claimed as his due, by enforcing fears of the severest penalty !
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 255
His sovereignty seems to stoop below itself for tlie elevation of his
goodness ; and lie is pleased to have his kindness more taken notice
of than his authority. Nothing imported more condescension than
his bringing forth his law in the nature of a covenant, whereby he
seems to humble himself, and veil his superiority to treat with man
as his equal, that the very manner of his treatment might oblige
him in the richest promises he made to draw him, and the startling
threatenings he pronounced to link him to his obedience : and,
therefore, is it observable, that when after the transgression of
Adam God comes to deal with him, he doth not do it in that thun-
dering rigor, which might have been expected from an enraged
sovereign, but in a gentle examination (Cren. iii. 11, 13) : " Hast
thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst
not eat ?" To the woman, he said no more than, " What is this
that thou hast done ?" And in the Scripture we find, when he
cites the Israelites before him for their sin, he expostulates with
them not so much upon the absolute right he had to challenge
their obedience, as upon the equity and reasonableness of his law
which they had transgressed ; that by the same argument of sweet-
ness, wherewith he would attract them to their duty, he might
shame them after their offence (Isa. i. 2 ; Ezek. xviii. 25).
2d. By the threatenings he manifests his goodness as well as by
his promises. He promises that he might be a rewarder, and
threatens that he might not be a puuisher ; the one is to elevate
our hope, and the otlier to excite our fear, the two passions whereby
the nature of man is managed in the world. He imprints upon
man sentiments of a misery by sin, in his thundering commination,
that he might engage him the more to embrace and be guided by
the motives of sweetness in his gracious promises. The design of
them was to preserve man in his due bounds, that God might not
have occasion to blow upon him the flames of his justice ; to sup-
press those irregular passions, which the nature of man (though
created without any disorder) was capable of entertaining upon the
appearance of suitable objects ; and to keep the waves from swell-
ing upon any turning wind, that so man, being modest in the use
of the goodness God had allowed him, might still be capable of
fresh streams of Divine bounty, without ever falling under his
righteous wrath for any transgression. What a prospect of good-
ness is in this proceeding, to disclose man's happiness to be as du-
rable as his innocence ; and set before a rational creature the ex-
tremest misery due to his crime, to affright him from neglecting his
Creator, and making unworthy returns to his goodness! What
could be done more by goodness to suit that passion of fear which
was implanted in the nature of man, than to assure him he should
not degenerate from the righteousness of his nature, and violate the
authority of his Creator, without falling from his own hai^piuess,
and sinking into the most deplorable calamity !
od. The reward he promised manifests yet further his goodnesg to
man. It was his goodness to intend a reward to man ; no necessity
could oblige God to reward man, had he continued obedient in his
created state : for in all rewards which are truly merited, beside
256 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
some kind of equality to be considered between the person doing
service and the person rewarding, and also between the act per-
formed and the reward bestowed, there must also be considered the
condition of the person doing the service, that he is not obliged to
do it as a duty, but is at his own choice whether to offer it or no.
But man, being wholly dependent on God in his being and preser-
vation, having nothing of his own, but what he had received from
the hands of Divine bounty, his service was due by the strongest
obligation to God (1 Cor. iv. 7). But there was no natural engage-
ment on God to return a reward to him ; for man could return no-
thing of his own but that only which he had received from his
Creator. It must be pure goodness that gives a gracious reward for
a due debt, to receive his own from man, and return more than he
had received. A Divine reward doth far surmount the value of a
rational service. It was, therefore, a mighty goodness to stipulate
with man, that upon his obedience he should enjoy an immortality
in that nature. The article on man's part was obedience, which
was necessarily just, and founded in the nature of man; he had
been unjust, ungrateful, and violated all laws of righteousness, had
he committed any act unworthy of one that had been so great a
subject of Divine liberality.^ But the article on God's part, of giv-
ing a perpetual blessedness to innocent man, was not founded upon
rules of strict justice and righteousness, for that would have argued
God to be a debtor to man ; but that God cannot be to the work of
his hands, that had received the materials of his being and acting
from him, as the vessel doth from the potter. But this was founded
only on the goodness of the Divine nature, whereby he cannot but
be kind to an innocent and holy creature. The nature of God in-
clined him to it by the rules of goodness, but the service of man
could not claim it by the rules of justice without a stipulation ; so
that the covenant whereby God obliged himself to continue the
happiness of man upon the continuance of his obedience, in the
original of it, springs from pure goodness ; though the performance
of it, upon the fullilling condition required in the creature, was
founded upon the rules of righteousness and truth, after Divine
goodness had brought it forth. God did create man for a reward
and happiness ; now God's implanting in the nature of man a desire
after happiness, and some higher happiness than he had in creation
invested him in, doth evidence that God did not create man only
for his own service, but for his attaining a greater happiness. All
rational creatures are possessed with a principle of seeking after
good, the highest good, and God did not plant in man this principle
in vain ; it had not been goodness to put this principle in man, if
he had designed never to bestow a happiness on man for his obe-
dience : this had been repugnant to the goodness and wisdom of
God ; and the Scripture doth very emphatically express the felicity
of man to be the design of God in the lirst forming him and mould-
ing him a creature, as well as working him a new creature ; " He
that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God" (2 Cor. v. 1, 5) :
he framed this earthly tabernacle for a residence in an eternal habi-
* Amyral. Dissertat. pp. 637, 638.
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD, 257
tation, and a better habitation than an earthly paradise. What we
expect in the resurrection, that very same thing God did in crea-
tion intend us for ; but since the corruption of our natures, we must
undergo a dissolution of our bodies, and may have just reason of a
despondency, since sin hath seemed to change the course of God's
bounty, and brought us under a curse. He hath given us the ear-
nest of his Spirit, as an assurance that he will perform that very
self-same thing, the conferring that happiness upon renewed crea-
tures for which he first formed man in creation, when he comj^acted
his earthly tabernacle of the dust of the ground, and reared it up
before him.
4th. It was a mighty goodness that God should give man an eternal
reward. Tliat an eternity of reward was promised, is implied in the
death that was threatened upon transgression : whatsoever you con-
ceive the threatened death to be, either for nature, or duration upon
transgression; of the same nature and duration you must suppose
the life to be, which is implied upon his constancy in his integrity.
As sin would render him an eternal object of God's hatred, so
his obedience would render him an eternally amiable object to his
Creator, as the standing angels are preserved and confirmed in an
entire felicity and glory. Though the threatening be only expressed
by God (Gen. ii. 17), yet the other is implied, and might easily be
concluded from it by Adam. And one reason why God only ex-
pressed the threatening, and not the promise, was, because man
might collect some hopes and expectations of a perpetual happiness
from that image of God which he beheld in himself, and from the
large provision he had made for him in the world, and the com-
mission given him to increase and multiply, and to rule as a lord
over his other works ; whereas he could not so easily have imagined
himself capable of being exposed to such an extraordinary calamity
as an eternal death, without some signification of it from God. It
is easily concludable, that eternal life was supposed to be promised,
to be conferred upon him if he stood, as well as eternal death to be
inflicted on him if he rebelled. »• Now this eternal life was not due
to his nature, but it was a pure beam, and gift of Divine goodness ;■
for there was no proportion between man's service in his innocent
estate, and a reward so great both for nature and duration : it was a
higher reward than can be imagined either due to the nature of man,
or upon any natural right claimable by his obedience. All that
could be expected by him was but a natural happiness, not a super-
natural: as there was no necessity upon the account of natural
righteousness, so there was no necessity upon the account of the
goodness of God to elevate the nature of man to a supernatural
happiness, merely because he created him : for though it be necessary
for God, when he would create, in regard of his wisdom, to create
for some end, yet it was not necessary that end should be a super-
natural end and happiness, since a natural blessedness had been
sufficient for man. And though God, in creating angels and men
intellectual and rational creatures, did make them necessary for
himself and his own glory, yet it was not necessarily for him to
• Suarez. de Gratia, Vol. I. pp. 126, 127.
VOL. II. — 17
258 CHAKNOCK ON THE ATTEIBUTES.
order either angels or men to sucli a felicity as consists in a clear
vision, and so high a fruition, of himself: for all other things are
made by him for himself, and yet not for the vision of himself, God
might have created man only for a natural happiness, according to
the perfection of his natural faculties, and had dealt bountifully
with him, if he had never intended him a supernatural blessedness
and an eternal recompense : but what a largeness of goodness is
here, to design man, in his creation, for so rich a blessedness as an
eternal life, with the fruition of himself! He hath not only given to
man all things which are necessary, but designed for man that which
the poor creature could not imagine : he garnished the earth for him,
and garnished him for an eternal felicity, had he not, by slighting
the goodness of God, stripped himself of the present, and forfeited
his future blessedness.
Secondly^ The manifestation of this goodness in Redemption. The
whole gospel is nothing but one entire mirror of Divine goodness :
the whole of redemption is wrapped up in that one expression of
the angels' song (Luke ii. 14), "Good-will towards men." The
angels sang but one song before, which is upon record, but the
matter of it seems to be the wisdom of God chiefly in creation (Job
xxxviii. 7; compare chap. ix. 5, 6, 8, 9). The angels are there
meant by the " morning stars ;" the visible stars of heaven were not
distinctly formed when the foundations of the earth were laid : and
the title of the sons of God verifies it, since none but creatures of
understanding are dignified in Scripture with that title. There they
celebrate his wisdom in creation ; here his goodness in redemjDtion,
which is the entire matter of the song.
i. Goodness was the spring of redemption. All and every part
of it owes only to this perfection the appearance of it in the world.
This only excited wisdom to bring forth from so great an evil as the
apostacy of man, so great a good as the recovery of him. When
man fell from his created goodness, God would evidence that he
could not fall from his infinite goodness : that the greatest evil could
not surmount the ability of his wisdom to contrive, nor the riches
of his bounty to present us a remedy for it. Divine Goodness would
not stand by a spectator, without being reliever of that misery man
had plunged himself into ; but by astonishing methods it would
recover him to happiness, who had wrested himself out of his hands,
to fling himself into the most deplorable calamity : and it was the
greater, since it surmounted those natural inclinations, and those
strong provocations which he had to shower down the power of his
wrath. What could be the source of such a procedure, but this
excellency of Divine nature, since no violence could force him, nor
was there any merit to persuade to such a restoration ? This, under
the name of his " love," is rendered the sole cause of the redeeming
death of the Son : it was to commend his love with the highest
gloss, and in so singular a manner that had not its parallel in nature,
nor in all his other works, and reaches in the brightness of it beyond
the manifested extent of any other attribute (Rom. v. 8). It must
be only a miraculous goodness that induced him to expose the life
of his Son to those difficulties in the world, and death upon the cross,
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 259
for the freedom of sordid rebels : liis great end was to give sucli a
demonstration of the hberahty of his nature, as might be attractive
to his creature, remove its shakings and tremblings, and encourage
its approaches to him. It is in this he would not only manifest his
love, but assume the name of "Love." By this name the Holy
Ghost calls him, in relation to this good will manifested in his Son
(1 John iv. 8, 9), " God is love." In this is manifested the love of
God towards us, because that God sent his only -begotten Son into
the world, that we might "live through him." He would take the
name he never expressed himself in before. He was Jehovah, in
regard of the truth of his promise ; so he would be known of old :
he is Goodness, in regard of the grandeur of his affection in the
mission of his Son : and, therefore, he would be known by the name
of Love now, in the days of the gospel.
ii. It was a pure goodness. He was under no obligation to pity
our misery, and repair our ruins : he might have stood to the terms
of the first covenant, and exacted our eternal death, since we had
committed an infinite transgression : he was under no tie to put off
the robes of a judge for the bowels of a father, and erect a mercy-
seat above his tribunal of justice.'* The reparation of man had no
necessary connexion with his creation ; it follows not, that because
Goodness had extracted us from nothing by a mighty power, that it
must lift us out of wilful misery by a mighty grace. Certainly that
God who had no need of creating us, had far less need of redeeming
us: for, since he created one world, he could have as easily de-
stroyed it, and reared another. It had not been unbecoming the
Divine Goodness or Wisdom, to have let man perpetually wallow in
that sink wherein he had plunged himself, since he was criminal by
his own will, and, therefore, miserable by his own fault : nothing
could necessitate this reparation. If Divine Goodness could not be
obliged by the angelical dignity to repair that nature, he is further
from any obligation by the meanness of man to repair human nature.
There was less necessity to restore man than to restore the fallen
angels. What could man do to oblige God to a reparation of him,
since he could not render him a recompense for his goodness mani-
fested in his creation ? He must be much more impotent to render
him a debtor for the redemption of him from misery. Could it be a
salary for anything we had done ? Alas ! we are so far from merit-
ing it, that by our daily demerits, we seem ambitious to put a stop
to any further effusions of it : we could not have complained of him,
if he had left us in the misery we had courted, since he was bound
by no law to bestow upon us the recovery we wanted. When the
apostle speaks of the gospel of " redemption," he givetli it the title
of the " gospel of the blessed God " (2 Tim. i. 11). It was the gospel
of a God abounding in his own blessedness, which received no
addition by man's redemption ; if he had been blessed by it, it had
been a goodness to himself, as well as to the creature : it was not an
indigent goodness needing the receiving anything from us ; but it
was a pure goodness, streaming out of itself, without bringing any-
thing into itself for the perfection of it : there was no goodness in
I* Rada. Conti-overs. Part III. p. 363.
260 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
US to be the motive of his love, but liis goodness was the fountain
of our benefit.
iii. It was a distinct goodness of the whole Trinity. In the crea-
tion of man we find a general consultation (Gen. i. 26), without those
distinct labors and offices of each person, and without those raised
expressions and marks of joy and triumph as at man's restoration.
In this there are distinct functions ; the grace of the Father, the
merit of the Son, and the efficacy of the Spirit, The Father makes
the promise of redemption, the Son seals it with his blood, and the
Spirit applies it. The Father adopts us to be his children, the Son
redeems us to be his members, and the Spirit renews us to be his
temples. In this the Father testifies himself well-pleased in a voice ;
the Son proclaims his own delight to do the will of God, and the
Spirit hastens, with the wing of a dove, to fit him for his work, and
afterwards, in his apparition in the likeness of fiery tongues, mani-
fests his zeal for the propagation of the redeeming gospel.
iv. The effects of it proclaim His great goodness. It is by this
we are delivered from the corruption of our nature, the ruin of our
happiness, the deformity of our sins, and the punishment of our
transgressions ; he frees us from the ignorance wherewith we were
darkened and from the slavery wherein we were fettered. When
he came to make Adam's process after his crime, instead of pro-
nouncing the sentence of death he had merited, he utters a promise
that man could not have expected ; his kindness swells above his
provoked justice, and, while he chaseth him out of paradise, he gives
him hopes of regaining the same, or a better habitation ; and is, in
the whole, more ready to prevent him with the blessings of his good-
ness, than charge him with the horror of his crimes (Gen. iii. 15).
It is a goodness that pardons us more transgressions than there are
moments in our lives, and overlooks as many follies as there are
thoughts in our heart : he doth not only relieve our wants, but re-
stores us to our dignity. It is a greater testimony of goodness to
instate a person in the highest honors, than barely to supply his pre-
sent necessity : it is an admirable pity whereby he was inclined to
redeem us, and an incomparable affection whereby he was resolved
to exalt us. What can be desired more of him than his goodness
hath granted ? He hath sought us out when we were lost, and ran-
somed us when we were captives ; he hath pardoned us when we
were condemned, and raised us when we were dead. In creation he
reared us from nothing, in redemption he delivers our understanding
from ignorance and vanity, and our wills from impotence and ob-
stinacy, and our whole man from a death worse than that nothing he
drew us from by creation.
V. Hence we may consider the height of this goodness in redemp-
tion to exceed that in creation. He gave man a being in creation,
but did not draw him from inexpressible misery by that act. His
liberality in the gospel doth infinitely surpass what we admire in the
works of nature ; his goodness in the latter is more astonishing to
our belief, than his goodness in creation is visible to our eye. There
is more of his bounty expressed in that one verse, " So God loved
the world, that he gave his only begotten Son" (John iii. 16), than
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 261
there is in the whole volume of the world : it is an incomprehensible
so; a so that all the angels in heaven cannot analyse; and few com-
ment upon, or understand, the dimensions of this so. In creation ho
formed an innocent creature of the dust of the ground ; in redemp-
tion he restores a rebellious creature by the blood of his Son : it is
greater than that goodness manifested in creation.
1st. In regard of the difficulty in effecting it. In creation, mere
nothing was vanquished to bring us into being ; in redemption, sul-
len enmity was conquered for the enjoyment of our restoration ; in
creation, he subdued a nullity to make us creatures ; in redemption,
his goodness overcomes his omnipotent justice to restore us to feli-
city. A word from the mouth of Goodness inspired the dust of
men's bodies with a living soul ; but the blood of his Son must be
shed, and the laws of natural affection seems to be overturned, to
lay the foundation of our renewed happiness. In the first, heaven
did but speak, and the earth was formed ; in the second, heaven it-
self must sink to earth, and be clothed with dusty earth, to reduce
man's dust to its original state.
2d. This goodness is greater than that manifested in creation, in
regard of its cost. This was a more expensive goodness than what
was laid out in creation. " The redemption of one soul is precious"
(Ps. xlix. 8), much more costly than the whole fabric of the world,
or as many worlds as the understandings of angels in their utmost
extent can conceive to be created. For the effecting of this, God
parts with his dearest treasure, and his Son eclipses his choicest
glory. For this, God must be made man. Eternity must suffer death,
the Lord of angels must weep in a cradle, and the Creator of the
world must hang like a slave ; he must be in a manger in Bethlehem,
and die upon a cross on Calvary ; unspotted righteousness must be
made sin, and unblemislied blessedness be made a curse. He was at
no other expense than the breath of his mouth to form man ; the
fruits of the earth could have maintained innocent man without any
other cost ; but his broken nature cannot be healed without the in-
valuable medicine of the blood of God. View Christ in the womb
and in the manger, in his weary steps and hungry bowels, in his
prostrations in the garden, and in his clodded drops of bloody
sweat ; view his head pierced with a crown of thorns, and his face
besmeared with the soldiers' slabber ; view him in his march to Cal-
vary, and his elevation on the painful cross, with his head hanged
down, and his side streaming blood ; view him pelted Avith the scoffs
of the governors, and the derisions of the rabble ; and see, in all
this, what cost Goodness was at for man's redemption ! In creation,
his power made the sun to shine upon us, and, in redemption, his
bowels sent a Son to die for us.
3d. This goodness of God in redemption is greater than that man-
ifested in creation, in regard of man's desert of the contrarv. In
the creation, as there was nothing without him to allure him' to the
expressions of his bounty, so there was nothing that did damp the
inclinations of his goodness : the nothing from whence the world
was drawn, could never merit, nor demerit a being, because it was
nothing; as there was nothing to engage him, so there was nothing
262 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
to disoblige him ; as his favor could not be merited, so neither could
his anger be deserved. But in this he find^ ingratitude against the
former marks of his goodness, and rebellion against the sweetness
of his sovereignty, — crimes unworthy of the dews of goodness, and
worthy of the sharpest strokes of vengeance ; and therefore the
Scripture advanceth the honor of it above the title of mere good-
ness, to that of "grace" (Rom. i. 2; Titus ii. 11); because men were
not only unworthy of a blessing, but worthy of a curse. An innocent
nothing more deserves creation, than a culpable creature deserves an
exemption from destruction. When man fell, and gave occasion to
God to repent of his created work, his ravishing goodness surmount-
ed the occasions he had of repenting, and the provocations he had
to the destruction of his frame.
4:th. It was a greater goodness than was expressed towards the
angels.
1. A greater goodness than was expressed towards the standing
angels. The Son of God did no more expose his life for the con-
firmation of those that stood, than for the restoration of those that
fell ; the death of Christ was not for the holy angels, but for simple
man ; they needed the grace of God to confirm them, but not the
death of Christ to restore or preserve them ; they had a beloved ho-
liness to be established by the powerful grace of God, but not any
abominable sin to be blotted out by the blood of God ; they had no
debt to pay but that of obedience ; but we had both a debt of obe-
dience to the precepts, and a debt of suffering to the penalty, after
the fall. Whether the holy angels were confirmed by Christ, or no,
is a question : some think they were, from Colos. i. 20, where
" things in heaven" are said to be " reconciled ;" but some think,
that place signifies no more than the reconciliation of things in
heaven, if meant of the angels, to things on earth, with whom they
were at enmity in the cause of their Sovereign ; or the reconciliation
of things in heaven to God, is meant the glorified saints, who were
once in a state of sin, and whom the death of Christ upon the cross
reached, though dead long before. But if angels were confirmed by
Christ, it was by him not as a slain sacrifice, but as a sovereign Head
of the whole creation, appointed by God to gather all things into
one ; which some think to be the intendment of Eph. i. 10, where
all things, as well those in heaven, as those in earth, are said to be
" gathered together in one, in Christ." Where is a syllable in Scrip-
ture of his being crucified for angels, but only for sinners ? Not
for the confirmation of the one, but the reconciliation of the other ;
so that the goodness whereby God continued those blessed spirits in
heaven, through the effusions of his gi'ace, is a small thing to the
restoring us to our forfeited happiness, through the streams of Divine
blood. The preserving a man in life is a little thing, and a smaller
benefit than the raising a man from death. The rescuing a man from
an ignominious punishment, lays a greater obligation than barely to
prevent him from committing a capital crime. The jjreserving a
man standing upon the top of a steep hill, is more easy than to
bring a crippled and phthisical man, from the bottom to the top.
The continuance God gave to the angels, is not so signal a mark of
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 263
liis goodness as the deliverance lie gave to us ; since they were not
sunk into sin, nor by any crime fallen into misery.
2. His goodness in redemption is greater than any goodness ex-
pressed to the fallen angels. It is the wonder of his goodness to us,
that he was mindful of fallen man, and careless of fallen angels; that
he should visit man, wallowing in death and blood, with the day-
spring from on high, and never turn the Egyptian darkness of devils
into cheerful day ; when they sinned. Divine thunder dashed them
into hell ; when man sinned. Divine blood wafts the fallen creature
from his misery : the angels wallow in their own blood forever,
while Christ is made partaker of our blood, and wallows in his
blood, that we might not forever corrupt in ours ; they tumbled
down from heaven, and Divine goodness would not vouchsafe to
catch them ; man tumbles down, and Divine goodness holds out a
hand drenched in the blood of Him, that was from the foundations
of the world, to lift us up (Heb. ii. 16). He spared not those digni-
fied spirits, when they revolted ; and spared not punishing his Son
for dusty man, when he offended ; when he might as well forever
have let man lie in the chains wherein he had entangled himself, as
them. We were as fit objects of justice as they, and they as fit ob-
jects of goodness as we ; they were not more wretched by their fall
than we ; and the poverty of our nature rendered us more unable to
recover ourselves, than the dignity of theirs did them ; they were
his Reuben, his first-born ; they were his might, and the beginning
of his strength; yet those elder sons he neglected, to prefer the
younger ; they were the prime and golden pieces of creation, not
laden with gross matter, yet they lie under the ruins of their fall,
while man, lead in comparison of them, is refined for another world.
They seemed to be fitter objects of Divine goodness, in regard of the
eminency of their nature above the human ; one angel excelled in
endowments of mind and spirit, vastness of understanding, greatness
of power, all the sons of men ; they were more capable to praise
him, more capable to serve him ; and because of the acuteness of
their comprehension, more able to have a due estimate of such a re-
demption, had it been afforded them ; yet that goodness which had
created them so comely, would not lay itself out in restoring the
beauty they had defaced. The promise was of bruising the serpent's
head for us, not of lifting up the serpent's head with us ; their nature
was not assumed, nor any command given them to believe or repent ;
not one devil spared, not one apostate spirit recovered, not one of
those eminent creatures restored ; every one of them hath only a
prospect of misery, without any glimpse of recovery; they were
ruined under one sin, and we repaired under many. All His re-
deeming goodness was laid out upon man (Ps. cxliv. 3) ; " What is
man that thou takest knowledge of him; and the Son of man, that
thou makest account of him?" Making account of him above
angels; as they fell without any tempting them, so God would leave
them to rise, without any assisting them. I know the schools trouble
themselves to find out the reasons of this peculiarity of grace to man,
and not to them ; because the whole human nature fell, but only a
part of the angelical ; the one sinned by a seduction, and the other
264 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
by a sullenncss, without any tempter ; every angel sinned by his
own proper will, whereas Adam's posterity sinned by the will of the
first man, the common root of all. God would deprive the devil of
any glory in the satisfaction of his envious desire to hinder man from
attainment and possession of that happiness which himself had lost.
The weakness of man below the angelical nature might excite the
Divine mercy ; and since all the things of the lower world were
created for man, God would not lose the honor of his works, by
losing the immediate end for which he framed them. And finally,
because in the restoration of angels, there would have been only a
restoration of one nature, that was not comprehensive of the nature
of inferior things ; but after all such conjectures, man must sit down,
and acknowledge Divine goodness to be the only spring, without
any other motive. Since Infinite Wisdom could have contrived a
way for redemption for fallen angels, as well as for fallen man, and
restored both tlie one and the other; why might not Christ have as-
sumed their nature as well as ours, into the unity of the Divine per-
son, and suffered the wrath of God in their nature for them, as well
as in his human soul for us ? It is as conceivable that two natures
might have been assumed by the Son of God, as well as three souls
be in man distinct, as some think there are.
3. To enhance this goodness yet higher ; it was a greater goodness
to us, than was for a time manifested to Christ himself. To demon-
strate his goodness to man, in preventing his eternal ruin, he would
for a while withhokl his goodness from his Son, by exposing his life
as the price of our ransom ; not only subjecting him to the derisions
of enemies, desertions of friends, and malice of devils, but to the in-
expressible bitterness of his own wrath in his soul, as made an offer-
ing for sin. The particle so (John lii. 16), seems to intimate this
supremacy of goodness ; He " so loved the world, that he gave his
only begotten Son." He so loved the world, that he seemed for a
time not to love his Son in comparison of it, or equal with it. The
person to whom a gift is given is, in that regard, accounted more
valuable than the gift or present made to him : thus God valued our
redemption above the worldly happiness of the Kedeemer, and sen-
tenceth him to an humiliation on earth, in order to our exaltation in
heaven ; he was desirous to hear him groaning, and see him bleed-
ing, that we might not groan under his frowns, and bleed under his
wrath ; he spared not him, that he might spare us ; refused not to
strike him, that he might be well pleased with us ; drenched his
sword in the blood of his Son, that it might not forever be wet with
ours, but that his goodness might forever triumph in our salvation ;
he was willing to have his Son made man, and die, rather than man
should perish, who had delighted to ruin himself; he seemed to de-
grade him for a time from what he was.^ But since he could not be
united to any but to an intellectual creature, he could not be united
to any viler and more sordid creature than the earthly nature of
man : and when this Son, in our nature, prayed that the cup might
pass from him. Goodness would not suffer it, to show how it valued
* Liugeud de Eucharist, pp. 84, 85.
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 265
the manifestation of itself, in the salvation of man, above the preser-
vation of the life of so dear a person.
In particular, wherein this goodness appears : —
1st. The first resolution to redeem, and the means appointed for
redemption, could have no other inducement but Divine goodness.
We cannot too highly value the merit of Christ ; but we must not
so much extend the merit of Christ, as to draw a value to eclipse the
goodness of God ; though we owe our redemption and the fruits of
it to the death of Christ, yet we owe not the first resolutions of re-
demption, and assumption of our nature, the means of redemption,
to the merit of Christ. Divine goodness only, without the associa-
tion of any merit, not only of man, but of the Redeemer himself, be-
gat the first purpose of our recovery ; he was singled out, and pre-
destinated to be our Redeemer, before he took our nature to merit
our redemption. " Grod sent his Son," is a frequent expression in
the Gospel of St. John (John iii, 34 ; v. 24 ; xvii. 3). To what end
did God ser^d Christ, but to redeem ? The purpose of redemption,
therefore, preceded the pitching upon Christ as the means and pro-
curing cause of it, i. e. of our actual redemption, but not of the re-
deeming purpose; the end is always in intention before the means.'^
" God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son ;" the
love of God to the world was first in intention, and the order of
nature, before the will of giving his Son to the world. His intention
of saving was before the mission of a Saviour ; so that this affection
rose, not from the merit of Christ, but the merit of Christ was direct-
ed by this affection. It was the effect of it, not the cause. Nor was
the union of our nature with his merited by him ; all his meritorious
acts were performed in our nature; the nature, therefore, wherein he
performed it, was not merited ; that grace which was not, could not
merit what it was ; he could not merit that humanity, which must
be assumed before he could merit anything for us, because all merit
for us must be offered in the nature which had offended. It is true
" Christ gave himself," but by the order of Divine goodness ; he that
begat him, pitched upon him, and called him to this great work (Heb.
V. 5) ; he is therefore called "the Lamb of God," as being set apart
by God to be a propitiating and appeasing sacrifice. He is the
" Wisdom of God," since from the Father he reveals the counsel and
order of redemption. In this regard he calls God " his God" in the
prophet (Isa. xlix. 4), and in the evangelist (John xx. 17) ; though
he was big with affection for the accomplishment, yet he came not
to do his " own will," but the will of Divine goodness ; his own will
it was, too, but not principally, as being the first wheel in motion,
but subordinate to the eternal will of Divine bounty. It was by the
will of God that he came, and by his will he drank the dreggy cup
of bitterness. Divine justice laid " upon him the iniquity of us all,"
but Divine goodness intended it for our rescue ; Divine goodness
singled him out, and set him apart ; Divine goodness invited him to
it ; Divine goodness commanded him to effect it, and put a law into
his heart, to bias him in the performing of it ; Divine goodness sent
him, and Divine goodness moved justice to bruise him ; and, after
^ Lessius.
266 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTEIBUTES.
liis sacrifice, Divine goodness accepted liim, and caressed liim for it.
So earnest was it for our redemption, as to give out special and irre-
versible orders : death was commanded to be endured by him for us,
and life commanded to be imparted by him to us (John x. 16, 18).
If God had not been the mover, but had received the proposal from
another, he might have heard it, but was not bound to grant it ; his
sovereign authority, was not under any obligation to receive another's
sponsion for the miserable criminal. As Christ is the head of man,
so " God is the head of Christ" (1 Cor. xi. 3); he did nothing but by
his directions, as he was not a Mediator, but by the constitution of
Divine goodness. As a " liberal man deviseth liberal things" (Isa.
ii. 8), so did a bountiful God devise a bountiful act, wherein his kind-
ness and love as a Saviour appeared : he was possessed with the re-
solutions to manifest his goodness in Christ, " in the beginning of
his way" (Prov. viii. 22, 23), before he descended to the act of crea-
tion. This intention of goodness preceded his making that creature
man, who, he foresaw, would fall, and, by his fall, disjoint and en-
tangle the whole frame of the world, without such a provision.
2d. In God's giving Christ to be our Eedeemer, he gave the highest
gift that it was possible for Divine goodness to bestow. As there
is not a greater God than himself to be conceived, so there is not a
greater gift for this great God to present to his creatures : never did
God go farther, in any of his excellent perfections, than this. It is
such a dole that cannot be transcended with a choicer ; he is, as it
were, come to the last mite of his treasure ; and though he could
create millions of worlds for us, he cannot give a greater Son to us.
He could abound in the expressions of his joower, in new creations
of worlds, Avhich have not yet been seen, and in the lustre of his
wisdom in more stately structures ; but if he should frame as many
worlds as there are mites of dust and matter in this, and make every
one of them as bright and glorious as the sun, though his power and
wisdom would be more signalized, yet his goodness could not, since
he hath not a choicer gift to bless those brighter worlds withal, than he
hath conferred upon this: nor can immense goodness contrive a
richer means to conduct those worlds to happiness, than he hath both
invented for this world, and presented it with. It cannot be imag-
ined, that it can extend itself farther than to give a gift equal with
himself; a gift as clear to him as himself. His wisdom, had it stud-
,ied millions of eternities (excuse the expression, since eternity ad-
mits of no millions, it being an interminable duration), it could have
found out no more to give; this goodness could have bestowed
no more, and our necessity could not have required a greater of-
fering for our relief When God intended, in redemption, the
manifestation of his highest goodness, it coidd not be without the
donation of the choicest gift ; as, when he would insure our comfort,
he swears "by himself," because he cannot swear "by a greater"
(Heb. vi. 13) : so, when we would insure our happiness, he gives us
his Son, because he cannot give a greater, being equal with himself.
Had the Father given himself in person, he had given one first in
order, but not greater in essence and glorious perfections : it could
have been no more than the life of God, and should then have been
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 267
laid down for us ; and so it was now, since tlie human nature did not
subsist but in his Divine person.
1. It is a greater gift than worlds, or all things purchased by him.
What was this gift but "the image of his person, and the brightness
of his glory" (Heb. i. 3)? What was this gift but one as rich as
eternal blessedness could make him ? What was this gift, but one
that possessed the fulness of earth, and the more immense riches of
heaven ? It is a more valuable present, than if he presented us with
thousands of worlds of angels and inferior creatures, because his
person is incomparably greater, not only than all conceivable, but
inconceivable, creations ; we are more obliged to him for it, than if
he had made us angels of the highest rank in heaven, because it is a
gift of more value than the whole angelical nature, because he is an
infinite person, and therefore infinitely transcends whatsoever is
finite, though of the highest dignity. The Avounds of an Almighty
God for us are a greater testimony of goodness, than if we had all
the other riches of heaven and earth. This perfection had not ap-
peared in such an astonishing grandeur, had it pardoned us without
so rich a satisfaction ; that had been pardon to our sin, not a God of
our nature. "God so loved the world" that he pardoned it, had not
sounded so great and so good, as God so loved the world, that he
" gave his only -begotten Son." Est aliquid in Christo formosius Ser-
vaiore. There is something in Christ more excellent and comely than
the office of a Saviour ; the greatness of his person is more excellent,
than the salvation procured by his death : it was a greater gift than
was bestowed upon innocent Adam, or the holy angels. In the cre-
ation, his goodness gave us creatures for our use : in our redemp-
tion, his goodness gives us what was dearest to him for our service,
our Sovereign in office to benefit us, as well as in a royalty to gov-
ern us.
2. It was a greater gift, because it was his own Son, not an angel.
It had been a mighty goodness to have given one of the lofty sera-
phims ; a greater goodness to have given the whole corporation of
those glorious spirits f6r us, those children of the Most High : but
he gave that Son, whom he commands " all the angels to worship"
(Heb. i. 6), and all men to adore, and pay the "lowest homage to"
(Ps. ii. 12) ; that Son that is to be honored by us, as we " honor the
Father" (John v. 23); that Son which was his "delight" (Prov. viii.
30) ; his delights in the Hebrew, wherein all the delights of the
Father were gathered in one, as well as of the whole creation ; and
not simply a Son, but an only-begotten Son, upon which Christ lays
the stress with an emphasis (1 John iii. 16). He had but one Son in
heaven or earth, one Son from an unviewable eternity, and that one
Son he gave for a degenerate world ; this son he consecrated for " ev-
ermore a Priest" (Heb. vii. 28). " The word of the oath makes tlie
Son ;" the peculiarity of his Sonship heightens the goodness of the
Donor. It was no meaner a person that he gave to empty himself
of his glory, to fulfil an obedience for us, that we might be rendered
happy partakers of the Divine nature. Those that know the natural
affection of a father to a son, must judge the affection of God the
Father to the Son infinitely greater, than the affection of an earthlj'-
268 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
father to the son of his bowels. It must be an unparalleled goodness,
to give up a Son that he loved with so ardent an affection, for the
redemption of rebels : abandon a glorious Son to a dishonorable
death, for the security of those that had violated the laws of right-
eousness, and endeavored to pull the sovereign crown from his head.
Besides, being an only Son, all those affections centered in him, which
in parents would have been divided among a multitude of children:
so, then, as it was a testimony of the highest faith and obedience in
"Abraham to offer up his only-begotten son to God" (Heb. xi. 17) ;
so it was the triumph of Divine goodness, to give so great, so dear
a person, for so little a thing as man ; and for such a piece of nothing
and vanity, as a sinful world.
3. And this Son given to rescue us by his death. It was a gift to
us ; for our sakes he descended from his throne, and dwelt on earth ;
for our sakes he was "made flesh," and infirm flesh; for our sakes
he was " made a curse," and scorched in the furnace of his Father's
wrath ; for our sakes he went naked, armed only with his own
strength, into the lists of that combat with the devils, that led us
captive. Had he given him to be a leader for the conquest of some
earthly enemies, it had been a great goodness to display his banners,
and bring us under his conduct ; but he sent him to lay down his
life in the bitterest and most inglorious manner, and exposed him to
a cursed death for our redemption from that dreadful curse, which
would have broken us to pieces, and irreparably have crushed us.
He gave him to us, to suffer for us as a man, and redeem us as a
God ; to be a sacrifice to expiate our sin by translating the punish-
ment upon himself, which was merited by us. Thus Avas he made
low to exalt us, and debased to advance us, " made poor to enrich
us" (2 Cor. viii. 9) ; and eclipsed to brighten our sullied natures, and
wounded, that he might be a physician for our languishments. He
was ordered to taste the bitter cup of death, that we might drink of
the rivers of immortal life and pleasures : to submit to the frailties
of the human nature, that we might possess the glories of the divine :
he was ordered to be a sufferer, that we might be no longer captives ;
and to pass through the fire of Divine wrath, that he might purge
our nature from the dross it had contracted. Thus was the righteous
given for sin, the innocent for criminals, the glory of heaven for the
dregs of earth, and the immense riches of a Deity expended to re-
stock man.
4. And a Son that was exalted for what he had done for us by the
order of Divine goodness. The exaltation of Christ was no less a
signal mark of his miraculous goodness to us, than of his affection to
him : since he was obedient by Divine goodness to die for us, his ad-
vancement was for his obedience to those orders. The name given
to him " above every name" (Phil. ii. 8, 9), was a repeated triumph
of this perfection ; since his passion was not for himself, he was
wholly innocent, but for us who were criminal. His advancement
Avas not only for himself as Redeemer, but for us as redeemed :
Divine goodness centered in him, both in his cross and in his crown ;
for it was for the "purging our sins, he sat down on the right hand
of the Majesty on high" (Heb. i. 8): and the whole blessed society
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 269
of principalities and powers in heaven admire this goodness of God,
and ascribe to him " honor, glory, and power" for advancing the
"Lamb slain" (Rev. v. 11-13). Divine goodness did not only give
him to us, but gave him power, riches, strength, and honor, for man-
ifesting this goodness to us, and opening the passages for its fuller
conveyances to the sons of men. Had not God had thoughts of a
perpetual goodness, he would not have settled him so near him, to
manage our cause, and testified so much affection to him on our be-
half This goodness gave him to be debased for us, and ordered
him to be enthroned for us : as it gave him to us bleeding, so it
would give him to us triumphing ; that as we have a share by grace
in the merits of his humiliation, we might partake also of the glories
of his coronation ; that, from first to last, we may behold nothing but
the triumphs of Divine goodness to fallen man.
5. In bestowing this gift on us. Divine goodness gives whole God
to us. Whatsoever is great and excellent in the Godhead, the Father
gives us, by giving us his Son : the Creator gives himself to us in his
Son Christ. In giving creatures to us, he gives the riches of earth ;
in giving himself to us, he gives the riches of heaven, which sur-
mount all understanding : it is in this gift he becomes our God, and
passeth over the title of all that he is for our use and benefit, that
every attribute in the Divine nature may be claimed by us ; not to
be imparted to us whereby we may be deified, but employed for our
welfare, whereby we may be blessed. He gave himself in creation to
us in the image of his holiness ; but, in redemption, he gave himself
in the image of his person : he would not only communicate the
goodness without him, but bestow upon us the infinite goodness of
his own nature ; that that which was his own end and happiness
might be our end and happiness, viz. himself By giving his Son,
he hath given himself; and in both gifts he hath given all things to
us. The Creator of all things is eminently all things: "He hath
given all things into the hands of his Son" (John iii. 35); and, by
consequence, given all things into the hands of his redeemed crea-
tures, by giving them Him to whom he gave all things ; whatsoever
we were invested in by creation, whatsoever we were deprived of by
corruption, and more, he hath deposited in safe hands for our enjoy-
ment : and what can Divine goodness do more for us? What further
can it give unto us, than what it hath given, and in that gift designed
for us ?
3d, This goodness is enhanced by considering the state of man in
the first transgression, and since.
1. Man's first transgression. If we should rip up every vein of
that first sin, should we find any want of wickedness to excite a just
indignation ? What ^Yas there but ingratitude to Divine bounty,
and rebellion against Divine sovereignty ? The royalty of God was
attempted ; the supremacy of Divine knowledge above man's own
knowledge envied ; the riches of goodness, whereby he lived and
breathed, slighted. There is a discontent with God upon an un-
reasonable sentiment, that God had denied a knowledge to him
which was his right and due, when there should have been an hum-
ble acknowledgment of that unmerited goodness, which had not only
270 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
given him a being above other creatures, but placed him the gover-
nor and lord of those that were inferior to him. What alienation
of his understanding was there from knowing God, and of his will
from loving him ! A debauch of all his faculties ; a spiritual adultery,
in preferring, not only one of God's creatures, but one of his des-
perate enemies, before him; thinking him a wiser counsellor than
Infinite Wisdom, and imagining him possessed with kinder affections
to him than that God who had newly created him. Thus he joins
in league with hell against heaven, with a fallen spirit against his
bountiful Benefactor, and enters into society with rebels that just
before commenced a war against his and their common Sovereign :
he did not only falter in, but cast off, the obedience due to his Crea-
tor ; endeavored to purloin his glory, and actually murdered all those
that were virtually in his loins. " Sin entered into the world" by
him, " and death by sin, and passed upon all men" (Rom. v. 12),
taking them off from their subjection to God, to be slaves to the
damned spirits, and heirs of their misery : and, after all this, he adds
a foul imputation on God, taxing him as the author of his sin, and
thereby stains the beauty of his holiness. But, notwithstanding all
this, God stops not up the flood-gates of his goodness, nor doth he
entertain fiery resolutions against man, but brings forth a healing
promise ; and sends not an angel upon commission to reveal it to
him, but preaches it himself to this forlorn and rebellious creature
(Gen. iii. 15).
2. Could there be anything in this fallen creature to allure God to
the expression of his goodness ? Was there an}^ good action in all
his carriage that could plead for a re-admission of him to his former
state ? Was there one good quality left, that could be an orator to
persuade Divine goodness to such a gracious procedure ? Was there
any moral goodness in man, after this debauch, that might be an
object of Divine love? What was there in him, that was not rather
a provocation than an allurement ? Could you expect that any per-
fection in God should find a motive in this ungrateful apostate to
open a mouth for him, and be an advocate to support him, and bring
him off from a just tribunal? or, after Divine goodness had begun to
pity and plead for man, is it not wonderful that it should not discon-
tinue the plea, after it found man's excuse to be as black as his crime
(Gen. iii. 12), and his carriage, upon his examination, to be as dis-
obliging as his first revolt ? It might well be expected, that all the
perfections in the Divine nature would have entered into an associa-
tion eternally to treat this rebel according to his deserts. What at-
tractives were there in a silly worm, much less in such complete
wickedness, inexcusable enmity, infamous rebellion, to design a Ee-
deemer for him, and such a person as the Son of God to a fleshy
body, an eclipse of glor}^, and an ignominious cross ? The meanness
of man was further from alluring God to it, than the dignity of
angels.
8. Was there not a world of demerit in man, to animate grace as
well as wrath against him ? We were so far from deserving the
opening any streams of goodness, that we had merited floods of de-
vouring wrath. What were all men but enemies to God in a high
ON" THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 271
manner ? Every offence was infinite, as being committed against
a being of infinite dignity ; it was a stroke at the very being of God,
a resistance of all liis attributes; it would degrade him from the
height and perfection of his nature ; it would not, by its good will,
suffer God to be God. If he that hates his brother is a murderer of
his brother (1 John iii. 15), he that hates his Creator is a murderer
of the Deity, and every "carnal mind is enmity to God" (Rom. viii.
7) : every sin envies him his authority, by breaking his precept ; and
envies him his goodness, by defacing the marks of it : every sin com-
prehends in it more than men or angels can conceive : that God who
only hath the clear apprehensions of his own dignity, hath the sole
clear apprehensions of sin's malignity. All men were thus by na-
ture : those that sinned before the coming of the Redeemer had been
in a state of sin ; those that were to come after him would be in a
state of sin by their birth, and be criminals as soon as ever they were
creatures. AH men, as well the glorified, as those in the flesh at the
coming of the Redeemer, and those that were to be born after, were
considered in a state of sin by God, when he bruised the Redeemer
for them ; all were filthy and unworthy of the eye of God ; all had
employed the faculties of their souls, and the members of their bodies,
which they enjoyed by his goodness, against the interest of his glory.
Every rational creature had made himself a slave to those creatures
over whom he had been appointed a lord, subjected himself as a
servant to his inferior, and strutted as a superior against his liberal
Sovereign, and by every sin rendered himself more a child of Satan,
and enemy of God, and more worthy of the curses of the law, and the
torments of hell. Was it not, now, a mighty goodness that would
surmount those high mountains of demerit, and elevate such creatures
by the depression of his Son ? Had we been possessed of the highest
holiness, a reward had been the natural effect of goodness. It was
not possible that God should be unkind to a righteous and innocent
creature ; his grace would have crowned that which had been so
agreeable to him. He had been a denier of himself, had he num-
bered innocent creatures in the rank of the miserable ; but to be kind
to an enemy, to run counter to the vastness of demerit in man, was
a superlative goodness, a goodness triumjjhing above all the provo-
cations of men, and pleas of justice: it was an abounding goodness
of grace ; " where sin abounded, grace did much more abound" (Rom.
V. 20), ineQenE^iaaevaev ; it Swelled abovc the heights of sin, and tri-
umphed more than all his other attributes.
4. Man was reduced to the lowest condition. Our crimes had
brought us to the lowest calamity ; we were brought to the dust, and
prepared for hell. Adam had not the boldness to request, and there-
fore we may judge he had not the least hopes of pardon ; he was
sunk under wrath, and could have expected no better an entertain-
ment than the tempter, Avhose solicitations he submitted to. We had
cast the diadem from our heads, and lost all our original excellency ;
we were lost to our own happiness, and lost to our Creator's service,
when he was so kind as to send his Son to seek us (Matt, xviii. 11),
and so liberal as to expend his blood for our cure and preservation.
How great was that goodness that would not abandon us in our mis-
272 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTEIBUTES.
ery, but remit our crimes, and rescue our persons, and ransom our
souls by so great a price from tlie rights of justice, and horrors of
hell, we were so fitted for ?
5. Every age multiplied provocations ; every age of the Avorld
proved more degenerate. The traditions, which were purer and
more lively among Adam's immediate posterity, were more dark
among his further descendants ; idolatry, whereof we have no marks
in the old world before the deluge, was frequent afterwards in every
nation : not only the knowledge of the true God Avas lost, but the
natural reverential thoughts of a Deity were expelled. Hence gods
were dubbed according to men's humors ; and not only human pas-
sions, but brutish vices, ascribed to them : as by the fall we were
become less than men, so we would fancy God no better than a
beast, since beasts were worshipped as gods (Rom. i. 21) ; yea, fan-
cied God no better than a devil, since that destroyer was worshipped
instead of the Creator, and a homage paid to the powers of hell that
had ruined them, which was due to the goodness of that Benefactor,
who had made them and preserved them in the world. The vilest
creatures were deified ; reason was debased below common sense ;
and men adored one end of a " log," while they " warmed them-
selves with the other" (Isa. xliv. 14, 16, 17) ; as if that which was
ordained for the kitchen were a fit representation for God in the tem-
ple. Thus were the natural notions of a Deity depraved ; the whole
world drenched in idolatry ; and though the Jews were free from
that gross abuse of God, yet they were sunk also into loathsome su-
perstitions, when the goodness of God brought in his designed Ee-
deemer and redemption into the world.
6. The impotence of man enhanceth this goodness. Our own eye
did scarce pity us, and it was impossible for our own hands to re-
lieve us ; we were insensible of our misery, in love with our death ;
we courted our chains, and the noise of our fettering lusts were our
music, " serving divers lusts and pleasures" (Tit. iii. 3). Our lusts
were our pleasures ; Satan's yoke was as delightful to us to bear, as
to him to impose : instead of being his opposers in his attempts
against us, we were his voluntary seconds, and every whit as wil-
ling to embrace, as he was to propose, his ruining temptations. As
no man can recover himself from death, so no man can recover him-
self from wrath ; he is as unable to redeem, as to create himself ; he
might as soon have stripped himself of his being, as put an end to
his misery ; his captivity would have been endless, and his chains
remediless, for anything he could do to knock them ofi:', and deliver
himself; he was too much in love with the sink of sin, to leave
wallowing in it, and under too powerful a hand, to cease frying in
the flames of wrath. As the law could not be obeyed by man, after
a corrupt principle had entered into him, so neither could justice be
satisfied by him after his transgression. The sinner was indebted,
but bankrupt ; as he was unable to pay a mite of that obedience he
owed to the precept, because of his enmity, so he was unable to sat-
isfy what he owed to the penalty, because of his feebleness : he was
as much without love to observe the one, as " without strength" to
bear the other : he could not, because of his " enmity, be subject to
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 273
the law" (Rom. viii. 7), or compensate for his sin, because he was
" without strength" (Rom. v. 6). His strength to offend was great ;
but to deliver himself a mere nothing. Repentance was not a thing
known by man after the fall, till he had hopes of redemption ; and
if he had known and exercised it, what compensation are the tears
of a malefactor for an injury done to the crown, and attempting the
life of his prince ? How great Avas Divine goodness, not only to
pity men in this state, but to provide a strong Redeemer for them !
" 6 Lord, my strength, and my Redeemer !" said the Psalmist (Ps.
xix. 14) : when he found out a Redeemer for our misery, he found
out a strength for our impotency. To conclude this : behold the
*' goodness of God," when we had thus unhandsomely dealt with
him ; had nothing to allure his goodness, multitudes of provocations
to incense him, were reduced to a condition as low as could be, fit
to be the matter of his scoffs, and the sport of Divine justice, and so
weak that we could not repair our own ruins ; then did he open a
fountain of fresh goodness in the death of his Son, and sent forth
such delightful streams, as in our original creation we could never
have tasted ; not only overcame the resentments of a provoked jus-
tice, but magnified itself by our lowness, and strengthened itself by
our weakness. His goodness had before created an innocent, but
here it saves a malefactor ; and sends his Son to die for us, as if the
Holy of holies were the criminal, and the rebel the innocent. It had
been a pompous goodness to have given him as a king ; but a good-
ness of greater grandeur to expose him as a sacrifice for slaves and
enemies. Had Adam remained innocent, and proved thankftd for
what he had received, it had been great goodness to have brought
him to glory ; but to bring filthy and rebellious Adam to it, sur-
mounts, by inexpressible degrees, that sort of goodness he had ex-
perimented before ; since it was not from a light evil, a tolerable
curse unawares brought upon us, but from the yoke we had willing-
ly submitted to, from the power of darkness we had courted, and the
farnace of wrath we had kindled for ourselves. What are we dead
dogs, that he should behold us with so gracious an eye ? This good-
ness is thus enhanced, if you consider the state of man in his first
transgression, and after.
4th. This goodness further appears in the high advancement of our
nature, after it had so highly offended. By creation, we had an
affinity with animals in our bodies, with angels in our spirits, with
God in his image ; but not with God in our nature, till the incarna-
tion of the Redeemer. Adam, by creation, was the son of God
(Luke iii. 38), but his nature was not one with the person of God :
he was his son, as created by him, but had no affinity to him by vir-
tue of union with him : but now man doth not only see his nature in
multitudes of men on earth, but, by an astonishing goodness, be-
holds his nature united to the Deity in heaven : that as he was the
son of God by creation, he is now the brother of God by redemp-
tion ; for with such a title doth that Person, who was the Son of God
as well as the Son of man, honor his disciples (John xx, 17) : and
because he is of the same nature with them, he " is not ashamed to
call them brethren" (Heb. ii. 11). Our nature, which was infinitely
VOL. II. — 18
274 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
distant from, and below the Deity, now makes one person with the
Son of God. What man sinfully aspired to, God hath graciously
granted, and more : man aspired to a likeness in knowledge, and God
hath granted him an affinity in union. It had been astonishing good-
ness to angelize our natures ; but in redemption Divine goodness
hath acted higher, in a sort to deify our natures. In creation, our
nature was exalted above other creatures on earth ; in our redemp-
tion, our nature is exalted above all the host of heaven : we were
higher than the beasts, as creatures, but •" lower than the angels"
(Ps. viii. 5) ; but, by the incarnation of the Son of God, our na-
ture is elevated many steps above them. After it had sunk itself
by corruption below the bestial nature, and as low as the dia-
bolical, the " fulness of the Godhead dwells in our nature bodily"
(Col. ii. 9), but never in the angels, angelically. The Son of God
descended to dignify our nature, by assuming it; and ascended
with our nature to have it crowned above those standing monu-
ments of Divine power and goodness (Eph. i. 20, 21). That Per-
son that descended in our nature into the grave, and in the same
nature was raised up again, is, in that same nature, set at the
right hand of God in heaven, " far above all principality, and
power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named."
Our refined clay, by an indissoluble union with this Divine Per-
son, is honored to sit forever upon a throne above all the tribes
of seraphims and cherubims ; and the Person that wears it, is the
head of the good angels, and the conqueror of the bad ; the one
are put under his feet, and the other commanded to adore him,
" that purged our sins in our nature" (Heb. i. 3, 6) : that Divine
Person in our nature receives adoration from the angels ; but the
nature of man is not ordered to pay any homage and adorations
to the angels. How could Divine goodness, to man, more mag-
nify itself? As we could not have a lower descent than we had
by sin, how could we have a higher ascent than by a substan-
tial participation of a divine life, in our nature, in the unity of a
Divine Person ? Our earthly nature is joined to a heavenly Person ;
our undone nature united to " one equal with God" (Phil. ii. 6). It
may truly be said, that man is God, which is infinitely more glori-
ous for us, than if it could be said, man is an angel. If it were
goodness to advance our innocent nature above other creatures, the
advancement of our degenerate nature above angels deserves a
higher title than mere goodness. It is a more gracious act, than if
all men had been transformed into the pure spiritual nature of the
loftiest cherubims.
5th. This goodness is manifest in the covenant of grace made
with us, whereby we are freed from the rigor of that of works,
God might have insisted upon the terms of the old covenant, and
required of man the improvement of his original stock ; but God
hath condescended to lower terms, and offered man more gracious
methods, and mitigated the rigor of the first, bj the sweetness of
the second.
1. It is goodness, that he should condescend to make another
covenant with man. To stipulate with innocent and righteous
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 275
Adam for his obedience, was a stoop of his sovereignty ; though
he gave the precept as a sovereign Lord, yet in his covenanting, he
seems to descend to some kind of equality with that dust and ashes
with whom the treated. Absolute sovereigns do not usually cove-
nant with their people, but exact obedience and duty, without
binding themselves to bestow a reward ; and if they intend any,
they reserve the purpose in their own breasts, without treating their
subjects with a solemn declaration of it. There was no obligation
on God to enter into the -first covenant, much less, after the viola-
tion of the first, to the settlement of a new. If God seemed in
some sort to equal himself to man in the first, he seemed to descend
below himself in treating with a rebel upon more condescending
terms in the second. If his covenant with innocent Adam was a
stoop of his sovereignty, this with rebellious Adam seems to be a
stripping himself of his majesty in favor of his goodness ; as if his
happiness depended upon us, and not ours upon him. It is a humilia-
tion of himself to behold the things in heaven, the glorious angels, as
well as things on earth, mortal men (Ps. cxiii. 6) ; much more to
bind himself in gracious bonds to the glorious angels ; and much
more if to rebel man. In the first covenant there was much of
sovereignty as well as goodness ; in the second there is less of sover-
eignty, and more of grace : in the first there was a righteous man
for a holy God ; in the second a polluted creature for a pure and
provoked God : in the first he holds his sceptre in his hand, to rule
his subjects ; in the second he seems to lay by his sceptre, to court
and espouse a beggar (Hosea ii. 18 — 20) : in the first he is a Lord ;
in the second a husband ; and binds himself upon gracious condi-
tions to become a debtor. How should this goodness fill us with an
humble astonishment, as it did Abraham, when he "fell on his
face," when he heard God speaking of making a covenant with
him ! (Gen. xvii. 2, 8). And if God speaking to Israel out of the
fire, and making them to hear his voice out of heaven, that he
might instruct them, was a consideration whereby Moses would
heighten their admiration of Divine goodness, and engage their
affectionate obedience to him (Deut. iv. 32, 36, 40), how much more
admirable is it for God to speak so kindly to us through the pacify-
ing blood of the covenant, that silenced the terrors of the old, and
settled the tenderness of the new !
2. His goodness is seen in the nature and tenor of the new cove-
nant. There are in this richer streams of love and pity. The lan-
guage of one was. Die, if thou sin ; that of the other. Live, if
thou belie vest -.^ the old covenant was founded upon the obedience
of man ; the new one is not founded upon the inconstancy of man's
will, but the firmness of Divine love, and the valuable merit of
Christ. The head of the first covenant was human and mutable ;
the Head of the second is divine and immutable. The curse due
to us by the breach of the first, is taken off by the indulgence of
the second: we are by it snatched from the jaws of the law, to be
wrapped up in the bosom of grace (Rom. viii. 1). " For you are
not under the law, but under grace" (Rom. vi. 14) ; from the curse
• Turreti, Ser. p. 33.
276 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
and condemnation of the law, to the sweetness and forgiveness of
grace. Christ bore the one, being "made a curse for ns" (Gal. iii.
13), that we might enjoy the sweetness of the other ; by this we are
brought from Mount Sinai, the mount of terror, to Mount Sion,
the mount of sacrifice, the type of the great Sacrifice (Heb. xii. 18,
22). That covenant brought in death upon one offence, this cove-
nant offers life after many offences (Rom. v. 16, 17): that involves
us in a curse, and this enricheth us with a blessing ; the breaches
of that expelled us out of Paradise, and the embracing of this ad-
mits us into heaven. This covenant demands, and admits of that
repentance whereof there was no mention in the first; that de-
manded obedience, not repentance upon a failure ; and though the
exercise of it had been never so deep in the fallen creature, nothing
of the law's severity had been remitted by any virtue of it. Again,
the first covenant demanded exact righteousness, but conveyed no
cleansing virtue, upon the contracting any filth. The first demands
a continuance in the righteousness conferred in creation ; the sec-
ond imprints a gracious heart in regeneration. " I will pour clean
water upon you ; I will put a new spirit within you," was the voice
of the second covenant, not of the first. Again, as to pardon :
Adam's covenant was to punish him, not to pardon him, if he fell ;
that threatened death upon transgression, this remits it ; that was
an act of Divine sovereignty, declaring the will of God ; this is an
act of Divine grace, passing an act of oblivion on the crimes of the
creature : that, as it demanded no repentance upon a failure, so it
promised no mercy upon guilt ; that convened our sin, and con-
demned us for it ; this clears our guilt, and comforts us under it.
The first covenant related us to God as a Judge ; every transgres-
sion against it forfeited his indulgence as a Father : the second
delivers us from God as a condemning Judge, to bring us under
his wing, as an affectionate Father ; in the one there was a dreadful
frown to scare us ; in the other, a healing wing to cover and re-
lieve us. Again, in regard of righteousness : that demanded our
performance of a righteousness in and by ourselves, and our own
strength ; this demands our acceptance of a righteousness higher
than ever the standing angels had ; the righteousness of the first
covenant was the righteousness of a man, the righteousness of the
second is the righteousness of a God (2 Cor. v. 21). Again, in re-
gard of that obedience it demands : it exacts not of us, as a ne-
cessary condition, the perfection of obedience, but the sincerity of
obedience ; an uprightness in our intention, not an unspottedness in
our action ; an integrity in our aims, and an industry in our com-
pliance with divine precepts : " Walk before me, and be thou
perfect" (Gen. xvii. 1) ; i. e. sincere. "What is hearty in our actions,
is accepted ; and what is defective, is overlooked, and not charged
upon us, because of the obedience and righteousness of our Surety.
The first covenant rejected all our services after sin; the services of
a person under the sentence of death, are but dead services : this ac-
cepts our imperfect services, after faith in it ; that administered no
strength to obey, but supposed it ; this supposeth our inability to
obey, and confers some strength for it : "I will put my spirit
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD, 277
witliin you, and cause you to walk in my statutes" (Ezek. xxxvi.
27). Again, in regard of the promises : the old covenant had good,
but the new hath " better promises" (Heb. viii. 6), of justification
after guilt and sanctification after filth, and glorification at last of
the whole man. In the first, there was provision against guilt, but
none for the removal of it : provision against filth, but none for
the cleansing of it ; promise of happiness implied, but not so great
a one as that " life and immortality" in heaven, " brought to light
by the gospel" (2 Tim. i. 10). Why said to be " brought to light
by the gospel ?" because it was not only buried, upon the fall of man
under the curses of the law, but it was not so obvious to the con-
ceptions of man in his innocent state. Life indeed was implied to
be promised upon his standing, but not so glorious an immortality
disclosed, to be reserved for him, if he stood : as it is a covenant of
better promises, so a covenant of sweeter comforts ; comforts more
choice, and comforts more durable; an "everlasting consolation,
and a good hope" are the fruits of " grace," i. e. the covenant of
grace (2 Thess. ii. 16). In the whole there is such a love disclosed,
as cannot be expressed ; the apostle leaves it to every man's mind
to conceive it, if he could, " What manner of love the Father hath
bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God"
(1 John iii. 1). It instates us in such a manner of the love of God
as he bears to his Son, the image of his person (John xvii. 23) :
" That the world may know that thou hast loved them, as thou hast
loved me."
3. This goodness appears in the choice gift of himself which he
hath made over in this covenant (Gen. xvii. 7). You know how it
runs in Scripture: "I will be -their God, and they shall be my peo-
ple" (Jer. xxxii. 38) : a propriety in the Deity is made over by it.
As he gave the blood of his Son to seal the covenant, so he gave
himself as the blessing of the covenant; " He is not ashamed to be
called their God" (Heb. xi. 16). Though he be environed with mil-
lions of angels, and presides ov^ them in an inexpressible glory, he
is not ashamed of his condescensions to man, and to pass over him-
self as the propriety of his people, as well as to take them to be his.
It is a diminution of the sense of the place, to understand it of God,
as Creator ; what reason was there for God to be ashamed of the ex-
pressions of his power, wisdom, goodness, in the works of his hands ?
But we might have reason to think there might be some ground in
God to be ashamed of making himself over in a deed of gift to a
mean worm and filthy rebel ; this might seem a disparagement to
his majesty ; but God is not ashamed of a title so mean, as the God
of his despised people ; a title below those others, of the " Lord of
hosts, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders, riding
on the wings of the wind, walking in the circuits of heaven." He is
no more ashamed of this title of being our God, than he is of those
other that sound more glorious ; he would rather have his greatness
veil to his goodness, than his goodness be confined by his majesty ;
he is not only our God, but our God as he is the God of Christ : he
is not ashamed to be our propriety, and Christ is not ashamed to own
his people in a partnership with him in this propriety (John xx.
278 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
17): " I ascend to my God, and your God." This of God's being
our God, is tlie quintessence of the covenant, the soul of all the
promises : in this he hath promised whatsoever is infinite in him,
whatsoever is the glory and ornament of his nature, for our use ; not
a part of him, or one single perfection, but the whole vigor and
strength of all. As he is not a God without infinite wisdom, and in-
finite power, and infinite goodness, and infinite blessedness, &c., so
he passes over, in this covenant, all that which presents him as the
most adorable Being to his creatures ; he will be to them as great,
as wise, as powerful, as good as he is in himself ; and the assuring
us, in this covenant, to be our God, imports also that he will do as
much for us, as we would do for ourselves, were we furnished with
the same goodness, power, and wisdom : in being our God, he testi-
fies it is all one, as if we had the same perfections in our own power
to employ for our use ; for he being possessed with them, it is as
much as if we ourselves were possessed with them, for our own ad-
vantage, according to the rules of wisdom, and the several conditions
we pass through for his glory. But this must be taken with a rela-
tion to that wisdom, which he observes in his proceedings with us as
creatures, and according to the several conditions we pass through
for his glory. Thus God's being ours is more than if all heaven and
earth were ours besides ; it is more than if we were fully our own,
and at our own dispose ; it makes " all things that God hath ours"
(1 Cor. iii. 22) ; and therefore, not only all things he hath created,
but all things that he can create ; not only all things that he hath
contrived, but all things that he can contrive : for in being ours, his
power is ours, his possible power as well as his active power ; his
power, whereby he can effect more than he hath done, and his wis-
dom, whereby he can contrive more than he hath done ; so that if
there were need of employing his power to create many worlds for
our good, he would not stick at it ; for if he did, he would not be
our God, in the extent of his nature, as the promise intimates. What
a rich goodness, and a fulness of bounty, is there in this short ex-
pression, as full as the expression of a God can make it, to be intelli-
gible, to such creatures as we are !
4. This goodness is further manifest in the confirmation of the
covenant. His goodness did not only condescend to make it for our
happiness, after we had made ourselves miserable, but further conde-
scended to ratify it in the solemnest manner for our assurance, to
overrule all the despondencies unbelief could raise up in our souls.
The reason why he confirmed it by an oath, was to show the immu-
tability of his glorious counsel, not to tie himself to keep it, for his
word and promise is in itself as immutable as his oath ; they were
" two immutable things, his word and his oath," one as unchange-
able as the other ; but for the strength of our consolation, that it
might have no reason to shake and totter (Ileb. vi. 17, 18): he would
condescend as low as was possible for a God to do for the satisfaction
of the dejected creature. When the first covenant was bi'oken, and
it was impossible for man to fulfil the terms of it, and mount to hap-
piness thereby, he makes another ; and, as if we had reason to dis-
trust him in the first, he solemnly ratifies it in a higher manner than
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 279
he had done the other, and swears by himself that he will be true to
it, not SO much out of an election of himself, as the object of the
oath (Heb. vi. 13) : " Because he could not swear by a greater, he
swears by himself;" whereby the apostle clearly intimates, that Di-
vine goodness was raised to such a height for us, that if there had
been anything else more sacred than himself, or that could have
punished him if he had broken it, that he would have sworn by, to
silence any diffidence in us, and confirm us in the reality of his in-
tentions. Now if it were a mighty mark of goodness for God to stoop
to a covenanting with us, it was more for a sovereign to bind him-
self so solemnly to be our debtor in a promise, as well as he Avas our
sovereign in the precept, and stoop so low in it to satisfy the distrust
of that creature, that deserved for ever to lie soaking in his own
ruins, for not believing his bare word. "What absolute prince would
ever stoop so low as to article with rebellious subjects, whom he
could in a moment set his foot upon and crush ; much less counten-
ance a causeless distrust of his goodness by the addition of his oath,
and thereby bind his own hands, which were unconfined before, and
free to do what he pleased with them ?
5. This goodness of God is remarkable also in the condition of this
covenant which is faith. This was the easiest condition, in its own
nature, that could be imagined ; no difficulty in it but what proceeds
from the pride of man's nature, and the obstinacy of his will. It
was not impossible in itself; it was not the old condition of perfect
obedience. It had been mighty goodness to set us up again upon our
old stock, and restore us to the tenor and condition of the covenant
of works, or to have required the burdensome ceremonies of the law.
Nor is it an exact knowledge he requires of us ; all men's under-
standings being of a diflFerent size, they had not been capable of this.
It was the most reasonable condition, in regard of the excellency of
the things proposed, and the effects following upon it ; nay, it was
necessary. It had been a want of goodness to himself and his own
honor ; he had cast that off, had he not insisted on this condition of
faith, it being the lowest he could condescend to with a salvo for his
glory. And it was a goodness to us ; it is nothing else he requires,
but a willingness to accept what he hath contrived and acted for us :
and no man can be happy against his will ; without this belief, at
least, man could never voluntarily have arrived to his happiness.
The goodness of God is evidenced in that.
[1st.] It is an easy condition, not impossible. 1. It was not the
condition of the old covenant. The condition of that was an entire
obedience to every precept with a man's whole strength, and with-
out any flaw or crack. But the condition of the evangelical cove-
nant is a sincere, though weak, faith ; He hath suited this covenant
to the misery of man's fallen condition ; he considers our weakness,
and that we are but dust, and therefore exacts not of us an entire,
but a sincere, obedience. Had God sent Christ to exjnate the crime
of Adam, restore him to his paradise estate, and repair in man the
ruined image of holiness, and after this to have renewed the coven-
ant of works for the future, and settled the same condition in exact-
ing a complete obedience for the time to come ; Divine goodness had
280 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
been above any accusation, and had deserved our highest admiration
in the pardon of former transgressions, and giving out to us our
first stock. But Divine goodness took larger strides : he had tried
our first condition, and found his mutable creature quickly to vio-
late it: had he demanded the same now, it is likely it had met with
the same issue as before, in man's disobedience and fall ; we should
have been as men, as Adam (Hos. vi. 7), " transgressing the coven-
ant;" and then we must have lain groaning under our disease, and
wallowing in our blood, unless Christ had come to die for the expi-
ation of our new crimes ; for every transgression had been a viola-
tion of that covenant, and a forfeiture of our right to the benefits
of it. If we had broke it but in one tittle, we had rendered our-
selves incapable to fulfil it for the future ; that one transgression
had stood as a bar against the pleag of after-obedience. But God
hath wholly laid that condition aside as to us, and settled that
of faith, more easy to be performed, and to be renewed by us. It
is infinite grace in him, that he will accept of faith in us, instead of
that perfect obedience he required of us in the covenant of works.
2. It is easy, not like the burdensome ceremonies appointed under
the law. He exacts not now the legal obedience, expensive sacri-
fices, troublesome purifications, and abstinences, that "yoke of bon-
dage" (Gal. V. 1) which they were " not able to bear" (Acts xv. 10).
He treats us not as servants, or children, in their nonage, under the
elements of the world, nor requires those innumerable bodily exer-
cises that he exacted of them : he demands not " a thousand of lambs,"
and " rivers of oil ;" but he requires a sincere confession and repent-
ance, in order to our absolution; an "unfeigned faith," in order to
our blessedness, and elevation to a glorious life. He requires only
that we should believe what he saith, and have so good an opinion
of his goodness and veracity, as to persuade ourselves of the reality
of his intentions, confide in his word, and rely upon his promise,
cordiall}^ embrace his crucified Son, whom he hath set forth as the
means of our happiness, and have a sincere respect to all the dis-
coveries of his will. What can be more easy than this? Though
some in the days of the apostles, and others since have endeavored
to introduce a multitude of legal burdens, as if they envied God the
expressions of his goodness, or thought him guilty of too much re-
missness, in taking off the 3'oke, and treating man too fiivorably.
3. Nor is it a clear knowledge of every revelation, that is the condition
of this covenant. God in his kindness to man hath made revelations
of himself, but his goodness is manifested in obliging us to believe
him, not fully to understand him. He hath made them, by sufficient
testimonies, as clear to our faith, as they are incomprehensible to our
reason : he hath revealed a Trinity of Persons, in their distinct offices,
in the business of redemption, without which revelation of a Trinity
we could not have a right notion and scheme of redeeming grace.
But since the clearness of men's understanding is sullied by the fall,
and hath lost its wings to fly up to a knowledge of such sublime
things as that of the Trinity, and other mysteries of the Christian
religion, God hath manifested his goodness in not obliging us to un-
derstand them but to believe them ; and hath given us reason enough
ON" THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 281
to believe it to be his revelation, (both from the nature of the reve-
lation itself, and the way and manner of propagating it, which is
wholly divine, exceeding all the methods of human art,) though he
hath not extended our understandings to a capacity to know them,
and render a reason of every mystery. He did not require of every
Israelite, or of any of them that were stung by the fiery serpents,
that they should understand, or be able to discourse of the nature
and qualities of that brass of which the serpent upon the pole was
made, or by what art that serpent was formed, or in what manner
the sight of it did operate in them for their cure ; it was enough that
they did believe the institution and precept of God, and that their
own cure was assured by it : it was enough if they cast their eyes
upon it according to the direction. The understandings of men are
of several sizes and elevations, one higher than another : if the con-
dition of this covenant had been a greatness of knowledge, the most
acute men had only enjoyed the benefits of it. But it is " faith,"
which is as easy to be performed by the ignorant and simple, as by
the strongest and most towering mind : it is that which is within the
compass of every man's understanding. God did not require that
every one within the verge of the covenant should be able to dis-
course of it to the reasons of men ; he required not that every man
should be a philosopher, or an orator, but a believer. What could
be more easy than to lift up the eye to the brazen serpent, to be
cured of a fiery sting ? What could be more facile than a glance,
which is done without any pain, and in a moment? It is a condition
may be performed by the weakest as well as the strongest : could
those that were bitten in the most vital part cast up their eyes, though
at the last gasp, they would arise to health by the expulsion of the
venom.
[2d.] As it is easy, so it is reasonable. Eepent and believe, is
that which is required by Christ and the apostles for the enjoyment
of the kingdom of heaven. It is very reasonable that things so great
and glorious, so beneficial to men, and revealed to them by so sound
an authority, and an unerring truth, should be believed. The ex-
cellency of the thing disclosed could admit of no lower a condition
than to be believed and embraced. There is a sort of faith, that is
a natural condition in everything : all religion in the world, though
never so false, depends upon a sort of it ; for unless there be a be-
lief of future things, there would never be a hope of good, or a fear
of evil, the two great hinges upon which religion moves. In all
kinds of learning, many things must be believed before a progress
can be made. Belief of one another is necessary in all acts of hu-
man life ; without which human society would be unlinked and dis-
solved. What is that faith that God requires of us in this covenant,
but a willingness of soul to take God for our God, Christ for our
Mediator, and the procurer of our happiness (Rev. xxii. 17) ? What
prince could require less upon any promise he makes his subjects,
than to be believed as true, and depended on as good ; that they
should accept his pardon, and other gracious offers, and be sincere
in their allegiance to him, avoiding all things that may offend him,
and pursuing all things that may please him ? Thus God, by so
282 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
small and reasonable a condition as faith, lets in the fruits of Christ's
death into our soul, and wraps us up in the fruition of all the privi-
leges purchased by it. So much he hath condescended in his good-
ness, that upon so slight a condition we may plead his promise, and
humbly challenge, by virtue of the covenant, those good things he
hath promised in his word. It is so reasonable a condition, that if
God did not require it in the covenant of grace, the creature Avere
obliged to perform it : for the publishing any truth from God, natu-
rally calls for credit to be given it by the creature, and an entertain-
ment of it in practice. Could you offer a more reasonable condi-
tion yourselves, had it been left to your choice ? Should a prince
proclaim a pardon to a profligate wretch, would not all the world cry
shame of hnn, if he did not believe it u^jon the highest assurances ?
and if ingenuity did not make him sorry for his crimes, and careful
in the duty of a subject, surely the world would cry shame of such
a person.
[3d.] It is a necessary condition. 1. Necessary for the honor of
God, A prince is disparaged if his authority in his law, and if his
graciousness in his promises, be not accepted and believed. What
physician would undertake a cure, if his precepts may not be cred-
ited ? It is the first thing in the order of nature, that the revelation
of God should be believed, that the reality of his intentions in in-
viting man to the acceptance of those methods he hath prescribed
for their attaining their chief happiness, should be acknowledged.
It is a debasing notion of God, that he should give a happiness,
purchased by Divine blood, to a person that hath no value for it, nor
any abhorrency of those sins that occasioned so great a suffering, nor
any will to avoid them : should he not vilify himself, to bestow a
heaven upon that man that will not believe the offers of it, nor walk
in those ways that lead to it ? that walks so, as if he would declare
there was no truth in his word, nor holiness in his nature ? Would
not God by such an act verify a truth in the language of their prac-
tice, viz. that he were both false and impure, careless of his word,
and negligent of his holiness ? As God was so desirous to ensure
the consolation of believers, that if there had been a greater Being
than himself to attest, and for him to be responsible to, for the con-
firmation of his promise, he would willingly have submitted to him,
and have made him the umpire, " He swore by himself, because he
could not swear by a greater" (II eb. vi. 19) ; by the same reason,
had it stood with the majesty and wisdom of God to stoop to lower
conditions in this covenant, for the reducing of man to his duty and
happiness, he would have done it ; but his goodness could not take
lower steps, with the preservation of the rights of his majesty, and
the honor of his wisdom. Would you have had him wholly sub-
mitted to the obstinate will of a rebellious creature, and be ruled
only by his terms ? Would you have had him received men to hap-
piness, after they had heightened their crimes by a contempt of his
grace, as well as of his creating goodness, and have made them
blessed under the guilt of their crimes without an acknowledgment ?
Should he glorify one that will not believe what he hath revealed,
nor repent of what himself hath committed ; and so save a man after
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 283
a repeated unthankfulness to the most immense grace that ever was,
or can be, discovered and offered, without a detestation of his ingrat-
itude, and a voluntary acceptance of his offers ? It is necessary, for
the honor of God, that man should accept of his terms, and not give
laws to him to whom he is obnoxious as a guilty person, as well as
subject as a creature. Again, it was very equitable and necessary
for the honor of God, that since man fell by an unbelief of his pre-
cept and threatening, he should not rise again without a belief of his
promise, and casting himself upon his truth in that : since he had
vilified the honor of his truth in the threatening ; since man in his
fall would lean to his own understanding against God, it is fit that,
in his recovery, the highest powers of his soul, his understanding
and will, should be subjected to him in an entire resignation. Now,
whereas knowledge seems to have a power over its object, faith is a
full submission to that which is the object of it. Since man intended
a glorying in himself, the evangelical covenant directs its whole bat-
tery against it, that men may " glory in nothing but Divine good-
ness" (1 Cor. i. 29 — 31). Had man performed exact obedience by his
own strength, he had had something in himself as the matter of his
glory. And though, after the fall, grace had made itself illustrious in
setting him up upon a new stock, yet had the same condition of exact
obedience been settled in the same manner, man would have had
something to glory in, which is struck off wholly by faith ; whereby
man in every act must go out of himself for a supply, to that Medi-
ator which Divine goodness and grace hath appointed. 2. It is ne-
cessary for the happiness of man. That can be no contenting con-
dition wherein the will of man doth not concur. He that is forced
to the most delicious diet, or to wear the bravest apparel, or to be
stored with abundance of treasure, cannot be happy in those things
without an esteem of them, and delight in them : if they be nau-
seous to him, the indisposition of his mind is a dead fly in those
boxes of precious ointment. Now, faith being a sincere willingness
to accept of Christ, and to come to God by him, and repentance be-
ing a detestation of that which made man's separation from God, it
is impossible he could be voluntarily happy without it : man cannot
attain and enjoy a true happiness without an operation of his under-
standing about the object proposed, and the means appointed to en-
joy it. There must be a knowledge of what is offered, and of the
way of it, and such a knowledge as may determine the will to affect
that end, and embrace those means ; which the will can never do,
till the understanding be fully persuaded of the truth of the offerer,
and the goodness of the proposal itself, and the conveniency of the
means for the attaining of it. It is necessary, in the nature of the
thing, that what is revealed should be believed to be a Divine reve-
lation. God must be judged true in the promising justification and
sanctification, the means of happiness ; and if any man desires to be
partaker of those promises, he must desire to be sanctified ; and how
can he desire that which is the matter of those promises, if he wal-
low in his own lusts, and desire to do so, a thing repugnant to the
promise itself? Would you have God force man to be happy against
his will ? Is it not very reasonable he should demand the consent
284 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
of his reasonable creature to that blessedness he oifers him ? The
new covenant is a " marriage covenant" (Hos. ii. 16, 19, 20), which
implies a consent on our parts, as well as a consent on God's part ;
that is no marriage that hath not the consent of both parties. Now
faith is our actual consent, and repentance and sincere obedience are
the testimonies of the truth and reality of this consent.
6th. Divine goodness is eminent in his methods of treating with
men to embrace this covenant. They are methods of gentleness and
sweetness : it is a wooing goodness, and a bewailing goodness ; his
expressions are with strong motions of affection : he carrieth not on
the gospel by force of arms : he doth not solely menace men into it,
as worldly conquerors have done ; he doth not, as Mahomet, plunder
men's estates, and wound their bodies, to imprint a religion on their
souls : he doth not erect gibbets, and kindle faggots, to scare men
to an entering into covenant with him. What multitudes might he
have raised by his power, as well as others ! What legions of angels
might he have rendezvoused from heaven, to have beaten men into
a profession of the gospel ! Nor doth he only interpose his sove-
reign authority in the precept of faith, but useth rational expostula-
tions, to move men voluntarily to comply with his proposals (Isa. i. 18),
" Come now, and let us reason together," saith the Lord. He seems
to call heaven and earth to be judge, whether he had been wanting
in any reasonable ways of goodness, to overcome the perversity of
the creature ; (Isa. i. 2), " Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, I
have nourished and brought up children." What various en-
couragements doth he use agreeable to the nature of men, endeavor-
ing to persuade them with all tenderness, not to despise their own
mercies, and be enemies to their own happiness ! He would allure
us by his beauty, and win us by his mercy. He uses the arms of
his own excellency and our necessity to prevail upon us, and this
after the highest provocations. When Adam had trampled upon
his creating goodness, it was not crushed ; and when man had cast
it from him, it took the higher rebound : when the rebel's provoca-
tion was fresh in his mind, he sought him out with a promise in his
hand, though Adam fled from him out of enmity as well as fear
(Gen. iii). And when the Jews had outraged his Son, whom he
loved from eternity, and made the Lord of heaven and earth bow
down his head like a slave on the cross, yet in that place, where the
most horrible wickedness had been committed, must the gospel be
preached : the law must go forth out of that Sion, and the apostles
must not stir from thence till they had received the promise of the
Spirit, and published the Avord of grace in that ungrateful city,
whose inhabitants yet swelled with indignation against the Lord of
Life, and the doctrine he had preached among them (Luke xxiv.
47 ; Acts i. 4, 5). He would overlook their indignities out of ten-
derness to their souls, and expose the apostles to the peril of their
lives, rather than expose his enemies to the fury of the devil.
1. How affectionately doth he invite men ! What multitudes of
alluring promises and pressing exhortations are there everywhere
sprinkled in the Scripture, and in such a passionate manner, as if
God were solely concerned in our good, without a glance on his own
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 285
glory ! How tenderly doth he woo flinty hearts, and express more
pity to them than they do to themselves ! With what alfection do
his bowels rise up to his lips in his speech in the prophet, Isa. li. 4,
" Hearken to me, O my people, and give ear unto me, O my nation !"
"My people," "my nation !" — melting expressions of a tender God
soliciting a rebellious people to make their retreat to him. He never
emptied his hand of his bounty, nor divested his lips of those chari-
table expressions. He sent Noah to move the wicked of the old
world to an embracing of his goodness, and frequent prophets to the
provoking Jews ; and as the world continued, and grew up to a
taller stature in sin, he stoops more in the manner of his expres-
sions. Never was the world at a higher pitch of idolatry than at
the first publishing the gospel ; yet, when we should have expected
him to be a punishing, he is a beseeching God. The apostle fears
not to use the expression for the glory of . ivine goodness ; " We
are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us"
(2 Cor. V. 20). The beseeching voice of God is in the voice of the
ministry, as the voice of the prince is in that of the herald: it is as
if Divine goodness did kneel down to a sinner with ringed hands
and blubbered cheeks, entreating him not to force him to re-assume
a tribunal of justice in the nature of a Judge, since he would treat
with man upon a throne of grace in the nature of a Father ; yea, he
seems to put himself into the posture of the criminal, that the offend-
ing creature might not feel the punishment due to a rebel. It is not
the condescension, but the interest, of a traitor to creep upon his
knees in sackcloth to his sovereign, to beg his life ; but it is a mirac-
ulous goodness in the sovereign to creep in the lowest posture to the
rebel, to importune him, not only for an amity to him, but a love for
his own life and happiness: this He doth, not only in his general
proclamations, but in his particular wooings, those inward courtings
of his Spirits, soliciting them with more diligence (if they would ob-
serve it) to their happiness, than the devil tempts them to the ways
of their misery : as he Avas first in Christ, reconciling the world,
when the world looked not after him, so he is first in his Spirit,
wooing the world to accept of that reconciliation, when the world
will not listen to him. How often doth he flash up the light of na-
ture and the light of the Avord in men's hearts, to move them not to
lie down in sparks of their own kindling, but to aspire to a better
happiness, and prepare them to be subject to a higher mercy, if they
would improve his present entreaties to such an end I And what
are his threatenings designed for, but to move the wheel of our
fears, that the wheel of our desire and love might be set on motion
for the embracing his promise ? They are not so much the thun-
ders of his justice, as the loud rhetoric of his good will, to prevent
men's misery under the vials of wrath : it is his kindness to scare
men by threatenings, that justice might not strike them with the
sword : it is not tlie destruction, but the preserving reformation, that
he aims at : he hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked ; this he
confirms by his oath. His threatenings are gracious expostulations
with them : " Why will ye die, 0 house of Israel" (Ezek. xxxiii.
11) ? They are like the noise a favorable ofiicer makes in the street,
286 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
to warn the criminal he comes to seize upon, to make his escape : he
never used his justice to crush men, till he had used his kindness to
allure them. All the dreadful descriptions of a future wrath, as well
as the lively descriptions of the happiness of another world, are de-
signed to persuade men ; the honey of his goodness is in the bowels
of those roaring lions : such pains doth Goodness take with men, to
make them candidates for heaven.
2. How readily doth he receive men when they do return ! We
have David's experience for it (Ps. xxxii. 5) ; "I said, I will confess
my transgressions unto the Lord ; and thou forgavest the iniquity
of my sin. Selah." A sincere look from the creature draws out his
arms, and opens his bosom ; he is ready with his physic to heal us,
upon a resolution to acquaint him with our disease, and by his med-
icines prevents the putting our resolution into a petition. The
Psalmist adds a " Selah" to it, as a special note of thankfulness for
Divine goodness. He doth not only stand ready to receive our pe-
titions while we are speaking, but answers us before we call (Isa.
Ixv. 24) ; listening to the motions of our heart, as well as to the sup-
plications of our lips. He is the true Father, that hath a quicker
pace in meeting, than the prodigal hath in returning ; who would
not have his embraces and caresses interrupted by his confession
(Luke XV. 20 — 22) ; the confession follows, doth not precede, the
Father's compassion. How doth he rejoice in having an opportu-
nity to express his grace, when he hath prevailed with a rebel to
throw down his arms, and lie at his feet; and this because "he de-
lights in mercy" (Micah. vii. 18) ! He delights in the expressions of
it from himself, and the acceptance of it by his creature.
3. How meltingly doth he bewail man's wilful refusal of his good-
ness ! It is a mighty goodness to offer grace to a rebel ; a mighty
goodness to give it him after he hath a while stood off from the
terms ; an astonishing goodness to regret and lament his wilful per-
dition. He seems to utter those words in a sigh, " O that my people
had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my way" (Ps.
Ixxxi. 13) ! It is true, God hath not human passions, but his affec-
tions cannot be expressed otherwise in a way intelligible to us ; the
excellency of his nature is above the passions of men ; but such ex-
pressions of himself manifest to us the sincerity of his goodness : and
that, were he capable of our passions, he would express himself in
such a manner as we do : and we find incarnate Goodness bewailing
Avith tears and sighs the ruin of Jerusalem (Luke xix. 42). By the
same reason that when a sinner returns there is joy in heaven, upon
his obstinacy there is sorrow in earth. The one is, as if a prince
should clothe all his court in triumphant scarlet, upon a rebel's re-
pentance ; and the other, as if a prince put himself and his court in
mourning for a rebel's obstinate refusal of a pardon, when he lies at
his mercy. Are not now these affectionate invitations, and deep be-
wailings of their perversity, high testimonies of Divine goodness ?
Do not the unwearied repetitions of gracious encouragements deserve
a higher name than that of mere goodness? What can be a stronger
evidence of the sincerity of it, than the sound of his saving voice in
our enjoyments, the motion of his Spirit in our hearts, and his grief
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 287
for tlie neglect of all ? These are not testimonies of any want of
goodness in his nature to answer us, or unwillingness to express it to
his creature. Hath he any mind to deceive us, tiiat thus intreats us ?
The majesty of his nature is too great for such shifts ; or, if it were
not, the despicableness of our condition would render him above the
using any. Who would charge that physician with want of kind-
ness, that freely offers his sovereign medicine, importunes men, by
the love they have to their health, to take it, and is dissolved into
tears and sorrow when he finds it rejected by their peevish and con-
ceited humor?
7th. Divine goodness is eminent in the sacraments he hath affixed
to this covenant, especially the Lord's supper. As he gave himself
in his Son, so he gives his Son in the sacrament ; he doth not only
give him as a sacrifice upon the cross for the expiation of our crimes,
but as a feast upon the table for the nourishment of our souls : in
the one he was given to be offered ; in this he gives him to be par-
taken of, with all the fruits of his death ; under the image of the
sacramental signs, every believer doth eat the flesh, and drink the
blood of the great Mediator of the covenant. The words of Christ,
" This is my body, and this is my blood," are true to the end of the
world (Matt. xxvi. 26, 28). This is the most delicious viand of
heaven, the most exquisite dainty food God can feed us with : the
delight of the Deity, the admiration of angels ; a feast with God is
great, but a feast on God is greater. Under those signs that body is
presented ; that which was conceived by the Spirit, inhabited by the
Godhead, bruised by the Father to be our food, as well as our pro-
pitiation, is presented to us on the table. That blood which satisfied
justice, washed away our guilt on the cross, and pleads for our per-
sons at the throne of grace ; that blood which silenced the curse,
pacified heaven, and purged earth, is given to us for our refreshment.
This is the bread sent from heaven, the true manna ; the cup is "the
cup of blessing," and, therefore, a cup of goodness (1 Cor. x. 15).
It is true, bread doth not cease to be bread, nor the wine cease to be
wine ; neither of them lose their substance, but both acquire a sanc-
tification, by the relation they have to that which they represent,
and give a nourishment to that faith that receives them. In those
God offers us a remedy for the sting of sin, and troubles of con-
science ; he gives us not the blood of a mere man, or the blood of
an incarnate angel, but of God blessed forever ; a blood that can se-
cure us against the wrath of heaven, and the tumults of our con-
sciences ; a blood that can wash away our sins, and beautify our
souls ; a blood that hath more strength than our filth, and more prev-
alency than our accuser ; a blood that secures us against the terrors
of death, and purifies us for the blessedness of heaven. The goodness
of God complies with our senses, and condescends to our weakness ;
he instructs us by the eye, as well as by the ear ; he lets us see, and
taste, and feel him, as well as hear him ; he veils his glory under
earthly elements, and informs our understanding in the mysteries of
salvation by signs familiar to our senses ; and because we cannot
with our bodily eyes behold him in his glory, he presents him to the
eyes of our minds in elements, to affect our understandings in the
288 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
representations of his death. The body of Christ crucified is more
visible to our spiritual sense, than the invisible Deity could be visible
in his flesh upon earth ; and the power of his body and blood is as
well experimented in our souls, as the power of his Divinity was
seen by the Jews in his miraculous actions in his body in the world.
It is the goodness of God, to mind us frequently of the great things
Christ hath purchased ; that as himself would not let them be out
of his mind, to communicate them to us, so he would give us means
to preserve them in our minds, to adore him for them, and request
them of him ; whereby he doth evidence his own solicitousness, that
we should not be deprived by our own forgetfulness of that grace
Christ hath purchased for us ; it was to remember the Redeemer,
" and show his death till he came" (1 Cor. xi. 25, 26).
1. His goodness is seen in the end of it, which is a sealing the cov-
enant of grace. The common nature and end of sacraments is to
seal the covenant they belong to, and the truths of the promises of
it.f The legal sacraments of circumcision and the passover sealed the
legal promises and the covenant in the Judicial administration of it ;
and the evangelical sacraments seal the evangelical promises, as a
ring confirms a contract of marriage, and a seal the articles of a
compact; by the same reason, circumcision is called a "seal of the
righteousness of faith" (Rom. iv. 11) ; other sacraments may have
the same title ; God doth attest, that he will remain firm in his prom-
ise, and the receiver attests he will remain firm in his faith. In all
reciprocal covenants, there are mutual engagements, and that which
serves for a seal on the part of the one, serves for a seal also on the
part of the other ; God obligeth himself to the performance of the
promise, and man engageth himself to the performance of his duty.
The thing confirmed by this sacrament is the perpetuity of this cov-
enant in the blood of Christ, whence it is called " the New Testa-
ment," or covenant " in the blood of Christ" (Luke xxii. 20). In
every repetition of it, God, by presenting, confirms his resolution to
us, of sticking to this covenant for the merit of Christ's blood ; and
the receiver, by eating the body and drinking the blood, engageth
himself to keep close to the condition of faith, expecting a full sal-
vation and a blessed immortality upon the merit of the same blood
alone. This sacrament could not be called the " New Testament, or
Covenant," if it had not some relation to the covenant ; and what it
can be but this, I do not understand. The covenant itself was con-
firmed " by the death of Christ" (Heb. ix. 15), and thereby made un-
changeable both in the benefits to us, and the condition required of
us ; but he seals it to our sense in a sacrament, to give us strong con-
solation ; or, rather, the articles of the covenant of redemption be-
tween the Father and the Son, agreed on from eternity, were accom-
plished on Christ's part by his death, on the Father's part by his
resurrection ; Christ performed what he promised in the one, and God
acknowledgeth the validity of it, and performs what he had promised
in the other. The covenant of grace, founded upon this covenant of
redemption, is sealed in the sacrament ; God owns his standing to the
terms of it, as sealed by the blood of the Mediator, by presenting
' Amyral. Irenicum. pp. 16, 17.
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 289
him to us under those signs, and gives us a right upon faith to the
enjoyment of the fruits of it. As tlie right of a house is made over
by the delivery of the key, and the right of land translated by the
delivery of a turf ; whereby he gives us assurance of his reality, and
a strong support to our confidence in him ; not that there is any
virtue and power of sealing in the elements themselves, no more
than there is in a turf to give an enfeoffment in a parcel of land ; but
as the power of one is derived from the order of the law, so the con-
firming power of the sacrament is derived from the institution of
God ; as the oil wherewith kings were annointed, did not of itself
confer upon them that royal dignity, but it was a sign of their inves-
titure into ofl&ce, ordered by Divine institution. We can with no
reason imagine, that God intended them as naked signs or pictures, to
please our eyes with the image of them, to represent their own fig-
ures to our eyes, but to confirm something to our understanding by
the efficacy of the Spirit accompanying them:? they convey to the
believing receiver what they represent, as the great seal of a prince,
fixed to the parchment, doth the pardon of a rebel as well as its own
figure. Christ's death, and the grace of the covenant is not only sig-
nified, but the fruits and merit of that death communicated also.
Thus doth Divine goodness evidence itself, not only in making a
gracious covenant with us, but fixing seals to it ; not to strengthen
his own obligation, which stood stronger than the foundations of
heaven and earth, upon the credit of his word, but to strengthen our
weakness, and support our security, by something which might ap-
pear more formal and solemn than a bare word. By this, the Divine
goodness provides against our spiritual faintings, and shows us by real
signs as well as verbal declarations, that the covenant sealed by the
blood of Christ, is unalterable ; and thereby would fortify and mount
our hopes to degrees in some measure suitable to the kindness of the
covenant, and the dignity of the Eedeemer's blood. And it is yet a
further degree of this goodness, that he hath appointed us so often
to celebrate it, whereby he shows how careful he is to keep up our
tottering faith, and preserve us constant in our obedience ; obliging
himself to the performance of his promise, and obliging us to the pay-
ment of our duty.
2. His goodness is seen in the sacrament in giving us in it an
union and communion with Clirist. There is not only a commemo-
ration of Christ dying, but a communication of Christ living. The
apostle strongly asserts it by way of interrogation (1 Cor. x. 16),
" The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of
the blood of Christ ? the bread which we break, is it not the com-
munion of the body of Christ ?" In the cup there is a communica-
tion of the blood of Christ, a conveyance of a right to the merits of
his death, and the blessedness of his life : we are not less by this
made one body with Christ than we are by baptism (1 Cor. xii. 13) :
and " put on 'Christ" living in this, as well as in baptism (Gal. iii.
27) ; that as his taking our infirm flesh was a real incarnation, so the
giving us his flesh to eat is a mystical incarnation in believers, where-
by they become one body with him as crucified, and one body with
e Daille, Mclang. Part I, p. 253.
VOL. II. — 19
290 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
him as risen ; for if Christ himself be received by faith in the word
(Col. ii. 6), he is no less received by faith in the sacrament. When
the Holy Ghost is said to be received, the graces or gifts of the Holy
Ghost are received ; so when Christ is received, the fruits of his
death are really partaken of. The Israelites that ate of the sacrifices,
did "partake of the altar" (1 Cor. x. 18), i. e. had a communion with
the God of Israel, to whom they had been sacrificed ; and those that
" ate of the sacrifices" ofi:ered to idols, had a " fellowship with devils,"
to whom those sacrifices were offered (ver. 20). Those that partake
of the sacraments in a due manner, have a communion Avith that
God to whom it was sacrificed, and a communion with that body
which was sacrificed to God ; not that the substance of that body
and blood is wrapped up in the elements, or that the bread and wine
are transformed into the body and blood of Christ, but as they re-
present him, and by virtue of the institution are, in estimation him-
self, his own body and blood ; by the same reason as he is called
" Christ our passover," he may be called " Christ our supper" (1 Cor.
V. 7) : for as they are so reckoned to an unworthy receiver, as if
they were the real body and blood of Christ, because by his not dis-
cerning the Lord's body in it, or making light of it as common bread,
he is judged " guilty of the body and blood of Christ," guilty of treat-
ing him in as base a manner as the Jews did when they crowned him
with thorns (1 Cor. xi. 27, 29) : by the same reason they must be
reckoned to a worthy receiver, as the very body and blood of Christ :
so that as the unworthy receiver "eats and drinks damnation," the
worthy receiver " eats and drinks" salvation. It would be an empty
mystery, and unworthy of an institution by Divine goodness, if there
v/ere not some communion with Christ in it : there would be som.e
kind of deceit in the precept, " Take, eat, and drink, this is my body
and blood," if there were not a conveyance of spiritual vital influ-
ences to our souls : for the natural end of eating and drinking is the
nourishment and increase of the body, and preservation of life, by
that which we eat and drink. The infinite Avise, gracious, and true
God, would never give us empty figures without accomplishing that
which is signified by them, and suitable to them. How great is this
goodness of God ! he would have his Son in us, one with us, straitly
joined to us, as if we were his proper flesh and blood : in the incar-
nation Divine goodness united him to our nature ; in the sacrament,
it doth in a sort unite him with his purchased privileges to our per-
sons ; we have not a communion with a part or a member of his
body, or a drop of his blood, but with his Avhole body and blood, re-
presented in every part of the elements. The angels in the heaven
enjoy not so great a privilege ; they have the honor to be under him
as their Head, but not that of having him for their food ; they be-
hold him, but they do not taste him. And, certainly, that goodness
that hath condescended so much to our weakness, would impart it to
us in a very glorious manner, were we capable of it. But, because
a man cannot behold the light of the sun in its full splendor by rea-
son of the infirmities of his eyes, he must behold it by the help of a
glass, and such a communication through a colored and opaque glass,
is as real from the sun itself, though not so glorious, but more shrouded
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 291
and obscure ; it is the same light that shines through that medium,
as spreads itself gloriously in the open air, though the one be masked,
and the other open-faced. To conclude this, by the way, we may
take notice of the neglect of this ordinance : if it be a token of
Divine goodness to appoint it, it is no sign of our estimation of
Divine goodness to neglect it. He that values the kindness of his
friend, will accept of his invitation, if there be not some strong im-
pediments in the way, or so much familiarity with him that his re-
fusal upon a light occasion would not be unkindly taken. But
though God put on the disposition of a friend to us, yet he looseth
not the authority of a sovereign ; and the humble familiarity he in-
vites us to, doth not diminish the condition and duty of a subject.
A sovereign prince would not take it well, if a favorite should refuse
the offered honor of his table. The viands of God are not to be
slighted. Can we live better upon our poor pittance than upon his
dainties ? Did not Divine goodness condescend in it to the weak-
ness of our faith, and shall we conceit our faith stronger than God
thinks it ? If he thought fit by those seals to make a deed of gift to
us, shall we be so unmannerly to him, and such enemies to the se-
curity he offers us over and above his word, as not to accept it ?
Are we unwilling to have our souls inflamed with love, our hearts
filled with comfort, and armed against the attempts of our enemies ?
It is true, there is a guilt of the body and blood of Christ contracted
by a slightness in the manner of attending ; is it not also contracted
by a refusal and neglect? What is the language of it ? If it speaks
not the death of Christ in vain, it speaks the institution of this ordi-
nance as a remembrance of his death, to be a vanity, and no mark of
Divine goodness. Let us, therefore, put such a value upon Divine
goodness in this affair, as to be willing to receive the conveyances
of his love, and fresh engagements of our duty ; the one is due from
us to the kindness of our friend, and the other belongs to our duty
as his subjects.
vi. By this redemption God restores us to a more excellent condi-
tion than Adam had in innocence. Christ was sent by Divine good-
ness, not only to restore the life Adam's sin had stripped us of, but
to give it more abundantly than Adam's standing could have con-
veyed it to us (John x. 10), " I am come that they might have life,
and that they might have it more abundantly." More abundantly
for strength, more abundantly for duration, a life abounding with
greater felicity and glory : the substance of those better promises of
the new covenant than what attended the old. There are fuller
streams of grace by Christ than flowed to Adam, or could flow from
Adam. As Christ never restored any to health and strength while
he was in the world, but he gave them a greater measure of both
than they had before ; so there is the same kindness, no question,
manifested in our spiritual condition. Adam's life might have pre-
served us, but Adam's death could not have rescuedeither himself or
his posterity; but, in our redemption, we have a Redeemer, who
hath " died to expiate our sins," and so crowned with life to save,
and forever preserve our persons (Rom. v. 10), " Because I live, ye
shall live also :" so that by redeeming goodness the life of a believer
292 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
is as perpetual as the life of the Redeemer Christ (John xiv. 19).
Adam, though innocent, was under the danger of perishing ; a be-
liever, though culpable, is above the fears of mutability. Adam had
a holiness in his nature, but capable of being lost ; by Christ be-
lievers have a holiness bestowed, not capable of being rifled, but
which will remain till it be at last fully perfected : though they have
a power to change in their nature, yet they are above an actual final
change by the indulgence of Divine grace. Adam stood by himself;
believers stand in a root, impossible to be shaken or corrupted : by
this means the "promise is sure to all the seed" (Rom. iv. 16).
Christ is a stronger person than Adam, who can never break cove-
nant with God, and the truth of God will never break covenant with
him. We are united to a more excellent Head than Adam : instead
of a root merely human, we have a root Divine as well as human.
In him we had the righteousness of a creature merely human ; in
this we have a righteousness divine, the righteousness of God-man ;
the stock is no longer in our own hands, but in the hands of One
that cannot embezzle it, or forfeit it : Divine goodness hath deposit-
ed it strongly for our security. The stamp we receive, by the Divine
goodness, from the second Adam, is more noble than that we should
have received from the first, had he remained in his created state :
Adam was formed of the dust of the earth, and the new man is form-
ed by the incorruptible seed of the word ; and at the resurrection,
the body of man shall be endued with better qualities than Adam
had at creation : they shall be like that glorious Body which is in
heaven, in union with the person of the " Son of God" (Phil, iii, 21).
Adam, at the best, had but an earthly body, but the Lord from
heaven hath a "heavenly body," the image of which shall be borne
by the redeemed ones, as they have borne the image of the earthly
(1 Cor. XV. 47 — 49). Adam had the society of beasts ; redeemed
ones expect, by Divine goodness in redemption, a commerce with
angels ; as they are reconciled to them by his death, they shall cer-
tainly come to converse with them at the consummation of their hap-
piness ; as they are made of one family, so they will have a peculiar
intimacy : Adam had a paradise, and redeemed ones a heaven pro-
vided for them ; a happier place with a richer furniture. It is much
to give so complete a paradise to innocent Adam ; but more to give
heaven to an ungrateful Adam, and his rebellious posterity : it had
been abundant goodness to have restored us to the same condition
in that paradise from whence we were ejected ; but a superabundant
goodness to bestow upon us a better habitation in heaven, which we
could never have expected. How great is that goodness, when by
sin we were fiillen to be worse than nothing, that He should raise us
to be more than what we were ; that restored us, not to the first step
of our creation, but to many degrees of elevation beyond it ! not only
restores us, but prefers us ; not only striking off our chains, to set
us free, but clothing us with a robe of righteousness, to render us
honorable ; not only quenching our hell, but preparing a heaven ;
not re-garnishing an earthly, but providing a richer palace : his good-
ness was so great, that, after it had rescued us, it would not content
itself with the old furniture, but makes all new for us in another
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 293
world ; a new wine to drink ; a new heaven to dwell in ; a more
magnilicent structure for our habitation : thus hath Goodness pre-
pared for us a straiter union, a stronger life, a purer righteousness,
an unshaken standing, and a fuller glory ; all more excellent than
was within the compass of innocent Adam's possession.
vii. This goodness in redemption extends itself to the lower crea-
tion. It takes in, not only man, but the whole creation, except the
fallen angels, and gives a joarticipation of it to insensible creatures;
upon the account of this redemption the sun, and all kind of crea-
tures, were preserved, which otherwise had sunk into destruction
upon the sin of man, and ceased from their being, as man had utterly
ceased from his happiness (Colos. i. 17) : " By him all things con-
sist." The fall of man brought, not only a misery upon himself,
but a vanity upon the creature ; the earth groaned under a curse for
his sake. They were all created for the glory of God, and the sup-
port of man in the performance of his duty, who was obliged to use
them for the honor of Him that created them both. Had man been
true to his obligations, and used the creatures for that end to which
they were dedicated by the Creator ; as God would have then re-
joiced in his works, so his works would have rejoiced in the honor
of answering so excellent an end : but when man lost his integrity,
the creatures lost their perfection ; the honor of them was stained
when they were debased to serve the lusts of a traitor, instead of
supporting the duty of a subject, and employed in the defence of
the vices of men against the precepts and authority of their common
Sovereign. This was a vilifying the creature, as it would be a vili-
fying the sword of a prince, which is, for the maintenance of justice,
to be used for the murder of an innocent ; and a dishonoring a royal
mansion, to make it a storehouse for a dunghill. Had those things
the benefit of sense, they would groan under this disgrace, and rise
up in indignation against them that offered them this affront, and
turned them from their proper end. When sin entered, the heavens
that were made to shine upon man, and the earth that was made to
bear and nourish an innocent creature, were now subjected to serve
a rebellious creature ; and as man turned against God, so he made
those instruments against God, to serve his enmity, luxury, sensual-
ity. Hence the creatures are said to groan (Rom. viii. 22) ; " The
whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now." They
would really groan, had they understanding to be sensible of the
outrage done them. " The whole creation." — It is the pang of uni-
versal nature, the agony of the whole creation, to be alienated from
the original use for which they were intended, and be disjointed from
their end to serve the disloyalty of a rebel. The drunkard's cup,
and the glutton's table, the adulterer's bed, and the proud man's
purple, would groan against the abuser of them. But when all the
fruits of redemption shall be completed, the goodness of God shall
pour itself upon the creatures, deliver them from the "bondage of
corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God" (Rom.
viii. 21) ; they shall be reduced to their true end, and returned in
their original harmony. As the creation doth passionately groan
under its vanity, so it doth " earnestly expect and wait for its de-
294 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
liverance at the time of the manifestation of the sons of God" (ver.
19). The manifestation of the sons of God is the attainment of the
liberty of the creature. Thej shall be freed from the vanity under
which they are enslaved ; as it entered by sin, it shall vanish upon
the total removal of sin. What use they were designed for in para-
dise they will have afterwards, except that of the nourishment of
men, who shall be as " angels, neither eating nor drinking :" the
glory of God shall be seen and contemplated in them. It can hardly
be thought that God made the world to be little a moment after he
had reared it, sullied by the sin of man, and turned from its original
end, without thoughts of a restoration of it to its true end, as well as
man to his lost happiness. The world was made for man : man hath
not yet enjoyed the creature in the first intention of them ; sin made
an interruption in that fruition. As redemption restores man to his
true end, so it restores the creatures to their true use. The restora-
tion of the world to its beauty and order was the design of the
Divine goodness in the coming of Christ, as it is intimated in Isa. xi.
6-9 ; as he " came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it," so he
came not to destroy the creatures, but to repair them : to restore to
God the honor and pleasure of the creation, and restore to the crea-
tures their felicity in restoring their order : the fall corrupted it, and
the full redemption of men restores it. The last time is called, not
a time of destruction, but a "time of restitution," and that "of all
things" (Acts iii. 21) of universal nature, the main part of the crea-
tion at least. All those things which were the effects of sin will be
abolished ; the removal of the cause beats down the effect. The dis-
order and unruliness of the creature, arising from the venom of
man's transgression, all the fierceness of one creature against another
shall vanish. The world shall be nothing but an universal smile ;
nature shall put on triumphant vestments : there shall be no affright-
ing thunders, choking mists, venomous vapors, or poisonous plants.
It would not else be a restitution of all things. They are now sub-
ject to be wasted by judgments for the sin of their possessor, but the
perfection of man's redemptions shall free them from every misery.
They have an advancement at the present, for they are under a more
glorious Head, as being the possession of Christ, the heavenly Adam,
much superior to the first : as it is the glory of a person to be a ser-
vant to a prince, rather than a peasant. And afterwards, they shall
be elevated to a better state, sharing in man's happiness, as well as
they did in his misery : as servants are interested in the good fortune
of their master, and bettered by his advance in his prince's favor.
As man in his first creation was mutable and liable to sin, so the
creatures were liable to vanity ; but as man by grace shall be freed
from the mutability, so shall the creatures be freed from the fears^ of
an invasion, by the vanity that sullied them before. The condition
of the servants shall be suited to that of their Lord, for whom they
were designed : hence, all creatures are called upon to rejoice upon
the perfection of salvation, and the appearance of Christ's royal au-
thority in the world. If they were to be destroyed, there would be no
ground to invite them to triumph (Ps. xcvi. 11, 12 ; cxviii. 7, 8). Thus
doth Divine goodness spread its kind arms over the whole creation.
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 295
Thirdly. The tliird. tiling is the goodness of God in his Government.
That goodness that despised not their creation, doth not despise their
conduct. The same goodness that was the head that framed them,
is the helm that guides them ; his goodness hovers over the whole
frame, cither to prevent any wild disorders unsuitable to his creating
end, or to conduct them to those ends which might illustrate his
wisdom and goodness to his creatures. His goodness doth no less
incline him to provide for them, than to frame them. It is the
natural inclination of man to love what is purely the birth of his
own strength or skill. He is fond of preserving his own inventions,
as well as laborious in inventing them. It is the glory of a man to
preserve them, as well as to produce them, God loves everything
which he hath made, which love could not be without a continued
diffusiveness to them, suitable to the end for which he made them.
It would be a vain goodness, if it did not interest itself in managing
the world, as Avell as erecting it : without his go vernment everything
in the world would jostle against one another : the beauty of it would
be more defaced, it would be an unruly mass, a confused chaos rather
than a K6<ffio;^ a comely world. If Divine goodness respected it when
it was nothing, it would much more respect it when it was something,
by the sole virtue of his power and good-will to it, without any mo-
tive from anything else than himself, because there was nothing else
but himself. But since he sees his own stamp in things without him-
self in the creature, which is a kind of motive or moving object to
Divine goodness to preserve it, when there was nothing without him-
self that could be any motive to Him to create it : as when God
hath created a creature, and it falls into misery, that misery of the
creature, though it doth not necessitate his mercy, yet meeting with
such an affection as mercy in his nature, is amoving object to excite
it ; as the repentance of Nineveh drew forth the exercise of his pity
and preserving goodness. Certainly, since God is good, he is bounti-
ful ; and if bountiful, he is provident. He would seem to envy and
malign his creatures, if he did not provide for them, while he intends
to use them : but infinite goodness cannot be effected with envy ;
for all envy implies a want of that good in ourselves, which we re-
gard with so evil an eye in another. But God, being infinitely
blessed, hath not the want of any good that can be a rise to such an
uncomely disposition. The Jews thought that Divine goodness ex-
tended only to them in an immediate and particular care, and left
all other nations and things to the guidance of angels. But the
Psalmist (Ps. cvii. a psalm calculated for the celebration of this per-
fection, in the continued course of his providence throughout all
ages of the world) ascribes to Divine goodness immediately all the
advantages men meet with. He helps them in their actions, presides
over their motions, inspects their several conditions, labors day and
night in a perpetual care of them. The whole life of the world is
linked together by Divine goodness. Everything is ordered by him
in the place where he hath set it, without which the world would
be stripped of that excellency it hath by creation.
1st. This goodness is evident in the care he hath of all creatures.
There is a peculiar goodness to his people ; but this takes not away
296 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
his general goodness to the world : though a master of a family hath
a choicer affection to those that have an affinity to him in nature,
and stand in a nearer relation, as his wife, children, servants ; yet
lie hath a regard to his cattle, and other creatures he nourisheth
in his house. All things are not only before his eyes, but in his
bosom ; he is the nurse of all creatures, suppljang their wants, and
sustaining them from that nothing they tend to. The " earth is
full of his riches" (Ps. civ 24) ; not a creek or cranny but partakes
of it. Abundant goodness daily hovers over it, as well as hatched
it. The whole world swims in the rich bounty of the Creator, as
the fish do in the largeness of the sea, and birds in the spaciousness
of the air.h The goodness of God is the river that waters the whole
earth. As a lifeless picture casts its eye upon every one in the
room, so doth a living God upon everything in tlie world. And as
the sun illuminates all things which are capable of ^Dartaking of its
light, and diffuseth its beams to all things which are capable of re-
ceiving them, so doth God spread his wings over the whole crea-
tion, and neglects nothing, wherein he sees a mark of his first
creating goodness.
1. His goodness is seen, in ]3reserving all things. " O Lord, thou
preservest man and beast" (Ps. xxxvi. 6). Not only man, but beasts,
and beasts as well as men ; man, as the most excellent creature, and
beasts as being serviceable to man, and instruments of his worldly
happiness. He continues the species of all things, concurs with
them in their distinct offices, and quickens the womb of nature.
He visits man every day, and makes him feel the effects of his pro-
vidence, in giving him "fruitful seasons, and filling his heart with
food and gladness" (Acts xiv. 17), as witnesses of his liberality and
kindness to man. " The earth is visited and watered by the river
of God. He settles the furrows of the earth, and makes it soft with
showers," that the corn may be nourished in its womb, and spring
up to maturity. " He crowns the year with his goodness, and his
paths drop fatness. The little hills rejoice on every side ; the pas-
tures are clothed with flocks, and the valleys are covered over with
corn," as the Psalmist elegantly says (Ps. Ixv. 9, 10 ; cvii. 35, 36).
He waters the ground by his showers, and preserves the little seed
from the rapine of animals. " He draws not out the evil arrows of
famine," as the expression is (Ezek. v. 16). Every day shines with
new beams of his Divine goodness. The vastness of this city, and
the multitudes of living souls in it, is an astonishing argument.
What streams of nourishing necessaries are daily conveyed to it !
Every mouth hath bread to sustain it ; and among all the number
of poor in the bowels and skirts of it, how rare is it to hear of any
starved to death for want of it ! Every day he " spreads a table"
for us, and that with varieties, and " fills our cups" (Ps. xxiii. 5). He
shortens not his hand, nor withdraws his bounty : the increase of
one year by his blessing, restores Avhat was spent by the former.
He is the "strength of our life" (Ps. xxvii. 1), continuing the vigor
of our limbs, and the health of our bodies ; secures us from " terrors
by night, and the arrows of diseases that fly by day" (Ps. xci. 5) ;
^ Gulielmus Parasien. p. 184.
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 297
" sets a hedge about our estates" (Job i. 10), and defends tbem against
the attempts of violence ; preserves our houses from flames that
might consume them, and our persons from the dangers that he in
wait for them ; watcheth over us " in our goings out, and our com-
ings in" (Ps. cxxi. 8), and way-lays a thousand dangers we know
not of: and employs the most glorious creatures in heaven in the
service of mean " men upon earth" (Ps. xci. 11) : not by a faint
order, but a pressing charge over them, to " keep them in all his
ways." Those that are his immediate servants before his throne,
he sends to minister to them that were once his rebels. By an
angel he conducted the affairs of Abraham (Gren. xxiv. 7) : and by
an angel secured the life of Ishmael (Gen. xxi. 17) : glorious angels
for mean man, holy angels for impure man, powerful angels for
weak man. How in the midst of great dangers, doth his sudden
light dissipate our great darkness, and create a deliverance out of
nothing! How often is he found a present help in time of trouble !
When all other assistance seems to stand at a distance, he flies to us
beyond our expectations, and raises us up on the sudden from the
pit of our dejectedness, as well as that of our danger, exceeding our
wishes, and shooting beyond our desires as well as our deserts. How
often, in the time of confusion, doth he preserve an indefensible
place from the attacks of enemies, like a bark in the midst of a tem-
pestuous sea ! the rage falls upon other places round about them,
and, by a secret efficacy of Divine goodness, is not able to touch
them. He hath peculiar preservations for his Israel in Egypt, and
his Lots in Sodom, his Daniels in the lions' dens, and his children
in a fiery furnace. He hath a tenderness for all, but a peculiar
affection to those that are in covenant with him.
2. The goodness of God is seen in taking care of the animals and
and inanimate things. Divine goodness embraceth in its arms the
lowest worm as well as the loftiest cherubim : he provides food for
the " crying ravens" (Ps. cxlvii. 9), and a prey for the appetite of
the " hungry lion" (Ps. civ. 21) : " He opens his hand, and fills
with good those innumerable creeping things, both small and great
beasts ; they are all waiters upon him, and all are satisfied by their
bountiful Master" (Ps. civ. 25 — 28). They are better provided for
by the hand of heaven, than the best favorite is by an earthly
prince : for " they are filled with good." He hath made channels
in the wildest deserts, for the watering of beasts, and trees for the
nests and " habitation of birds" (Ps. civ. 10, 12, 17). As a Law-
giver to the Jews, he took care that the poor beast should not be
abused by the cruelty of man : he provided for the ease of the
laboring beast in that command of the Sabbath, wherein he pro-
vided for his own service : the cattle was to do " no work" on it
(Exod. XX. 10). He ordered that the mouth of the ox should not be
muzzled while it trod out the corn (Deut. xxv. 4, it being the man-
ner of those countries to separate the corn from the stalk by that
means, as we do in this by thrashing), regarding it as a part of
cruelty to deprive the poor beast of tasting, and satisfying itself
with tliat which he was so officious by his labor to prepare for the
use of man. And when any met with a nest of young birds, though
298 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
they miglit take tlie young to tlieir use, they were forbidden to seize
upon the dam, that she might not lose the objects of her affection
and her own liberty in one day (Deut. xxii. 6),
And see how God enforceth this precept with a threatening of a
shortness of life, if they transgressed it (Deut. xxii. 7) ! " Thou shalt
let the dam go, that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest
prolong thy days." He would revenge the cruelty to dumb crea-
tures with the shortness of the oppressor's life : nor would he have
cruelty used to creatures that were separated for his worship : he
therefore provides that a cow, or an ewe, and their young ones, should
" not be killed for sacrifice in one day" (Lev. xxii. 28). All which
precepts, say the Jews, are to teach men mercifulness to their beasts;
so much doth Divine goodness bow down itself, to take notice of
those mean creatures, which men have so little regard to, but for
their own advantage ; yea, he is so good, that he would have worship
declined for a time in favor of a distressed beast; the "helping a
sheep, or an ox, or an ass, out of a pit," was indulged them even
" on the Sabbath-day," a day God had peculiarly sanctified and or-
dered for his service (Matt. xii. 11; Luke xiv. 5): in this case he
seems to remit for a time the rights of the Deity for the rescue of a
mere animal. His goodness extends not only to those kind of crea-
tures that have life, but to the insensible ones ; he clothes the grass,
and " arrays the lilies of the field" with a greater glory than Solomon
had upon his throne (Matt. vi. 28, 29) ; and such care he had of those
trees which bore fruit for the maintenance of man or beast, that he
forbids any injury to be offered to them, and bars the rapine and
violence, which by soldiers used to be practised (Deut. xx. 19),
though it were to promote the conquest of their enemy. How much
goodness is it, that he should think of so small a thing as man !
How much more that he should concern himself in things that seem
so petty as beasts and trees ! Persons seated in a sovereign throne,
think it a debasing of their dignity to regard little things : but God,
who is infinitely greater in majesty above the mightiest potentate,
and the highest angel, yet is so infinitely good, as to employ his
divine thoughts about the meanest things. He who possesses the
praises of angels, leaves not off the care of the meanest creatures :
and that majesty that dwells in a pure heaven, and an inconceivable
light, stoops to provide for the ease of those creatures that lie and
lodge in the dirt and dung of the earth. How should we be careful
not to use those unmercifully, which God takes such care of in his
law, and not to distrust that goodness, that opens his hand so liber-
ally to creatures of another rank !
3. The goodness of God is seen in taking care of the meanest
rational creatures ; as servants and criminals. He provided for the
liberty of slaves, and would not have their chains continue longer
than the seventh year, unless they would voluntarily continue under
the power of their masters ; and that upon pain of his displeasure,
and the withdrawing his blessing (Deut. xv. 18). And though, by
the laws of many nations, masters had an absolute power of life and
death over their servants, yet God provided that no member should
be lamed, not an eye, no, nor a tooth, struck out, but the master was
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 299
to pay for his folly and fury the price of the " liberty of his servant"
(Exod. xxi. 26, 27): he would not suffer the abused servant to be
any longer under the power of that man that had not humanity to
use him as one of the same kindred and blood with himself Ami
though those servants might be never so wicked, yet, when unjustly
afflicted, God would interest himself as their guardian in their pro-
tection and delivery. And when a poor slave had been provoked,
by the severity of his master's fury, to turn fugitive from him, he
was, by Divine order, not to be delivered up again to his master's
fury, but dwell in that city, and with that person, to whom he had
" fled for refuge" (Deut. xxiii. 15, 16). And when public justice
was to be admininistered upon the lesser sort of criminals, the good-
ness of God ordered the " number of blows" not to exceed forty, and
left not the fury of man to measure out the punishment to excess
(Deut. XXV. 3). And in any just quarrel against a provoking and
injuring enemy, he ordered them not to ravage with the sword till
they had summoned a rendition of the place (Deut. xx. 10). And
as great a care he took of the poor, that they should have the glean-
ings both of the vineyard and field (Lev. xix. 10 ; xxiii. 22), and not
be forced to pay " usury for the money lent them (Exod. xxii. 25).
4. His goodness is seen in taking care of the wickedest persons.
" The earth is full of his goodness" (Ps. xxxvii. 5). The wicked as
well as the good enjoy it; they that dare lift up their hands against
heaven in the posture of rebels, as well as those that lift up their
eyes in the condition of suppliants. To do good to a criminal, far
surmounts that goodness that flows down upon an innocent object :
now God is not only good to those that have some degrees of good-
ness, but to those that have the greatest degrees of wickedness, to
men that turn his liberality into affronts of him, and have scarce an
appetite to anything but the violation of his authority and goodness.
Though, upon the fall of Adam, we have lost the pleasant habitation
of paradise, and the creatures made for our use are fallen from their
original excellency and sweetness ; yet he hath not left the world
utterly incommodious for us, but yet stores it with things not only
for the preservation, but delight of those that make their whole lives
invectives against this good God. Manna fell from heaven for the
rebellious as well as for the obedient Israelites. Cain as well as
Abel, and Esau as well as Jacob, had the influences of his sun, and
the benefits of his showers. The world is yet a kind of paradise to
the veriest beasts among mankind ; the earth affords its riches, the
heavens its showers, and the sun its light, to those that injure and
blaspheme him : "He makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the
good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matt. v. 45), The
wickedest breathe in his air, walk upon his earth, and drink of his
water, as well as the best. The sun looks with as pleasant and bright
an eye upon a rebellious Absalom, as a righteous David ; the earth
yields its plants and medicines to one as well as to the other ; it is sel-
dom that He deprives any of the faculties of their souls, or any mem-
bers of their bodies. God distributes his blessings where he might
shoot his thunders ; and darts his light on those who deserve an
eternal darkness ; and presents the good tilings of the earth to those
300 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTEIBUTES.
that merit the miseries of hell; for *' the earth, and the fulness there-
of, is the Lord's" (Ps. xxiv. 1); everything in it is his in propriety,
ours in trust ; it is his corn, his wine (Hos. ii. 8) ; he never divested
himself of the propriety, though he grants us the use ; and by those
good things he supports multitudes of wicked men, not one or two,
but the whole shoal of them in the world ; for he is " the Saviour of
all men," i. e. is the preserver of all men (1 Tim. iv. 10). And as
he created them, when he foresaw they would be wicked ; so he pro-
vides for them, when he beholds them in their ungodliness. The
ingratitude of men stops not the current of his bounty, nor tires his
liberal hand ; howsoever unprofitable and injurious men are to him,
he is liberal to them ; and his goodness is the more admirable, by
how much the more the unthankfulness of men is provoking : he
sometimes affords to the worst a greater portion of these earthly
goods ; they often swim in wealth, when others pine away their lives
in poverty. And the silk- worm yields its bowels to make purple
for tyrants, while the oppressed scarce have from the sheep wool
enough to cover their nakedness ; and though he furnish men witli
those good things, upon no other account than what princes do,
when they nourish criminals in a prison till the time of their execu-
tion, it is a mark of his goodness. Is it not the kindness of a prince
to treat his rebels deliciously? to give them the liberty of the prison,
and the enjoyments of the delights of the place, rather than to load
their legs with fetters, and lodge them in a dark and loathsome dun-
geon, till he orders them, for their crime, to be conducted to the scaffold
or gibbet ? Since God is thus kind to the vilest men, whose mean-
ness, by reason of sin, is beyond that of any other creature, as to
shoot such rays of goodness upon them ; how inexpressible Avould be
the expressions of his goodness, if the Divine image were as pure
and bright upon them as it was upon innocent Adam !
2d. His goodness is evident in the preservation of human society.
It belongs to his power that he is able to do it, but to his goodness
that he is willing to do it.
1. This goodness appears in prescribing rules for it. The moral law
consists but of ten precepts, and there are more of them ordered for
the support of human society, than for the adoration and honor of
himself (Exod. xx. 1, 2); four for the rights of God, and six for the
rights of man, and his security in his authority, relations, life, goods,
and reputation ; superiors not to be dishonored, life not to be invaded,
chastity not to be stained, goods not to be filched, good name not to be
cracked by false witness, nor anything belonging to our neighbor to
be coveted ; and in the whole Scripture, not only that which was
calculated for the Jews, but compiled for the whole world ; he hath
fixed rules for the ordering all relations, magistrates, and subjects ;
parents and children ; husbands and wives ; masters and servants ;
rich and poor, find their distinct qualifications and duties. There
would be a paradisiacal state, if men had a goodness to observe what
God hath had a goodness to order for the strengthening the sinews of
human societ}^ ; the world would not groan under oppressing tyrants,
nor princes tremble under discontented subjects, or mighty rebels;
children would not be provoked to anger by the unreasonableness
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 801
of their parents, nor parents sink under grief by the rebellion of their
children ; masters would not tyrannize over the meanest of their ser-
vants, nor servants invade the authority of their masters.
2. The goodness of God in the preserving human society, is seen
in setting a magistracy to preserve it. Magistracy is from God in
its original ; the charter was drawn up in paradise ; civil subordina-
tion must have been had man remained in innocence; but the charter
was more explicitly renewed and enlarged at the restoration of the
world after the deluge, and given out to man under the broad seal
of heaven ; " Whoso sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be
shed" (Gen. ix. 6). The command of shedding the blood of a mur-
derer was a part of his goodness, to secure the lives of those tliat
bore his image. Magistrates are " the shields of the earth," but
they " belong to God" (Ps. xlvii. 9). They are fruits of his good-
ness in their original, and authority ; were there no magistracy, there
would be government, no security to any man under his own vine
and fig tree ; the world would be a den of wild beasts preying upon
one another ; every one would do what seems good in his eyes ; the
loss of government is a judgment God brings upon a nation when
men become " as the fishes of the sea," to devour one another, be-
cause they " have no ruler over them" (Hab. i. 14). Private dissen-
sions will break out into public disorders and combustions.
8. The goodness of God in the preservation of human society, is
seen in the restraints of tlie passions of men. He sets bounds to the
passions of men as well as to the rollings of the sea ; " He stilleth
the noise of the waves, and the tumults of the people" (Ps. Ixv. 7).
Though God hath erected a magistracy to stop the breaking out of
those floods of licentiousness, Avliich swell in the hearts of men ; ^^et,
if God should not hold stiff reins on the necks of those tumultuous
and foaming passions, the world would be a place of unruly confusion,
and hell triumph upon earth ; a crazy state would be quickly broke in
pieces by boisterous nature. The tumults of a people could no more
be quelled by the force of man, than the rage of the sea by a puff
of breath ; without Divine goodness, neither the wisdom nor watch-
fulness of the magistrates, nor the industry of officers, could preserve
a state. The laws of men would be too slight to curb the lusts of
men, if the goodness of God did not restrain them by a secret hand,
and interweave their temporal security with observance of those
laws. The sons of Belial did murmur when Saul was chosen king ;
and that they did no more was the goodness of God, for the preser-
vation of human society. If God did not restrain the impetuousness
of men's lusts, they would be the entire ruin of human society ; their
lusts would render them as bad as beasts, and change the world into
a savage wilderness.
4. The goodness of God is seen in the preservation of human so-
ciety, in giving various inclinations to men for public advantage. If
all men had an inclination to one science or art, they would all stand
idle spectators of one another ; but God hath bestowed various dis-
positions and gifts upon men, for the promoting the common good,
that they may not only be useful to themselves, but to society. He
302 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
will have none idle, none unuseful, but every one acting in a due
place, according to their measures, for tlie good of others.
o. The goodness of God is seen in the witness he bears against
those sins that disturb human society. In those cases he is pleased
to interest himself in a more signal manner, to cool those that make
it their business to overturn the order he hath established for the
good of the earth. He doth not so often in this world punish those
faults committed immediately against his own honor, as those that
put the world into a hurry and confusion : as a good governor is
more merciful to crimes against himself, than those against his com-
munity. It is observed that the most turbulent seditious persons in
a state come to most violent ends, as Corah, Adonijah, Zimri :
Ahithopel draws Absalom's sword against David and Israel, and the
next is, he twists a halter for himself: Absalom heads a party against
his father, and God, by a goodness to Israel, hangs him up, and pre-
vents not its safety by David's indulgence, and a future rebellion, had
life been spared by the fondness of his father. His providence is
more evident in discovering disturbers, and the causes that move
them, in defeating their enterprises, and digging the contrivers out
of their caverns and lurking holes : in such cases, God doth so act,
and use such methods, that he silenceth any creature from challeng-
ing any partnership with him in the discovery. He doth more se-
verely in this world correct those actions that unlink the mutual as-
sistance between man and man, and the charitable and kind corre-
spondence he would have kept up. The sins for which the " wrath
of God comes upon the children of disobedience" (Col. iii. 5, 6) in
this world are of this sort ; and when princes will be oppressing the
people, God will be "pouring contempt on the princes, and set the
poor on high from affliction" (Ps. cvii. 40, 41). An evidence of
God's care and kindness in the preserving human society, is those
strange discoveries of murders, though never so clandestine and
subtiily committed, more than of any other crime among men :
Divine care never appears more than in bringing those hidden and
injurious works of darkness to light, and a due punishment.
6. His goodness is seen in ordering mutual offices to one another
against the current of men's passions. Upon this account he ordered,
in his laws for the government of the Israelites, that a man should
reduce the wandering beast of his enemy to the hand of his right-
ful proprietor, though he were a provoking enemy ; and also " help
the poor beast that belonged to one that hated him, when he saw him
sink under his burden" (Exod. xxiii. 4, 5). When mutual assistance
was necessary, he would not have men considered as enemies, or
considered as' wicked, but as of the same blood with ourselves, that
we might be serviceable to one another for the preservation of life
and goods.
7. His goodness is seen in remitting something of his own right,
for the preserving a due dependence and subjection. He declines
the right he had to the vows of a minor, or one under the power of
another, waving what he might challenge by the voluntary obliga-
tion of his creature, to keep up the due order between parents and
children, husbands and wives, superiors and inferiors ; those that
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 803
were under tlie power of another, as a child under his parents, or a
wife under her husband, if they had " vowed a vow unto the Lord,"
which concerned his honor and worship, it was void without the ap-
probation of that person under whose charge they were (Num. xxx.
o, 4, &c.). Though God was the Lord of every man's goods, and
men but his stewards ; and though he might have taken to himself
what another had offered by a vow, since whatsoever could be
offered was God's own, though it was not the parties' own who
offered it ; yet God would not have himself adored by his creature
to the prejudice of the necessary ties of human society; he lays
aside what he might challenge by his sovereign dominion, that there
might not be any breach of that regular order which was necessary
for the preservation of the world. If Divine goodness did not thus
order things, he would not do the part of a Kector of the world ;
the beauty of the world would be much defaced, it would be a con-
fused mass of men and women, or rather, beasts and bedlams. Order
renders every city, every nation, yea, the whole earth, beautiful :
this is an effect of Divine goodness.
8d. His goodness is evident in encouraging anything of moral good-
ness in the world. Though moral goodness cannot claim an eternal
reward, yet it hath been many times rewarded with a temporal hap-
piness ; he hath often siganlly rewarded acts of honesty, justice,
and fidelity, and punished the contrary by his judgments, to deter
man from such an unworthy practice, and encourage others to what
was comely, and of a general good report in the world. Ahab's
humiliation put a demurrer to God's judgments intended against
him ; and some ascribe the great victories and success of the Romans
to that justice which was observed among themselves. Baruch was
but an amanuensis to the Prophet Jeremy to write his prophecy, and
very despondent of his own welfare (Jer. xlv. 13) ; God upon that
account provides for his safety, and rewards the industry of his ser-
vice with tlie security of his person ; he was not a statesman, to de-
clare against the corrupt counsels of them that sat at the helm, nor
a prophet, to declare against their profane practices, but the prophet's
scribe ; and as he writes in God's service the prophecies revealed to
the prophet, God writes his name in the roll of those that were de-
signed for preservation in that deluge of judgments which were to
come upon that nation. Epicurus complained of the administration
of God, that the virtuous moralist had not sufficient smiles of Divine
favor, nor the swinish sensualist frowns of Divine indignation. But
what if they have not always that confluence of outward wealth and
pleasures, but remain in the common level ? yet they have the hap-
piness and satisfaction of a clear reputation, the esteem of men, and
the secret applauses of their very enemies, besides the inward ravish-
ments upon an exercise of virtue, and the commendatory subscrip-
tion of their own hearts, a dainty the vicious man knows not of;
they have an inward applause from God as a reward of Divine
goodness, instead of those racks of conscience upon whicli the pro-
fane are sometimes stretched. He will not let the worst men do him
any service (though they never intended in the act of service him,
but themselves) without giving them their wages : he will not let
304 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
tliem hit bim in tlie teeth as if he were beholden to them. If Kebu-
chadnezzar be the instrument of God's judgments against Tyrus and
Israel, he will not only give him that rich city, but a richer country,
Egypt, the granary for her neighbors, a wages above his work. In
this is Divine goodness eminent, since, in the most moral actions, as
there is something beautifal, so there is something mixed, hateful to
the infinitely exact holiness of the Divine nature ; yet he will not
let that which is pleasing to him go unrewarded, and defeat the ex-
pectations of men, as men do with those they employ, when, for one
Haw in an action, they deny them the reward due for the other part.
God encouraged and kept up morality in the cities of the Gentiles
for the entertainment of a further goodness in the doctrine of the
gospel when it should be published among them.
4th. Divine goodness is eminent in providing a Scripture as a rule
to guide us, and continuing it in the world. If man be a rational
creature, governable by a law, can it be imagined there should be no
revelation of that law to him ? Man, by the light of reason, must
needs confess himself to be in another condition than he was by cre-
ation, when he came first out of the hands of God ; and can it be
thought, that God should keep up the world under so many sins
against the light of nature, and bestow so many providential influ-
ences, to invite men to return to him, and acquaint no men in the
world with the means of that return ? Would he exact an obedi-
ence of men, as their consciences witness he doth, and furnish them
with no rules to guide them in the darkness they cannot but acknowl-
edge that they have contracted ? No ; Divine goodness hath other-
wise provided : this Bible we have is his word and rule. Had it
been a falsity and imposture, would that goodness, that watches over
the world, have continued it so long ? That goodness that overthrew
the burdensome rites of Moses, and expelled the foolish idolatry of
the Pagans, would have discovered the imposture of this, had it not
been a transcript of his own will. Whatever mistakes he suffers to
remain in the world, what goodness had there been to suffer this an-
ciently amongst the Jews, and afterwards to open it to the whole
world, to abuse men in religion and worship, which so nearly con-
cerned himself and his own honor, that the world should be deceived
by the devil without a remedy in the morning of its appearance ?
It hath been honored and admired by some heathens, when they
have cast their eyes upon it, and their natural light made them be-
hold some footsteps of a Divinity in it. If this, therefore, be not a
Divine prescript, let any that deny it, bring as good arguments for
any book else, as can be brought for this. Now, the publishing this
is an argument of Divine goodness : it is designed to win the affec-
tions of beggarly man, to be espoused to a God of eternal blessed-
ness and immense riches. It speaks words in season : no doubts but
it resolves ; no spiritual distemper but it cures ; no condition but it
hath a comfort to suit it. It is a garden which the hand of Divine
bounty hath planted for us ; in it he condescends to shadow himself
in those expressions that render him in some manner intelligible to
us. Had God wrote in a loftiness of style suitable to the greatness
of his majesty, his writing had been as little understood by us, as the
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 305
brightness of his glory can be beheld by us. But he draws phrases
from our affairs, to express his mind to us ; he incarnates himself in
his word to our minds, before his Son was incarnate in the flesh to
the eyes of men : he ascribes to himself eyes, ears, hands, that we
might have, from the consideration of ourselves, and the whole hu-
man nature, a conception of his perfections : he assumes to himself
the members of our bodies, to direct our understandings in the knowl-
edge of his Deity ; this is his goodness. Again, though the Scrip-
ture was written upon several occasions, yet in the dictating of it,
the goodness of God cast his eye upon the last ages of the world
(1 Cor, X, 11) : " They are written for our admonition, upon whom
the ends of the world are come." It was given to the Israelites, but
Divine goodness intended it for the future Gentiles. The old writ-
ings of the prophets were thus designed, much more the later writ-
ings of the apostles. Thus did Divine goodness think of us, and
prepare his records for us, before we were in the world : these he
hath written plain for our instruction, and wrapped up in them what
is necessary for our salvation : it is clear to inform our understand-
ing, and rich to comfort us in our misery ; it is a light to guide us,
and a cordial to refresh us ; it is a lamp to our feet, and a medicine
for our diseases ; a purifier of our filth, and a restorer of us in our
faintings. He hath by his goodness sealed the truth of it, by his
efficacy on multitudes of men : he hath made it the " word of regen-
eration" (James i, 18). Men, wilder and more monstrous than beasts,
have been tamed and changed by the power of it : it hath raised
multitudes of dead men from a grave fuller of horror than any earthly
one. Again, Goodness was in all ages sending his letters of advice
and counsel from heaven, till the canon of the Scripture was closed ;
sometimes he wrote to chide a froward people, sometimes to cheer
up an oppressed and disconsolate people, according to the state
wherein they were ; as we may observe by the several seasons
wherein parts of Scripture were written. It was His goodness that
he first revealed anything of his will after the fall ; it was a further
degree of goodness, that he would add more cubits to its stature ; be-
fore he would lay aside his pencil, it grew up to that bulk wherein
we have it. And his goodness is further seen in the preserving it ;
he hath triumphed over the powers that opposed it, and showed him-
self good to the instruments that propagated it : he hath maintained
it against the blasts of hell, and spread it in all languages against
the obstructions of men and devils. The sun of his word is by his
kindness preserved in our horizon, as well as the sun in the heavens.
How admirable is Divine goodness ! He hath sent his Son to die for
us, and his written word to instruct us, and his Spirit to edge it for
an entrance into our souls : he hath opened the womb of the earth
to nourish us, and sent down the records of heaven to direct us in
our pilgrimage : he hath provided the earth for our habitation, while
we are travellers, and sent his word to acquaint us with a felicity at
the end of our journey, and the way to attain in another world what
we want in this, viz. a happy immortality.
5th. His goodness in Ins government is evident, in conversions of
men. Though this work be wrought by his power, yet his power
VOL, II.— 20
306 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
was first solicited by liis goodness. It was liis ricli goodness that he
would employ his power to pierce the scaler of a heart as hard as
those of the "leviathan." It was this that opened the ears of men
to hear him, and draws them from the hurry of worldly cares, and
the charms of sensual pleasures, and, which is the top of all, the im-
postures and cheats of their own hearts. It is this that sends a spark
of his wrath into men's consciences, to put them to a stand in sin,
that he might not send down a shower of brimstone eternally to con-
sume their persons. This it was that first showed you the excellency
of the .Redeemer, and brought you to taste the sweetness of his blood,
and find your security in the agonies of his death. It is his good-
ness to call one man and not another, to turn Paul in his course, and
lay hold of no other of his companions. It is his goodness to call
any, when he is not bound to call one.
1. It is his goodness to pitch upon mean and despicable men in
the eye of the world ; to call this poor publican, and overlook that
proud Pharisee, this man that sits upon a dunghill, and neglect him
that glisters in his purple. His majesty is not enticed by the lofty
titles of men, nor, which is more worth, by the learning and knowl-
edge of men. " Not many wise, not many mighty," not many doc-
tors, not many lords, though some of them ; but his goodness con-
descends to the " base things" of the world, and things which are
"despised" (1 Cor. i. 26-28). " The poor receive the gospel" (Matt.
xi, 5), when those that are more acute, and furnished with a more
apprehensive reason, are not touched by it.
2. The worst men. He seizeth sometimes upon men most soiled,
and neglects others that seem more clean and less polluted. He turns
men in their course in sin, that, by their infernal practices, have
seemed to have gone to school to hell, and to have sucked in the sole
instructions of the devil. He lays hold upon some Avhen they are
most under actual demerit, and snatches them as fire-brands out of
the fire, as upon Paul when fullest of rage against him ; and shoots
a beam of grace, where nothing could be justly expected but a thun-
derbolt of wrath. It is his goodness to visit any, when they lie pu-
trefying in their loathsome lusts ; to draw near to them who have
been guilty of the greatest contempt of God, and the light of nature ;
the murdering Manassehs, the persecuting Sauls, the Christ-crucify-
ing Jews, — persons in whom lusts had had a peaceable possession
and empire for many years.
3. His goodness appears in converting men possessed with the
greatest enmity against him, while he was dealing with them. All
were in such a state, and framing contrivances against him, when
Divine goodness knocked at the door (Col. i. 21). He looked after
us when our backs were turned upon him, and sought us when we
slighted him, and were a " gainsaying people" (Rom. x. 21) ; when we
had shaken off his convictions, and contended with our Maker, and
mustered up the powers of nature against the alarms of conscience ;
struggled like wild bulls in a net, and blunted those darts that stuck
in our souls. Not a man that is turned to him, but had lifted up
the heel against his gospel grace, as well as made light of his creating
goodness. Yet it hath employed itself about such ungrateful
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 807
wretches, to polish those knotty and rugged pieces for heaven ; and
so invincibly, that he would not have his goodness defeated by the
fierceness and rebellion of the flesh. Though the thing was more
difficult in itself (if anything may be said to have a difficulty to
omnipotency) than to make a stone live, or to turn a straw into a
marble pillar. The malice of the flesh makes a man more unfit for
the one, than the nature of the straw unfits it for the other.
4. His goodness appears in turning men, when they were pleased
with their own misery, and unable to deliver themselves ; when they
preferred a hell before him, and were in love with their own vileness ;
when his call was our torment, and his neglect of us had been ac-
counted our felicity. Was it not a mighty goodness to keep the
light close to our eyes, when we endeavored to blow it out ; and the
corrosive near to our hearts, when we endeavored to tear it off, being
more fond of our disease than the remedy ? We should have been
scalded to death with the Sodomite, had not God laid his good hand
upon us, and drawn us from the approaching ruin we affected, and
were loath to be freed from. And had we been displeased with our
state, yet we had been as unable spiritually to raise ourselves
from sin to grace, as to raise ourselves naturally from nothing to be-
ing. In this state we were when his goodness triumphed over us ;
when he j)ut a hook into our nostrils, to turn us in order to our sal-
vation ; and drew us out of the pit which we had digged, when he
might have left us to sink under the rigors of his justice we had
merited. Now this goodness in conversion is greater than that in
creation ; as in creation there is nothing to oppose him, so there was
nothing to disoblige him ; creation was terminated to the good of a
mutable nature, and conversion tends to a supernatural good. God
pronounced all creatures good at first, and man among the rest, but
did not pronounce any of them, or man himself, his "portion," his
*' inheritance," his " segullah^^'' his " house," his " diadem." He
speaks slightly of all those things which he made, the noblest
heavens, as well as the lowest earth, in comparison of a true con-
vert: " All those things hath mine hand made, and all those things
have been : but to this man will I look, to him that is of a contrite
spirit" (Isa. Ixvi. 1, 2). It is more goodness to give the espousing
grace of the covenant, than the completing glory of heaven ; as it is
more for a prince to marry a beggar, than only to bring her to live
deliciously in his courts. All other benefits are of a meaner strain,
if compared with this ; there is little less of goodness in imparting
the holiness of his nature, than imputing the righteousness of his
Son.
6th. The Divine goodness doth appear in answering prayers. He
delights to be familiarly acquainted with his people, and to hear
them call upon him. He indulgeth them a free access to him, and
delights in every address of an " upright man" (Pro v. xv. 8). The
wonderful efficacy of prayer depends not upon the nature of our pe-
titions or the temper of our soul, but the goodness of God to whom
we address. Christ establisheth it upon this bottom : when he ex-
horts to ask in his name, he tells them the spring of all their grants
is the Father's love : "I say not, I will pray the Father for you, for
VOL. II.— 20
308 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
the Father himself loves you" (John xvi. 26, 27). And since it is
of itself incredible, that a Majesty, exalted above the cherubims,
should stoop so low as to give a miserable and rebellious creature
admittance to him, and afford him a gracious hearing, and a quick
supply, Christ ushers in the promise of answering prayer with a note
of great assurance : " I say unto you. Ask, and it shall be given you"
(Luke xi. 9, 10). I, that know the mind of my Father, and his good
disposition, assure you your prayer shall not be in vain. Perhaps
you will not be so ready of yourselves to imagine so great a liber-
ality ; but take it upon my word, it is true, and so you will find it.
And his bounty travels, as it were, in birth, to give the greatest
blessings, upon our asking, rather than the smallest : " your heavenly
Father shall give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him" (ver. 13) :
which in Matt. vii. 11, is called, " good things." Of all the good
and rich things Divine goodness hath in his treasury, he delights to
give the best upon asking, because God doth act so as to manifest
the greatness of his bounty and magnificence to men ; and, therefore,
is delighted when men, by their petitioning him, own such a liberal
disposition in him, and put him upon the manifesting it. He would
rather you should ask the greatest things heaven can aftbrd, than
the trifles of this world ; because his bounty is not discovered in
meaner gifts : he loves to have an opportunity to manifest his affec-
tion above the liberality and tenderness of worldly fathers. He doth
more wait to give in a way of grace, than we to beg ; and, " there-
fore, will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you" (Isa. xxx.
18). He stands expecting your suits, and employs his wisdom in
pitching upon the fittest seasons, when the manifestation of his
goodness may be most gracious in itself, and the mercy you want
most welcome to you; as it follows, "for the Lord is a God of judg-
ment." He chooseth the time wherein his doles may be most ac-
ceptable to his suppliants ; "In an acceptable time have I heard
thee" (Isa. xlix. 8). He often opens his hand while we are opening
our lips, and his blessings meet our petitions at the first setting out
upon their journey to heaven : " While they are yet speaking, I will
hear" (Isa, Ixv. 24). How often do we hear a secret voice withm us,
while we are praying, saying, " Your prayer is granted ;" as Avell as
hear a voice behind us, while we are erring, saying, " This is the
way, walk in it !" And his liberality exceeds often our desires, as
well as our deserts ; and gives out more than we had the wisdom or
confidence to ask. The apostle intimates it in that doxology, " Unto
Him who is able to do abundantly above all that we ask or think"
(Eph. iii. 20). This power would not have been so strong an argu-
ment of comfort, if it were never put in practice ; he is more liberal
than his creatures are craving. Abraham petitioned for the life of
Ishmael, and God promiseth him the "birth of Isaac" (Gen. xvii. 18,
19). Isaac asks for a " child," and God gives him "two" (Gen. xxv.
21, 22). Jacob desires "food" to eat, and "raiment" to put on;
God confines not his bounty within the narrow limits of his petition,
but instead of a " staff," wherewith he passed Jordan, makes him re-
pass it with "two bands" (Gen. xxviii. 20). David asked life of God,
and he gave him " life," and a " crown" to boot (Ps. xxi. 2 — 5). The
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 309
Israelites would have been contented with a free life in Egypt ; they
only cried to have their chains struck off; God gave them that, and
adopts them to be his "peculiar people," and raises them into a fa-
mous state. It is a wonder that God should condescend so much,
that he should hear prayers so weak, so cold, so wandering, and
gatlier up our sincere petitions from the dung of our distractions and
diffidence. David vents his astonishment at it ; " Blessed be God,
for he hath shown me marvellous kindness, I said in my haste, I am
cut off from before thine eyes : nevertheless, thou heardest the voice
of my supplication" (Ps. xxxi 21, 22). How do we wonder at the
goodness of a petty man, in granting our desires; how much more
should we at the humility and goodness of the most sovereign
Majesty of heaven and earth !
7th. The goodness of God is seen in bearing with the infirmities
of his people, and accepting imperfect obedience. Though Asa had
many blots in his escutcheon, yet they are overlooked, and this note
set upon record by Divine goodness, that his heart was perfest to-
wards the Lord all his days ; "But the high places were not re-
moved : nevertheless, Asa's'heart was perfect with the Lord all his
days" (1 Kings, xv. 14). He takes notice of a sincere, though
chequered obedience, to reward it, which could claim nothing but a
slight from him, if he were extreme to mark what is done amiss.
When there is not an opportunity to work, but only to will, he ac-
cepts the will, as if it had passed into work and act. He sees no in-
iquity in Jacob (Numb, xxiii. 21), i. e. He sees it not so as to cast
off a respect to their persons, and the acceptance of their services :
his omniscience knows their sins, but his goodness doth not reject
their persons. He is of so good a disposition, that he delights in a
weak obedience of his servants, not in the imperfection, but in the
obedience (Ps. xxxvii. 23) ; " He delights in the way of a good
man," though he sometimes slips in it: he accepts a poor man's
pigeon, as well as a rich man's ox : he hath a bottle for the tears,
and a book for the " services of the upright," as well as for tlie most
perfect obedience of angels (Ps. Ivi. 8) : he preserves tlieir tears, as
if they were a rich and generous wine, as the vine-dresser doth the
expressions of the grape.
8th. The goodness of God is seen in afflictions and persecutions.
If it be " good for us to be afflicted," for which we have the psalm-
ist's vote (Ps. cxix. 71), then goodness in God is the principal cause
and orderer of the afflictions. It is his goodness to snatch away
that whence we fetch supports for our security, and encouragements
for our insolence against him : he takes away the thing which we
have some value for, but such as his infinite wisdom sees inconsist-
ent with our true happiness. It is no ill-will in the physician to
take away the hurtful matter the patient loves, and prescribe bitter
potions, to advance that health which the other impaired ; nor any
mark of unkindness in a friend, to wrest a sword out of a madman's
hand, wherewith he was about to stab himself, though it were beset
with the most orient pearls. To prevent what is evil, is to do us the
greatest good. It is a kindness to prevent a man from falling down
a precipice, though it be with a violent blow, that lays him flat upon
310 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
the ground at some distance from the edge of it. Bj afflictions he
often snaps asunder those chains which fettered us, and quells those
passions which ravaged us : he sharpens our faith, and quickens our
prayers ; he brings us in the secret chamber of our own heart, which
we had little mind before to visit by a self-examination. It is such
a goodness that he will vouchsafe to correct man in order to his
eternal happiness, that Job makes it one part of his astonishment
(Job. vii. 17) ; " What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him ?
that thou shouldest set thy heart upon him ? and that thou shouldest
visit him every morning, and try him every moment ?" His strokes
are often the magnifyings and exaltings of man. He sets his heart
upon man, while he inflicts the smart of his rod : he shows thereby,
what a high account he makes of him, and what a special affection
he bears to him. When he might treat us with more severity after
the breach of his covenant, and make his jealousy flame out against
us in furious methods, he will not destroy his relation to us, and
leave us to our own inclinations, but deal with us as a father with
his children ; and when he takes this course with us, it is when it
cannot be avoided without our ruin : his goodness would not suffer
him to do it, if our badness did not force him to it (Jer. ix. 7), "I
will melt them and try them, for how shall I do for the daughter of
my people ?" What other course can I take but this, according to
the nature of man ? Tlie goldsmith hath no other way to separate
the dross from the metal, but by melting it down. And when the
impurities of his people necessitate him to this proceeding, " he sits
as a refiner" (Mai. iii. 3) : he watches for the purifying the silver,
not for his own profit as the goldsmith, but out of a care of them,
and good will to them ; as himself speaks (Isa. xlviii. 10), "I have
refined thee, but not with silver ;" or, as some read it, " not for sil-
ver." As when he scatters his people abroad for their sin, he will
not leave them without his presence for their " sanctuary" (Ezek. xi.
16) : he would by his presence with them supply the place of ordi-
nances, or be an ark to them in the midst of the deluge : his hand
that struck them, is never without a goodness to comfort them and
pity them. When Jacob was to go into Egypt, which was to prove
a furnace of affliction to his offspring, God promises to go down with
him, and to " bring him up again" (Gen. xlvi. 4) : a promise not only
made to Jacob in his person, but to Jacob in his posterity. He re-
turned not out of Egypt in his person, but as the father of a nu-
merous posterity. He that would go down with their root, and
afterwards bring up the branches, was certainly with them in all
their oppressions: "I will go down with thee." "Down," saith
one ; what a word is that for a Deity ! into Egypt, idolatrous Egjq^t ;
what a place is that for his holiness !' Yet 0, the goodness of God !
He never thinks himself low enough to do his people good, nor any
place too bad for his society with them. So when he had sent away
into captivity the people of Israel by the hand of the Assyrian, his
bowels yearn after them in their affliction (Isa. Iii. 4, 5) ; the Assy-
rian "oppressed them without cause," i. e. without a just cause in the
conqueror to inflict so great an evil upon them, but not without
* Harwood's Sermon ut Oxford, p. 5.
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 311
cause from God, wliom they had provoked. " Now, therefore, what
have I here, saith the Lord ?" What do I here ? I will not stay
behind them. What do I longer here ? for I will redeem again
those jewels the enemy hath carried away. That chapter is a pro-
phecy of redemption : God shows himself so good to his people in
their persecutions, that he gives them occasion to glorify him in the
very fires, as the Divine order is (Isa. xxiv. 15), " Wherefore glorify
the Lord in the fires."
9th. The goodness of God is seen in temptations. In those he
takes occasion to show his care and watchfulness, as a father uses
the distress of a child as an opportunity for manifesting the tender-
ness of his affection. God is at the beginning and end of every
temptation ; he measures out both the quality and quantity : he ex-
poseth them not to temptation beyond the ability he had already
granted them, or will at the time, or afterwards multiply in them.
He hath promised his people that '^ the gate of hell shall not prevail
against them" (1 Cor. x. 13) : that " in all things" they shall be
" more than conquerors through Him that loved them :" that the
most raging malice of hell shall not wrest them out of his hands.
His goodness is not less in performing than it was in promising :
and as the care of his providence extends to the least as well as the
greatest, so the watchfulness of his goodness extends to us in the
least as well as in the greatest temptations.
1. The goodness of God appears in shortening temptations. None
of them can go beyond their " appointed times" (Dan. xi. 35) : the
strong blast Satan breathes cannot blow, nor the waves he raises
rage one minute beyond the time God allows them ; when they have
done their work, and come to the period of their time, God speaks
the word, and the wind and sea of hell must obey him, and retire
into tlieir dens. The more violent temptations are, the shorter time
doth God allot to them. The assaults Christ had at the time of his
death were of the most pressing and urging nature : the powers of
darkness were all in arms against him ; the reproaches and scorns
put upon him, questioning his sonship, were very sharp ; yet a little
before his suffering he calls it but an hour (Luke xxii. 53), " This is
your hour, and the power of darkness." A short time that men and
devils were combined against him ; and the time of temptation that
is to come upon all the world for their trial, is called but an " hour"
(Rev. iii. 10). In all such attempts, the greatness of the rage is a
certain prognostic of the shortness of the season (Rev. xii. 12).
2. The goodness of God appears in strengthening his geople un-
der temptations. If he doth not restrain the arm of Satan from
striking, he gives us a sword to manage the combat, and a shield to
bear off the blow (Eph. vi. 16, 17). If he obscures his goodness in
one part, he clears and brightens it in another : he either binds the
strong man that he shall not stir, or gives us armor to render us
victorious. If we fall, it is not for want of provision from him, but
for want of our "putting on the armor of God" (Eph. vi. 11, 13).
AVhen we have not a strength by nature, he gives it us by grace : he
often quells those passions within which would join hands with, and
second the temptation without. He either qualifies the temptation
312 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
suitably to tlie force we have, or else supplies us with a new strength
to mate the temptation he intends to let loose against us ; he knows
we are but dust, and his goodness will not have us unequally match-
ed. The Jews that in Antiochus' time were under great temptation
to apostasy by reason of the violence of their persecutions, were,
" out of weakness, made strong" for the combat (Heb. xi, 34). The
Spirit came more strongly upon Sampson when the Philistines most
furiously and confidently assaulted him. His Spirit is sent to
strengthen his people before the devil is permitted to tempt them
(Matt. iv. 2) ; " Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit." Then ; When?
When the Spirit had in an extraordinary manner descended upon
him (Matt. iii. 16), " then," and not before. As the angels appeared
to Christ, after his temptation, to minister to him, so they appeared
to him before his passion, the time of the strongest powers of dark-
ness, to strengthen him for it : he is so good, that when he knows
our potsherd strength too weak, he furnisheth our recruits from his
own omnipotence (Eph. vi. 10) ; "Be strong in the Lord, and in the
power of his might." He doth, as it were, breathe in something of
his own almightiness, to assist us in our wrestling against principal-
ities and powers, and make us capable to sustain the violent storms
of the enemies.
3. The goodness of God is seen in temptations, in giving great
comforts in or after them. The Israelites had a more immediate
]irovision of manna from heaven when they were in the wilderness.
We read not that the Father spake audibly tx) the Son, and gave him
so loud a testimony, that he was his "beloved Son, in whom he was
well pleased," till he was upon the brink of strong temptations
(Matt. iii. 17) : nor sent angels to minister immediately to his per-
son, till after his success (Matt. iv. 11). Job never had such evi-
dences of Divine love till after he had felt the sharp strokes of Sa-
tan's malice ; he had heard of God before, by the " hearing of the
ear," but afterwards is admitted into greater familiarity (Job. xlii.
5) : he had more choice appearances, clearer illuminations, and more
lively instructions. And, though his people fall into temptation,
yet, after their rising, they have more signal marks of his favor than
others have, or themselves, before they fell. Peter had been the
butt of Satan's rage, in tempting him to deny Christ, and he had
shamefully complied with the temptation ; yet, to him particularly,
must the first news of the Kedeemer's resurrection be carried, by
God's order, in the mouth of an angel (Mark xvi. 7) ; " Go your
ways, tell his disciples, and Peter." We have the greatest commu-
nion with God after a victory ; the most refreshing truths after the
devil hath done his worst. God is ready to furnish us with strength
in a combat, and cordials after it.
4. The goodness of God is seen in temptations, in discovering and
advancing inward grace by this means. The issue of a temptation
of a Christian is often like that of Christ's, the manifesting a greater
vigor of the Divine nature, in affections to God, and enmity to sin.
Spices perfume not the air with their scent till they are invaded by
the fire : the truth of grace is evidenced by them. The assault of
an enemy revives, and actuates that strength and courage which is
ON THE GOODNESS OP GOD. 313
in a man, perhaps unknown to himself, as well as others, till he
meets with an adversary : many seem good, not that they are so in
themselves, but for want of a temptation : this many times verifies
a virtue, which was owned upon trust before, and discovers that we
had more grace than we thought we had. The solicitations of
Joseph's mistress cleared up his chastity : we are many times under
temptation, as a candle under the snuffer ; it seems to be out, but
presently burns the clearer. Afflictions are like those clouds which
look black, and eclipse the sun from the earth, but yet, when they
drop, refresh that ground they seem to threaten, and multiply the
grain on the earth, to serve for our food ; and so our troubles, while
they wet us to the skin, wash much of that dust from our graces
which in a clearer day had been blown upon us. Too much rest
corrupts ; exercise teacheth us to manage our weapons : the spiritual
armor would grow rusty, without opportunity to furbish it up ; faith
receives a new heart by every combat, and by every victory ; like a
fire, it spreads itself further, and gathers strength by the blowing of
the wind. While the gardener commands his servant to shake the
tree, he intends to fasten its roots, and settle it firmer in its place ;
and is this an ill-will to the plant ? ,
5. His goodness is seen in temptations, in preventing sin which
we were likely to fall into. Paul's thorn in the flesh was to prevent
the pride of his spirit, and let out the windiness of his heart (2 Cor.
xii. 7), lest it should be exalted above measure. The goodness of
God makes the devil a polisher, while he intends to be a destroyer.
The devil never works, but suitably to some corruption lurking in
us : Divine goodness makes his fiery darts a means to discover, and
so to prevent the treachery of that perfidious inmate in our hearts ;
humility is a greater benefit than a putrefying pride ; if God brings
us into a wilderness to be tempted of the devil, it is to bring down
our loftiness, to starve our carnal confidence, and expel our rusting
" security" (Dent. viii. 2) ; we many times fly under a temptation to
God, from whom we sat too loose before. Is it not goodness to use
♦ those means that may drive us into his own arms ? It is not a want
of goodness to soap the garment, in order to take away the spots ;
we have reason to bless God for the assaults from hell, as well as
pure mercies from heaven ; and it is a sin to overlook the one as
well as the other, since Divine goodness shines in both.
6. The goodness of God is seen in temptations, in fitting us more
for his service. Those whom God intends to make choice instru-
ments in his service, are first seasoned with strong temptations, as
timber reserved for the strong beams of a building is first exposed to
sun and wind, to make it more compact for its proper use. By this
men are brought to answer the end of their creation, the service of
God, which is their proper goodness. Peter was, after his foil by
a temptation, more courageous in his Master's cause than before, and
*\^ the more fitted to strengthen his brethren.
^J^ Thus the goodness of God appears in all parts of his government.
"Ty^ V. I shall now come to the Use. First, Of instruction.
1. If God be so good, how unworthy is the contempt or abuse of
his goodness! (1.) The contempt and abuse of Divine goodness is
314 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
frequent and common ; it began in the first ages of the world, and
commenced a few moments after the creation ; it hath not to this
day diminished its affronts ; Adam began the dance, and his pos-
terity have followed him ; the injury was directed against this, when
he entertained the seducer's notion of God's being an envious Deity,
in not indulging such a knowledge as he might have afforded him
(Gen. iii. 5) : " God doth know, that you shall be as gods, knowing
good and evil." The charge of envy is utterly inconsistent with
pure goodness. What was the language of this notion, so easily enter-
tained by Adam, but that the tempter was better than God, and the
nature of God as base and sordid as the nature of a devil ? Satan
paints God with his own colors, represents him as envious and ma-
licious as himself; Adam admires, and believes the picture to be
true, and hangs it up as a beloved one in the closet of his heart. The
devil still drives on the same game, fills men's hearts with the same
sentiments, and by the same means he murdered our first parents, he
redoubles the stabs to his posterity. Every violation of the Divine
law is a contempt of God's goodness, as well as his sovereignty, be-
cause his laws are the products both of the one and the other. Good-
ness animates 1jiem, while sovereignty enjoys them: God hath com-
manded nothing but what doth conduce to our happiness. All dis-
obedience implies, that his law is a snare to entrap us, and make us
miserable, and not an act of kindness, to render us happy, which i s
a disparagement to this perfection, as if he had commanded what
would promote our misery, and prohibited what would conduce to
our blessedness : to go far from him, and walk after vanit}^, is to
charge him with our iniquity, and unrighteousness, baseness, and
cruelty, in his commands : God implies it by his speech (Jer. ii. 5),
" What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone
far from me, and walked after vanity ?" as if, like a tyrant, he had
consulted cruelty in the composure of them, and designed to feast
himself with the blood and misery of his creatures. Every sin is, in
its own nature, a denial of God to be the chiefest good and happi-
ness, and implies that it is no great matter to lose him : it is a for-
saking him as the Fountain of Life, and a preferring a cracked and
" empty cistern" as the chief happiness before him (Jer. ii. 13).
Though sin is not so evil as God is good, yet it is the greatest evil,
and stands in opposition to God as the greatest good. Sin disorders
the frame of the world ; it endeavored to frustrate all the communi-
cations of Divine goodness in creation, and to stop up the way of
any further streams of it to his creatures.
(2.) The abuse and contempt of the Divine goodness is base and
disingenious. It is the highest wickedness, because God is the high-
est goodness, pure goodness that cannot have anything in him
worthy of our contempt. Let men injure God under what notion
they will, they injure his goodness ; because all his attributes arc
summed up in this one, and all, as it were, deified by it. For what-
soever power or wisdom he might have, if he were destitute of this
he were not God : the contempt of his goodness implies him to be
the greatest evil, and worst of beings. Badness, not goodness, is the
proper object of contempt : as respect is a propension of mind to
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD, 315
something that is good, so contempt is an alienation of the mind
from something as evil, either simply or supposedly evil in its nature,
or base or unworthy in its action towards that person that contemns
it. As men desire nothing but what they apprehend to be good, so
they slight nothing but what they apprehend to be evil : since no-
thing, therefore, is more contemned by us than God, nothing more
spurned at by us than God, it will follow that we regard him as the
most loathsome and despicable being, which is the greatest baseness.
And our contempt of him is worse than that of the devils ; they in-
jure him under the inevitable strokes of his justice, and we slight
him when we are surrounded with the expressions of his bounty ;
they abuse him under vials of wrath, and we under a plenteous lib-
erality : they malice him, because he inflicts on them what is hurt-
ful ; and we despise him, because he commands what is profitable,
holy, and honorable, in its own nature, though not in our esteem.
They are not under those high obligations as we ; they abuse his
creating, and we his redeeming goodness : he never sent his Son to
shed a drop of blood for their recovery ; they can expect nothing but
the torment of their persons, and the destruction of their works ; but
we abuse that goodness that would rescue us since we are miserable,
as well as that righteousness which created us innocent. How base
is it to use him so ill, that is not once or twice, but a daily, hourly
Benefactor to us ; whose rain drops upon the earth for our food, and
whose sun shines upon the earth for our pleasure as well as profit :
such a Benefactor as is the true Proprietor of what we have, and
thinks nothing too good for them that think everything too much
for his service ! How unworthy is it to be guilty of such base car-
riage towards him, whose benefits we cannot want, nor live without !
How disingenious both to God and ourselves, to " despise the riches
of his goodness, that are designed to lead us to repentance" (Rom. ii.
4), and by that to happiness ! And more heinous are the sins of re-
newed men upon this account, because they are against his " good-
ness" not only offered to them, but tasted by them ; not only against
the notion of goodness, but the experience of goodness, and the rel-
ished sweetness of choicest bounty.
(3). God takes this contempt of his goodness heinously. He
never upbraids men with anything in the Scripture, but with the
abuse of the good things he hath vouchsafed them, and the un-
mindfulness of the obligations arising from them. This he bears
with the greatest regret and indignation. Thus he upbraids Eli
with the preference of him to the priesthood above other families
(1 Sam. ii. 28) : and David with his exaltation to the crown of Israel
(2 Sam. xii. 7 — ^9), when they abused those honors to carelessness
and licentiousness. All sins offend God, but sins against his good-
ness do more disparage him; and, therefore, his fury is the greater,
by how much the more liberally his benefits have been dispensed.
It was for abuse of Divine goodness, as soon as it was tasted, that
some angels were hurled from their blessed habitation and more
happy nature : it was for this Adam lost his present enjoyments,
and future happiness, for the abuse of God's goodness in creation.
For the abuse of God's goodness the old world fell under the fury
316 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
of the flood ; and for the contempt of the Divine goodness in re-
demption, Jerusalem, once the darling city of the infinite Monarch
of the world, was made an Aceldema, a field of blood. For this
cause it is, that candlesticks have been removed, great lights put
out, nations overturned, and ignorance hath triumphed in places
bright before with the beams of heaven. God would have little care
of his own goodness, if he always prostituted the fruits of it to our
contempt. Why should we expect he should always continue that
to us which he sees we will never use to his service ? When the
Israelites would dedicate the gifts of God to the service of Baal,
then he would return, and take away his corn, and his wine, and
make them know by the loss, that those things were his in do-
minion, which they abused, as if they had been sovereign lords of
them (Hos. ii. 8, 9). Benefits are entailed upon us no longer than
we obey (Josh. xxiv. 20) : " If you forsake the Lord, he will do you
hurt, after he hath done 3^ou good," While we obey, his bounty
shall shower upon us : and when we revolt, his justice shall con-
sume us. Present mercies abused, are no bulwarks against inde-
pendent judgments. Got hath curses as well as blessings; and they
shall light more heavy when his blessings have been more weight}'- :
justice is never so severe as when it comes to right goodness, and
revenge its quarrel for the injuries received.
A convenient inquiry may be here, How God's goodness is con-
temned or abused ?
1st. By a forgetfulness of his benefits. We enjoy the mercies,
and forget the Donor ; we take what he gives, and pay not the
tribute he deserves ; the " Israelites forgot God their Saviour, which
had done great things in Egypt" (Ps. c. 21). We send God's
mercies where we would have God send our sins, into the land of
forgetfulness, and write his benefits where himself will write the
names of the wicked, in the dust, Avhich every wind defaceth : the
remembrance soon wears out of our minds, and we are so far from
remembering what we had before, that we scarce think of that hand
that gives, the very instant wherein his benefits drop upon us.
Adam basely forgot his Benefactor, presently after he had been
made capable to remember him, and reflect upon him ; the first re-
mark we hear of him, is of his forgetfulness, not a syllable of his
thankfulness. We forget those souls he hath lodged in us, to ac-
knowledge his favors to our bodies ; we forget that image where-
with .he beautified us, and that Christ he exposed as a criminal to
death for our rescue, which is such an act of goodness as cannot be
expressed by the eloquence of the tongue, or conceived by the
acuteness of the mind. Those things which are so common, that
they cannot be invisible to our eyes, are unregarded by our minds ;
our sense prompts our understanding, and our understanding is deaf
to the plain dictates of our sense. We forget his goodness in the
sun, while it warms us, and his showers while they enrich us ; in
the corn, while it nourisheth us, and the wine while it refresheth
us ; " She did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil"
(Hos. ii. 8) : she that might have read my hand in every bit of
bread, and every drop of drink, did not consider this. It is an in-
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 317
justice to forget the benefits we receive from man ; it is a crime of
a higher nature to forget those dispensed to us by the hand of God,
who gives us those things that all the world cannot furnish us
with, without him. The inhabitants of Troas will condemn us, who
worshipped mice, in a grateful remembrance of the victory thcj
had made easy for them, by gnawing their enemies' bow-strings.
They were mindful of the courtesy of animals, though unintended
by those creatures; and we are regardless of the fore-meditated
bounty of God, It is in God's judgment a brutishness beyond that
of a stupid ox, or a duller ass ; " The ox knows his owner, and the
ass his master's crib : but Israel doth not know, my people do not
consider" (Isa, i, 3), The ox knows his owner that pastures him,
and the ass his master that feeds him ; but man is not so good as to
be like to them, but so bad as to be inferior to them : he forgets
Him that sustains him, and spurns at him, instead of valuing him
for the benefits conferred by him. How horrible is it, that God
should lose more by his bounty, than he would do by his parsi-
mony ! If we had blessings more sparingly, we should remember
him more gratefully. If he had sent us a bit of bread in a distress
by a miracle, as he did to Elijah by the ravens, it would have
stuck longer in our memories ; but the sense of daily favors soonest
wears out of our minds, which are as great miracles as any in their
own nature, and the products of the same power ; but the wonder
they should beget in us, is obscured by their frequency,
2d, The goodness of God is contemned by an impatient murmur-
ing. Our repinings proceed from an inconsideration of God's free
liberality, and an ungrateful temper of spirit. Most men are guilty
of this. It is implied in the commendation of Job under his pres-
sures (Job i. 22): "In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God
foolishly," as if it were a character peculiar to him, whereby he
verified the eulogy God had given of him before (ver. 8), that there
was " none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man,"
What is implied by the expression ? but that scarce a man is to be
found without unjust complaints of God, and charging him under
their crosses with cruelty ; when in the greatest they have much more
reason to bless him for his bounty in the remainder. Good men
have not been innocent, Baruch complains of God for adding
grief to his sorrow, not furnishing him with those " great things"
he expected (Jer, xlv. 3, 4) ; whereas, he had matter of thankful-
ness in God's gift of his life as a prey. But his master chargeth
God in a higher strain: " O Lord, thou hast deceived me, and I was
deceived : I am in derision daily" (Jer. xx. 7). When he met with
reproach instead of success in the execution of his function, he
quarrels with God, as if he had a mind to cheat him into a mischief,
when he had more reason to bless him for the honor of being em-
ployed in his service. Because we have not what we expect, we
slight his goodness in what we enjo}^ If he cross us in one thing,
he might have made us successless in more : if he take away some
things, he might as well have taken away all. The unmerited re-
mainder, though never so little, deserves our acknowledgements
more than the deserved loss can justify our repining. And for that
318 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
whicli is snatched from us, there is more cause to be thankful, that
we have enjoyed it so long, than to murmur that we possess it no
longer. Adam's sin implies a repining : he imagined God had been
short in his goodness, in not giving him a knowledge he foolishly
conceived himself capable of, and would venture a forfeiture of
what already had been bountifully bestowed upon him. Man
thought God had envied him, and ever since man studies to be
even with God, and envies him the free disposal of his own doles :
all murmuring, either in our own cause or others, charges God with
a want of goodness, because there is a want of that Avhich he fool-
ishly thinks would make himself or others happy. The language
of this sin is, that man thinks himself better than God ; and if it
were in his power, would express a more plentiful goodness than
his Maker. As man is apt to think himself " more pure than God"
(Job iv. 17), so of a kinder nature also than an infinite goodness.
The Israelites are a wonderful example of this contempt of Divine
goodness ; they had been spectators of the greatest miracles, and
partakers of the choicest deliverance : he had solicited their re-
demption from captivity ; and when words would not do, he came
to blows for them, musters up his judgments against their enemies,
and, at last, as the Lord of hosts and God of battles, totally defeats
their pursuers, and drowns them and their proud hopes of victory
in the Red Sea. Little account was made of all this by the redeemed
ones; "they lightly esteemed the rock of their salvation," and
launch ipto greater unworthiness, instead of being thankful for the
breaking their 3^oke : they are angry with him, that he had done
so much for them : they repented that ever they had complied with
him, for their own deliverance, and had a regret that they had been
brought out of Egypt : they were angry that they were freemen,
and that their chains had been knocked off: they were more de-
sirous to return to the oppression of their Egyptian tyrants, than
have God for their governor and caterer, and be fed with his
manna. " It was well with us in Egypt : Why came we forth out
of Egypt?" which is called a " despising the Lord" (Numb. xi. 18,
20). They were so far from rejoicing in the expectation of the
future benefits promised them, that they murmured that they had
not enjoyed less ; they were so sottish, as to be desirous to put
themselves into the irons whence God had delivered them : they
would seek a remedy in that Egypt, which had been the prison of
their nation, and under the successors of that Pharaoh, who had
been the invader of their liberties ; they would snatch Moses from
the place where the Lord, by an extraordinary providence, hath
established him ; they would stone those that minded them of the
goodness of God to them, and thereupon of their crime and their
duty (Numb. xvi. 3, 9 — 11) ; they rose against their benefactors,
and "murmured against God," that had strengthened the hands of
their deliverers; they "despised the manna" he had sent them,
and " despised the pleasant land" he intended them (Ps. cvi. 24) :
all which was a high contempt of God and his unparalleled good-
ness and care of them. All murmuring is an accusation of Divine
goodness.
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 319
3d. By unbelief and impenitency. What is the reason we come
not to Him when he calls us ; but some secret imagination that he is
of an ill nature, means not as he speaks, but intends to mock us, in-
stead of welcoming us? When we neglect his call, spurn at his
bowels, slight the riches of his grace ; as it is a disparagement to his
wisdom to despise his counsel, so it is to his goodness to slight his
offers, as though you could make better provision for yourselves than
he is able or willing to do. It disgraceth that which is designed to
the praise of the glory of his grace, and renders God cruel to his own
Son, as being an unnecessary shedder of his blood. As the devil
by his temptation of Adam, envied God the glory of his creating
goodness, so unbelief envies God the glory of his redeeming grace :
it is a bidding defiance to him, and challenging him to muster up
the legions of his judgments, rather than have sent his Son to suffer
for us, or his Spirit to solicit us. Since the sending his Son was the
greatest act of goodness that God could express, the refusal of him
must be the highest reproach of that liberality God designed to com-
mend to the world in so rare a gift : the ingratitude in this refusal
must be as high in the rank of sins, as the person slighted is in the
rank of beings, or rank of gifts. Christ is a gift (Rom. v. 16), the
royalest gift, an unparalleled gift, springing from inconceivable trea-
sures of goodness (John iii. 16). What is our turning our backs
upon this gift but a low opinion of it ? as though the richest jewel
of heaven were not so valuable -as a swinish pleasure on earth, and
deserved to be treated at no other rate than if mere offals had been
presented to us. The plain language of it is, that there were no gra-
cious intentions for our welfare in this present ; and that he is not
as good, in the mission of his Son, as he would induce us to imagine.
Impenitence is also an abuse of this goodness, either by presump-
tion, as if God would entertain rebels that bid defiance against him
with the same respect that he doth his prostrate and weeping sup-
pliants ; that he will have the same regard to the swine as to the
children, and lodge them in the same habitation ; or it speaks a sus-
picion of God as a deceitful Master, one of a pretended, not a real
goodness, that makes promises to mock men, and invitations to de-
lude them: that he is an implacable tyrant, rather than a good
Father ; a rigid, not a kind Being, delightful only to mark our faults,
and overlook our services.
4th. The goodness of God is contemned by a distrust of his provi-
dence. As all trust in him supposeth him good, so all distrust of
him supposeth him evil ; either without goodness to exert his power,
or without power to display his goodness. Job seems to have a spice
of this in his complaint (Job xxx. 20), " I cry unto thee, and thou
dost not hear me ; I stand up, and thou regardest me not." It is a
fume of the serpent's venom, first breathed into man, to suspect him
of cruelty, severity, regardlessness, even under the daily evidences
of his good disposition : and it is ordinary not to believe him when
he speaks, nor credit him when he acts ; to question the goodness of
his precepts, and misinterpret the kindness of his providence ; as if
they were designed for the supports of a tyranny, and the deceit of
the miserable. Thus the Israelites thought their miraculous deliver-
"320 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES,
ance from Egypt, and the placing them in security in the wilderness,
was intended only to pound them up for a slaughter (Numb. xiv. 3) :
thus they defiled the lustre of Divine goodness which they had so
highly experimented, and placed not that confidence in him which
was due to so frequent a Benefactor, and thereby crucified the rich
kindness of God, as Gencbrard translates the word "limited" (Ps.
Ixxviii, 41). It is also a jealousy of Divine goodness, when we seek
to deliver ourselves from our straits by unlawful ways, as thougli
God had not kindness enough to deliver us without committing evil.
What ! did God make a world, and all creatures in it, to think of
them no more, not to concern himself in their affairs ? If he be
good, he is diffusive, and delights to communicate himself ; and what
subjects should there be for it, but those that seek him, and implore
his assistance ? It is an indignity to Divine bounty to have such
mean thoughts of it, that it should be of a nature contrary to that of
his works, which, the better they are, the more diffusive they are.
Doth a man distrust that the sun will not shine any more, or tile
earth not bring forth its fruit? Doth he distrust the goodness of an
approved medicine for the expelling his distemper ? If Ave distrust
those things, should Ave not render ourselves ridiculous and sottish ?
and if we distrust the Creator of those things, do avc not make our-
selves contemners of his goodness ? If his caring for us be a princi-
pal argument to move us to cast our care upon him, as it is 1 Pet. v.
7, " Casting your care upon him, for he cares for you ;" then, if Ave
cast not our care upon him, it is a denial of his gracious care of us,
as if he regarded not what becomes of us.
5th. We do contemn or abuse his goodness by omissions of dut}'.
These sometimes spring from injurious conceits of God, Avhich end
in desperate resolutions. It Avas the crime of a good prophet in his
passion (2 Kings vi. 33) : " This evil is of the Lord, Avhy should I
wait on the Lord any longer?" God designs nothing but mischief
to us, and Ave Avill seek him no longer. And the complaint of those
in Malachi (Mai. iii. 14) is of the same nature ; " Ye have said, It is
vain to serve God ; and Avhat profit is it that we have kept his ordi-
nances?" We have all this Avhile served a hard Master, not a Bene-
factor, and have not been answered with adA^antages proportionable
to our services ; Ave haA^e met Avith a hand too niggardly to dispense
that reward Avhich is due to the largeness of our offerings. When
men Avill not lift up their eyes to heaven, and solicit nothing but the
contrivance of their OAvn brain, and the industry of their OAvn heads,
they disoAvn Divine goodness, and approve themselves as their OAvn
gods, and the spring of their own prosperity. Those that run not to
God in their necessity, to crave his support, deny either the arm of
his poAver, or the disposition of his Avill, to sustain and deliver them :
they must have very mean sentiments, or none at all, of this perfec-
tion, or think him either too empty to fill them, or too churlish to
relieve them ; that he is of a narroAv and contracted temper, and that
they may sooner expect to be made better and happier by anything
else than by him : and as we contemn his goodness by a total omis-
sion of those duties Avhich respect our own advantage and supply, as
prayer ; so we contemn him as the chiefest good, by an omission of
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 821
the due manner of any act of worship which is designed purely for
the acknowledgment of him. As every omission of the material part
of a duty is a denial of his sovereignty as commanding it, so every
omission of the manner of it, not performing it with due esteem and
valuation of him, a surrender of all the powers of our soul to him, is
a denial of him as the most amiable object. But certainly to omit
those addresses to God which his precept enjoins, and his excellency
deserves, speaks this language, that they can be well enough, and do
well enough, without God, and stand in no need of his goodness to
maintain them. The neglect or refusal in a malefactor to supplicate
for his pardon, is a wrong to, and contempt of, the prince's goodness :
either implying that he hath not a goodness in his nature worthy
of an address, or that he scorns to be obliged to him for any exercise
of it.
6th. The goodness of God is contemned, or abused, in relying upon
our services to procure God's good will to us. As, when we stand
in need either of some particular mercy, or special assistance ; when
pressures are heavy, and we have little hopes of ease in an ordinary
way ; when the devotions in course have not prevailed for what we
want ; we engage ourselves by extraordinary vows and promises to
God, hereby to open that goodness which seems to be locked up from
us.'^ Sometimes, indeed, vows may proceed from a sole desire to
engage ourselves to God, from a sense of the levity and inconstancy
of our spirits ; binding ourselves to God by something more sacred
and inviolable than a common resolution. But many times the
vowing the building of a temple, endowing a hospital, giving so
much in alms if God will free tliem from a lit of sickness, and spin
out the thread of their lives a little longer (as hath been frequent
among the Romanists), arises from an opinion of laziness and a sel-
fishness in the Divine goodness ; that it must be squeezed out by
some solemn promises of returns to him, before it will exercise itself
to take their parts. Popular vows are often the effects of an igno-
rance of the free and bubbling nature of this perfection of the gener-
ousness and royalty of Divine goodness : as if God were of a mean
and mechanic temper, not to part with anything unless he were in
some measure paid for it ; and of so bad a nature as not to give pas-
sage to any kindness to his creature without a bribe. It implies also,
that he is of an ignorant as well as contracted goodness ; that he hath
so little understanding, and so much weakness of judgment, as to be
taken with such trifles, and ceremonial courtships, and little prom-
ises ; and meditated only low designs, in imparting his bounty : it
is just as if a malefactor should speak to a prince, — Sir, if 3'ou will
but bestow a pardon upon me, and prevent the death I have merited
for this crime, I will give you this rattle. All vows made with such
a temper of spirit to God, are as injurious and abusive to his good-
ness, as any man will judge such an offer to be to a majestic and
gracious prince ; as if it were a trading, not a free and royal good-
ness.
7th. The goodness of God is abused when we give up our souls
and affections to those benefits we have from God ; when we make
^ Ainyral. Moral. Tom. IV. p. 291.
VOL. II. — 21
822 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
those tilings God's rivals, wliicli were sent to woo us for liim, and
offer those affections to the presents themselves, which they were
sent to solicit for the Master. Tliis is done, when either we place
our trust in them, or glue our choicest affections to them. Tliis
charge God brings against Jerusalem, the trusting in her own beauty,
glory, and strength, though it was a comeliness put upon her by
God (Ezek. xvi. 14, 15). When a little sunshine of prosperity breaks
out upon us, we are apt to grasj) it with so much eagerness and
closeness, as if we had no other foundation to settle ourselves upon,
no other being that might challenge from us our sole dependence.
And the love of ourselves, and of creatures above God, is very
natural to us : " Lovers of themselves, and lovers of pleasure
more tha,n of God" (2 Tim. iii. 2, 4). Self-love is the root, and
the love of pleasures the top branch, that mounts its head high-
est against heaven. It is for the love of the world that the dangers
of the sea are passed over, that men descend into the bowels
of the earth, pass nights without sleep, undertake suits without in-
termission, wade through many inconveniences, venture their souls,
and contemn God ; in those things men glory, and foolishly grow
proud by them, and think themselves safe and happy in them.'
Now to love ourselves above God, is to own ourselves better than
God, and that we transcend him in an amiable goodness ; or, if we
love ourselves equal with God, it at least manifests that we think
God no better than ourselves ; and think ourselves our own chief
good, and deny anything above us to outstrip us in goodness, where-
by to deserve to be the centre of our affections and actions, and to
love any other creature above him, is to conclude some defect in
God ; that he hath not so much goodness in his own nature as that
creature hath, to complete our felicity ; that God is a slighter thing
than that creature. It is to account God, what all the things in the
world are, — an imaginary happiness, a goodness of clay ; and them
what God is, — a Supreme Goodness. It is to value the goodness of
a drop above that of the spring, and the goodness of the spark
above that of the sun. As if the bounty of God were of a
less alloy than the advantages we immediately receive from the hands
of a silly worm. By how much the better we think a creature to be,
and place our affections chiefly upon it, by so much the more defi-
cient and indigent we conclude God ; for God wants so much in our
conception, as the other thing hath goodness above him in our
thoughts. Thus is God lessened below the creature, as if he had a
mixture of evil in him, and were capable of an imperfect goodness.
He that esteems the sun that shines upon him, the clothes that warm
him, the food that nourisheth him, or any other benefit above the
Donor, regards them as more comely and useful than God himself;
and behaves himself as if he were more obliged to them than to God,
who bestowed those advantageous quahties upon them.
8th. The Divine goodness is contemned, in sinning more freely
upon the account of that goodness, and employing God's benefits in
a drudgery for our lusts. This is a treachery to his goodness, to
make his benefits serve for an end quite contrary to that for which
' Cressol. Antholog. Fart II. p. 29.
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 323
lie sent them. As if God liad been plentiful in liis blessings, to hire
them to be more fierce in their rebellions, and fed them to no other
purpose, but that they might more strongly kick against him ; this
is the fruit which corrupt nature produceth. Thus the Egyptians,
who had so fertile a country, prove unthankful to the Creator, by
adoring the meanest creatures, and putting the sceptre of the Monarch
of the world into the hands of the sottishest and cruellest beasts.
And the Komans multijjly their idols, as God multiplied their vic-
tories. This is also the complaint of God concerning Israel : " She
did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied
her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal" (Hos. ii. 8).
They ungratefully employed the blessings of God in the worship of
an idol against the will of the Donor. So in Hos. x. 1 ; " According
to the multitude of his fruit, he hath increased the altars ; according
to the goodness of his land, they have made goodly images." They
followed their own inventions with the strength of my outward bless-
ings; as their wealth increased, they increased the ornaments of
their images ; so that what were before of wood and stone, they ad-
vanced to gold and silver. And the like complaint you may see
Ezek. 16, 17. Thus,
[1.] The benefits of God are abused to pride, when men standing
upon a higher ground of outward prosperity, vaunt it loftily above
their neighbors ; the common fault of those that enjoy a worldly
sunshine, which the apostle observes in his direction to Timothy ;
" Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-
minded" (1 Tim. vi. 17). It is an ill use of Divine blessings to be
filled by them with pride and wind. Also,
[2.] 'When men abuse plenty to ease ; because they have abun-
dance, spend their time in idleness, and make no other use of Divine
benefits than to trifle away their time, and be utterly useless to the world.
[3.] When they also abuse peace and other blessing to security ;
as they which would not believe the threatenings of judgment, and
the storm coming from a far country, because the Lord was in Sion,
and her King in her; " Is not the Lord in Sion, is not her King in
her" (Jer. viii. 19) ? thinking they might continue their progress in
their sin, because they had the temple, the seat of the Divine glory,
Sion, ajid the promise of an everlasting kingdom to David ; abusing
the promise of God to presumption and security, and turning the
grace of God into wantonness.
[4.] Again, when they abuse the bounty of God to sensuality and
luxury, misemploying the provisions God gives them, in resolving
to live like beasts, when by a good improvement of them, they might
attain the life of angels. Thus is the light of the sun abused to con-
duct them, and the fruits of the earth abused to enable them to their
prodigious debauchery : as we do, saith one, with the Thames, which
brings us in provision, and we soil it Avith our rubbish."" The more
God sows his gifts, the more we sow our cockle and darnel. Thus
Ave make our outward happiness the most unhappy part of our lives, and
by the strength of Divine blessings, exceed all laAVS of reason and
religion too. How unworthy a carriage is this, to use the express-
"' Young, of Affliction, p. 34.
324 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
ions of Divine goodness as occasions of a greater outrage and affront
of him ; when we stab his honor by those instruments he puts into
our hands to glorify him ! as if a favorite should turn that sword
into the bowels of his prince, wherewith he knighted him ; and a
servant, enriched by a lord, should hire by that wealth, murderers
to take away his life ! How brutish is it, the more God courts us
with his blessings, the more to spurn at him with our feet ; like the
mule that lifts up his heel against the dam, as soon as ever it hath
sucked her ! We never beat God out of our hearts, but by his own
gifts ; he receives no blows from men, but by those instruments he
gave them to promote their happiness. While man is an enjoyer,
he makes God a loser, by his own blessings ; inflames his rebellion
by those benefits which should kindle his love ; and runs from him
by the strength of those favors which should endear the donor to
him : " Do you thus requite the Lord, O foolish people, and unwise ?"
is the expostulation (Deut. xxxii. 6.) Divine goodness appears in
the complaint of the abuse of it, in giving them titles below their
crime, and complaining more of. their being unfaithful to their own
interest, than enemies to his glory : " foolish and unwise" in neglect-
ing their own happiness ; a charge below the crime, which deserved
to be " abominable, ungrateful people to a prodigy." All this car-
riage towards God, is as if a man should knock the chirurgeon on the
head, as soon as he hath set and bound up his dislocated members.
So God compares the ungrateful behavior of the Israelites against
him : " Though I have bound and strengthened their arms, yet do
they imagine mischief against me" (Hos. vii. 15) : a metaphor taken
from a chirurgeon that applies corroborating plasters to a broken limb.
9th. We contemn the goodness of God, in ascribing our benefits
to other causes than Divine goodness. Thus Israel ascribed her feli-
city, plenty, and success, to her idols, as " rewards which her lovers
had given her" (Hos. ii. 5, 12). And this charge Daniel brought
home upon Belshazzar: "Thou hast praised the gods of silver, and
gold, and brass, and iron ; and the God in whose hand is thy breath,
and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified" (Dan. v. 23).
The God who hath given success to the arms of thy ancestors, and
conveyed by their hands so large a dominion to thee, thou hast not
honored in the same rank with the sordidest of thy idols. It is the
same case, when we own him not as the author of any success in our
affairs, but by an overweaning conceit of our own sagacity, applaud
and admire ourselves, and overlook the hand that conducted us, and
brought our endeavors to a good issue. We eclipse the glory of Di-
vine goodness, by setting the crown that is due to it upon the head
of our own industry ; a sacrilege worse than Belshazzar's drinking
of wine with his lords and concubines in the sacred vessels pilfered
from the temple ; as in that place of Daniel. This was the proud vaunt
of the Assyrian conqueror, for which God threatens to punish the
fruit of his stout heart : "By the strength of my hand, I have done it,
and by my wisdom ; for I am prudent ;" and, " I have removed the
bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures ;" and, "I have
put down the inhabitants like a valiant man" (Isa. x. 12-14). Not a
^vord of Divine goodness and assistance in all this, but applauding
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 325
his own courage and conduct. This is a robbing of God, to set up
ourselves, and making Divine goodness a footstool, to ascend into
his throne. And as it is unjust, so it is ridiculous, to ascribe to our-
selves, or instruments, the chief honor of any work ; as ridiculous
as if a soldier, after a victory, should erect an altar to the honor of
his sword ; or an artificer offer sacrifices to the tools whereby he com-
pleted some excellent and useful invention : a practice that every
rational man would disdain, where he should see it. It is a discard-
ing any thoughts of the goodness of God, when we imagine, that
we chiefly owe anything in this world to our own industry or wit,
to friends or means, as though Divine goodness did not open its hand
to interest itself in our affairs, support our ability, direct our coun-
sels, and mingle itself with anything we do. God is the principal
author of any advantage that accrues to us, of any wise resolution
we fix upon, or any proper way we take to compass it ; no man can
be wise in opposition to God, act wisely, or well without him ; his
goodness inspires men with generous and magnificent counsels, and
furnisheth them with fit and proportionable means ; when he with-
draws his hand, men's heads grow foolish, and their hands feeble ;
folly and weakness drop upon them, as darkness upon the world
upon the removal of the sun ; it is an abuse of Divine goodness not
to own it, but erect an idol in its place. Ezra was of another mind
when he ascribed to the good hand of God the " providing ministers
for the temple," and not to his own care and diligence (chap. viii. 18) ;
and Nehemiah, the " success he had with the king" in the behalf of
his nation, and not solely to his favor with the prince, or the arts he
used to please him (chap. ii. 8).
2. The second information is this : If God be so good, it is a cer-
tain argument that man is fallen from his original state. It is the
complaint of man, sometimes, that other creatures have more of
earthly happiness than men have ; live freer from cares and trouble,
and are not racked with that solicitousness and anxiety as man is :
have not such distempers to embitter their lives. It is a good ground
for man to look into himself, and consider whether he hath not, some
ways or other, disobliged God more than other creatures can possi-
bly do. We often find that the creatures men have need of in this
state, do not answer the expectation of man: "Cursed be the ground
for thy sake" (Gen. iii. 17). A fruitful land is made barren ; thorns
and thistles triumph upon the face of the earth, instead of good fruit.
Is it likely that that goodness, which is as infinite as his power, and
knows no more limits than his Almightiness, should imprint so many
scars upon the world, if he had not been heinously provoked by some
miscarriage of his creature? Infinite Goodness could never move
Infinite Justice to inflict punishment upon creatures, if they had not
highly merited it ; we cannot think that any creature was blemished
Avith a principle of disturbance, as it came first out of the hand of
God. All things were certainly settled in a due order and depend-
ence upon one another ; nothing could be ungrateful and unuseful
to man by the original law of their creation ; if there had, it had not
been goodness, but evil and baseness, that had created the world.
When we see, therefore, the course of nature overturned, the order
326 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTEIBUTES.
Divine goodness had placed, disturbed ; and the creatures pronoun-
ced good and useful to man, employed as instruments of vengeance
against him ; we must conclude some horrible blot upon human na-
ture, and very odious to a God of infinite goodness ; and that this
blot was dashed upon man by himself, and his own fault ; for it is
repugnant to the infinite goodness of God to put into the creature a
sinning nature, to hurry him into sin, and then punish him for that
which he had impressed upon him. The goodness of God inclines
him to love goodness wherever he finds it ; and not to punish any
that have not deserved it by their own crimes. The curse we there-
fore see the creatures groan under, the disorders in nature, the frus-
trating the expectations of man in the fruits of the earth and plenti-
ful harvests, the trouble he is continually exposed to in the world,
which tedders down his spirit from more generous employments,
shows that man is not what he was when Divine goodness first
erected him ; but hath admitted into his nature something more un-
comely in the eye of God ; and so heinous, that it puts his goodness
sometimes to a stand, and makes him lay aside the blessings his hand
was filled with, to take up the arms of vengeance, wherewith to fight
against the world. Divine goodness would have secured his crea-
tures from any such invasions, and never used those things against
man, which he designed in the first frame for man's service, were
there not some detestable disorder risen in the nature of man which
makes God withhold his liberality and change the dispensation of
Lis numerous benefits into legions of judgments. The consideration
of the Divine goodness, which is a notion that man naturally con-
cludes to be inseparable from the Deity, would, to an unbiassed rea-
son, verify the history of those punishments settled upon man in the
third chapter of Genesis, and make the whole seem more probable
to reason at the first relation. This instruction naturally flows from
the doctrine of Divine goodness : if God be so good, it is a certain
argument that man is fallen from his original state.
3. The third information is this : If God be infinitely good, there
can be no just complaint against God, if men be punished for abus-
ing his goodness. Man had nothing, nay, it was impossible he could
have anything, from Infinite Goodness to disoblige him, but to en-
gage him. God never did, nay, never could, draw his sword against
man, till man had slighted him and aftronted him by the strength
of his own bounty. It is by this God doth justify his severest pro-
ceedings against men, and very seldom charges them with any else
as the matter of their provocations (Hos. ii. 9): "Therefore will I
return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in
the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax." And
in Ezek. xvi., after he had drawn out a bill of complaint against
them, and inserted only the abuse of his benefits, as a justification
of what he intended to do ; he concludes (ver. 27), " Behold, there-
fore, I have stretched out my hand over thee, and diminished thy
ordinary food, and delivered thee unto the will of them that hate
thee." When men suffer, they suffer justly ; they were not con-
strained by any violence, or forced by any necessity, nor provoked
by any ill usage, to turn head against God, but broke the bands of
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 827
the strongest obligations and most tender allurements. What man,
what devil, can justly blame Grod for punishing them, after they had
been so intolerably bold, as to fly in the face of that goodness that
had obliged them, by giving them beings of a higher elevation than
to inferior creatures, and furnishing them with sufficient strength to
continue in their first habitation ? Man seems to have less reason to
accuse God of rigor than devils ; since, after his unreasonable re-
volt, a more express goodness than that which created him hath soli-
cited him to repentance, courted him by melting promises and ex-
postulations, added undeniable arguments of bounty, and drawn out
the choicest treasures of heaven, in the gift of his Son, to prevail
over men's perversity. And yet man, after he might arrive to the
height and happiness of an angel, will be fond of continuing in the
meanness and misery of a devil ; and more strongly link himself to
the society of the damned spirits, wherein, by his first rebellion, he
had incorporated Inmself. Who can blame God for vindicating his
own goodness from such desperate contempts, and the extreme in-
gratitude of man ? If God be good, it is our happiness to adhere to
him ; if Ave dejDart from him, we depart from goodness ; and if evil
happen to us, we cannot blam.e God, but ourselves, for our depar-
ture.n Why are men happy ? because they cleave to God. Why
are men miserable ? because they recede from God. It is then our
own fault that we are miserable ; God cannot be charged with any
injustice if we be miserable, since his goodness gave means to pre-
vent it, and afterwards added means to recover us from it, but all
despised by us. The doctrine of Divine goodness justifies every
stone laid in the foundation of hell, and every spark in that burn-
ing furnace, since it is for the abuse of infinite goodness that it was
kindled.
4. The fourth information : Here is a certain argument, both for
God's fitness to govern the world, and his actual government of it.
(1.) This renders him fit for the government of the world, and
gives him a full title to it. This perfection doth the Psalmist cele-
brate throughout the 107th Psalm, where he declares God's works of
providence (ver. 8, 15, 21, 32). Power without goodness would de-
face, instead of preserving ; ruin is the fruit of rigor without kind-
ness ; but God, because of his infinite and immutable goodness,
cannot do anything unworthy of himself, and uncomely in itself, or
destructive to any moral goodness in the creature. It is impossible
he should do anything that is base, or act anything but for the best,
because he is essentially and naturally, and, therefore, necessarily
good. As a good tree cannot bring forth bad fruit, so a good God
cannot produce evil acts, no more than a pure beam of the sun can
engender so much as a mite of darkness, or infinite heat produce any
particle of cold. As God is so much light, that he can be no dark-
ness, so he is so much good, that he can have no evil ; and because
there is no evil in him, nothing simply evil can be produced by him.
Since he is good by nature, all evil is against his nature, and Gotl
can do nothing against his nature ; it would be a part of impotence
in him to will that which is evil ; and, therefore, the misery man
» Petav. Theolog. Dogmat. Vol. I. p. 407.
828 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
feels, as well as the sin whereby he deserves that misery, are said to
be from himself (Hos. xiii. 9) : "0 Israel, thou hast destroyed thy-
self!" And though God sends judgments upon the world, we have
shown these to be intended for the support and vindication of his
goodness. And Hezekiah judged no otherwise, when, after the
threatening of the devastation of his house, the plundering his treas-
ures, and captivity of his posterity, he replies, " Good is the word of
the Lord, which thou hast spoken" (Isa. xxxix. 8). God cannot act
anything that is base and cruel, because his goodness is as infinite as
his power, and his power acts nothing but what his wisdom directs,
and his goodness moves him to. Wisdom is the head in government,
omniscience the eye, power the arm, and goodness the heart and
spirit in them, that animates all.
(2.) As goodness renders Him fit to govern the world, so God doth
actually govern the world. Can we understand this perfection aright,
and yet imagine that he is of so morose a disposition as to neglect
the care of his creatures ? that his excellency, which was displayed
in framing the world, should withdraw and wrap up itself in his own
bosom, without looking out, and darting itself out in the disposal
of them ? Can that which moved him first to erect a world, suffer
him to be unmindful of his own work ? Would he design first to
display it in creation, and afterwards obscure the honor of it ? That
cannot be entitled an infinite permanent goodness, which should be
so indifferent as to let the creatures tumble together as they please,
without any order, after he had moulded them in his hand. If good-
ness be diffusive and communicative of itself, can it consist with the
nature of it, to extend itself to the giving the creatures being, and
then withdraw and contract itself, not caring what becomes of them ?
It is the nature of goodness, after it hath communicated itself, to en-
large its channels ; that fountain that springs up in a little hollow
part of the earth, doth in a short progress increase its streams, and
widen the passages through which it runs ; it would be a blemish to
Divine goodness, if it did desert what it made, and leave things to
wild confusions, which would be, if a good hand did not manage
them, and a good mind preside over them. This is the lesson in-
tended to us by all his judgments (Dan. iv. 17), " That the living
may know that the Most High rules in the kingdoms of men." If
he doth not actually govern the world, he must have devolved it
somewhere, either to men or angels ; not to men, who naturally want
a goodness and wisdom to govern themselves, much more to govern
others exactly. And, besides the misinterpretations of actions, they
are liable to the want of patience, to bear with the provocations of
the world ; since some of the best at one time in the world, and, in the
greatest example of meekness and sweetness, would have kindled a
fire in heaven to have consumed the Samaritans, for no other affront
than a non-entertainment of their Master and themselves (Luke ix.
54). Nor hath he committed the disposal of things to angels, either
good or bad ; though he usetli them as instruments in his govern-
ment, yet they are not the principal pilots to steer the world. Bad
angels certainly are not ; they would make continual ravages, med-
itate ruin, never defeat their own counsels, which they manage by the
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 329
wicked as tlie instruments in tlie world, nor fill their spirits with dis-
quiet and restlessness when they are engaged in some ruinous design,
as often is experienced : nor hath he committed it to the good angels,
who, for aught we know, are not more numerous than the evil ones
are ; but besides, we can scarcely think their finite nature capable of
so much goodness, as to bear the innumerable debaucheries, villanies,
blasj)hemies, vented in one year, one week, one day, one liour,
throughout the world ; their zeal for their Creator might well be
supposed to move them to testify their affection to him in a constant
and speedy righting of his injured honor upon the heads of the of-
fenders. The evil angels have too much cruelty, and would have
no care of justice, but take pleasure in the blood of the most inno-
cent, as well as the most criminal ; and the good angels have too
little tenderness to suffer so many crimes : since the world, therefore,
continues Avithout those floods of judgments, which it daily merits ;
since, notwithstanding all the provocations, the order of it is pre-
served ; it is a testimony that an Infinite Goodness holds the helm in
his hands, and spreads its warm wings over it.
5. The fifth information is this : Hence we may infer the ground
of all religion ; it is this perfection of goodness. As the goodness
of God is the lustre of all his attributes, so it is the foundation and
link of all true religious worship : the natural religion of the hea-
thens was introduced by the consideration of Divine goodness, in
the being he had bestowed upon them, and the provisions that were
made for them. Divine bounty was the motive to erect altars, and
present sacrifices, though they mistook the object of their worship,
and offered the dues of the Creator to the instruments whereby he
conveyed his benefits to them : and you find, that the religion insti-
tuted by him among the Jews, was enforced upon them by the con-
sideration of their miraculous deliverance from Egypt, the preserva-
tion of them in the wilderness, and the enfeoffing them in a land
flowing with milk and honey. Every act of bounty and success the
heathens received, moved them to appoint new feasts, and repeat
their adorations of those deities they thought the authors and promo-
ters of their victories and welfare. The devil did not mistake the
common sentiment of the world in Divine service, when he alleged
to God, that "Job did not fear him for nought," i. e. worship him for
nothing (Job i. OV All acts of devotion take their rise from God's
liberality, either irom what they have or from what they hope ; praise
speaks the possession, and praj'er the expectation, of some benefit
from his hand : though some of the heathens made fear to be the
prime cause of the acknowledgment and worship of a deity, yet
surely something else besides and beyond this established so great a
thing as religion in the world ; an ingenuous religion could never
have been born into the world without a notion of goodness, and
would have gaped its last as soon as this notion should have expired
in the minds of men. What encouragement can fear of power give,
without sense of goodness? just as much as thunder hath, to invite
a man to the place where it is like to fall, and crush him. The na-
ture of " fear" is to drive from, and the na,ture of " goodness" to al-
lure to, the object : the Divine thunders, prodigies, and other armies
330 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
of his justice in the world, which are the marks of his power, could
conclude in nothing but a slavish worship : fear alone would have
made men blaspheme the Deity ; instead of serving him, they would
have fretted against him ; they might have offered him a trembling
Avorship ; but they could never have, in their minds, thought him
worthy of an adoration ; they Avould rather have secretly complained
of him, and cursed him in their heart, than inwarly have admired
him : the issue would have been the same, which Job's wife advised
him to, when God withdrew his protection fr.om his goods and body :
" Curse God, and die" (Job ii. 9). It is certainly the common senti-
ment of men, that he that acts cruelly and tyrannically, is not worthy
of an integrity to be retained towards him in the hearts of his subjects;
but Job fortifies himself against this temptation from his bosom friend,
by the consideration of the good he had received from God, which
did more deserve a worship from him than the present evil had reason
to discourage it, Alas ! what is only feared, is hated, not adored.
Would any seek to an irreconcileable enemy ? would any person af-
fectionately list himself in the service of a man void of all good dis-
position? would any distressed person put up a petition to that
prince, who never gave any experiment of the sweetness of his na-
ture, but always satiated himself Avith the blood of the meanest crim-
inals ? All afl'ection to service is rooted up when hopes of receiving
good are extinguished : there could not be a spark of that in the
world, which is properly called religion, without a notion of goodness ;
the existence of God is the first pillar, and the goodness of God in
rewarding the next, upon Avhich coming to him (which includes all
acts of devotion) is established (Heb. xi. 6); "He that comes unto
God, must believe that he is, and that he is a rcAvarder of them that
diligently seek him :" if either of those pillars be not thought to
stand firm, all religion falls to the ground. It is this, as the most
agreeable motive, that the apostle James uses, to encourage men's
approach to God, because " he gives liberally, and upbraideth not"
(James i. 5).« A man of a kind heart and a bountiful hand shall
have his gate thronged with suppliants, who sometimes would be
willing to lay down their lives ; "for a good man one would even
dare to die:" when one of a niggardly or tyrannical temper shall be
destitute of all free and affectionate applications. What eyes would
be lifted up to heaven ? what hands stretched out, if there were not
a knowledge of goodness there to enliven their hojDCS of speeding in
their petitions ? Therefore Christ orders our prayers to be directed
to God as a Father, which is a title of tenderness, as well as a " Father
in heaven," a mark of his greatness ; the one to support our confi-
dence, as well as the other to preserve our distance. God could not
be ingenuously adored and acknowledged, if he Avere not liberal as
Avell as poAverful ; the goodness of God is the foundation of all in-
genuous religion, devotion and worship.
6. The sixth instruction : The goodness of God renders God
amiable. His goodness renders him beautiful, and his beauty ren-
ders him lovely; both are linked together (Zech. ix. 17) : " Hoav
great is his goodness ! and hoAV great is his beauty !" This is the
most poAverful attractive, and masters the affections of the soul : it
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 331
is goodness only supposed, or real, that is tliouglit worthy to demerit
our affections to anything. If there be not a reality of this, or at
least an opinion and estimation of it in an object, it would want a
force and vigor to allure our will. This perfection of God is the
loadstone to draw us, and the centre for our spirits to rest in.
1. This renders God amiable to himself. His goodness is his
" Godhead" (Kom. i. 20) : by his Godhead is meant his goodness ; if
he loves his Godhead for itself, he loves his goodness for itself ; he
would not be good, if he did not love himself; and if there were
anything more excellent, and had a greater goodness than himself,
he would not be good if he did not love that greater goodness above
himself ; for not only a hatred of goodness is evil, but an indifferent
or cold affection to goodness hath a tincture of evil in it. If God
were not good, and yet should love himself in the highest manner,
he would be the greatest evil, and do the greatest evil in that act ;
for he would set his love upon that which is not the proper object
of such an affection, but the object of aversion : his own infinite
excellency, and goodness of his nature, renders him lovely and de-
lightful to himself ; without this he could not love himself in a com-
mendable and worthy way, and becoming the purity of a Deity ;
and he cannot but love himself for this ; for, as creatures, by not
loving him as the supreme good, deny him to be the choicest good,
so God would deny himself, and his own goodness, if he did not
love himself, and that for his goodness. But the apostle tells us, that
" God cannot deny himself" (2 Tim. ii. 13). Self-love, upon this ac-
count, is the only prerogative of God, because there is not anything
better than himself that can lay any just claim to his affections : he
only ought to love himself, and it would be an injustice in him to
himself, if he did not. He only can love himself for this : an infin-
ite goodness ought to be infinitely loved, but he only being infinite,
can only love himself according to the due merit of his own good-
ness. He cannot be so amiable to any man, to any angel, to the
highest seraphim, as he is to himself; because he is only capable in
regard of his infinite wisdom, to know the infiniteness of his own
goodness. And no creature can love him as he ought to be loved,
unless it had the same infinite capacity of understanding to know
him, and of affection to embrace him. This first renders God
amiable to himself.
2. It ought therefore to render him amiable to us. "What renders
him lovely to his own eye, ought to render him so to ours ; and
since, by the shortness of our understandings, we cannot love him
as he merits, yet we should be induced by the measures of his
bounty, to love him as we can. If this do not present him lovely to
us, we own him rather a devil than a God : if his goodness moved
him to frame creatures, his goodness moved him also to frame crea-
tures for himself and his own glor}^ It is a mighty wrong to him
not to look with a delightful eye upon the marks of it, and return
an affection to God in some measure suitable to his liberality to us ;
we are descended as low as brutes, if we understand him not to be
the perfect good ; and we are descended as low as devils, if our
affections are not attracted by it.
832 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
•#
(1.) If God were not infinitely good, he could not be the object of
supreme love. If he were finitely good, there might be other things
as good as God, and then God in justice could not challenge our
choicest affections to him above anything else : it would be a de-
fect of goodness in him to demand it, because he would despoil
that which were equally good with him, of its due and right to our
affections, which it might claim from us upon the account of its
goodness : God would be unjust to challenge more than was due
to him ; for he would claim that chiefly to himself which another
had a laAvful share in. Nothing can be supremely loved that hath
not a triumphant excellency above all other things ; where is an
equality of goodness, neither can justly challenge a supremacy, but
only an equality of affection.
(2.) This attribute of goodness renders him more lovely than
any other attribute. He never requires our adoration of him so
much as the strongest or wisest, but as the best of beings : he
uses this chiefly to constrain and allure us. Why would he be
feared or worshipped, but because " there is forgiveness with him"
(Ps. cxxx. 4') ? it is for his goodness' sake that he is sued to by
his people m distress (Ps. xxv. 7), " For thy goodness' sake, O
Lord." Men may be admired because of their knowledge, but they
are affected because of their goodness : the will, in all the variety
of objects it pursues, centres in this one thing of good as the
term of its appetite. All things are beloved by men, because they
have been bettered by them. Severity can never conquer enmity,
and kindle love : were there nothing but wrath in the Deity, it
Avould make him be feared, but render him odious, and that to
an innocent nature. As the spouse speaks of Christ (Cant. v. 10,
11), so we may of God : though she commends him for his head,
the excellency of his wisdom ; his eyes, the extent of his omnis-
cience ; his hands, the greatness of his power ; and his legs, the
swiftness of his motions and ways to and for his people ; yet the
" sweetness of his mouth," in his gracious words and promises,
closes all, and is followed with nothing but an exclamation, that
" he is altogether lovely" (ver. 16). His mouth, in pronouncing
pardon of sin, and justification of the person, presents him most
lovely. His power to do good is admirable, but his will to do
good is amiable : this puts a gloss upon all his other attributes.
Though he had knowledge to understand the depth of our neces-
sities, and power to prevent them, or rescue us from them, yet
his knowledge would be fruitless, and his power useless, if he
were of a rigid nature, and not touched with any sentiments of
kindness.
(3.) This goodness therefore lays a strong obligation upon us.
It is true he is lovely in regard of his absolute goodness, or the
goodness of his nature, but we should hardly be persuaded to re-
turn him an affection without his relative goodness, his benefits
to his creatures ; we are obliged by both to love him.
[1.] By his absolute goodness, or the goodness of his nature.
Suppose a creature had drawn its original from something else
wherein God had no influx, and had never received the least
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 333
mite of a benefit from him, but from some other hand, yet the
infinite excellency and goodness of his nature would merit the
love of that creature, and it would act sordidly and disingenuous-
ly if it did not discover a mighty respect for God : for what in-
genuity could there be in a rational creature, that were possessed
with no esteem for any nature filled with unbounded goodness and
excellency, though he had never been obliged to him for any favor?
That man is accounted odious, and justly despicable by man, that
reproaches and disesteems, nay, that doth not value a person of a
high virtue in himself, and an universal goodness and charity to
others, though himself never stood in need of his charity, and never
had any benefit conveyed from his hands, nor ever saw his face, or
had any commerce with him : a value of such a person is but a just
due to the natural claim of virtue. And, indeed, the first object of love
is God in the excellency of his own nature, as the first object of love
in marriage is the person ; the portion is a thing consequent upon
it. To love God only for his benefits, is to lov-e ourselves first, and
him secondarily : to love God for his own goodness and excellency,
is a true love of God ; a love of him for himself That flaming fire
in his own breast, though we have not a spark of it, hath a right to
kindle one in ours to him.
[2.] By his relative goodness, or that of his benefits. Though the
excellency of his own nature, wherein there is a combination of good-
ness, must needs ravish an apprehensive mind ; yet a reflection upon
his imparted kindness, both in the beings we have from him, and
the support we have by him, must enhance his estimation. When
the excellency of his nature, and the expressions of his bounty are
in conjunction, the excellency of his own nature renders him estima-
ble in a way of justice, and the greatness of his benefits renders him
valuable in a way of gTatitude : the first ravisheth, and the other
allures and melts : he hath enough in his nature to attract, and sufii-
cient in his bounty to engage our affections. The excellency of his
nature is strong enough of itself to blow up our affections to him,
were there not a malignity in our hearts that represents him under
the notion of an enemy ; therefore in regard of our corrupt state, the
consideration of Divine largesses comes in for a share in tlic elevation
of our affections. For, indeed, it is a very hard thing for a man to
love another, though never so well qualified, and of an eminent vir-
tue, while he believes him to be his enemy, and one that will severely
handle him, though he hath before received many good turns from
him ; the virtue, valor, and courtesy of a prince, will hardly make
him affected by those against whom he is in arms, and that are daily
pilfered by his soldiers, unless they have hopes of a reparation from
him, and future security from injuries. Christ, in the repetition of
the command to "love God with all our mind, with all our heart,
and with all our soul," i. e. with such an ardency above all things
which glitter in our eye, or can be created by him, considers him as
"our God" (Matt. xxii. 37). And the Psalmist considers him as one
that had kindly employed his power for him, in the eruption of his
love (Ps. xviii. 1), " I will love thee, 0 Lord, my strength ;" and so
in Ps. cxvi. 1, " I love the Lord, because he hath heard the voice
334 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
of my supplications," An esteem of the benefactor is inseparable
from gratitude for the received benefits : and should not then the
unparalleled kindness of God advance him in our thoughts, much
more than slighter courtesies do a created benefactor in ours ? It is
an obligation on every man's nature to answer bounty with gratitude,
and goodness with love. Hence you never knew any man, nor can
the records of eternity produce any man, or devil, that ever hated
any person, or anything as good in itself: it is a thing absolutely
repugnant to the nature of any rational creature. The devils hate
not God because he is good, but because he is not so good to them
as they would have him ; because he will not unlock their chains, turn
them into liberty, and restore them to happiness ; ^, e. because he will
not desert the rights of abused goodness. But how should we send
up flames of love to that God, since we are under his direct beams,
and enjoy such plentiful influences ! If the sun is comely in itself,
yet it is more amiable to us, by the light we see, and the warmth we
feel.
1st. The greatness of his benefits have reason to affect us with a
love to him. The impress he made upon our souls when he extracted
us from the darkness of nothing ; the comeliness he hath put upon us
by his own breath ; the care he took of our recovery, when we had
lost ourselves ; the expense he was at for our regaining our defaced
beauty ; the gift he made of his Son ; the affectionate calls we have
heard to over-master our corrupt appetites, move us to repentance,
and make us disaffect our beloved misery ; the loud sound of his
word in our ears, and the more inward knockings of his Spirit in
our heart; the offering us the gift of himself, and the everlasting
happiness he courts us to, besides those common favors we enjoy in
the world, which are all the streams of his rich bounty : the voice
of all is loud enough to solicit our love, and the merit of all ought
to be strong enough to engage our love : " there is none like the God
of Jeshurun, who rides upon the heaven in thy help, and in his ex-
cellency on the sky" (Dent, xxxiii. 26).
2d, The unmeritedness of them doth enhance this. It is but reason
to love him who hath loved us first (1 John iv. 19). Hath he placed
his delight upon any when they were nothing, and after they were
sinful ; and shall he set his delight upon such vile persons, and shall
not we set our love upon so excellent an object as himself? How
base are we, if his goodness doth not constrain us to affect him who
hath been so free in his favor to us, who have merited the quite con-
trary at his hands ? If " his tender mercies are over all his works"
(Ps. cxlv. 9), he ought for it to be esteemed by all his works that are
capable of a rational estimation.
3d. Goodness in creatures makes them estimable, much more
should the goodness of God render him lovely to us. If we love a
little spark of goodness in this or that creature, if a drop be so de-
licious to us, shall not the immense Sun of goodness, the ever-flowing
Fountain of all, be much more delightful ? The original excellency
always outstrips what is derived from it ; if so mean and contracted
an object as a little creature deserves estimation for a little mite com-
municated to it, so great and extended a goodness as is in the Creator
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 335
much more merits it at our hands: he is good after the infinite
methods of a Deity : a weak resemblance is lovely ; much more ami-
able, then, must be the incomprehensible original of that beauty.
We love creatures for what we think to be good in them, though it
may be hurtful ; and shall we not love God, who is a real and un-
blemished goodness, and from whose hand are poured out all those
blessings that are conveyed to us by second causes? The object
that delights us, the capacity we have to delight in it, are both from
him ; our love, therefore, to him should transcend the affection we
bear to any instruments he moves for our welfare. " Among the
gods, there is none like thee, O Lord, neither are there any worlcs
like unto thy works" (Ps. Ixxxvi. 8): among the pleasantest crea-
tures there is none like the Creator, nor any goodness like unto his
goodness. Shall we love the food that nourisheth us, and the med-
icine that cures us, and the silver whereby we furnish ourselves with
useful commodities ? Shall we love a horse, or dog, for the benefits
we have by them ? and shall not the spring of all those draw our
souls after it, and make us aspire to the honor of loving and em-
bracing Him who hath stored every creature with that which may
pleasure us ? But, instead of endeavoring to parallel our affection
with his kindness, we endeavor to make our disingenuity as exten-
sive and towering as his Divine goodness.
4th. This is the true end of the manifestation of his goodness, that
he might appear amiable, and have a return of affection. Did God
display his goodness only to be thought of, or to be loved ? It is
the want of such a return, that he hath usually aggravated, from the
benefits he hath bestowed upon men. Every thought of him should
be attended with a motion suitable to the excellency of his nature
and works. Can we think those nobler spirits, the angels, look upon
themselves, or those frames of things in the heavens and earth, with-
out starting some practical affection to him for them ? Their knowl-
edge of his excellency and works cannot be a lazy contemplation :
it is impossible their wills and affections should be a thousand miles
distant from their understandings in their oj)erations. It is not the
least part of his condescending goodness to court in such methods
the affections of us worms, and manifest his desire to be beloved by
us. Let us give him, then, that affection he deserves, as well as de-
mands, and which cannot be withheld from him without horrible
sacrilege. There is nothing worthy of love besides him ; let no fire
be kindled in our hearts, but what may ascend directly to him.
7. The seventh instruction is this : This renders God a fit object
of trust and confidence. Since none is good but God, none can be
a full and satisfactory ground or object of confidence but God: as all
things derive their beings, so they derive their helpfulness to us from
God; they are not, therefore, the principal objects of trust, but that
goodness alone that renders them fit instruments of our support ;
they can no more challenge from us a stable confidence, than they
can a supreme affection. It is by this the Psalmist allures men to a
trust in him ; " Taste and see how good the Lord is :" what is the
consequence? "Blessed is the man that trusts in thee" (Ps. xxxiv.
8).- The voice of Divine goodness sounds nothing more intelligibly,
336 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
and a taste of it producetli nothing more effectually, than this. As
the vials of his justice are to make us fear him, so the streams of his
goodness are to make us rely on him : as his patience is designed to
broach our repentance, so his goodness is most proper to strengthen
our assurance in him : that goodness which surmounted so many
difficulties, and conquered so many motions that might be made
against any repeated exercise of it, after it had been abused by the
first rebellion of man ; that goodness that after so much contempt of
it, appeared in such a majestic tenderness, and threw aside those im-
pediments which men had cast in the way of Divine inclinations :
this goodness is the foundation of all reliance upon God. Who is
better than God ? and, therefore, who more to be trusted than God ?
As his power cannot act anything weakly, so his goodness cannot
act anything unbecomingly, and unworthy of his infinite majesty.
And here consider,
(1.) Goodness is the first motive of trust. Nothing but this could
be the encouragement to man, had he stood in a state of innocence,
to present himself before God ; the majesty of God would have con-
strained him to keep his due distance, but the goodness of God could
only hearten his confidence : it is nothing else now that can preserve
the same temper in us in our lapsed condition. To regard him only
as the Judge of our crimes, will drive us from him ; but only the
regard of him as the Donor of our blessings, will allure us to him.
The principal foundation of faith is not the word of God, but God
himself, and God as considered in this perfection. As the goodness
of God in his invitations and providential blessings "leads us to re-
pentence" (Rom. ii. 4), so, by the same reason, the goodness of God
by his promises leads us to reliance. If God be not first believed to
be good, he would not be believed at all in anything that he speaks
or swears : if you were not satisfied in the goodness of a man,
though he should swear a thousand times, you would value neither
his word nor oath as any security. Many times, where we are cer-
tain of the goodness of a man, we are willing to trust him without
his promise. This Divine perfection gives credit to the Divine pro-
mises ; they of tliemselves would not be a sufficient ground of trust,
without an apprehension of his truth ; nor would his truth be very
comfortable without a belief of his good will, whereby we are as-
sured that what he promises to give, he gives liberally, free, and
without regret. The truth of the promiser makes the promise cred-
ible, but the goodness of the promiser makes it cheerfully relied on.
In Ps. Ixxiii. (Asaph's penitential psalm for his distrust of God,)
he begins the first verse with an assertion of this attribute (ver. 1),
" Truly God is good to Israel ;" and ends with this fruit of it (ver.
28), " I will put my trust in the Lord God." It is a mighty ill na-
ture that receives not with assurance the dictates of Infinite Good-
ness, (that cannot deceive or frustrate the hopes we conceive of him)
that is inconceivably more abundant in the breast and inclinations
of the promiser, than expressible in the words of his promise, " All
true faith works by love" (Gal. v. 6), and, therefore, necessarily in-
cludes a particular eyeing of this excellency in the Divine nature,
which renders him amiable, and is the motive and encouragement of
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 337
a love to liim. His power indeed is a foundation of trust, but his
goodness is the principal motive of it. His power without good-will
Avould be dangerous, and could not allure afiection ; and his good-
will without power would be useless ; and though it might merit a
love, yet could not create a confidence; both in conjunction are
strong grounds of hope, especially since his goodness is of the same
infinity with his wisdom and power ; and that he can be no more
wanting in the eftusions of this upon them that seek him, than in
his wisdom to contrive, or his power to effect, his designs and works.
(2.) This goodness is more the foundation and motive of trust un-
der the gospel, than under the law. They under the law had more
evidences of Divine power, and their trust eyed that much ; though
there w^as an eminency of goodness in the frequent deliverances
they had, yet the power of God had a more glorious dress than his
goodness, because of the extraordinary and miraculous ways where-
by he brought those deliverances about. Therefore, in the catalogue
of believers in Heb. xi. you shall fi^nd the power of God to be the
centre of their rest and trust ; and their faith was built upon the ex-
traordinary marks of Divine power, which were frequently visible
to them. But under the gospel, goodness and love was intended by
God to be the chief object of trust ; suitable to the excellency of
that dispensation, he would have an exercise of more ingenuity in
the creatures : therefore, it is said (Hos. iii. 5), a promise of gospel-
times, " They shall fear God and his goodness in the latter days,"
when they shall return to " seek the Lord, and David their king."
It is not said, they shall fear God, and his power, but the Lord and
his goodness, or the Lord for his goodness : fear is often in the Old
Testament taken for faith, or trust. This Divine goodness, the ob-
ject of faith, is that goodness discovered in David their king ; the
Messiah, our Jesus. God, in this dispensation, recommends his good-
ness and love, and reveals it more clearly than other attributes, that
the soul might have more prevailing and sweeter attractives to con-
fide in him.
(3.) A confidence in him gives him the glory of his goodness.
Most nations that had nothing but the light of nature, thought it a
great part of the honor that was due to God, to implore his good-
ness, and cast their cares upon it. To do good, is the most honor-
able thing in the world, and to acknowledge a goodness in a way of
confidence, is as high an honor as we can give to it, and a great part
of gratitude for what it hath already expressed. Therefore we find
often, that an acknowledgment of one benefit received, was attend-
ed with a trust in him for what they should in the future need (Ps.
Ivi. 13) : " Thou hast delivered my soul from death, wilt thou not
deliver my feet from falling ? So, 2 Cor. i. 10 : and they who have
been most eminent for their trust in him, have had the greatest
eulogies and commendations from him. As a diffidence doth dis-
parage this perfection, thinking it meaner and shallower than it is,
so confidence highly honors it. We never please him more, than
when we trust in him ; " The Lord takes pleasure in them that fear
him, in them that hope in his mercy" (Ps. cxlvii. 11). He takes it
for an honor to have this attribute exalted by such a carriage of his
VOL. ir.— 22
338 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
creature. He is no less offended wlien we think his heart straiten-
ed, as if he were a parsimonious God; tlian when we think his arm
shortened, as if he were an impotent and feeble God. Let us, there-
fore, make this use of his goodness, to hearten our faith. When we
are scared by the terrors of his justice, when we are dazzled by the
arts of his wisdom, and confounded by the splendor of his majesty,
we may take refuge in the sanctuary of his goodness ; this will en-
courage us, as well as astonish us ; whereas, the consideration of his
other attributes would only amaze us, but can never refresh us, but
when they are considered marching under the conduct and banners
of this. When all the other perfections of the Divine nature are
looked upon in conjunction with this excellency, each of them send
forth ravishing and benign influences upon the applying creature.
It is more advantageous to depend upon Divine bounty, than our
own cares ; we may have better assurance upon this account in his
cares for us, than in ours for ourselves. Our goodness for ourselves
is finite ; and besides, we are too ignorant : his goodness is infinite,
and attended with an infinite wisdom ; we have reason to distrust
ourselves, not God. We have reason to be at rest, under that kind
influence we have so often experimented ; he hath so much good-
ness, that he can have no deceit : his goodness in making the prom-
ise, and his goodness in working the heart to a reliance on it, are
grounds of trust in him ; " Remember thy word to thy servant,
upon which thou hast caused me to hope" (Ps. cxix. 49). If his
promise did not please him, why did he make it? If relicince on
the promise did not please him, why did his goodness work it ? It
would be inconsistent with his goodness to mock his creature, and it
would be the highest mockery to publish his word, and create a tem-
per in the heart of his supplicant, suited to his promise which he
never intended to satisfy. He can as little wrong his creature, as
wrong himself; and, therefore, can never disappoint that faith which
in his own methods casts itself into the arms of his kindness, and
is his own workmanship, and calls him Author. That goodness that
imparted itself so freely in creation, will not neglect those nobler
creatures that put their trust in him. This renders God a fit object
for trust and confidence.
8. The eighth instruction : This renders God worthy to be obey-
ed and honored. There is an excellency in God to allure, as well as
sovereignty to enjoin obedience : the infinite excellency of his na-
ture is so great, that if his goodness had promised us nothing to en-
courage our obedience, we ought to prefer him before ourselves, de-
vote ourselves to serve him, and make his glory our greatest con-
tent ; but much more when he hath given such admirable express-
ions of his liberality, and stored us with hopes of richer and fuller
streams of it. When David considered the absolute goodness of
his nature, and the relative goodness of his benefits, he presently
expresseth an ardent desire to be acquainted with the Divine
statutes, that he might make ingenious returns in a dutiful observ-
ance ; " Thou art good, and thou dost good ; teach me thy statutes"
(Ps. cxix. 68). As his goodness is the original, so the acknowledg-
ment of it is the end of all, which cannot be without an observance
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 339
of his will. His goodness requires of us an ingenuous, not a servile
obedience. And this is established upon two foundations.
[1.] Because the bounty of God hath laid upon us the strono^est
obligations. The strength of an obligation depends upon the great-
ness and numerousness of the benefits received. The more excel-
lent the favors are which are conferred upon any person, the more
right hath the benefactor to claim an observance from the person
bettered by him. Much of the rule and empire which hath been in
several ages conferred by communities upon princes, hath had its
first spring from a sense of the advantages they have received by
them, either in protecting them from their enemies, or rescuing them
from an ignoble captivity ; in enlarging their territories, or increasing
their wealth. Conquest hath been the original of a constrained, but
beneficence always the original of a voluntary and free subjection."
Obedience to parents is founded upon their right, because they are
instrumental in bestowing upon us being and life ; and because this
of life is so great a benefit, the law of nature never dissolves this
obligation of obeying and honoring parents ; it is as long-lived as
the law of nature, and hath an universal practice, by the strength
of that law, in all parts of the world : and those rightful chains are
not unlocked, but by that which unties the knot between soul and
body : much more hath God a right to be obeyed and reverenced,
who is the principal Benefactor, and moved all those second causes
to impart to us, what conduced to our advantage. The just author-
ity of God over us results from the superlativeness of his blessings
he hath poured down upon us, which cannot be equalled, much less
exceeded, by any other. As therefore upon this account he hath a claim
to our choicest affections, so he hath also to most exact obedience ;
and neither one nor other can be denied him, without a sordid and dis-
ingenuous ingratitude ; God therefore aggravates the rebellion of the
Jews from the cares he had in the bringing them up (Isa. ii. 2), and the
miraculous deliverance from Egypt (Jer. xi. 7, 8) ; implying that those
benefits were strong obligations to an ingenuous observance of him.
[2.] It is established upon this, that God can enjoin the observ
ance of nothing but what is good. He may by the right of his
sovereign dominion, command that which is indifferent in its own
nature : as in positive laws, the not eating the fruit of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil, which had not been evil in itself,
set aside the command of God to the contrary ; and likewise in those
ceremonial laws he gave the Jews : but in regard to the transcendent
goodness and righteousness of his nature, he will not, he cannot
command anything that is evil in itself, or repugnant to the true
interest of his creature ; and God never obliged the creature to any-
thing but what was so free from damaging it, that it highly conduced
to its good and welfare : and therefore it is said, that " his commands
are not grievous" (1 John v. 8) : not grievous in their own nature,
nor grievous to one possessed with a true reason. The command
given to Adam in Paradise was not grievous in itself, nor could he
ever have thought it so, but upon a false supposition instilled into
him by the tempter. There is a pleasure results from the law of God
° Amyrald. Dissert, p. C5.
340 CHAKNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
to a holy rational nature, a sweetness tasted both by the -understand-
ing and by the will, for they both " rejoice the heart and enlighten
the eyes" of the mind (Ps. xix, 8). God being essentially wisdom
and goodness, cannot deviate from that goodness in any orders he
gives the creature ; whatsoever he enacts must be agreeable to that
rule, and therefore he can will nothing but what is good and excel-
lent, and what is good for the creature ; for since he hath put origin-
ally into man a natural instinct to desire that which is good, he
would never enact any thing for the creature's observance,? that
might control that desire imprinted by himself, but what might
countenance that impression of his own hand ; for if God did other-
wise, he would contradict his own natural law, and be a deluder of
his creatures, if he impressed upon them desires one way, and order-
ed directions another. The truth is, all his moral precepts are
comely in themselves, and they receive not their goodness from God's
positive command, but that command supposeth their goodness ; if
everything were good because God loves it, or because God wills it,
i. e. that God's loving it or willing it made that good which was not
good before, then, as Camero well argues somewhere, God's goodness
would depend upon his loving himself; he was good because he
loved himself, and was not good till he loved himself; whereas, in-
deed, God's loving himself, doth not make him good, but supposeth
him good : he was good in the order of nature before he loved him-
self; and his being good was the ground of his loving himself, be-
cause, as was said before, if there were an}- thing better than God,
God would love that ; for it is inconsistent with the nature of God
and infinite goodness not to love that which is good, and not to love
that supremely which is the supreme good. Further to understand it,
you may consider, if the question be asked, why God loves himself?
you would think it a reasonable answer to say, because he is good.
But if the question be asked, why God is good? you would think
that answer, because he loves himself, would be destitute of reason ;
but the true answer would be, because his nature is so, and he could
not be God if he were not good : therefore God's goodness is in or-
der of our conception before his self-love, and not his self-love be-
fore his goodness ; so the moral things God commands, are good in
themselves before God commands them ; and such, that if God
should command the contrary, it would openly speak him evil and
unrighteous. Abstract from Scripture, and weigh things in your own
reason ; could you conceive God good, if he should command a crea-
ture not to love him ? could you preserve the notion of a good nature
in him, if he did command murder, adultery, tyranny, and cutting
of throats ? You would wonder to what purpose he made the world,
and framed it for society, if such things were ordered, that should
deface all comeliness of society : the moral commands given in the
word, appeared of themselves very beautiful to mere reason, that
had no knowledge of the written law ; they are good, and because
they are so, his goodness had moved his sovereign authority strictlj'-
to enjoin them. Now this goodness, whereby he cannot oblige a
P " As a heathen," Maximus Tyrlus, Dissert. 22, p. 220. Ov yap Os/nig Ail jSovTieaOai
u?.?.0 Tl Jj TO KllTlkiaTOV.
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 341
creature to finything tliat is evil, speaks him highly -worthy of our
observance, and our disobedience to his law to be full of inconceiv-
able malignity : that is the last thing.
Second Use is of comfort. He is a good without mixture, good
without weariness — none good but God, none good purely, none
good inexhaustibly, but God ; because he is good, we may, upon our
speaking, expect his instruction ; " Good is the Lord, therefore will
he teach sinners in his way" (Ps. xxv. 8). His goodness makes him
stoop to be the tutor to those worms that lie prostrate before him ;
and though they are sinners full of filth, he drives them not from his
school, nor denies them his medicines, if they apply themselves to
him as a physician. He is good in removing the punishment due to
our crimes, and good in bestowing benefits not due to our merits ;
because he is good, penitent believers may expect forgiveness ; " Thou,
Lord, art good, and ready to forgive" (Ps. Ixxxvi. 5). He acts not
according to the rigor of the law, but willingly grants his pardon to
those that fly into the arms of the Mediator ; his goodness makes him
more ready to forgive, than our necessities make us desirous to en-
joy ; he charged not upon Job his impatient expressions in cursing
the day of his birth ; his goodness passed that over in silence, and
extols him for speaking the thing that is right, right in the main,
when he charges his friends for not speaking of him the thing that
is right, as his servant Job had done (Job xlii. 7). He is so good,
that if we offer the least thing sincerely, he will graciously receive
it ; if we have not a lamb to offer, a pigeon or turtle shall be accepted
upon his altar ; he stands not upon costly presents, but sincerely ten-
dered services. All conditions are sweetened by it ; whatsoever any
in the world enjoy, is from a redundancy of this goodness; but
whatsoever a good man enjoys, is from a propriety in this goodness.
1. Here is comfort in our addresses to him. If he be a fountain and
sea of goodness, he cannot be weary of doing good, no more than a
fountain or sea are of flowing. All goodness delights to communi-
cate itself; infinite goodness hath then an infinite delight in express-
ing itself; it is a part of his goodness not to be weary of showing
it ; he can never, then, be weary of being solicited for the effusions
of it ; if he rejoices over his people to do them good, he will rejoice
in any opportunities oftered to him to honor his goodness, and gladly
meet witli a fit subject for it ; he therefore delights in prayer. Never
can we so delight in addressing, as he doth in imparting ; he delights
more in our prayers than we can ourselves ; goodness is not pleased
with shyness. To what purpose did his immense bounty bestow his
Son upon us, but that we should be " accepted" both in our persons
and petitions (Eph. i. 6)? " His eyes are upon the righteous, and
his ears are open to their cry" (Ps. xxxiv. 15) ; he fixes the eye of
his goodness upon them, and opens the ears of his goodness for them ;
he is pleased to behold them, and pleased to listen to them, as if he
had no pleasure in anything else ; he loves to be sought to, to give
a vent to his bounty ; " Acquaint thyself with God, and thereby
good shall come unto thee" (Job xxii. 21). The word signifies, to
accustom ourselves to God ; the more we accustom ourselves in
speaking, the more he will accustom himself in giving ; he loves not
342 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
to keep his goodness close under lock and key, as men do their
treasures. If we knock, he opens his exchequer (Matt. vii. 7) ; his
goodness is as flexible to our importunities, as his power is invincible
by the arm of a silly worm ; he thinks his liberality honored by be-
ing applied to, and your address to be a recompense for his expense.
There is no reason to fear, since he hath so kindly invited us, but he
will as heartily welcome us ; the nature of goodness is to compassion-
ate and communicate, to pity and relieve, and that with a heartiness
and cheerfulness ; man is weary of being often solicited,because he hath
a finite, not a bottomless, goodness : he gives sometimes to be rid of
his suppliant, not to encourage him to a second approach. But every
experience God gives us of his bounty, is a motive to solicit him
afresh, and a kind of obligation he hath laid upon himself to " renew
it" (1 Sam. xvii. 37) : it is one part of his goodness that it is bound-
less and bottomless ; we need not fear the wasting of it, nor any
weariness in him to bestow it. The stock cannot be spent, and infi-
nite kindness can never become niggardly ; when we have enjoyed
it, there is still an infinite ocean in Him to refresh us, and as full
streams as ever to supply us. What an encouragement have we to
draw near to God ! We run in our straits to those that we think
have most good will, as well as power to relieve and protect us. The
oftener we come to him, and the nearer we approach to him, the
more of his influences we shall feel : as the nearer the sun, the more
of its heat insinuates itself into us. The greatness of God, joined
with his goodness, hath more reason to encourage our approach to
him, than our flight from him, because his greatness never goes
unattended with his goodness ; and if we were not so good, he would
not be so great in the apprehensions of any creature. IIow may his
goodness, in the great gift of his Son, encourage us to apply to him :
since he hath set him as a day's-man between himself and us, and
appointed him an Advocate to present our requests for us, and speed
them at the throne of grace ; and he never leaves till Divine good-
ness subscribes iifiat to our believing and just petitions !
2. Here is comfort in afflictions. What can we fear from the con-
duct of Infinite Goodness ? Can his hand be heavy upon those that
are humble before him ? They are the hands of Infinite Power in-
deed, but there is not any motion of it upon his people, but is or-
dered by a goodness as infinite as his power, which will not suffer
any affliction to be too sharp or too long. By what ways soever he
conveys grace to us here, and prepares us for glory hereafter, they
are good, and those are the good things he hath chiefly obliged himself
to give (Ps. Ixxxiv. 11): " Grace and glory" will he "give, and no
good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly." This
David comforted himself with, in that which his devout soul ac-
counted the greatest calamity, his absence from the courts and house
of God (ver. 2). Not an ill will, but a good will, directs his scourges ;
he is not an idle spectator of our combats ; his thoughts are fuller of
kindness than ours, in any case, can be of trouble : and because he
is good, he wills the best good in everything he acts ; in exercising
virtue, or correcting vice. There is no affliction without some ap-
parent mixtures of goodness ; when he speaks how he had smitten
ox THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 343
Israel (Jer. ii. 30), lie presently adds (ver, 31), " Have I been a wil-
derness to Israel, a land of darkness ?" Though he led them through
a desert, yet he was not a desert to them ; he was no land of dark-
ness to them ; while they marched through a land of barrenness, he
was a caterer to provide them " manna," and a place of " broad
rivers" and streams. How often hath Divine goodness made our
afflictions our consolations ; our diseases, our medicines, and his gen-
tle strokes, reviving cordials ! How doth he provide for us above
our deserts, even while he doth punish us beneath our merits ! Di-
vine goodness can no more mean ill, than Divine wisdom can be
mistaken in its end, or Divine power overruled in its actions.
" Charity thinks no evil" (1 Cor. xiii. 5) ; charity in the stream doth
not, much less doth charity in the fountain. To be afflicted by a
hand of goodness hath something comfortable in it, when to be
afflicted by an evil hand is very odious. Elijah, who was loth to
die by the hand of a whorish idolatrous Jezebel, was very desirous
to die by the hand of God (1 Kings, xix. 2 — i). He accounted it a
misery to have died by her hand, who hated him, and had nothing
but cruelty ; and, therefore, fled from her, when he wished for death,
as a desirable thing by the hand of that God who had been good to
him, and could not but be good in whatsoever he acted.
3. The third comfort flowing from this doctrine of the goodness
of God, is, it is a gTound of assurance of happiness. If God be so
good, that nothing is better, and loves himself^ as he is good, he can-
not be wanting in love to those that resemble his nature, and imitate
his goodness : he cannot but love his own image of goodness ;
wherever he finds it, he cannot but be bountiful to it ; for it is im-
possible there can be any love to any object, without wishing vrell
to it, and doing well for it. If the soul loves God as its chiefest
good, God will love the soul as his pious servant : as he hath offered
to them the highest allurements, so he will not withhold the choicest
communications. Goodness cannot be a deluding thing ; it cannot
consist with the nobleness and largeness of this perfection to invite
the creature to him, and leave the creature empty of him when it
comes. It is inconsistent with this perfection to give the creature a
knowledge of himself, and a desire of enjoyment larger than that
knowledge ; a desire to know, and enjoy him perpetually, yet never
intend to bestow an eternal communication of himself upon it. The
nature of man was erected by the goodness of God, but with an en-
larged desire for the highest good, and a capacity of enjoying it.
Can goodness be thought to be deceitful, to frustrate its own work, be
tired with its own effusions, to let a gracious soul groan under its
burden, and never resolve to ease him of it ; to see delightfully the
aspirings of the creature to another state, and resolve never to admit
him to a happy issue of those desires ? It is not agreeable to this
inconceivable perfection to be unconcerned in the longings of his
creature, since their first longings were placed in them by that good-
ness which is so free from mocking the creature, or falling short of
its well-grounded expectations or desires, that it infinitely exceeds
them. If man had continued in innocence, the goodness of God,
without question, would have continued him in hap])incss : and.
844 CHAKNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
since he liath had so much goodness to restore man, would it not be
dishonorable to that goodness to break his own conditions, and de-
feat the believing creature of happiness, after it hath complied with
his terms? He is a believer's God in covenant, and is a God in the
utmost extent of this attribute, as well as of any other ; and, there-
fore, will not communicate mean and shallow benefits, but according
to the grandeur of it, sovereign and divine, such as the gift of a
happy immortality. Since he had no obligation upon him, to make
any promise, but the sweetness of his own nature, the same is as
strong upon him to make all the words of his grace good ; they cannot
be invalid in any one tittle of them as long as his nature remains the
same ; and his goodness cannot be diminished without the impairing
of his Godhead, since it is inseparable from it. Divine goodness will
not let any man serve God for nought ; he hath promised our weak obe-
dience more than any man in his right wits can say it merits (Matt.
X. 42) : " A cup of cold water shall not lose its reward." He will
manifest our good actions as he gave so high a testimony to Job, in
the face of the devil, his accuser : it will not only be the happiness
of the soul, but of the bod}^, the whole man, since soul and body were
in conjunction in the acts of righteousness; it consists not with the
goodness of God to reward the one, and to let the other lie in the
I'uins of its first nothing : to bestow joy upon the one for its being prin-
cipal, and leave the other without any sentiments of joy, that was in-
strumental'in those good works, both commanded and approved by
uod: he that had the goodness to pity our original dust, will not
want a goodness to advance it : and if we put off our bodies, it is
but afterwards to put them on repaired and fresher. From this
goodness, the upright may expect all the happiness their nature is
capable of.
4, It is a ground of comfort in the midst of public dangers. This
hath more sweetness in it to support us, than the malice of enemies
hath to deject us ; because he is " good," he is " a stronghold in the
day of trouble" (Nah. i. 7). If his goodness extends to all his crea-
tures, it will much more extend to those that honor him : if the earth
be full of his goodness, that part of heaven which he hath upon earth
shall not be empty of it. He hath a goodness often to deliver the
righteous, and a justice to put the wicked in his stead (Pro v. xi. 8).
When his people have been under the power of their enemies, he
hath changed the scene, and put the enemies under the power of his
people : he hath clapped upon them the same bolts which they did
upon his servants. How comfortable is this goodness that hath yet
maintained us in the midst of dangers, preserved us in the mouth of
lions, quenched kindled fire ; hitherto rescued us from designed ruin
subtilly hatched, and supported us in the midst of men very passion-
ate for our destruction ; how hath this watchful goodness been a
sanctuary to us in the midst of an upper hell !
Third Use is of exhortation.
1. How should we endeavor after the enjoyment of God as good !
How earnestly should we desire him ! As there is no other good-
ness worthy of our supreme love, so there is no other goodness worthy
our most ardent thirst. Nothino; deserves the name of a desirable
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 845
good, but as it tends to tlie attainment of this : here we must pitch
our desires, which otherwise will terminate in nullities or incon-
ceivable disturbances.
(1.) Consider, nothing but good can be the object of a rational
appetite. The will cannot direct its motion to anything under the
notion of evil, evil in itself, or evil to it ; whatsoever courts it must
present itself in the quality of a good in its own nature, or in its
present circumstances to the present state and condition of the de-
sire ; it will not else touch or affect the will. This is the language
of that faculty : " Who will show me any good ?" (Ps. iv. 6), and
good is as inseparably the object of the will's motion, as truth is of
the understanding's inquir3^ Whatsoever a man would allure
another to comply with, he must propose to the person under the
notion of some beneficialness to him in point of honor, profit, or
pleasure. To act after this manner is the proper character of a
rational creature ; and though that which is evil is often embraced
instead of that which is good, and what we entertain as conducing
to our felicity proves our misfortune, yet that is from our ignorance,
and not from a formal choice of it as evil ; for what evil is chosen
it is not possible to choose under the conception of evil, but under
the appearance of a good, though it be not so in reality. It is in-
separable from the wills of all men to propose to themselves that
which in the opinion and judgment of their understandings or im-
agination is good, though they often mistake and cheat themselves.
(2.) Since that good is the object of a rational appetite, the purest,
best, and most universal good, such as God is, ought to be most
sought after. Since good only is the object of a rational appetite,
all the motions of our souls should be carried to the first and best
good : a real good is most desirable ; the gi'eatest excellency of the
creatures cannot speak them so, since, by the corruption of man,
they are " subjected to vanity" (Rom. viii. 20). God is the most ex-
cellent good without any shadow ; a real something without that
nothing which every creature hath in its nature (Isa. xl. 17). A
perfect good can only give us content : the best goodness in the
creature is but slender and imperfect ; had not the venom of cor-
ruption infused a vanity into it, the make of it speaks it finite, and
the best qualities in it are bounded, and cannot give satisfaction to
a rational appetite which bears in its nature an imitation of Divine
infinitencss, and therefore can never find an eternal rest in mean
trifles. God is above the imperfection of all creatures ; creatures
are but drops of goodness, at best but shallow streams ; God is like
a teeming ocean, that can fill the largest as well as the narrowest
creek. He hath an accumulative goodness ; several creatures answer
several necessities, but one God can answer all our wants : he hath
an universal fulness, to overtop our universal emptiness : he con-
tains in himself the sweetness of all other goods, and holds in his
bosom plentifully what creatures have in their natures sparingly.
Creatures are uncertain goods ; as they begin to exist, so they may
cease to be ; they may be gone with a breath, they will certainly
languish if God blows upon them (Isa. xl. 24) : the same breath that
raised them can blast them ; but who can rifle God of the least part
346 CIIARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES,
of his excellency ? Mutability is inherent in the nature of every
creature, as a creature. All sublunary things are as gourds, that re-
fresh us one moment with their presence, and the next fret us with
their absence ; like fading flowers, strutting to-day, and drooping
to-morrow (Isa. xl. 6): Avhile we possess them, we cannot clip their
wings, that may carry them away from us, and may make us vainly
seek what we thought we firmly held. But God is as permanent a
good as he is a real one : he hath wings to fly to them that seek him,
but no wings to fly from them forever, and leave them. God is an
universal good ; that which is good to one may be evil to another ;
what is desirable by one maybe refused as inconvenient for another:
but God being an universal, unstained good, is useful for all, con-
venient to the natures of all but such as will continue in enmity
against him. There is nothing in God can displease a soul that
desires to please him ; when we are in darkness, he is a light to
scatter it ; when we are in want, he hath riches to relieve us ; when
we are in spiritual death, he is a Prince of life to deliver us ; when
we are defiled, he is holiness to purify us : it is in vain to fix our
hearts anywhere but on him, in the desire of whom there is a delight,
and in the enjoyment of whom there is an inconceivable pleasure.
(3.) He is most to be sought after, since all things else that are
desirable had their goodness from him. If anything be desirable
because of its goodness, God is much more desirable because of his,
since all things arc good by a participation, and nothing good but
by his print upon it : as what being creatures have was derived to
them by God, so what goodness they are possessed with they Avere
furnished with it by God ; all goodness flowed from him, and all
created goodness is summed up in him. The streams should not
terminate our appetite without aspiring to the fountain. If the
waters in the channel, Avhich receive mixture, communicate a plea-
sure, the taste of the fountain must be much more delicious ; that
original Perfection of all things hath an inconceivable beauty above
those things it hath framed. Since those things live not by their
own strength, nor nourish us by their own liberality, but by the
" word of God" (Matt. iv. 4), that God that speaks them into life,
and speaks them into usefulness, should be most ardently desired as
the best. If the sparkling glory of the visible heavens delight us,
and the beauty and bounty of the earth please and refresh us, what
should bo the language of our souls upon those views and tastes but
that of the Psalmist, " Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there
is none upon earth that I can desire beside thee" (Ps. Ixxiii. 25).
No greater good can possibly be desired, and no less good should be
ardently desired. As he is the supreme good, so we should bear that
regard to him as supremely, and above all, to thirst for him : as he
is good, he is the object of desire; as the choicest and first goodness,
he is desirable with the greatest vehemency. " Give me children,
or else I die" (Gen. xxx. 1), was an uncomely speech ; the one was
granted, and the other inflicted ; she had children, but the last cost
her her life : but. Give me God, or I will not be content, is a gracious
speech, wherein we cannot miscarry ; all that God demands of us is,
that we should long for him, and look for our happiness only in.
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 847
Lim. That is the first thing, endeavor after the enjoyment of God
as good.
2. Often meditate on the goodness of God. What was man pro-
duced for, but to settle his thoughts upon this ? What should have
been Adam's employment in innocence, but to read over all the lines
of nature, and fix his contemplations on that good hand that drew
them ? What is man endued with reason for, above all other ani-
mals, but to take notice of this goodness spread over all the creatures,
which they themselves, though they felt it, could not have such a
sense of as to make answerable returns to their Benefactor ? Can
we satisfy ourselves in being spectators of it, and enjoyers of it, only
in such a manner as the brutes are ? The beasts behold things as
well as we, they feel the warm beams of this goodness as well as we,
but without any reflection upon the Author of them. Shall Divine
blessings meet with no more from us but a brutish view and be-
holding of them ? What is more just, than to spend a thought upon
Him who hath enlarged his hand in so many benefits to us ? Are
we indebted to any more than we are to him ? Why should we
send our souls to visit anything more than him in his works ? That
we are able to meditate on him is a part of his goodness to us, who
hath bestowed that capacity upon us ; and, if we will not, it is a
great part of our ingratitude. Can anything more delightful enter
into us, than that of the kind and gracious disposition of that God
who first brought us out of the abyss of an unhappy nothing, and
hath hitherto spread his wings over us ? Where can we meet with
a nobler object than Divine goodness ? and what nobler work can
be practised by us than to consider it ? What is more sensible in all
the operations of his hands than his skill, as they are considered in
themselves, and his goodness, as they are considered in relation to
us? It is strange that we should miss the thoughts of it ; that we
should look upon this earth, and everything in it, and yet overlook
that which it is most full of, viz. Divine goodness (Ps. xxxiii. 5) ; it
runs through the whole web of the world ; all is framed and diversi-
fied by goodness ; it is one entire single goodness, which appears in
various garbs and dresses in every part of the creation. Can we
turn our eyes inward, and send our eyes outward, and see nothing
of a Divinity in both worthy of our deepest and seriousest thoughts ?
Is there anything in the world we can behold, but we see his bounty,
since nothing was made but is one way or other beneficial to us ?
Can we think of our daily food, but we must have some reflecting
thoughts on our great Caterer ? Can the sweetness of the creature
to our palate obscure the sweetness of the Provider to our minds ?
It is strange that we should be regardless of that wherein every
creature without us, and every sense within us and about us, is a
tutor to instruct us ! Is it not reason we should think of the times
wherehi we were nothing, and from thence run back to a never-be-
gun eternity, and view ourselves in the thoughts of that goodness,
to be in time brought forth upon this stage, as we are at present ?
Can we consider but one act of our understandings, but one thought,
one blossom, one spark of our souls mounting upwards, and not re-
flect upon the goodness of God to us, who, in that faculty that
348 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
sparkles out rational thoughts, has advanced us to a nobler state,
and endued us with a nobler principle, than all the creatures we see
on earth, except those of our own rank and kind ? Can we consider
but one foolish thought, one sinful act, and reflect upon the guilt
and filth of it, and not behold goodness in sparing us, and miracles
of goodness in sending his Son to die for us, for the expiation of it ?
This perfection cannot well be out of our thoughts, or at least it is
horrible it should, when it is writ in every line of the creation, and
in a legible rubric, in bloody letters, in the cross of his Son. Let us
think with ourselves, how often he hath multiplied his blessings,
when we did deserve his wrath ! how he hath sent one unexpected
benefit upon the heel of another, to bring us with a swift pace the
tidings of good-will to us ! how often hath he delivered us from a
disease that had the arrows of death in its hand ready to pierce us !
how often hath he turned our fears into joys, and our distempers into
promoters of our felicity ! how often hath he mated a temptation,
sent seasonable supplies in the midst of a sore distress, and prevented
many dangers which we could not be so sensible of, because we were,
in a great measure, ignorant of them ! How should we meditate
upon his goodness to our souls, in preventing some sins, in pardon-
ing others, in darting upon us the knowledge of his gospel, and of
himself, in the face of his Son Christ ! This seems to stick much
upon the spirit of Paul, since he doth so often sprinkle his epistles
with the titles of the " grace of God, riches of grace, unsearchable
riches of God, riches of glory," and cannot satisfy himself, with the
extolling of it. ■ Certainly, we should bear upon our heart a deep
and quick sense of this perfection ; as it was the design of God to
manifest it, so it would be acceptable to God for us to have a sense
of it : a dull receiver of his blessings is no less nauseous to him than
a dull dispenser of his alms ; he loves a "cheerful giver" (2 Cor. ix.
7) ; he doth himself what he loves in others ; he is cheerful in giv-
ing, and he loves we should be serious in thinking of him, and have
a right apprehension and sense of his goodness.
(1.) A right sense of his goodness would dispose us to an ingenu-
ous worship of God. It would damp our averseness to any act of
religion ; what made David so resolute and ready to " worship to-
wards his holy temple" but the sense of his "loving kindness?" (Ps.
cxxxviii. 2). This would render him always in our mind a worthy
object of our devotion, a stable prop of our confidence. We should
then adore him, when we consider him as " our God," and ourselves
as " the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand" (Ps. xcv.
7) : we should send up prayers with strong faith and feeling, and
]3raises with great joy and pleasure. The sense of his goodness
Avould make us love him, and our love to him would quicken our
adoration of him ; but if we regard not this, we shall have no mind
to think of him, no mind to act anything towards him ; we may
tremble at his presence, but not heartily worship him ; we shall
rather look upon him as a tyrant, and think no other affection due
to him than what we reserve for an oppressor, viz. hatred and ill-
will.
(2.) A sense of it will keep us humble. A sense of it would effect
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 349
that for whicli itself was intended ; viz. bring ns to a repentance for
our crimes, and not suffer us to harden ourselves against him. When
we should deeply consider how he hath made the sun to shine upon
us, and his rain to fall upon the earth for our support ; the one to
supple the earth, and the other to assist the juice of it to bring forth
fruits ; how would it reflect upon us our ill requitals, and make us
hang down our heads before him in a low posture, pleasing to him,
and advantageous to ourselves I What would the first charge be
upon ourselves, but what Moses brings in his expostulation against
the Israelites (Deut. xxxii. 6): "Do I thus requite the Lord?"
What is this goodness for me, who am so much below him ; for me,
who have so much incensed him ; for me, who have so much abused
what he hath allowed ? It would bring to remembrance the horror
of our crimes, and set us a blushing before him, when we should
consider the multitude of his benefits, and our unworthy behaviour,
that hath not constrained him even against the inclination of his
goodness, to punish us : how little should we plead for a further
liberty in sin, or palliate our former faults ! When we set Divine
goodness in one column, and our transgressions in another, and com-
pare together their several items, it would fill us with a deep con-
sciousness of our own guilt, and divest us of any worth of our own
in our approaches to him ; it would humble us, that we cannot love
so obliging a God as much as he deserves to be loved by us ; it
would make us humble before men. Who would be proud of a
mere gift which he knows he hath not merited ? How ridiculous
would that servant be, that should be proud of a rich livery, Avhich
is a badge of his service, not a token of his merit, but of his master's
magnificence and bounty, which, though he wear this day, he iw^j
be stripped of to-morrow, and be turned out of his master's family !
(3.) A sense of the Divine goodness would make us faithful to him.
The goodness of God obligeth us to serve him, not to offend him ;
the freeness of his goodness should make us more ready to contribute
to the advancement of his glory. When we consider the benefits of
a friend proceed out of kindness to us, and not out of self ends and
vain applause, it works more upon us, and makes us more careful of
the honor of such a person. It is a pure bounty God hath manifest-
ed in creation and providence, Avhich could not be for himself, who,
being blessed forever, wanted nothing from us : it was not to draw
a profit from us, but to impart an advantage to us ; " Our goodness
extends not to him" (Ps. xvi. 2). The service of the benefactor is
but a rational return for benefits ; whence Nehemiah aggravates the
sins of the Jews (Neh. ix. 35) : " They have not served thee in thy
great goodness that thou gavest them ;" i. e. which thou didst freely
bestow upon them. How should we dare to spend upon our lusts
that which we possess, if we considered by whose liberality we came
by it ? how should we dare to be unfaithful in the goods he hath
made us trustees of? A deep sense of Divine goodness will enno-
ble the creature, and make it act for the most glorious and noble
end ; it would strike Satan's temptation dead at a blow ; it would
pull off the false mask and vizor from what he presents to us, to
draw us from the service of our Benefactor ; we could not, with a
350 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
sense of this, think him kinder to us than God hath, and will be,
which is the great motive of men to join hands with him, and turn
their backs upon God.
(4.) A sense of the Divine goodness would make us patient under
our miseries. A deep sense of this would make us give God the
honor of his goodness in whatsover he doth, though the reason of
his actions be not apparent to us, nor the event and issue of his pro-
ceedings foreseen by us. It is a stated case, that goodness can never
intend ill, but designs good in all its acts "to them that love God"
(Rom. viii. 28) : nay, he always designs the best ; when he bestows
anj^thing upon his people, he sees it best they should have it ; and
when he removes anything from them, he sees it best they should
lose it. When we have lost a thing we loved, and refuse to be com-
forted, a sense of this perfection, which acts God in all, would keep
us from misjudging our sufferings, and measuring the intention of
the hand that sent them, by the sharpness of what we feel. What
patient, fully persuaded of the affection of the physician, would not
value him, though that which is given to purge out the humors,
racks his bowels? When we lose what we love, perhaps it was
some outward lustre tickled our apprehensions, and we did not see
the viper we would have harmed ourselves by ; but God seeing it,
snatched it from us, and we mutter as if he had been cruel, and de-
prived us of the good we imagined, when he was kind to us, and
freed us from the hurt we should certainly have felt. We should
regard that which in goodness he takes from us, at no other rate
than some gilded poison and lurking venom ; the sufferings of men,
though upon high provocations, are often followed with rich mercies,
and many times are intended as preparations for greater goodness.
When God utters that rhetoric of his bowels, "How shall I give
thee up, O Ephraim, I will not execute the fierceness of my anger !"
(Hos. xi. 8), he intended them mercy in their captivity, and would
prepare them by it, to walk after the Lord. And it is likely the
posterity of those ten tribes were the first that ran to God, upon the
publishing the gospel in the places Avhere they lived ; he doth not
take away himself when he takes away outward comforts ; while he
snatcheth away the rattles we play with, he hath a breast in himself
for us to suck. The consideration of his goodness would dispose us
to a composed frame of spirit. If we are sick, it is goodness, it is a
disease, and not a hell. It is goodness, that it is a cloud, and not a
total darkness. What if he transfers from us what we have ? he
takes no more than what his goodness first imparted to us ; and
never takes so much from his people as his goodness leaves them :
if he strips them of their lives, he leaves them their souls, with those
faculties he furnished them with at first, and removes them from
those houses of clay to a richer mansion. The time of our sufferings
here, were it the whole course of our life, bears not the proportion
of a moment to that endless eternity wherein he hath designed to
manifest his goodness to us. The consideration of Divine goodness
would teach us to draw a calm even from storms, and distil balsam
from rods. If the reproofs of the righteous be an excellent oil (Ps.
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 851
cxlv. 5), we should not tliink the corrections of a good God to have
a less virtue.
(5.) A sense of the Divine goodness would mount us above the
world. It would damp our appetites after meaner things ; we should
look upon the world not as a God, but a gift from God, and never
think the present better than the Donor. We should never lie soaking
in muddy puddles were Ave always filled with a sense of the richness
and clearness of this Fountain, wherein we might bathe ourselves ;
little petty particles of good would give us no content, when we
were sensible of such an unbounded ocean. Infinite goodnes?, rightly
apprehended, would dull our desires after other things, and sharpen
them with a keener edge after that which is best of all. How earn-
estly do we long for the presence of a friend, of whose good will
towards us we have full experience.
(6.) It would check any motions of envy : it would make us joy
in the prosperity of good men, and hinder us from envying the out-
ward felicity of the wicked. We should not dare with an evil eye
to censure his good hand (Matt. xx. 15), but approve of what he
thinks fit to do, both in the matter of his liberality and the subjects
he chooseth for it. Though if the disposal were in our hands, we
should not imitate him, as not thinking them subjects fit for our
bounty ; yet since it is in his hands, we be to approve of his actions
and not have an ill will towards him for his goodness, or towards
those he is pleased to make the subject of it. Since all his doles are
given to " invite man to repentance" (Eom. ii. 4), to envy them those
goods God hath bestowed upon them, is to envy God the glory of his
own goodness, and them the felicity those things might move them
to aspire to ; it is to wish God more contracted, and thy neighbor
more miserable : but a deep sense of his sovereign goodness would
make us rejoice in any marks of it upon others, and move us to bless
him instead of censuring him.
(7.) It would make us thankful. What can be the most proper,
the most natural reflection, when we behold the most magnificent
characters he hath imprinted upon our souls ; the conveniency of the
members he hath compacted in our bodies, but a praise of him?
Such motion had David upon the first consideration : "I will praise
thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made" (Ps. cxxxix. 14).
What could be the most natural reflection, when we behold the rich
prerogatives of our natures above other creatures, the provision he
hath made for us for our delight in the beauties of heaven, for our
, support in the creatures on earth ? What can reasonably be expected
from uncorrupted man, to be the first motion of his soul, but an ex-
tolling the bountiful hand of the invisible donor, whoever he be ?
This would make us venture at some endeavors of a grateful ac-
knowledgment, though we should despair of rendering anything pro-
portionaljle to the greatness of the benefit ; and such an acknowledg-
ment of our own weakness would be an acceptable part of our
gratitude. Without a due and deep sense of Divine goodness, our
praise of it, and thankfulness for it, will be but cold, formal, and
customary ; our tongues may bless him, and our heart slight him :
and this will lead us to the third exhortation :
352 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
3. Whicli is that of thankfulness for Divine goodness. The abso-
lute goodness of God, as it is the excellency of his nature, is the
object of praise : the relative goodness of God, as he is our benefactor,
is the object of thankfulness. This was always a debt due from man
to God ; he had obligations in the time of his integrity, and was
then to render it ; he is not less, but more obliged to it in the state
of corruption ; the benefits being the greater, by how much the more
unworthy he is of them by reason of his revolt. The bounty be-
stowed upon an enemy that merits the contrary, ought to be received
with a greater resentment than that bestowed on a friend, who is not
unworthy of testimonies of respect. Gratitude to God is the duty
of every creature that hath a sense of itself; the more excellent being
any enjoy the more devout ought to be the acknowledgment. How
often doth David stir up, not only himself, but summon all creatures,
even the insensible ones, to join in the concert ! He calls to the
" deeps, fire, hail, snow, mountains and hills," to bear a part in this
work of praise (Ps. cxlviii) ; not that they are able to do it actively,
but to show that man is to call in the whole creation to assist him
passively, and should have so much charity to all creatures, as to re-
ceive what they offer, and so much affection to God, as to present to
him what he receives from him. Snow and hail cannot bless and
praise God, but man ought to praise God for those things wlierein
there is a mixture of trouble and inconvenience, something to molest
our sense, as well as something that improves the earth for fruit.
This God requires of us : for this he instituted several offerings, and
required a little portion of fruits to be presented to him, as an ac-
knowledgment they held the whole from his bounty. And the end
of the festival days among the Jews was to revive the memory of
those signal acts wherein his power for them, and his goodness to
them, had been extraordinarily evident ; it is no more but our mouths
to praise him, and our hand to obey him, that he exacts at our hands.
He commands us not to expend what he allows us in the erecting
stately temples to his honor ; all the coin he requires to be paid with
for his expense is the " offering of thanksgiving" (Ps. 1. 14) : and this
we ought to do as much as we can, since we cannot do it as much as
he merits, for " who can show forth all his praise?" (Ps. cvi. 2.) If
we have the fruit of his goodness, it is fit he should have the " fruit
of our lips" (Heb. xiii. 15) : the least kindness should inflame our
souls with a kindly resentment. Though some of his benefits have a
brighter, some a darker, aspect towards us, yet they all come from
this common spring ; his goodness shines in all ; there are the foot-
steps of goodness in the least, as well as the smiles of goodness in
the greatest ; the meanest therefore is not to pass without a regard of
the Author. As the glory of God is more illustrious in some crea-
tures than in others, yet it glitters in all, and the lowest as well as
the highest administers matter of praise ; but they are not only little
things, but the choicer favors he has bestowed upon us. How much
doth it deserve our acknowledgment, that he should contrive our re-
covery, when we had plotted our ruin ! that when he did from eter-
nity behold the crimes wherewith we would incense him, he should
not, according to the rights of justice, cast us into hell, but prize us at
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 353
the rate of tlie blood and life of his only Son, in value above the
blood of men and lives of angels ! How should we bless that God,
that we have yet a gospel among us, that we are not driven into the
utmost regions, that we can attend upon him in the face of the sun,
and not forced to the secret obscurities of the night! Whatsoever
we enjoy, whatsoever we receive, we must own him as the Donor,
and read his hand in it. Eob him not of any praise to give to an
instrument. No man hath wherewithal to do us good, nor a heart
to do us good, nor opportunities of benefitting us without him.
When the cripple received the soundness of his limbs from Peter, he
praised the hand that sent it, not the hand that brought it (Acts iii
6): he "praised God" (ver. 8). When we want anything that is
good, let the goodness of Divine nature move us to David's practice,
to " thirst after God" (Ps. xlii. 1) : and when we feel the motions of
his goodness to us, let us imitate the temper of the same holy man
(Ps. ciii. 2) : " Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his
benefits." It is an unworthy carriage to deal with him as a traveller
doth with a fountain, kneel down to drink of it when he is thirsty,
and turn his back upon it, and perhaps never think of it more after
he is satisfied.
4. And, lastly, Imitate this goodness of God, If his goodness
hath such an influence upon us as to make us love him, it will also
move us with an ardent zeal to imitate him in it, Christ makes this
use from the doctrine of Divine goodness (Matt. v. 44, 45) : " Do
good to them that hate you, that you may be the children of your
Father which is in heaven ; for he makes his sun to rise on the evil
and on the good." As holiness is a resemblance of God's purity, so
charity is a resemblance of God's goodness ; and this our Saviour
calls perfection (ver. 48): "Be ye therefore perfect, even as 3'our
Father, which is in heaven, is perfect." As God would not be a per-
fect God without goodness, so neither can any be a perfect Christian
without kindness ; charity and love being the splendor and loveliness
of all Christian graces, as goodness is the splendor and loveliness of
all Divine attributes. This and holiness are ordered in the Scripture
to be the grand patterns of our imitation. Imitate the goodness of
God in two things,
(1,) In relieving and assisting others in distress. Let our heart be
as large in the capacity of creatures, as God's is in the capacity of a
Creator, A large heart from him to us, and a strait heart from us to
others, will not suit : let us not think any so far below us as to be
unworthy of our care, since God thinks none that are infinitely dis-
tant from him too mean for his. His infinite glory mounts* him
above the creature, but his infinite goodness stoops him to the mean-
est works of his hands. As he lets not the transgressions of pros-
perity pass without punishment, so he lets not the distress of his af-
flicted people pass him without support. Shall God provide for the
ease of beasts, and shall not we have some tenderness towards those
that are of the same blood Avith ourselves, and have as good blood
to boast of as runs in the veins of the mightiest monarch on earth ;
and as mean, and as little as they are, can lay claim to as ancient a
pedigree as the stateliest prince in the world, who cannot ascend to
VOL, II.— 23
354 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
ancestors bej^ond Adam ? Shall we glut ourselves with Divine be-
neficence to us, and wear his livery only on our own backs, forget-
ting the afflictions of some dear Joseph ; when God, who hath an
unblemished felicity in his own nature, looks out of himself to view
and relieve the miseries of poor creatures ? Why hath God increased
the doles of his treasures to some more than others ? Was it merely
for themselves, or rather that they might have a bottom to attain the
honor of imitating him ? Shall we embezzle his goods to our own
use, as if we were absolute proprietors, and not stewards entrusted
for others ? Shall we make a difficulty to part with something to
others, out of that abundance he hath bestowed upon any of us?
Did not his goodness strip his Son of the glory of heaven for a time
to enrich us ? and shall we shrug when we are to part with a little
to pleasure him ? It is not very becoming for any to be backward
in supplying the necessities of others with a few morsels, who have
had the happiness to have had their greatest necessities supplied with
his Son's blood. He demands not that we should strip ourselves of
all for others, but of a pittance, something of superfluity, Avhich will
turn more to our account than what is vainly and unprofitably con-
sumed on our backs and bellies. If he hath given much to any of
us, it is rather to lay aside part of the income for his service ; else
we would monopolize Divine goodness to ourselves, and seem to dis-
trust under our present experiments his future kindness, as though
the last thing he gave us was attended with this language. Hoard up
this, and expect no more from me ; use it only to the glutting your
avarice, and feeding your ambition : which would be against the
whole scope of Divine goodness. If we do not endeavor to write
after the comely copy he hath set us, we may provoke him to har-
den himself against us, and in wrath bestow that on the fire, or on
our enemies, which his goodness hath imparted to us for his glory,
and the supplying the necessities of poor creatures. And, on the
contrary, he is so delighted with this kind of imitation of him, that
a cup of cold water, when there is no more to be done, shall not be
unrewarded.
(2.) Imitate God in his goodness, in a kindness to our worst ene-
mies. The best man is more unworthy to receive anything from God
than the worst can be to receive from us. How kind is God to those
that blaspheme him, and gives them the same sun, and the same
showers, that he doth to the best men in the world ! Is it not more
our glory to imitate God in "doing good to those that hate us," than
to imitate the men of the world in requiting evil, by a return of a
sevenfold mischief? This would be a goodness which would van-
quish the hearts of men, and render us greater than Alexanders and
CiBsars, who did only triumph over miserable carcasses ; yea, it is to
triumph over ourselves in being good against the sentiments of cor-
rupt nature. Eevenge makes us slaves to our passions, as much as
the offenders, and good returns render us victorious over our adverl
saries (Rom. xii. 21) : " Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evi-
with good." \Mien we took up our arms against God, his goodness
contrived not our ruin, but our recovery. This is such a goodness
of God as could not be discovered in an innocent state ; while man
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 855
had continued in his duty, he could not have been guilty of an en-
mity ; and God could not but affect him, unless he had denied him-
self: so this of being good to our enemies could never have been
practised in a state of rectitude ; since, where was a perfect inno-
cence, there could be no spark of enmity to one another. It can be
no disparagement to any man's dignity to cast his influences on his
greatest opposers, since God, who acts for his own glory, thinks not
himself disparaged by sending forth the streams of his bounty on the
wickedest persons, who are far meaner to him than those of the same
blood can be to us. Who hath the worse thoughts of the sun, for
shining upon the earth, that sends up vapors to cloud it? it can be
no disgrace to resemble God ; if his hand and bowels be open to us,
let not ours be shut to any.
DISCOURSE XIII.
ON GOD'S DOMINION.
Psalm ciii. 19. — The Lord hath prepared liis throne in the heavens: and his kingdom
ruleth over all.
The Psalm begins with the praise of God, wherein the penman
excites his soul to a right and elevated management of so great a
duty (ver. 1) : " Bless the Lord, O my soul : and all that is within
me, bless his holy name :" and because himself and all men were in-
sufficient to offer up a praise to God answerable to the greatness of
his benefits, he summons in the end of the psalm the angels, and all
creatures, to join in concert with him. Observe,
1, As man is too shallow a creature to comprehend the excellency
of God, so he is too dull and scanty a creature to offer up a due
praise to God, both in regard of the excellency of his nature, and
the multitude and greatness of his benefits.
2. We are apt to forget Divine benefits : our souls must therefore
be often jogged, and roused up. "All that is within me," every power
of my rational, and every affection of my sensitive part : all his fac-
ulties, all his thoughts. Our souls will hang back from God in every
duty, much more in this, if we lay not a strict charge upon them.
We are so void of a pure and entire love to God, that we have no
mind to those duties. Wants will spur us on to prayer, but a pure
love to God can only spirit us to praise. We are more ready to
reach out a hand to receive his mercies, than to lift up our hearts to
recognize them after the receipt. After the Psalmist had summoned
his own soul to this task, he enumerates the Divine blessings received
by him, to awaken his soul by a sense of them to so noble a work.
He begins at the first and foundation mercy to himself, the pardon
of his sin and justification of his person, the renewing of his sickly
and languishing nature (ver. 8) : " Who forgives all thy iniquities,
and heals all thy diseases." His redemption from death, or eternal
destruction ; his expected glorification thereupon, which he speaks
of with that certainty, as if it were present (ver. 4): "Who redeems
thy life from destruction, who crowns thee with loving-kindness and
tender mercies." He makes his progress to the mercy manifested to
the church in the protection of it against, or delivery of it from, op-
pressions (ver. 6) : "The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment
for all that are oppressed." In the discovery of his will and law,
and the glory of his merciful name to it (ver. 7, 8) : " He made known
his ways unto Moses, and his acts unto the children of Israel. The
Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy :"
ON god's dominion. 357
which latter words may refer also to the free and unmerited spring
of the benefits he had reckoned up : viz., the mercy of God, which
he mentions also (ver. 10) : " He hath not dealt with us after our
sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities ;" and then extols
the perfection of Divine mercy, in the pardoning of sin (ver. 11, 12) ;
the paternal tenderness of God (ver. 18) ; the eternity of his mercy
(ver. 17) ; but restrains it to the proper object (ver. 11, 17), " to them
that fear him ;" i. e. to them that believe in him. Fear being the
word commonly used for faith in the Old Testament, under the legal
dispensation, wherein the spirit of bondage was more eminent than
the spirit of adoption, and their fear more than their confidence.
Observe,
1. All true blessings grow up from the pardon of sin (ver. 3) :
" Who forgives all thine iniquities." That is the first blessing, the
top and crown of all other favors, which draws all other blessings
after it, and sweetens all other blessings with it. The principal in-
tent of Christ was expiation of sin, redemption from iniquity ; the
purchase of other blessings was consequent upon it. Pardon of sin
is every blessing virtually, and in the root and spring it flows from
the favor of God, and is such a gift as cannot be tainted with a curse,
as outward things may.
2. Where sin is pardoned, the soul is renewed (ver. 3) : " Who
heals all thy diseases." Where guilt is remitted, the deformity and
sickness of the soul is cured. Forgiveness is a teeming mercy ; it
never goes single ; when we have an interest in Christ, as bearing
the chastisement of our peace, we receive also a balsam from his
blood, to heal the wounds we feel in our nature. (Isa. liii. 5) : " The
chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are
healed," As there is a guilt in sin, which binds us over to punish-
ment, so there is a contagion in sin, which fills us with pestilent dis-
eases ; when the one is removed, the other is cured. We should not
know how to love the one without the other. The renewing the soul
is necessary for a delightful relish of the other blessings of God. A
condemned malefactor, infected with a leprosy, or any other loathsome
distemper, if pardoned, could take little comfort in his freedom from
the gibbet without a cure of his plague.
3. God is the sole and sovereign Author of all spiritual blessings :
" Who forgives all thy iniquities, and heals all thy diseases." He
refers all to God, nothing to himself in his own merit and strength.
All, not the pardon of one sin merited by me, not the cure of one
disease can I owe to my own power, and the strength of my free-
will, and the operations of nature. He, and he alone is the Prince
of pardon, the Physician that restores me, the Redeemer that delivers
me ; it is a sacrilege to divide the praise between God and ourselves.
God only can knock off our fetters, expel our distempers, and restore
a deformed soul to its decayed beauty.
4. Gracious souls will bless God as much for sanctification as for
justification. The initials of sanctification (and there are no more
in this life) are worthy of solemn acknowledgment. It is a sign of
growth in grace when our hymns are made up of acknowledgments
of God's sanctifying, as well as pardoning grace. In blessing God
358 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
for the one, we rather show a love to ourselves ; in blessing God for
the other, we cast out a pure beam of love to God : because, by puri-
fying grace, we are fitted to the service of our Maker, prepared to
every good work which is delightful to him ; by the other, we are
eased in ourselves. Pardon fills us with inward peace, but sanctifi-
cation fills us with an activity for God. Nothing is so capable of
setting the soul in a heavenly tune, as the consideration of God as a
pardoner and as a healer.
5. Where sin is pardoned, the punishment is remitted (ver. 3, 4) :
" Who forgives all thy iniquities, and redeems thy life from destruc-
tion." A malefactor's pardon puts an end to his chains, frees him
from the stench of the dungeon, and fear of the gibbet. Pardon is
nothing else but the remitting of guilt, and guilt is nothing else but
an obligation to punishment as a penal debt for sin. A creditor's
tearing a bond frees the debtor from payment and rigor.
6. Growth in grace is always annexed to true sanctification. So
that " thy youth is renewed like the eagle's" (ver. 5). Interpreters
trouble themselves much about the manner of the eagle's renewing
its youth, and regaining its vigor: he speaks best that saith, the
Psalmist speaks only according to the opinion of the vulgar, and his
design was not to write a natural history. i Growth always accom-
panies grace, as well as it doth nature in the body ; not that it is
without its qualms and languishing fits, as children are not, but still
their distempers make them grow. Grace is not an idle, but an ac-
tive principle. It is not like the Psalmist means it of the strength
of the body, or the prosperity and stability of his government, but
the vigor of his grace and comfort, since they are spiritual blessings
here that are the matter of his song. The healing the disease con-
duceth to the sprouting up and flourishing of the body. It is the
nature of grace to go from strength to strength.
7. When sin is pardoned, it is perfectly pardoned. " As far as
the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions
from us" (ver. 11, 12). The east and west are the greatest distance
in the world ; the terms can never meet together. When sin is par-
doned, it is never charged again ; the guilt of it can no more return,
than east can become west, or west become east.
8. Obedience is necessary to an interest in the mercy of God.
" The mercy of the Lord is to them that fear him, to them that re-
member his commandments, to do them" (ver. 17). Commands are
to be remembered in order to practice ; a vain speculation is not the
intent of the publication of them.
After the Psalmist had enumerated the benefits of God, he reflects
upon the greatness of God, and considers him on his throne encom-
passed with the angels, the ministers of his providence. " The Lord
hath prepared his throne in the heavens and his kingdom rules over
all" (ver. 19). He brings in this of his dominion just after he had
largely treated of his mercy. Either,
1. To signify. That God is not only to be praised for his mercy,
but for his majesty, both for the height and extent of his authority.
2. To extol the greatness of his mercy and pity. What I have
q Amyrald. in loc.
ON GOD'S DOMINION. 859
said now, 0 my soul, of the mercy of God, and liis paternal pity, is
commended by liis majesty; his grandeur hinders not his clemency :
though his throne be high, his bowels are tender. He looks down
upon his meanest servants from the height of his glory. Since his
majesty is infinite, his mercy must be as great as his majesty. It
must be a greater j^ity lodging in his breast, than what is in any
creature, since it is not damped by the greatness of his sovereignty.
3. To render his mercy more comfortable. The mercy I have
spoken of, O my soul, is not the mercy of a subject, but of a sover-
eign. An executioner may torture a criminal, and strip him of his
life, and a vulgar pity cannot relieve him, but the clemency of the
prince can perfectly pardon him. It is that God who hath none
above him to control him, none below him to resist him, that hath
performed all the acts of grace to thee. If God by his supreme au-
thority pardons us, who can reverse it? If all the subjects of God
in the world should pardon us, and God withhold his grant, what
will it profit us? Take comfort, O my soul, since God from his
throne in the highest, and that God who rules over every particular
of the creation, hath granted and sealed thy pardon to thee. What
would his grace signify, if he were not a monarch, extending his
royal empire over everything, and swaying all by his sceptre ?
4. To render the Psalmist's confidence more firm in any pressures.
Ver. 15, 16. He had considered the misery of man in the shortness
of his life ; his place should know him no more ; he should never
return to his authority, employments, opportunities, that death would
take from him ; but, howsoever, the mercy and majesty of God were
the ground of his confidence. He draws himself from poring upon
any calamities which may assault him, to heaven, the place where
God orders all things that are done on the earth. He is able to pro-
tect us from our dangers, and to deliver us from our distresses ;
whatsoever miseries thou mayest lie under, O my soul, cast thy eye
up to heaven, and see a pitying God in a majestic authority : a God
who can perform what he hath promised to them that fear him, since
he hath a throne above the heavens, and bears sway over all that
envy thy happiness, and would stain thy felicity : a God whose au-
thority cannot be curtailed and dismembered by any. When the
prophet solicits the sounding of the Divine bowels, he urgeth him
by his dwelling in heaven, the habitation of his holiness (Isa. Ixiii.
15). His kingdom ruleth over all : there is none therefore hath any
authority to make him break his covenant, or violate his promise.
5. As an incentive to obedience. The Lord is merciful, saith he,
to them " that remember his commandments to do them" (ver. 17,
18) : and then brings in the text as an encouragement to observe his
precepts. He hath a majesty that deserves it from us, and an au-
thority to protect us in it. If a king in a small spot of earth is to
be obeyed by his subjects, how much more is God, who is more ma-
jestic than all the angels in heaven, and monarchs on earth ; who
hath a majesty to exact our obedience, and a mercy to allure it !
We should not set upon the performance of any duty, without an
eye lifted up to God as a great king. It would make us willing to
serve him ; the more noble the person, the more honorable and
860 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
powerful the prince, the more glorious is his service. A view of
God upon his throne will make us think his service our privilege,
his precepts our ornaments, and obedience to him the greatest honor
and nobility. It will make us weighty and serious in our perform-
ances : it would stake us down to any duty. The reason we are so
loose and unmannerly in the carriage of our souls before God, is be-
cause we consider him not as a " great King" (Mai. i. 14). "Oar
Father, which art in heaven," in regard of his majesty, is the preface
to prayer.
Let us now consider the words in themselves. " The Lord hath
prepared his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all."
The Lord hath prepared. — The word signifies " established," as
well as " prepared," and might so be rendered. Due preparation is
a natural way to the establishment of a thing : hasty resolves break
and moulder. This notes, 1. The infiniteness of his authority. He
prepares it, none else for him. It is a dominion that originally re-
sides in his nature, not derived from any by birth or commission ;
he alone prepared it. He is the sole cause of his own kingdom ; his
authority therefore is unbounded, as infinite as his nature : none can
set laws" to him, because none but himself prepared his throne for
him. As he will not impair his own happiness, so he will not abridge
himself of his own authority. 2. Keadiness to exercise it upon due
occasions. He hath prepared his throne : he is not at a loss ; he
needs not stay for a commission or instructions from any how to act.
He hath all things ready for the assistance of his people ; he hath
rewards and punishments ; his treasures and axes, the great marks
of authority lying by him, the one for the good, the other for the
wicked. His " mercy he keeps by him for thousands" (Exod. xxxiv.
7). His " arrows" he hath prepared by him for rebels (Ps. vii. 13).
3. Wise management of it. It is prepared ; preparations imply pru-
dence ; the government of God is not a rash and heady authority.
A prince upon his throne, a j udge upon the bench, manages things
with the greatest discretion, or should be supposed so to do. 4.
Successfulness and duration of it. He hath prepared or established.
It is fixed, not tottering ; it is an immovable dominion ; all the
stragglings of men and devils cannot overturn it, nor so much as
shake it. It is established above the reach of obstinate rebels ; he
cannot be deposed from it, he cannot be mated in it. His dominion,
as himself, abides forever. And as his counsel, so his authority,
shall stand, and " he will do all his pleasure" (Isa. xlvi. 10).
His throne in the heavens. — This is an expression to signify the
authority of God ; for as God hath no member properly, though he
be so represented to us, so he hath properly no throne. It signifies
his power of reigning and judging. A throne is proper to royalty,
the seat of majesty in its excellency, and the place where the deepest
respect and homage of subjects is paid, and their petitions presented.
That the throne of God is in the heavens, that there he sits as Sove-
reign, is the opinion of all that acknowledge a God ; when they
stand in need of his authority to assist them, their eyes are lifted up,
and their heads stretched out to heaven ; so his Son Christ prayed ;
he " lifted up his eyes to heaven," as the place where his Father sat
ON GOD'S DOMINION. 861
in majesty, as the most adorable object (John xvii. 1). Heaven hath
the title of his " throne," as the earth hath that of his " foot-
stool" (Isa. Ixvi. 1.) And, therefore, heaven is sometimes put for
the authority of God (Dan. iv. 26). " After that thou shalt have
known that the heavens do rule," i. e. that God, who hath his throne
in the heavens, orders earthly princes and sceptres as he pleases, and
rules over the kingdoms of the world. His throne in the heavens
notes, 1. The glory of his dominion. The heavens are the most
stately and comely pieces of the creation. His majesty is there most
visible, his glory most splendid (Ps. xix. 1). The heavens speak out
with a full mouth his glory. It is therefore called " the habitation"
of his " holiness and of his glory" (Isa. Ixiii. 15). There is the
greater glister and brightness of his glory. The whole eartl], indeed,
is full of his glory, full of the beams of it ; the heaven is full of the
body of it ; as the rays of the sun reach the earth, but the full glory
of it is in the firmament. In heaven his dominion is more acknowl-
edged by the angels standing at his beck, and by their readiness and
swiftness obeying his commands, going and returning as a flash of
lightning (Ezek. i. 14), His throne may well be said to be in the
heavens, since his dominion is not disputed there by the angels that
attend him, as it is on earth by the rebels that arm themselves
against him. 2. The supremacy of his empire. The heavens are
the loftiest part of the creation, and the only fit palace for him ; it is
in the heavens his majesty and dignity are so sublime, that they are
elevated above all earthly empires. 3. Peculiarity of this dominion.
He rules in the heavens alone. There is some shadow of empire in
the world. Royalty is communicated to men as his substitutes. He
hath disposed a vicarious dominion to men in his footstool, the earth ;
he gives them some share in his authority ; and, therefore, the title
of his name (Ps. Ixxxii. 6) : "I have said, ye are gods ;" but in
heaven he reigns alone without any substitutes ; his throne is there.
He gives out his orders to the angels himself; the marks of his
immediate sovereignty are there most visible. He hath no vicars-
general of that empire. His authority is not delegated to any crea-
ture ; he rules the blessed spirits by himself; but he rules men that
are on his footstool by others of the same kind, men of their own
nature. 4. The vastness of his empire. The earth is but a spot to
the heavens ; what is England in a map to the whole earth, but a
spot you may cover with your finger ? much less must the whole
earth be to the extended heavens ; it is but a little point or atom to
what is visible ; the sun is vastly bigger than it, and several stars
arc supposed to be of a greater bulk than the earth ; and how many,
and what heavens are beyond, the ignorance of man cannot under-
stand. If the " throne" of God be there, it is a larger circuit he
rules in than can well be conceived. You cannot conceive the
many millions of little particles there are in the earth ; and if all
put together be but as one point to that place where the throne of
God is seated, how vast must his empire be ! He rules there over
the angels, which "excel in strength" those "hosts" of his "which
do his pleasure," in comparison of whom all the men in the world,
and the power of the greatest potentates, is no more than the strength
862 CHARNOOK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
of an ant or fly ; multitudes of them encircle his throne, and listen
to his orders without roving, and execute them without disputing.
And since his throne is in the heavens, it will follow, that all things
under the heaven are parts of his dominion ; his throne being in
the highest place, the inferior things of earth cannot but be subject
to him ; and it necessarily includes his influence on all things below :
because the heavens are the cause of all the motion in the world,
the immediate thing the earth doth naturally address to for corn,
wine, and oil, above which there is no superior but the Lord (IIos.
ii. 21, 22) : " The earth hears the corn, wine, and oil ; the heavens
hear the earth, and the Lord hears the heavens," 5. The easi-
ness of managing this government. His throne being placed on
high, he cannot but behold all things that are done below ; the
height of a place gives advantage to a pure and clear eye to be-
hold things below it. Had the sun an eye, nothing could be done
in the open air out of its ken. The " throne" of God being in
heaven, he easily looks from thence upon all the children of men
(Ps. xiv. 2) : " The Lord looked down from heaven upon the chil-
dren of men, to see if there were any that did understand." He looks
not down from heaven as if he were in regard of his presence con-
fined there : but he looks down majestically, and by way of authori-
ty, not as the look of a bare spectator, but the look of a governor,
to pass a sentence upon them as a judge. His being in the heavens
renders him capable of doing " whatsoever he pleases" (Ps. cxv. 3).
His " throne" being there, he can by a word, in stopping tlie mo-
tions of the heavens, turn the whole earth into confusion. In this
respect, it is said, "He rides upon the heaven in thy help" (Deut.
xxxiii. 26) ; discharges his thunders upon men, and makes the in-
fluences of it serve his people's interest. By one turn of a cock, as
you see in grottoes, he can cause streams from several parts of the
heavens to refresh, or ruin the world. 6. Duration of it. The
heavens are incorruptible ; his throne is placed there in an incor-
ruptible state. Earthly empires have their decays and dissolutions.
The throne of God outlives the dissolution of the world.
His kingdom rules over all. — He hath an absolute right over all
things within the circuit of heaven and earth ; though his throne be
in heaven, as the place where his glory is most eminent and visible,
his authority most exactly obeyed, yet his kingdom extends itself
to the lower parts of the earth. He doth not muffle and cloud up
himself in heaven, or confine his sovereignty to that place, his royal
power extends to all visible, as well as invisible things : he is pro-
prietor and possessor of all (Deut. x. 14) : " The heaven and the
heaven of heavens is the Lord's thy God, the earth also, with all
that is there." He hath right to dispose of all as he pleases. He
doth not say, his kingdom rules all that fear him, but, " over all ;"
so that it is not the kingdom of grace he here speaks of, but his
natural and universal kingdom. Over angels and men ; Jews and
Gentiles ; animate and inanimate things.
The Psalmist considers God here as a great monarch and general,
and all creatures as his hosts and regiments under him, and takes
notice principally of two things. 1. The establishment of his throne
ON GOD'S DOMINION. 363
together with the seat of it. He hath prepared his throne in the heav-
ens. 2. The extent of his empire. — His kingdom rules over all. This
text, in all the parts of it, is a fit basis for a discourse upon the do-
minion of God, and the observation will be this.
Doctrine. — God is sovereign Lord and King, and exerciseth a do-
minion over the whole world, both heaven and earth. This is so
clear, that nothing is more spoken of in Scripture. The very name,
"Lord," imports it; a name originally belonging to gods, and from
them translated to others. And he is frequently called " the Lord
of Hosts," because all the troops and armies of spiritual and corporeal
creatures are in his hands, and at his service : this is one of his prin-
cipal titles. And the angels are called his "hosts" (ver. 21, follow-
ing the text) his camp and militia: but more plainly (1 Kings,
xxii. 19), God is presented upon his throne, encompassed with all
the " hosts of heaven" standing on his right hand and on his left,
which can be understood of no other than the angels, that wait for
the commands of their Sovereign, and stand about, not to counsel
him, but to receive his orders. The sun, moon, and stars, are called
his "hosts" (Deut. iv. 19); appointed by him for the government of
inferior things : he hath an absolute authority over the greatest and
the least creatures ; over those that are most dreadful, and those that
are most beneficial ; over the good angels that willingly obey him,
over the evil angels that seem most incapable of government. And
as he is thus " Lord of hosts," he is the " King of glory," or a glorious
King (Ps, xxiv, 10). You find him called a "great King," the
" Most High" (Ps. xcii. 1), the Supreme Monarch, there being no
dignity in heaven or earth but what is dim before him, and infinitely
inferior to him ; yea, he hath the title of " Only King" (1 Tim. vi. 15).
The title of royalty truly and properly only belongs to him : you
may see it described very magnificently by David, at the free-will
offering for the building of the temple (IChron. xxix. 11, 12) : " Thine,
O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the vic-
tory, and the majesty; thine is the kingdom, O God, and thou art
exalted as Head above all : both riches and honor come of thee, and
thou reignest over all ; and in thy hand is power and might ; and in
thy hand it is to make great, and to give strength to all." He hath
an eminency of power or authority above all : all earthly princes
received their diadems from him, yea, even those that will not ac-
knowledge him, and he hath a more absolute power over them than
they can challenge over their meanest vassals : as God hath a knowl-
edge infinitely above our knowledge, so he hath a dominion incom-
prehensibly above any dominion of man ; and, by all the shadows
drawn from the authority of one man over another, we can have but
weak glimmerings of the authority and dominion of God.
There is a threefold dominion of God. 1. Natural, which is abso-
lute over all creatures, and is founded in the nature of God as Crea-
tor. 2. Spiritual, or gracious, which is a dominion over his church
as redeemed, and founded in the covenant of grace. 3. A glorious
kingdom, at the winding up of all, wherein he shall reign over all,
either in the glory of his mercy, as over the glorified saints, or in the
glory of his justice, in the condemned devils and men. The first
364 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
dominion is founded in nature ; the second in grace ; the third in re-
gard of the blessed in grace; in regard of the damned, in demerit in
them, and justice in him. He is Lord of all things, and always in
regard of propriety (Ps. xxiv. 1): "The earth is the Lord's, and the
fulness thereof; the world, and all that dwell therein." The earth,
with the riches and treasures in the bowels of it ; the habitable world,
with everything that moves upon it, are his ; he hath the sole right,
and what right soever any others have is derived from him. In re-
gard also of possession (Gen. xiv. 22): " The Most High God, pos-
sessor of heaven and earth :" in respect of whom, man is not the
Proprietary nor possessor, but usufructuary at the will of this grand
lOrd.
In the prosecution of this, I. I shall lay down some general prop-
ositions for the clearing and confirming it. II. I shall show wherein
this right of dominion is founded. III. What the nature of it is.
IV. Wherein it consists ; and how it is manifested.
I. Some general propositions for the clearing and confirming of it.
1. We must know the difference between the might or power of
God and his authority. We commonly mean by the power of God
the strength of God, whereby he is able to effect all his purposes ;
by the authority of God, we mean the right he hath to act what he
pleases : omnipotence is his physical power, whereby he is able to
do what he will ; dominion is his moral power, whereby it is lawful
for him to do what he will. Among men, strength and authority
are two distinct things ; a subject may be a giant, and be stronger
than his prince, but he hath not the same authority as his prince :
worldly dominion may be seated, not in a brawny arm, but a sickly
and infirm body. As knowledge and wisdom are distinguished;
knowledge respects the matter, being, and nature of a thing ; wisdom
respects the harmony, order, and actual usefulness of a thing ; knowl-
edge searcheth the nature of a thing, and wisdom employs that thing
to its proper use : a man may have much knowledge, and little wis-
dom; so a man may have much strength, and little or no authority;
a greater strength may be settled in the servant, but a greater au
thority resides in the master ; strength is the natural vigor of a man :
God hath an infinite strength, he hath a strength to bring to pass
whatsover he decrees ; he acts without fainting and weakness (Isa,
xl. 28), and impairs not his strength by the exercise of it : as God is
Lord, he hath a right to enact ; as he is almighty, he hath a power
to execute ; his strength is the executive power belonging to his
dominion : in regard of his sovereignty, he hath a right to command
all creatures ; in regard of his almightiness, he hath power to make
his commands be obeyed, or to punish men for the violation of them :
his power is that whereby he subdues all creatures under him ; his
dominion is that whereby he hath a right to subdue all creatures
under him. This dominion is a right of making what he pleases,
of possessing what he made, of disposing of what he doth possess ;
whereas his power is an ability to make what he hath a right to
create, to hold what he doth possess, and to execute the manner
wherein he resolves to dispose of his creatures.
2. All the other attributes of God refer to this perfection of domi-
ON GOD'S DOMINION. 365
nion. They all bespeak him fit for it, and are discovered in the
exercise of it (which hath been manifested in the discourses of those
attributes we have passed through hitherto). His goodness fits him
for it, because he can never use his authority but for the good of the
creatures, and conducting them to their true end : his wisdom can
never be mistaken in the exercise of it ; his power can accomplish
the decrees that flow from his absolute authority. What can be
more rightful than the placing authority in such an infinite Good-
ness, that hath bowels to pity, as well as a sceptre to sway his sub-
jects? that hath a mind to contrive, and a will to regulate his con-
trivances for his own glory and his creatures' good, and an arm of
power to bring to pass what he orders ? Without this dominion,
some perfections, as justice and mercy, would lie in obscurity, and
much of his wisdom would be shrouded from our sight and knowl-
edge.
3. This of dominion, as well as that of power, hath been acknowl-
edged by all. The high priest was to " Avaive the offering," or shake
it to and fro (Exod. xxix. 24), which the Jews say was customarily
from east to west, and from north to south, the four quarters of the
world, to signify God's sovereignty over all the parts of the world ;
and some of the heathens, in their adorations, turned their bodies to
all quarters, to signify the extensive dominion of God throughout
the whole earth. That dominion did of right pertain to the Deity,
was confessed by the heathen in the name " Baal," given to their
idols, which signifies Lord ; and was not a name of one idol, adored
for a god, but common to all the eastern idols. God hath inter-
woven the notion of his sovereignty in the nature and constitution
of man, in the noblest and most inward acts of his soul, in that fac-
ulty or act which is most necessary for him, in his converse in this
world, either with God or man : it is stamped upon the consicence
of man, and flashes in his face in every act of self-judgment conscience
passes upon a man : every reflection of conscience implies an obliga-
tion of man to some law " written in his heart" (Rom. ii. 15). This
law cannot be without a legislator, nor this legislator without a sove-
reign dominion ; these are but natural and easy consequences in the
mind of man from every act of conscience. The indelible authority
of conscience in man, in the whole exercise of it, bears a respect to
the sovereignty of God, clearly proclaims not only a supreme Being,
but a supreme Governor, and points man directly to it, that a man
may as soon deny his having such a reflecting principle within him,
as deny God's dominion over him, and consequently over the whole
world of rational creatures.
4. This notion of sovereignty is inseparable from the notion of a
God. To acknowledge the existence of a God, and to acknowledge
him a rewarder, are linked together (Heb. xi. 6). To acknowledge
him a rewarder, is to acknowledge him a governor ; rewards being
the marks of dominion. The ver}^ name of God includes in it a
supremacy and an actual rule. He cannot be conceived as God, but
he must be conceived as the highest authority in the world. It is as
possible for him not to be God as not to be supreme. Wherein can
the exercise of his excellencies be apparent, but in his soverign rule?
866 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
To fancy an infinite power without a supreme dominion, is to fancy
a mighty senseless statue, fit to be beheld, but not fit to be obeyed ;
as not being able or having no right to give out orders, or not caring
for the exercise of it. God cannot be supposed to be the chief being,
but he must be supposed to give laws to all, and receive laws from
none. And if we suppose him with a perfection of justice and right-
eousness (which we must do, unless we would make a lame and im-
perfect God) we must suppose him to have an entire dominion, with-
out which he could never be able to manifest his justice. And
without a supreme dominion he could not manifest the supremacy
and infiniteness of his righteousness.
(1.) We cannot suppose God a Creator, without supposing a
sovereign dominion in him. No creature can be made without some
law in its nature ; if it had not law, it would be created to no pur-
pose, to no regular end. It would be utterly unbecoming an infinite
wisdom to create a lawless creature, a creature wholly vain ; much
less can a rational creature be made without a law : if it had no law,
it were not rational : for the very notion of a rational creature
implies reason to be a law to it, and implies an acting by rule. If
you could suppose rational creatures without a law, you might sup-
pose that they might blaspheme their Creator, and murder their
fellow-creatures, and commit the most abominable villanies destruc-
tive to human society, without sin ; for " where there is no law, there
is no transgression."'' But those things are accounted sins by all
mankind, aud sins against the Supreme Being : so that a dominion,
and the exercise of it, is so fast linked to God, so entirely in him, so
intrinsic in his nature, that it cannot be imagined that a rational
creature can be made by him, without a stamp and mark of that
dominion in his very nature and frame ; it is so inseparable
from God in his very act of creation.
(2.) It is such a dominion as cannot be renounced by God himself.
It is so intrinsic and connatural to him, so inlaid in the nature
of God, that he cannot strip himself of it, nor of the exercise of it,
while any creature remains. It is preserved by him, for it could not
subsist of itself; it is governed by him, it could not else answer its
end. It is impossible there can be a creature, which hath not God
for its Lord. Christ himself, though in regard of his Deity equal
with God, yet in regard of his created state, and assuming our nature,
was God's servant, was governed by him in the whole of his office,
acted according to his command and directions ; God calls him his
servant (Isa. xlii. 1) : and Christ, in that prophetic psalm of him,
calls God his Lord (Ps. xvi. 2) : "0 my soul, thou hast said unto the
Lord, Thou art my Lord." It was impossible it should be otherwise ;
justice had been so far from being satisfied, that it had been highly
incensed if the order of things in the due subjection to God had been
broke, and his terms had not been complied with. It would be a
judgment upon the world if God should give up the government to
any else, as it is when he gives " children to be princes" (Isa. iii. 4) ;
i. e. children in understanding.
(3.) It is so inseparable, that it cannot be communicated to any
' Maccov. CoUeg. Theolog. 10 Disput. 18, pp. 6, 7, or thereabout.
ON GOD'S DOMINION. 867
creature. No creature is able to exercise it ; every creature is unable
to perform all the offices that belong to this dominion. No creature
can impose laws upon the consciences of men : man knows not tlic
inlets into the soul, his pen cannot reach the inwards of man. What
laws he hath power to propose to conscience, he cannot see executed ;
because every creature wants omniscience ; he is not able to perceive
all those breaches of the law which may be committed at the same
time in so many cities, so many chambers. Or, suppose an angel, in
regard to the height of his standing, and the insufficiency of walls,
and darkness, and distance to obstruct his view, can behold men's
actions, yet he cannot know the internal acts of men's minds and
wills, without some outward eruption and appearance of them. And
if he be ignorant of them, how can he execute his laws ? If he only
understand the outward fact without the inward thought, how can
he dispense a justice proportionable to the crime ? he must needs be
ignorant of that which adds the greatest aggravation sometimes to a
sin, and inflicts a lighter punishment upon that which receives
a deeper tincture from the inward posture of the mind, than another
fact may do, which in the outward act may appear more base and
unjust; and so while he intends righteousness, may act a degree of
injustice. Besides, no creature can inflict a due punishment for sin ;
that which is due to sin, is a loss of the vision and sight of God ; but
none can deprive any of that but God himself; nor can a creature
reward another with eternal life, which consists in communion with
God, which none but God can bestow.^
II. "Wherein the dominion of God is founded.
1. On the excellency of his nature. Indeed, a bare excellency of
nature bespeaks a fitness for government, but doth not properly con-
vey a right of government. Excellency speaks aptitude, not title :
a subject may have more wisdom than the prince, and be fitter to
hold the reins of government, but he hath not a title to royalty. A
man of large capacity and strong virtue is fit to serve his country in
parliament, but the election of the people conveys a title to him.
Yet a strain of intellectual and moral abilities beyond others, is
a foundation for dominion. And it is commonly seen that such
eminences in men, though they do not invest them with a civil author-
ity, or an authority of jurisdiction, yet they create a veneration in
the minds of men ; their virtue attracts reverence, and their advice
is regarded as an oracle. Old men by their age, when stored with
more wisdom and knowledge by reason of their long experience,
acquire a kind of power over the younger in their dictates and
councils, so that they gain, by the strength of that excellency, a real
authority in the minds of those men they converse with, and possess
themselves of a deep respect for them. God therefore being an in-
comprehensible ocean of all perfection, and possessing infinitely all
those virtues that may lay a claim to dominion, hath the first foun-
dation of it in his own nature. His incomparable and unparalleled
excellency, as well as the greatness of his work, attracts the volun-
tary worship of him as a sovereign Lord (Ps. Ixxxvi. 8) : " Among
the gods, there is none like unto thee ; neither are there any v orks
• Maceav. CuUeg. Theolog. Disput. 18, pp. 12, 13.
368 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
like unto thy work. All nations shall come and worship before
thee." Though his benefits are great engagements to our obedience
and affection, yet his infinite majesty and perfection requires the
first place in our acknowledgements and adorations. Upon this ac-
count God claims it (Isa. xlvi. 9) : "I am God, and there is none
like me ; I will do all my pleasure :" and the prophet Jeremiah upon
the same account acknowledgeth it (Jer. x. 6, 7) : " Forasmuch as
there is none like unto thee, O Lord, thou art great, and thy name
is great in might : who would not fear thee, O King of nations ? for
to thee doth it appertain : forasmuch as there is none like unto
thee," And this is a more noble title of dominion, it being an un-
created title, and more eminent than that of creation or preservation.
This is the natural order God hath placed in his creatures, that the
more excellent should rule the inferior.' He committed not the
government of lower creatures to lions and tigers, that have a delight
in blood, but no knowledge of virtue ; but to man, who had an emi-
nence in his nature above other creatures, and was formed with a
perfect rectitude, and a height of reason to guide the reins over them.
In man, the soul being of a more sublime nature, is set of right to
rule over the body ; the mind, the most excellent faculty of the soul,
to rule over the other powers of it : and wisdom, the most excellent
habit of the mind, to guide and regulate that in its determinations ;
and when the body and sensitive appetite control the soul and mind,
it is an usurpation against nature, not a rule according to nature.
The excellency, thereof, of the Divine nature is the natural founda-
tion for his dominion. He hath wisdom to know what is fit for him
to do, and an immutable righteousness whereby he cannot do any
thing base and unworthy : he hath a foreknowledge whereby he is
able to order all things to answer his own glorious designs and the
end of his government, that nothing can go awry, nothing put him
to a stand, and constrain him to meditate new counsels. So that
if it could be supposed that the Avorld had not been created by him,
that the parts of it had met together by chance, and been compo.cte'd
into such a body, none but God, the supreme and most excellent
Being in the world, could have merited, and deservedly challenged
the government of it ; because nothing had an excellency of nature
to capacitate it for it, as he hath, or to enter into a contest with him
for a sufficiency to govern."
2. It is founded in his act of creation. He is the sovereign Lord,
as he is the almighty Creator. The relation of an entire Creator in-
duceth the relation of an absolute Lord; he that gives being,
motion, that is the sole cause of the being of a thing, which was be-
fore nothing, that hath nothing to concur with him, nothing to as-
sist him, but by his sole power commands it to stand up into being,
is the unquestionable Lord and proprietor of that thing that hath no
dependence but upon him; and by this act of creation, which
extended to all things, he became universal Sovereign over all things :
and those that waive the excellency of his nature as the foundation
of his government, easily acknowledge the sufficiency of it upon his
actual creation. His dominion of jurisdiction results from creation.
* Raynaud, Theolog. Nat. p. 757. " Camero. p. 371. Amyrald, Dissert, pp. 72, 73.
ON god's dominion. 869
When God himself makes an oration in defence of his sovereignty
(Job xxxviii.), liis chief arguments are drawn from creation ; and
(Ps. xcv. 3, 5), " The Lord is a great King above all gods ; the sea
is his, and he made it :" and so the apostle, in his sermon to the
Athenians, As he " made the world, and all things therein," he is
styled, " Lord of heaven and earth" (Acts xvii. 24). His dominion,
also, of property stands upon this basis : " The heavens are thine,
the earth also is thine : as for the world, and the fulness thereof,
thou hast founded them" (Ps. Ixxxix. 11). Upon this title of form-
ing Israel as a creature, or rather as a church, he demands their ser-
vice to him as their Sovereign : " O Jacob and Israel, thou art my
servant, I have formed thee : thou art my servant, O Israel" (Isa.
xliv. 21). The sovereignty of God naturally ariseth from the rela-
tion of all things to himself as their entire Creator, and their natural
and inseparable dependence upon him in regard of their being and
well-being. It depends not upon the election of men ; God hath a
natural dominion over us as creatures, before he hath a dominion by
consent over us as converts : as soon as ever anything began to be a
creature, it was a vassal to God, as a Lord. Every man is acknow-
ledged to have a right of possessing what he hath made, and a power
of dominion over what he hath framed : he may either cherish his
own work, or dash it in pieces ; he may either add a greater come-
liness to it, or deface what he hath already imparted. He hath a
right of property in it : no other man can, without injury, pilfer his
own work from him. The work hath no propriety in itself; the
right must lie in the immediate framer, or in the person that em-
ployed him. The first cause of everything hath an unquestionable
dominion of propriety in it upon the score of justice. By the law
of nations, the first finder of a country is esteemed the rightful pos-
sessor and lord of that country, and the first inventor of an art hath
a right of exercising it. If a man hath a just claim of dominion over
that thing whose materials were not of his framing, but from only
the addition of a new figure from his skill ; as a limner over his pic-
ture, the cloth whereof he never made, nor the colors wherewith he
draws it were never endued by him with their distinct qualities, but
only he applies them by his art, to compose such a figure ; much
more hath God a rightful claim of dominion over his creatures,
whose entire being, both in matter and form, and every particle of
their excellency, was breathed out by the word of his mouth. He
did not only give the matter a form, but bestowed upon the matter
itself a being ; it was formed by none to his hand, as the matter is
on which an artist works. He had the being of all things in his own
power, and it was at his choice whether he would impart it or no ;
there can be no juster and stronger ground of a claim than this. A
man hath a right to a piece of brass or gold by his purchase, but
when by his engraving he hath formed it into an excellent statue,
there results an increase of his right upon the account of his artifice.
God's creatior of the matter of man gave him a right over man ; but
his creation of him in so eminent an excellency, with reason to guide
him, a clear eye of understanding to discern light from darkness, and
truth from falsehood, a freedom of will to act accordingly, and
VOL. u. — 24
870 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
an original righteousness as the varnisli and beauty of all ; here is
the strongest foundation for a claim of authority over man, and the
strongest obligation on man for subjection to God. If all those
things had been past over to God by another hand, he could not be
the supreme Lord, nor could have an absolute right to dispose of
them at his pleasure : that would have been the invasion of another's
right. Besides, creation is the only first discovery of liis dominion.
Before the world was framed there was nothing but God himself,
and, properly, nothing is said to have dominion over itself; this is a
relative attribute, reflecting on the works of God,^ He had a right
of dominion in his nature from eternity, but before creation he was
actually Lord only of a nullity ; where there is nothing it can have
no relation ; nothing is not the subject of possession nor of dominion.
There could be no exercise of this dominion without creation : what
exercise can a sovereign have without subjects? Sovereignty speaks
a relation to subjects, and none is properly a sovereign without sub-
jects. To conclude : from hence doth result God's universal do-
minion ; for being Maker of all, he is the ruler of all, and his per-
petual dominion ; for as long as God continues in the relation of
Creator, the right of his sovereignty as Creator cannot be abolished.
3. As God is the final cause, or end of all, he is Lord of all.
The end hath a greater sovereignty in actions than the actor itself:
the actor hath a sovereignty over others in action, but the end for
which any one works hath a sovereignty over the agent himself : a
limner hath a sovereignty over the picture he is framing, or hath
framed, but the end for which he framed it, either his profit he de-
signed from it, or the honor and credit of skill he aimed at in it,
hath a dominion over the limner himself: the end moves and ex-
cites the artist to work ; it spirits him in it, conducts him in his
whole business, possesses his mind, and sits triumphant in him in all
the progress of his work ; it is the first cause for which the whole
work is wrought. y Now God, in his actual creation of all, is the
sovereign end of all; "for thy pleasure they are and were created"
(Eev. iv. 11) ; " The Lord hath made all things for himself" (Prov.
xvi. 4). Man, indeed, is the subordinate and immediate end of the
lower creation, and therefore had the dominion over other creatures
granted to him : but God being the ultimate and principal end, hath
the sovereign and principal dominion ; all things as much refer to
him, as the last end, as they flow from him as the first cause. So
that, as I said before, if the world had been compacted together by
a jumbling chance, without a wise hand, as some have foolishly im-
agined, none could have been an antagonist with God for the gov-
ernment of the world ; but God, in regard of the excellency of his
nature, would have been the Kector of it, unless those atoms that
had composed the world had had an ability to govern it. Since
there could be no universal end of all things but God, God only can
claim an entire right to the government of it ; for though man be
the end of the lower creation, yet man is not the end of himself and
his own being; he is not the end of the creation of the supreme
' Stougliton's " Righteous Man's Plea," Serm. VI. p. 28
1 Vid. Lessium de Perfect. Divin. pp. 77, 78.
ON GOD'S DOMINION". 371
heavens ; he is not able to govern them ; they are out of his ken,
and out of his reach. None fit in regard of the excellency of na-
ture, to be the chief end of the whole Avorld but God ; and therefore
none can have a right to the dominion of it but God : in this regard
God's dominion ditfers from the dominion of all earthly potentates.
All the subjects in creation were made for God as their end, so are
not people for rulers, but rulers made for people for their protec-
tion, and the preservation of order ia societies.
4. The dominion of God is founded upon his preservation of
things. (Ps. xcv. 8, 4) ; " The Lord is a great King above all gods :"
why? "In his hand are all the deep places of the earth." While
his hand holds things, his hand hath a dominion over them. He
that holds a stone in the air, exerciseth a dominion over its natural
inclination in hindering it from falling. The creature depends
wholly upon God in its preservation ; as soon as that Divine hand
which sustains everything were withdrawn, a languishment and
swooning would be the next turn in the creature. He is called
Lord, Adona>\ in regard of his sustentation of all things by his con-
tinual influx; the word coming of tis, which signifies a basis or
pillar, that supports a building. God is the Lord of all, as he is the
sustainer of all by his power, as well as the Creator of all by his
word. The sun hath a sovereign dominion over its own beams,
which depend upon it, so that if he withdraws himself, they all at-
tend him, and the world is left in darkness. God maintains the
vigor of all things, conducts them in their operations ; so that no-
thing that they are, nothing that they have, but is owing to his pre-
serving power. The Master of this great family may as well be call-
ed the Lord of it, since every member of it depends upon him for
the support of that being he first gave them, and holds of his em-
pire. As the right to govern resulted from creation, so it is perpet-
uated by the preservation of things.
5. The dominion of God is strengthened by the innumerable
benefits he bestows upon his creatures : the benefits he confers upon
us after creation, are not the original ground of his dominion. A
man hath not authority over his servant from the kindness he shows
to him, but his authority commenceth before any act of kindness,
and is founded upon a right of purchase, conquest, or compact.
Dominion doth not depend upon mere benefits ; then inferiors
might have dominions over superiors. A peasant may save the life
of a prince to whom he was not subject ; he hath not therefore a
right to step up into his throne and give laws to him : and children
that maintain their parents in their poverty, might then acquire an
authority over them which they can never climb to ; because the
benefits they confer cannot parallel the benefits they have received
from the authors of their lives. The bounties of God to us add
nothing to the intrinsic right of his natural dominion ; they being
the effects of that sovereignty, as he is a rewarder and governor ; as
the benefits a prince bestows upon his favorite increases not that
right of authority which is inherent in the crown, but strengthens
that dominion as it stands in relation to the receiver, by increasing
the obligation of the favorite to an observance of him, not only as
372 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
his natural prince, but his gracious benefactor. The beneficence of
God adds, though not an original right of power, yet a foundation
of a stronger upbraiding the creature, if he walks in a violation and
forgetfulness of those benefits, and pull in pieces the links of that
ingenuous duty they call for ; and an occasion of exercising of jus-
tice in punishing the delinquent, which is a part of his empire (Isa. i.
2) : " Hear, 0 heavens, and give ear, 0 earth, the Lord hath spoken ;
I have nourished children, and they have rebelled against me."
Thus the fundamental right as Creator is made more indisputable by
his relation as a benefactor, and more as being so after a forfeiture
of what was enjoyed by creation. The benefits of God are innumer-
able, and so magnificent that they cannot meet with any compensa-
tion from the creature ; and, therefore, do necessarily require a sub-
mission from the creature, and an acknowledgment of Divine
authority. But that benefit of redemption doth add a stronger right
of dominion to God ; since he hath not only as a Creator given them
being and life as his creatures, but paid a price, the price of his Son's
blood, for their rescue from captivity ; so that he hath a sovereignty
of grace as well as nature, and the ransomed ones belong to him as
Eedeemer as well as Creator (1 Cor. vi. 19, 20) : " Ye are not your
own, for ye are bought with a price ;" therefore your body and your
spirit are God's. By this he acquired a right of another kind, and
bought us from that uncontrollable lordship we affected over our-
selves by the sin of Adam, that he might use us as his own peculiar
for his own glory and service. By this redemption there results to
God a right over our bodies, over our spirits, over our services, as
well as by creation ; and to show the strength of this riglit, tlie
apostle repeats it, " you are bought ;" a purchase cannot be without
a price paid; but he adds price also, "bought with a price." To
strengthen the title, purchase gave him a new right, and the great-
ness of the price established that right. The more a man pays for
a thing, the more usually we say, he deserves to have it, he hath
paid enough for it ; it was, indeed, price enough, and too much for
such vile creatures as we are.
III. The third thing is. The nature of this dominion.
1. This dominion is independent. His throne is in the heavens;
the heavens depend not upon the earth, nor God upon his creatures.
Since he is independent in regard of his essence, he is so in his do-
minion, which flows from the excellency and fulness of his essence ;
as he receives his essence from none, so he derives his dominion from
none ; all other dominion except paternal authority is rooted origin-
ally in the wills of men. The first title was the consent of the
people, or the conquest of others by the help of those people that
first consented ; and in the exercise of it, earthly dominion depends
upon assistance of the subjects, and the members being joined with
the head carry on the work of government, and prevent civil dissen-
sions ; in the support of it, it depends upon the subjects' contribu-
tions and taxes ; the subjects in their strength are the arms, and in
their purses the sinews of government ; but God depends uj^on none
in the foundation of his government ; he is not a Lord by the votes
ON GOD'S DOMINION. 373
of his vassals.z Nor is it successively handed to him by any prede-
cessor, nor constituted by the power of a superior ; nor forced he his
way by war and conquest, nor precariously attained it by suit or
flattery, or bribing promises. He holds not the right of his empire
from any other ; he hath no superior to hand him to his throne, and
settle him by commission ; he is therefore called " King of kings,
and Lord of lords," having none above him ; " A great King above
all gods" (Ps. xcv. 3) : needing no license from any when to act, nor
direction how to act, or assistance in his action ; he owes not any of
those to any person ; he was not ordered by any other to create, and
therefore received not orders from any other to rule over what he
hath created. He received not his power and wisdom from another,
and therefore is not subject to any for the rule of his government.
He only made his own subjects, and from himself hath the sole
authority ; his own will was the cause of their beings, and his own
will is the director of their actions. He is not determined by his
creatures in any of his motions, but determines the creatures in all ;
his actions are not regulated by any law without him, but by a law
within him, the law of his own nature. It is impossible he can have
any rule without himself, because there is nothing superior to him-
self, nor doth he depend upon any in the exercise of his govern-
ment ; he needs no servants in it, when he uses creatures : it is not
out of want of their help, but for the manifestationof his wisdom and
power. What he doth by his subjects, he can do by himself: " The
government is upon his shoulder" (Isa. ix. 6), to show that he needs
not any supporters. All other governments flow from him, all other
authorities depend upon him ; Dei Gratia^ or Dei Providential is in
the style of princes. As their being is derived from his power, so
their authority is but a branch of his dominion. They are govern-
ors by Divine providence ; God is governor by his sole nature. All
motions depend upon the first heaven, which moves all ; but that
depends upon nothing. The government of Christ depends upon
God's uncreated dominion, and is by commision from him ; Christ
assumed not this honor to himself, " But he that said unto him. Thou
art my Son," bestowed it upon him. " He put all things under his
feet," but not himself (1 Cor. xv. 27). "When he saith. All things
are put under him, he is excepted, which did put all things under
him." He sits still as an independent governor upon his throne.
2. This dominion is absolute. If his throne be in the heavens,
there is nothing to control him. If he be independent, he must
needs be absolute ; since he hath no cause in conjunction with him
as Creator, that can share with him in his right, or restrain him in
the disposal of his creature. His authority is unlimited ; in this re-
gard the title of "Lord" becomes not any but God properly. Ti-
berius, though none of the best, though one of the subtilest princes,
accounted the title of " Lord" a reproach to him : since he was not
absolute,"'^
1st. Absolute in regard of freedom and liberty. (1.) Thus creation
is a work of his mere sovereignty ; he created, because it was his plea-
» Rnyiiaud, Theolog. Natural, pp. 760 — 762.
• Suetou. de Tiberio, cap. 27.
374 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
sure to create (Rev. iv. 11). He is not necessitated to do this or that.
He might have chosen whether he would have framed an earth and
heavens, and laid the foundations of his chambers in the waters. He
was under no obligation to reduce things from nullity to existence.
(2.) Preservation is the fruit of his sovereignty. When he had
called the world to stand out, he might have ordered it to return
into its dark den of nothingness, ripped up every part of its founda-
tion, or have given being to many more creatures then he did. If
you consider his absolute sovereignty, why might he not have di-
vested Adam presently of those rational perfections wherewith he
had endowed him ? And might he not have metamorphosed him
into some beast, and elevated some beast into a rational nature?
Why might he not have degraded an angel to a worm, and advanced
a worm to the nature and condition of an angel ? Why might he
not have revoked that grant of dominion, which he had passed to
man over all creatures ? It was free to him to permit sin to enter
into the earth, or to have excluded it out of he earth, as he doth
out of heaven. (3.) Redemption is a fruit of his sovereignty. By
his absolute sovereignty he might have confirmed all the angels in
their standing by grace, and prevented the revolt of any of their
members from him ; and when there was a revolt both in heaven
and earth, it was free to him to have called out his Son to assume
the angelical, as well as the human, nature, or have exercised his do-
minion in the destruction of men and devils, rather than in the re-
demption of any ; he was under no obligation to restore either the
one or the other. (4.) May he not impose what terms he pleases ?
May he not impose what laws he pleases, and exact what he will of
his creature without promising any rewards? May he not use his
own for his own honor, as well as men use for their credit what they
do possess by his indulgence ? (5.) Affliction is an act of his sover-
eignty. By this right of sovereignty, may not God take away any
man's goods, since they were his doles ? As he was not indebted to
us when he bestowed them, so he cannot wrong us when he removes
them. He takes from us what is more his own than it is ours, and
was never ours but by his gift, and that for a time only, not forever.
By this right he may determine our times, put a period to our days
when he pleases, strip us of one member, and lop off another. Man's
being was from him, and why should he not have a sovereignty to
take what he had a sovereignty to give ? Why should this seem
strange to any of us, since we ourselves exercise an absolute domin-
ion over those things in our possession, which have sense and feel-
ing, as well as over those that want it ? Doth not every man think
he hath an absolute authority over the utensils of his house, over his
horse, his dog, to preserve or kill him, to do what he please with
him, without rendering any other reason than, It is my own 1 May
not God do much more ? Doth not his dominion over the work of
his hands transcend that which a man can claim over his beast that
he never gave life unto ? He that dares dispute against God's abso-
lute right, fancies himself as much a god as his Creator : understands
not the vast difference between the Divine nature and his own ; be-
tween the sovereignty of God and his own, which is all the theme
ON GODS DOMINION. 375
God himself discoursetli upon in those stately chapters (Job. xxxviii.
xxxix. &c.) ; not mentioning a word of Job's sin, but only vindicat-
ing the rights of his own authority. Nor doth Job, in his reply
(Job xl, 4), speak of his sin, but of his natural vileness as a creature
in the presence of his Creator. By this right, God unstops the bot-
tles of heaven in one place, and stops them in another, causing it
" to rain upon one city, and not upon another" (Amos iv. 7) ; order-
ing the clouds to move to this or that quarter where he hath a mind
to be a benefactor or a judge. (6.) Unequal dispensations are acts
of his sovereignty. By this right he is patient toward those whose
sins, by the common voice of men, deserve speedy judgments, and
pours out pain upon those that are patterns of virtue to the world.
By this he gives sometimes the worst of men an ocean of wealth and
honor to swim in, and reduceth an useful and exemplary grace to a
scanty poverty. By this he "rules the kingdoms of men," and sets
a crown upon the head of the basest of men (Dan. iv. 17), while he
deposeth another that seemed to deserve a weightier diadem. This
is, as he is the Lord of the ammunition of his thunders, and the trea-
sures of his bounty. (7.) He may inflict what torments he pleases.
Some say, by this right of sovereignty he may inflict what torments
he pleascth upon an innocent person ; which, indeed, will not bear
the nature of a punishment as an effect of justice, without the sup-
posal of a crime ; but a torment, as an effect of that sovereign right
he hath over his creature, which is as absolute over his work as the
"potter's" power is " over his own clay" (Jer. xviii. 6 ; Kom. ix. 21).
May not the potter, after his labor, either set his " vessel" up to
adorn his house, or knock it in pieces, and fling it upon the dung-
hill ; separate it to some noble use, or condemn it to some sordid
service?'' Is the right of God over his creatures less than that of
the potter over his vessel, since God contributed all to his creature,
but the potter never made the clay, which is the substance of the
vessel, nor the water which was necessary to make it tractable, but
only moulded the substance of it into such a shape ? The vessel that
is framed, and the potter that frames it, differ only in life : the body
of the potter, whereby he executes his authority, is of no better a
mould than the clay, the matter of his vessel. Shall he have so
absolute a power over that which is so near him, and shall not
God over that which is so infinitely distant from him ? The " ves-
sel," perhaps, might plead for itself that it was once part of the body
of a man, and as good as the "potter" himself; whereas no creature
can plead it was part of God, and as good as God himself. Though
there be no man in the world but deserves affliction, yet the Scrip-
ture sometimes lays affliction upon the score of God's dominion,
without any respect to the sin of the afflicted person. Speaking of
a sick person (James v. 15), " If he have committed sins, they shall
be forgiven him ;" whereby is implied, that he might be struck into
sickness by God, without any respect to a particular sin, but in a
way of trial ; and that his affliction sprung not from any exercise of
Divine justice, but from his absolute sovereignty ; and so, in the case
of the blind man, when the disciples asked for what sin it was,
'' Lessius de Perfect. Diviii. pp. 66, 67.
376 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
wliether for liis "own," or his "parents sin," he was born blind?
(John ix. 3), "Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents;" which
speaks, in itself, not against the whole current of Scripture ; but the
words import thus much, that God, in this blindness from the birth,
neither respected any sin of the man's own, nor of his parents, but
he did it as an absolute sovereign, to manifest his own glory in that
miraculous cure which was wrought by Christ. Though afflictions
do not happen without the desert of the creature, yet some afflic-
tions may be sent without any particular respect to that desert,
merely for the manifestation of God's glory, since the creature was
made for God himself, and his honor, and therefore may be used in
a serviceableness to the glory of the Creator.
2d. His dominion is absolute in regard of unlimitedness by any
law without him. He is an absolute monarch that makes laws for
his subjects, but is not bound by any himself, nor receives any rules
and laws from his subjects, for the management of his government.
But most governments in the world are bounded by laws made by
common consent. Bat when kings are not limited by the laws of
their kingdoms, yet they are bounded by the law of nature, and by
the providence of God. But God is under no law without himself;
his rule is within him, the rectitude and righteousness of his own
nature ; he is not under that law he hath prescribed to man. The
law was not made for a " righteous man" (1 Tim. i. 9), much less for
a righteous God. God is his own law ; his own nature is his rule,
as his own glory is his end ; himself is his end, and himself is his
law. He is moved by nothing without himself; nothing hath the
dominion of a motive over him but his own will, which is his rule
for all his actions in heaven and earth, (Dan, iv, 32), " He rules in
the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomsoever he will." And,
(Rom, ix, 18,) " He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy ;" as
all things are wrought by him according to his own eternal ideas in
his own mind, so all is wrought by him according to the inward
motive in his own will, which was the manifestation of his own
honor. The greatest motives, therefore, that the best persons have
used, when they have pleaded for any grant from God, was his
own glory, which would be advanced by an answer of their pe-
tition.
3d. His dominion is absolute in regard of supremacy and uncon-
trollableness. None can implead him, and cause him to render a
reason of his actions. He is the sovereign King, " Who may say
unto him. What dost thou ?" (Eccles, viii. 4.) It is an absurd thing
for any to dispute with God. (Rom. xi. 20), " Who art thou, O man,
that repliest against God ?" Thou, a man, a piece of dust, to argue
with a God incomprehensibly above thy reason, about the reason of
his works ! Let the potsherds strive with the potsherds of the earth,
but " not with Him that fashioned them" (Isa. xlv, 9), In all the
desolations he works, he asserts his own supremacy to silence men.
(Ps. xlvi. 10), " Be still, and know that I am God !" Beware of any
quarrelling motions in your minds ; it is sufficient than I am God,
that is supreme, and will not be impleaded, and censured, or worded
with by any creature about what I do. He is not bound to render a
ON GOD'S DOMINION. 377
reason of any of his proceedings. Subjects are accountable totbeir
princes, and princes to God, God to none ; since he is not hmited by
any superior, his prerogative is supreme,
4th. His dominion is absolute in regard of irresistibleness. Othc?
governments are bounded by law ; so that what a governor hath
strength to do, he hath not a right to do ; other governors have a
limited ability, that what they have a right to do, they have not al-
ways a strength to do ; they may want a power to execute their own
counsels. But God is destitute of neither ; he hath an infinite right,
and an infinite strength ; his word is a law ; he commands things to
stand out of nothing, and they do so. " He commanded," or spake,
0 einu)"^ "light to shine out of darkness" (2 Cor. iv. 6). There is
no distance of time between his word : " Let there be light ; and
there was light" (Gen. i. 3). Magistrates often use not their author-
ity, for fear of giving occasion to insurrections, which may overturn
their empire. But if the Lord will work, " who shall let it ?" (Isa.
xliii. 19) : and if God will not work, who shall force him ? He can
check and overturn all other powers ; his decrees cannot be stopped,
nor his hand held back by any : if he wills to dash the whole world
in pieces, no creature can maintain its being against his order. He
sets the ordinances of the heavens, and the dominion thereof in the
earth ; and sends lightnings, that they may go, and say unto him,
" Here we are" (Job. xxxviii. 33, 34).
3. Yet this dominion, though it be absolute, is not tyrannical, but
it is managed by the rules of wisdom, righteousness, and goodness.
If his throne be in the heavens, it is pure and good : because the
heavens are the purest parts of the creation, and influence by their
goodness the lower earth. Since he is his own rule, and his nature
is infinitely wise, holy, and righteous, he cannot do a thing but what
is unquestionably agreeable with wisdom, justice, and purity. In all
the exercises of his sovereign right, he is never unattended Avith
those perfections of his nature. Might not God, by his absolute
power, have pardoned men's guilt, and thrown the invading sin out
of his creatures ? but in regard of his truth pawned in his threaten-
ing, and in regard of his justice, which demanded satisfaction, he
would not. Might not God, by his absolute sovereignty, admit a
man into his friendship, without giving him any grace ? but in re-
gard of the incongruity of such an act to his wisdom and holiness,
he will not. May he not, by his absolute power, refuse to accept a
man that desires to please him, and reject a purely innocent crea-
ture ? but in regard of his goodness and righteousness, he will not.
Though innocence be amiable in its own nature, yet it is not neces-
sary in regard of God's sovereignty, that he should love it ; but in
regard of his goodness it is necessary, and he will never do other-
wise. As God never acts to the utmost of his power, so he never
exerts the utmost of his sovereignty : because it would be inconsist-
ent with those other properties which render him perfectly adora-
ble to the creature. As no intelligent creature, neither angel nor
man, can be framed without a law in his nature, so we cannot imag-
ine God without a law in his own nature, unless we would fancy
him a rude, tyrannical, foolish being, that hath nothing of holiness,
378 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
goodness, rigliteousness, wisdom. If he " made the heavens in wis-
dom" (Ps. cxxxvi. 5), he made them by some rule, not by a mere
will, but a rule within himself, not without. A wise work is never
the result of an absolute unguided will.
(1.) This dominion is managed by the rule of wisdom. What
may appear to us to have no other spring than absolute sovereignty,
would be found to have a depth of amazing wisdom, and account-
able reason, were our short capacities long enough to fathom it.
When the apostle had been discoursing of the eternal counsels of
God, in seizing upon one man, and letting go another, in neglecting
the Jews, and gathering in the Gentiles, which appears to us to be
results only of an absolute dominion, yet he resolves not those amaz-
ing acts into that, without taking it for granted that they were gov-
erned by exact wisdom, though beyond his ken to see and his line
to sound. " 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. ii. 33) ! There are some things in
matters of state, that may seem to be acts of mere will, but if we
were acquainted with the arcana imperii^ the inward engines which
moved them, and the ends aimed at in those undertakings, we might
find a rich vein of prudence in them, to incline us to judge other-
wise than bare arbitrary proceedings. The other attributes of power
and goodness are more easily perceptible in the works of God than
his wisdom. The first view of the creation strikes us with this sen-
timent, that the Author of this great fabric was mighty and benefi-
cial ; but his wisdom lies deeper than to be discerned at the first
glance, without a diligent inquiry ; as at the first casting our eyes
upon the sea, we behold its motion, color, and something of its vast-
ness, but we cannot presently fathom the depth of it, and understand
those lower fountains that supply that great ocean of waters. It is
part of God's sovereignity, as it is of the wisest princes, that he hath
a wisdom beyond the reach of his subjects; it is not for a finite na-
ture to understand an Infinite Wisdom, nor for a foolish creature
tliat hath lost his understanding by the fall, to judge of the reason
of the methods of a wise Counsellor. Yet those actions that savor
most of sovereignty, present men with some glances of his wisdom.
Was it mere will, that he suffered some angels to fall? But his wis-
dom was in it for the manifestation of his justice, as it was also in
the case of Pharaoh. Was it mere will, that he suffered sin to be
committed by man ? Was not his wisdom in this for the discovery
of his mercy, which never had been known without that, which
should render a creature miserable ? " He hath concluded them all in
unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all" (Rom. xi. 32). Though
God had such an absolute right, to have annihilated the world as
soon as ever he had made it, yet how had this consisted with his
wisdom, to have erected a creature after his own image one day, and
despised it so much the next, as to cashier it from being ? What
wisdom had it been to make a thing only to destroy it ; to repent of
his work as soon as ever it came out of his hands, without any occa-
sion offered by the creature ? If God be supposed to be Creator, he
must be supposed to have an end in creation ; what end can that be
ON GOD'S DOMINION. 879
but himself and his own glory, the manifestation of the perfections
of his nature ? What perfection could have been discovered in so
quick an annihilation, but that of his power in creating, and of his
sovereignty in snatching away the being of his rational creature, be-
fore it had laid the methods of acting? What wisdom to make a
world, and a reasonable creature for no use ; not to praise and honor
him, but to be broken in pieces, and destroyed by him ?
(2.) His sovereignty is managed according to the rule of righteous-
ness. Worldly princes often fancy tyranny and oppression to be the
chief marks of sovereignty, and think their sceptres not beautiful
till died in blood, nor the throne secure till established upon slain
carcasses. But "justice and judgment" are the foundation of the
throne of God (Ps. Ixxxix. 14) ; alluding perhaps to the supporters
of arms and thrones, which among princes are the figures of lions,
emblems of courage, as Solomon had (1 Kings, x. 19). But God
makes not so much might, as right, the support of his. He sits on
a " throne of holiness" (Ps. xlvii. 8). As he reigns over the heath-
ens, referring to the calling of the Gentiles after the rejecting of the
Jews ; the Psalmist here praising the righteousness of it, as the
Apostle had the unsearchable wisdom of it (Rom. xi. 33). " In all
his ways he is righteous" (Ps. cxlv. 17) : in his ways of terror as well
as those of sweetness ; in those works wherein little else but that of
his sovereignty appears to us. It is always linked with his holiness,
that he will not do by his absolute right anything but what is con-
formable to it : since his dominion is founded upon the excellency
of his nature, he will not do anything but what is agreeable to it,
and becoming his other perfections. Though he be an absolute sov-
ereign, he is not an arbitrary governor ; " Shall not the Judge of all
the earth do right" (Gen. xviii. 25) ? i. e. it is impossible but he should
act righteously in every punctilio of his government, since his right-
eousness capacitates him to be a judge, not a tyrant, of all the earth.
The heathen poets represented their chief god Jupiter Avitli Themis,
or Right, sitting by him upon his throne in all his orders. God
cannot by his absolute sovereignty command some things, because
they are directly against unchangeable righteousness ; as to com-
mand a creature to hate or blaspheme the Creator, not to own him
nor praise him. It would be a manifest unrighteousness to order the
creature not to own him, upon whom he depends both in its being
and well-being ; this would bo against that natural duty which is in-
dispensably due from every rational creature to God. This would
be to order him to lay aside his reason, while he retains it ; to dis-
own him to be the Creator, while man remains his creature. This
is repugnant to the nature of God, and the true nature of the crea-
ture ; or to exact anything of man, but what he had given him a
capacity, in his original nature, to perform. If any command were
above our natural power, it would be unrighteous; as ta command
a man to grasp the globe of the earth, to stride over the sea, to lave
out the waters of the ocean ; these things are impossible, and become
not the righteousness and wisdom of God to enjoin. There can be
no obligation on man to an impossibility. God had a free dominion
over nullity before the creation ; he could call it out into the being
380 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
of man and beast, but lie could not do anything in creation foolishly,
because of his infinite wisdom ; nor could he by the right of his ab-
solute sovereignty make man sinful, because of his infinite purit3^
As it is impossible for him not to be sovereign, it is impossible for
him to deny his Deity and his purity. It is laAvful for God to do
what he will, but his will being ordered by the righteousness of his
nature, as infinite as his will, he cannot do anything but what is just ;
and therefore in his dealing with men, you find him in Scripture
submitting the reasonableness and equity of his proceedings to the
judgment of his depraved creatures, and the inward dictates of their
own conscience. " And now, 0 inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men
of Judah, judge, I pray you, between me and my vineyard" (Isa. v.
3). Though God be the great Sovereign of the Avorld, yet he acts
not in a way of absolute sovereignty. He rules by law ; he is a
" Lawgiver" as well as a " King" (Isa. xxxiii. 22). It had been re-
pugnant to the nature of a rational creature to be ruled otherwise ;
to be governed as a beast, this had been to frustrate those faculties
of will and understanding which had been given him. To conclude
this : when we say, God can do this or that, or command this or that,
his authority is not bounded and limited properly. Who can reason-
ably detract from his almightiness, because he cannot do anything
which savors of weakness ; and what detracting is it from his author-
ity, that he cannot do anything unseemly for the dignity of his na-
ture ? It is rather from the infiniteness of his righteousness than
the straitness of his authority ; at most it is but a voluntary bound-
ing his dominion by the law of his own holiness.
(3.) His sovereignty is managed according to the rule of goodness.
Some potentates there have been in the world, that have loved to
suck the blood, and drink the tears, of their subjects ; that would
rule more by fear than love ; like Clearchus, the tyrant of Heraclea,
who bore the figure of a thunderbolt instead of a sceptre, and named
his son Thunder, thereby to tutor him to terrify his subjects.^ But
as God's throne is a throne of holiness, so it is a " throne of grace"
(Heb. iv. 16), a throne encircled with a rainbow : "In sight like to
an emerald" (Rev. iv. 23) : an emblem of the covenant, that hath the
pleasantness of a green color, delightful to the eye, betokening mercy.
Though his nature be infinitely excellent above us, and his power
infinitely transcendent over us, yet the majesty of his government
is tempered with an unspeakable goodness. He acts not so much as
an absolute Lord, as a gracious Sovereign and obliging Benefactor.
He delights not to make his subjects slaves ; exacts not from them
any servile and fearful, but a generous and cheerful, obedience. He
requires them not to fear, or worship him so much for his power, as
his goodness. He requires not of a rational creature anything re-
pugnant to the honor, dignity, and principles of such a nature ; not
anything that may shame, disgrace it, and make it weary of its own
being, and the service it owes to its Sovereign. He draws by the
cords of a man ; his goodness renders his laws as sweet as honey or
the honey-comb to an unvitiated palate and a renewed mind. And
though it be granted he hath a full dispose of his creature, as the
<= Causin, Poly-Histor. lib. iv. cap. 22.
ON GOD'S DOMINION, 381
potter of his vessel, and might by his absolute sovereignty inflict
upon an innocent an eternal torment, yet his goodness will never
permit him to use this sovereign right to the hurt of a creature that
deserves it not. If God should cast an innocent creature into the
furnace of his wrath, who can question him ? But who can think
that his goodness will do so, since that is as infinite as his authority?
As not to punish the sinner would be a denial of his justice, so to
torment an innocent would be a denial of his goodness. A man
hath an absolute power over his beast, and may take away his life,
and put him to a great deal of pain ; but that moral virtue of pity
and tenderness would not permit him to use this right, but when it
conduceth to some greater good than that can be evil ; either for the
good of man, which is the end of the creature, or for the good of
the poor beast itself, to rid him of a greater misery ; none but a sav-
age nature, a disposition to be abhorred, would torture a poor beast
merely for his pleasure. It is as much against the nature of God to
punish one eternally, that hath not deserved it, as it is to deny him-
self, and act anything foolishly and unbeseeming his other perfections,
which render him majestical and adorable. To afflict an innocent
creature for his own good, or for the good of the world, as in the
case of the Kedeemer, is so far from being against goodness, that it
is the highest testimony of his tender bowels to the sons of men.
God, though he be mighty, "withdraws not his eyes," i. e. his tender
respect, "from the righteous" (Job, xxxvi. 5, 7 — 10). And if he
" bind them in fetters," it is to " show them their transgressions," and
" open their ear to discipline," and renewing commands, in a more
sensible strain, " to depart from iniquity." What was said of Fab-
ritius, " You may as soon remove the sun from its course, as Fabri-
tius from his honesty," may be of God : you may as soon dash in
pieces his throne, as separate his goodness from his sovereignty.
4. This sovereignty is extensive over all creatures. He rules ail,
as the heavens do over the earth. He is " King of worlds. King of
ages," as the word translated "eternal" signifies (1 Tim. i. 17), ji-j Si
^uotXfj iwy utwrujy : and the same word is so translated (Heb. i. 2),
" By whom also he made the worlds." The same word is rendered
" worlds" (Heb. xi. 3) : " The worlds were framed by the Word of
God." God is King of ages or worlds, of the invisible world and the
sensible ; of all from the beginning of their creation, of whatsoever
is measured by a time. It extends over angels and devils, over
wicked and good, over rational and irrational creatures ; all things
bow down under his hand ; nothing can be exempted from him :
because there is nothing but was extracted by him from nothing into
being. All things essentially depend upon him ; and, therefore,
must be essentially subject to him ; the extent of his dominion flows
from the perfection of his essence ; since his essence is unlimited, his
royalty cannot be restrained. His authority is as void of any im-
perfection as his essence is ; it reaches out to all points of the heaven
above, and the earth below. Other princes reign in a spot of ground.
Every worldly potentate hath the confines of his dominions. The
Pyrenean mountains divide France from Spain, and the Alps, Italy
from France. None are called kings absolutely, but kings of this or
882 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
that p]ace. But God is the King ; the spacious firmament limits
not his dominion ; if we could suppose him bounded by any place,
in regard of his presence, yet he could never be out of his own do-
minion ; whatsoever he looks upon, wheresoever he were, would be
under his rule. Earthly kings may step out of their own country
into the territory of a neighbor prince ; and as one leaves his country,
so he leaves his dominion behind him ; but heaven and earth, and
every particle of both, is the territory of God. "He hath prepared
his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all."
(1.) The heaven of angels, and other excellent creatures, belong to
his authority. He is principally called " The Lord of Hosts," in re-
lation to his entire command over the angelical legions : therefore,
ver. 21, following the text, they are called his " hosts," and " minis-
ters that do his pleasure." Jacob called him so before (Gen. xxxii.
1, 2). When he met the angels of God, he calls them " the host of
God ;" and the Evangelist, long after, calls them so (Luke, ii. 13) :
"A multitude of the heavenly host, praising God ;" and all this host
he commands (Isa. xlv. 12): "My hands have stretched out the
heavens, and all their host have I commanded." He employs them
all in his service ; and when he issues out his orders to them to do
this or that, he finds no resistance of his will. And the inanimate
creatures in heaven are at his beck ; they are his armies in heaven,
disposed in an excellent order in their several ranks (Ps. cxlvii. 4) :
" He calls the stars by name ;" they render a due obedience to him as
servants to their master, when he singles them out, " and calls them
by name," to do some special service ; he calls them out to their
several ofiices, as the general of an army appoints the station of
every regiment in a battalia. Or "he calls them by name," ^. e. he
imposeth names upon them, a sign of dominion : the giving names
to the inferior creatures being the first act of Adam's derivative do-
minion over them. These are under the sovereignty of God. The
stars, by their influences, fight against Sisera (Judges, v. 20). And
the sun holds in its reins, and stands stone still, to light Joshua to a
complete victory (Josh. x. 12). They are all marshalled in their
ranks to receive his word of command, and fight in close order, as
being desirous to have a share in the ruin of the enemies of their
Sovereign. And those creatures which mount up from the earth,
and take their place in the lower heavens, vapors, whereof hail and
snow are formed, are part of the army, and do not only receive, but
fulfil, his word of command (Ps. cxlviii. 8). These are his stores
and magazines of judgment against a time of trouble, and " a day of
battle and war" (Job, xxxviii. 22. 23). The sovereignty of God is
visible in all their motions, in their going and returning. If he says,
Go, they go ; if he say. Come, they come ; if he say, do this, they
gird up their loins, and stand stiff to their duty.
(2.) The hell of devils belong to his authority. They have cast
themselves out of the arms of his grace into the furnace of his jus-
tice ; they have, by their revolt, forfeited the treasure of his good-
ness, but cannot exempt themselves from the sceptre of his dominion ;
when they would not own him as a Lord Father, they are under
him as a Lord Judge ; they are cast out of his affection, but not
ON GOD'S DOMINION". 383
freed from liis yoke. He rules over tlie good angels as liis subjects
over the evil ones as his rebels. In whatsoever relation he stands,
either as a friend or enemy, he never loses that of a Lord. A prince
is the lord of his criminals as well as of his loyalest subjects. By
this right of his sovereignty, he uses them to punish some, and be
the occasion of benefit to others : on the wicked he employs them as
instruments of vengeance ; towards the godly, as in the case of Job,
as an instrument of kindness for the manifestation of his sincerity
against the intention of that malicious executioner. Though the
devils are the executioners of his justice, it is not by their own au-
thority, but God's ; as those that are employed either to rack or ex-
ecute a malefactor, are subjects to the prince not only in the quality
of men, but in the execution of their function. The devil, by draw-
ing men to sin, acquires no right to himself over the sinner : for
man by sin offends not the devil, but God, and becomes guilty of
punishment under God."! When, therefore, the devil is used by God
for the punishment of any, it is an act of his sovereignty for the man-
ifestation of the order of his justice. And as most nations use the
vilest persons in offices of execution, so doth God those vile spirits.
He doth not ordinarily use the good angels in those offices of ven-
geance, but in the preservation of his people. When he would solely
punish, he employs " evil angels" (Ps. Ixxviii. 49), a troop of devils.
His sovereignty is extended over the " deceiver and the deceived"
(Job, xii. 16) ; over both the malefactor and the executioner, the
devil and his prisoner. He useth the natural malice of the devils
for his own just ends, and by his sovereign authority orders them
to be the executioners of his judgments upon their own vassals, as
well as sometimes inflicters of punishments upon his own servants.
(8.) The earth of men and other creatures belongs to his authority
(Ps. xlvii. 7). God is King of "all the earth," and rules to the
" ends" of it (Ps. lix. 13). Ancient atheists confined God's dominion
to the heavenly orbs, and bounded it within the circuit of the celes-
tial sphere (Job, xxii. 14) : " He walks in the circuit of heaven," i. e.
he exerciseth his dominion only there. Pedum positio was the sign
of the possession of a piece of land, and the dominion of the possessor
of it ; and land was resigned by such a ceremony, as now, by the
delivery of a twig or turf^ But his dominion extends,
1st. Over the least creatures. All the creatures of the earth are
listed in Christ's muster-roll, and make up the number of his regi-
ments. He hath an host on earth as well as in heaven (Gen. ii. 1) :
" The heavens and earth were finished, and all the host of them."
And they are " all his servants" (Ps. cxiv. 91), and move at his
pleasure. And he vouchsafes the title of his army to the locust,
caterpillar, and palmer worm (Joel, ii. 25) ; and describes their motions
by military words, " climbing the walls, marching, not breaking their
ranks" (ver. 7). He hath the command, as a great general, over the
highest angel and the meanest worm ; all the kinds of the smallest
insects he presseth for his service. By this sovereignty he muzzled
the devouring nature of the fire to preserve the three children, and
let it loose to consume their adversaries ; and if he speaks the word,
"* Suarez. Vol. II. lib. viii. cap, 20. p. 736. • Bolduc. in loc.
384 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
the stormy waves are liuslied, as if they had no principle of rage
within them (Ps. Ixxxix. 9). Since the meanest creature attains its
end, and no arrow that God hath by his power shot into the world
but hits the mark he aimed at, we must conclude, that there is a
sovereign hand that governs all : not a spot of earth, or air, or water
in the world, but is his possession ; not a creature in any element
but is his subject.
2d. His dominion extends over men. It extends over the
highest potentate, as well as the meanest peasant ; the proudest
monarch is no more exempt than the most languishing beggar.
He lays not aside his authority to please the prince, nor strains
it up to terrify the indigent. " He accepts not the persons of
princes, nor regards the rich more than the poor ; for they are all
the work of his hand" (Job, xxxiv. 19). Both the powers and
weaknesses, the gallantry and peasantry of the earth, stand and fall
at his pleasure. Man, in innocence, was under his authority as his
creature ; and man, in his revolt, is further under his authority
as a criminal : as a person is under the authority of a prince, as a
governor, while he obeys his laws ; and further under the authority
of the prince, as a judge, when he violates his laws. Man is under
God's dominion in everything, in his settlement, in his calling, in the
ordering his very habitation (Acts, xvii. 26): "He determines the
bounds of their habitations." He never yet permitted any to be
universal monarch in the world, nor over the fourth part of it, though
several, in the pride of their heart, have designed and attempted it :
the pope, who hatli bid the fairest for it in spirituals, never attained
it ; and when his power was most flourishing, there were multitudes
that would never acknowledge his authority.
3d. But especially this dominion, in the peculiarity of its extent,
is seen in the exercise of it over the spirits and hearts of men.
Earthly governors have, by his indulgence, a share with him in a do-
minion over men's bodies, upon which account he graceth princes
and judges with the title of " gods" (Ps. Ixxxii. 6) ; but the highest
prince is but a prince "according to the flesh," as the apostle calls
masters in relation to their servants (Col. iii. 22).
God is the sovereign ; man rules over the beast in man, the body ;
and God rules over the man in man, the soul. It sticks not in the
outward surface, but pierceth to the inward marrow. It is impossible
God should be without this ; if our wills were independent of him,
we were in some sort equal with himself, in part gods, as well as
creatures. It is impossible a creature, either in whole or in part, can
be exempted from it ; since he is the fashioner of hearts as well as
of bodies. He is the Father of spirits, and therefore hath the right
of a paternal dominion over them. When he established man lord
of the other creatures, he did not strip himself of the propriety ; and
when he made man a free agent, and lord of the acts of his will, he
did not divest himself of the sovereignty. His sovereignty is seen,
[1.] In gifting the spirits of men. Earthly magistrates have hands
too short to inspire the hearts of their subjects with worthy senti-
ments : when they confer an employment, they are not able to convey
an ability with it fit for the station : they may as soon frame a statue
ON god's DOMINION". 385
of liquid water, and gild, or paint it over witli the costliest colors, as
impart to any a state-head for a state-ministry. But when God
chooseth a Saul from so mean an employment as seeking of asses, he
can treasure up in him a spirit fit for government ; and fire David,
in age a stripling, and by education a shepherd, with courage to en-
counter, and skill to defeat, a massy Goliath, And when he designs
a person for glory, to stand before his throne, he can put a new and
a royal spirit into him (Ezek. xxxvi. 26). God only can infuse habits
into the soul, to capacitate it to act nobly and generously.
[2.] His sovereignty is seen in regard of the inclinations of men's
wills. No creature can immediately work upon the will, to guide it
to what point he pleaseth, though mediately it may, by proposing
reasons which may master the understanding, and thereby determine
the will. But God bows the hearts of men, by the eflicacy of his
dominion, to what centre he pleaseth. When the more overweaning
sort of men, that thought their own heads as fit for a crown as Saul's,
scornfully despised him ; yet God touched the hearts of a band of
men to follow and adhere to him (1 Sam. x. 26, 27). When the anti-
christian whore shall be ripe for destruction, God shall " put it into
the heart" of the ten horns or kings, " to hate the whore, burn her
with fire, and fulfil his will" (Rev. xvii. 16, 17). He " fashions the
hearts" alike, and tunes one string to answer another, and both to
answer his own design (Ps. xxxiii. 15). And while men seem to
gratify their own ambition and malice, they execute the will of God,
by his secret touch upon their spirits, guiding their inclinations to
serve the glorious manifestation of truth. While the Jews would,
in a reproachful disgrace to Christ, crucify two thieves with him, to
render him more incapable to have any followers, they accomplished
a prophecy, and brought to light a mark of the Messiah, whereby
he had been charactered in one of their prophets, that he should be
" numbered among transgressors" (Isa. liii. 12). He can make a man
of not willing, willing ; the wills of all men are in his hand ; %. e.
under the power of his sceptre, to retain or let go upon this or that
errand, to bend this or that way ; as water is carried by pipes to what
house or place the owner of it is pleased to order. " The king's
heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of waters ; he turns
it whithersoever he will" (Prov. xxi. 1) without any limitation. He
speaks of the heart of princes ; because, in regard of their height,
they seem to be more absolute, and impetuous as waters ; yet God
holds them in his hand, under his dominion ; turns them to acts of
clemency or severity, like waters, either to overflow and damage, or
to refresh and fructify. He can convey a spirit to them, or " cut it
off" from them (Ps. Ixxvi. 12). It is with reference to his efficacious
power, in graciously turning the heart of Paul, that the apostle breaks
off" his discourse of the story of his conversion, and breaks out into
a magnifying and glorifying of God's dominion. " Now unto the
King eternal," &c. "be honor and glory forever and ever" (1 Tim. i.
17). Our hearts are more subject to the Divine sovereignty than our
members in their motions are subject to our own wills. As we can
move our hand east or west to any quarter of the world, so can God
bend our wills to what mark he pleases. The second cause in every
VOL. II. — 25
386 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
motion depends upon the first ; and that will, being a second cause,
may be furthered or hindered in its inclinations or executions by God ;
he can bend or unbend it, and change it from one actual inclination
to another. It is as much under his authority and power to move,
or hinder, as the vast engine of the heavens is in its motion or stand-
ing still, which he can affect by a word. The work depends upon
the workman ; the clock upon the artificer for the motions of it.
[3.] His dominion is seen in regard of terror or comfort. The
heart or conscience is God's special throne on earth, which he hath
reserved to himself, and never indulged human authority to sit upon
it. He solely orders this in ways of conviction or comfort. He can
flash terror into men's spirits in the midst of their earthly jollities,
and put death into the pot of conscience, when they are boiling up
themselves in a high pitch of worldly delights, and can raise men's
spirits above the sense of torment under racks and flames. He can
draw a hand- writing not only in the outward chamber, but the in-
ward closet ; bring the rack into the inwards of a man. None can
infuse comfort when he writes bitter things, nor can any fill the heart
with gall, when he drops in honey. Men may order outward duties,
but they cannot unlock the conscience, and constrain men to think
them duties which they are forced, by human laws, outwardly to act :
and as the laws of earthly princes are bounded by the outward man,
so do their executions and punishments reach no further than the
case of the body : but God can run upon the inward man, as a giant,
and inflict wounds and gashes there.
5. It is an eternal dominion. In regard of the exercise of it, it
was not from eternity, because there was not from eternity any crea-
ture under the government of it ; but in regard of the foundation
of it, his essence, his excellency, it is eternal; as God was from
eternity almighty, but there was no exercise or manifestation of it till
he began to create. Men are kings only for a time ; their lives ex-
pire like a lamp, and their dominion is extinguished with their lives ;
they hand their empire by succession to others, but many times it is
snapped off before they are cold in their graves. How are the fa-
mous empires of the Chaldeans, Medes, Persians, and Greeks, mould-
ered away, and their place knows them no more ! and how are the
wings of the Roman eagle cut, and that empire which overspread a
great part of the world, hath lost most of its feathers, and is confined
to a narrower compass ! The dominion of God flourisheth from one
generation to another : " He sits King forever" (Ps. xxix. 10). His,
" session" signifies the establishment, and " forever" the duration ;
and he " sits now," his sovereignty is as absolute, as powerful as ever.
How many lords and princes hath this or that kingdom had ! in how
many families hath the sceptre lodged ! when as God hath had an
uninterrupted dominion ; as he hath been always the same in his
essence, he hath been always glorious in his sovereignty: among
men, he that is lord to-day, may be stripped of it to-morrow ; the
dominions in the world vary ; he that is a prince may see his royalty
upon the wings, and feel himself laden with fetters ; and a prisoner
may be " lifted from his dungeon" to a throne. But there can be no
diminution of God's government ; " His throne is from generation
ON GOD'S DOMINION. 387
to generation" (Lam. v. 19) ; it cannot be shaken : liis sceptre, like
Aaron's rod, is always green ; it cannot be wrested out of his hands ;
none raised him to it, none therefore can depose him from it ; it bears
the same splendor in all human affairs; he is an eternal, an "immortal
King" (1 Tim. i. 17) ; as he is eternally mighty, so he is eternally
sovereign ; and, being an eternal King, he is a King that gives not
a momentary and perishing, but a durable and everlasting life, to
them that obey him : a durable and eternal punishment to them that
resist him.
IV. "Wherein this dominion and sovereign consists, and how it is
manifested.
First. The first act of sovereignty is the making laws. This is
essential to God ; no creature's will can be the first rule to the crea-
ture, but only the will of God : he only can prescribe man his duty,
and establish the rule of it ; hence the law is called " the royal law"
(James, ii. 8) : it being the first and clearest manifestation of sover-
eignty, as the power of legislation is of the authority of a prince.
Both are joined together in Isa. liii, 22 : " The Lord is our Lawgiver ;
the Lord is our King ;" legislative power being the great mark of
royalty. God, as King, enacts his laws by his own proper authority,
and his law is a declaration of his own sovereignty, and of men's
moral subjection to him, and dependence on him. His sovereignty
doth not appear so much in his promises as in his precepts : a man's
power over another is not discovered by promising, for a promise
doth not suppose the promiser either superior or inferior to the per-
son to whom the promise is made.f It is not an exercising authority
over another, but over a man's self; no man forceth another to the
acceptance of his promise, but only proposeth and encourageth to an
embracing of it. But commanding supposeth always an authority
in the person giving the precept ; it obligeth the person to whom the
command is directed ; a promise obligeth the person by whom the
promise is made. God, by his command, binds the creature ; by his
promise he binds himself; he stoops below his sovereignty, to lay
obligations upon his own majesty ; by a precept he binds the creature,
by a promise he encourageth the creature to an observance of his pre-
cept : what laws God makes, man is bound, by virtue of his creation,
to observe ; that respects the sovereignty of God : what promises
God makes, man is bound to believe ; but that respects the faithful-
ness of God. God manifested his dominion more to the Jews than
to any other people in the world ; he was their Lawgiver, both as
they were a church and a commonwealth : as a church, he gave them
ceremonial laws for the regulating their worship ; as a state, he gave
them judicial laws for the ordering their civil affairs; and as both,
he gave them moral laws, upon which both the laws of the church
and state were founded. This dominion of God, in this regard, will
be manifest,
(1.) In the supremacy of it. The sole power of making laws doth
originally reside in him (James, iv. 12); " There is one Lawgiver,
who is able to save, and to destroy." By his own law he judges of
the eternal states of men, and no law of man is obligatory, but as it
'' Suarez. de Legib. p. 23.
388 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
is agreeable to the Jaws of this supreme Lawgiver, and pursuant to
his righteous rules for the government of the world. The power
that the potentates of the world have to make laws is but derivative
from God, If their dominion be from him, as it is, for " by him
kings reign" (Prov. viii. 15), their legislative power, which is a prime
flower of their sovereignty, is derived from him also : and the apos-
tle resolves it into this original when he orders us to be " subject to
the higher powers, not only for wrath, but for conscience sake" (Rom.
xiii. 5). Conscience, in its operations, solely respects God; and
therefore, when it is exercised as the principle of obedience to the
laws of men, it is not with respect to them, singly considered, but as
the majesty of God appears in their station and in their decrees.
This power of giving laws was acknowledged by the heathen to be
solely in God by way of original ; and therefore the greatest law-
givers among the heathen pretended their laws to be received from
some deity or supernatural power, by special revelation : now,
whether they did this seriously, acknowledging themselves this part
of the dominion of God, — for it is certain that whatsoever just orders
were issued out by princes in the world, was by the secret influ-
ence of God upon their spirits (Prov. viii. 15): " By me princes de-
cree justice ;" by the secret conduct of Divine wisdom, — or whether
they pretended it only as a public engine, to enforce upon people
the observance of their decrees, and gain a greater credit to their
edicts, yet this will result from it, that the people in general enter-
tained this common notion, that God was the great Lawgiver of the
world. The first founders of their societies could never else have so
absolutely gained upon them by such a pretence. There was always
a revelation of a law from the mouth of God in every age : the ex-
hortation of Eliphaz to Job (Job, xxii. 22), of receiving a " law from
the mouth" of God, at the time before the moral law was published,
had been a vain exhortation had there been no revelation of the
mind of God in all ages.
(2.) The dominion of God is manifest in the extent of his laws.
As he is the Governor and Sovereign of the whole world, so he en-
acts laws for the whole world. One prince cannot make laws for
another, unless he makes him his subject by right of conquest;
Spain cannot make laws for England, or England for Spain ; but God
having the supreme government, as King over all, is a Lawgiver to
all, to irrational, as well as rational creatures. The " heavens have
their ordinances" (Job, xxxviii. 33); all creatures have a law im-
printed on their beings; rational creatures have Divine statutes
copied in their heart : for men, it is clear (Rom. ii. 14), every son of
Adam, at his coming into the world, brings with him a law in his
nature, and when reason clears itself up from the clouds of sense, he
can make some diflPerence between good and evil ; discern something
of fit and just. Every man finds a law within him that checks him
if he ofiends it : none are without a legal indictment and a legal exe-
cutioner within them ; God or none was the Author of this as a
sovereign Lord, in establishing a law in man at the same time,
wherein, as an Almighty Creator, he imparted a being. This law
proceeds from God's general power of governing, as he is the Author
f
ON" GOD'S DOMINION. 889
of nature, and binds not barely as it is the reason of man, but by the
authority of God, as it is a law engraven on his conscience : and no
doubt but a law was given to the angels ; God did not govern those
intellectual creatures as he doth brutes, and in a way inferior to his
rule of man. Some sinned ; all might have sinned in regard to the
changeableness of their nature. Sin cannot be but against some
rule ; " where there is no law, there is no transgression ;" what that
law was is not revealed ; but certainly it must be the same in part
witli tlie moral law, so far as it agreed with their spiritual natures ;
a love to God, a worship of him, and a love to one another in their
societies and persons.
(3.) The dominion of God is manifest in the reason of some laws,
which seem to be nothing else than purely his own will. Some
laws there are for which a reason may be rendered from the nature
of the thing enjoined, as to love, honor, and worship God : for others,
none but this, God will, have it so : such was that positive law to Adam
of " not eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil" (Gen.
ii. 17), which was merely an asserting his own dominion, and was
different from that law of nature God had written in his heart. No
other reason of this seems to us, but a resolve to try man's obedience
in a way of absolute sovereignty, and to manifest his right over all
creatures, to reserve what he pleased to himself, and permit the use
of what he pleased to man, and to signifj- to man that he was to de-
pend on him, who was his Lord, and not on his own will. There
was no more hurt in itself, for Adam to have eaten of that, than of
any other in the garden ; the fruit was pleasant to the eye, and good
for food ; but God would show the right he had over his own goods,
and his authority over man, to reserve what he pleases of his own
creation from his touch ; and since man could not claim a propriety
in anything, he was to meddle with nothing but by the leave of his
Sovereign, either discovered by a special or general license. Thus
God showed himself the Lord of man, and that man was but his
steward, to act by his orders. If God had forbidden man the use
of more trees in the garden, his command had been just ; since, as a
sovereign Lord, he might dispose of his own goods ; and when he
had granted him the whole compass of that pleasant garden, and the
whole world round about for him and his posterity, it was a more
tolerable exercise of his dominion to reserve this "one tree," as a
mark of his sovereignty, when he had left " all others" to the use of
Adam. He reserved nothing to himself, as Lord of the manor, but
this ; and Adam was prohibited nothing else but this one, as a sign
of his subjection. Now for this no reason can be rendered by any
man but merely the will of God ; this Avas merely a fruit of his do-
minion. For the moral laws a reason may be rendered ; to love
God hath reason to enforce it besides God's will ; viz., the excellency
of his nature, and the greatness and multitudes of his benefits. To
love our neighbor hath enforcing reasons; viz.^ the conjunction in
blood, the preservation of human society, and the need we may
stand in of their love ourselves : but no reason can be assigned of
this positive command about the tree of knowledge of good and evil,
but the pleasure of God. It was a branch of his pure dominion to
390 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
but merely the pleasure of God. It was a brancli of liis pure dominion
to try man's obedience, and a mark of bis goodness to try it by so
and light a precept, when he might have extended his authority
further. Had not God given this or the like order, his absolute
dominion had not been so conspicuous. It is true, Adam had a law
of nature in him, whereby he was obliged to perpetual obedience ;
and though it was a part of God's dominion to implant it in him, yet
his supreme dominion over the creatures had not been so visible to
man but by this, or a precept of the same kind. What was com-
manded or prohibited by the law of nature, did bespeak a comeliness
in itself, it appeared good or evil to the reason of man ; but this was
neither good nor evil in itself, it received its sole authority from the
absolute will of God, and nothing could result from the fruit itself,
as a reason why man should not taste it, but only the sole will of
God. And as God's dominion was most conspicuous in this precept,
so man's obedience had been most eminent in observing it : for in
his obedience to it, nothing but the sole power and authority of God,
which is the proper rule of obedience, could have been respected, not
any reason from the thing itself. To this we may refer some other
commands, as that of appointing the time of solemn and public wor-
ship, the seventh day ; though the worship of God be a part of the
law of nature, yet the appointing a particular day, wherein he Avould
be more formally and solemnly acknowledged than on other days,
was grounded upon his absolute right of legislation : for there was
nothing in the time itself that could render that day more holy than
another, though God respected his " finishing the work of creation"
in his institution of that day (Gen. ii. 3). Such were the ceremonial
commands of sacrifices and washings under the law, and the com-
mands of sacraments under the gospel : the one to last till the first
coming of Christ and his passion ; the other to last till the second
coming of Christ and his triumph. Thus he made natural and un-
avoidable uncleannesses to be sins, and the touching a dead body to
be pollution, which in their own nature were not so.
(4.) The dominion of God appears in the moral law, and his
majesty in publishing it. As the law of nature was writ by his own
fingers in the nature of man, so it was engraven by his own finger
in the " tables of stone" (Exod. xxxi. 18), which is very emphatic-
ally expressed to be a mark of God's dominion, " And the tables
were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God en-
graven upon the tables" (Exod. xxxii. 16) ; and when the first tables
were broken, though he orders Moses to frame the tables, yet the
writing of the law he reserves to himself (Exod. xxxiv. 1). It is
not said of any part of the Scripture, that it was writ by the finger
of God, but only of the Decalogue : herein he would have his sov-
ereignty eminently appear ; it was published by God in state, with
a numerous attendance of his heavenly militia (Deut. xxxii. 2) ; and
the artillery of heaven was shot off at the solemnity ; and therefore
it is called a fiery law, coming from his right hand, i. e. his sovereign
power. It was published with all the marks of supreme majesty.
(5.) The dominion of God appears in the obligation of the law,
which reacheth the conscience. The laAvs of every prince are fram-
ON GOD'S DOMINION. 391
ed for tlie outward conditions of men ; they do not by their author-
ity bind the conscience ; and what obligations do result from them
upon the conscience, is either from their being the same immediately
with Divine laws, or as they are according to the just power of the
magistrate, founded on the law of God. Conscience hath a protec-
tion from the King of kings, and cannot be arrested by any human
power, God hath given man but an authority over half the man,
and the worst half too, that which is of an earthly original ; but re-
served the authority over the better and more heavenly half to him-
self. The dominion of earthly princes extends only to the bodies of
men ; they have no authority over the soul, their punishment and
rewards cannot reach it : and therefore their laws, by their single
authority, cannot bind it, but as they are coincident with the law of
God, or as the equity of them is subservient to the preservation of
human society, a regular and righteous thing, which is the divine
end in government ; and so they bind, as they have relation to God
as the supreme magistrate. The conscience is only intelligible to
God in its secret motions, and therefore only guidable by God ; God
only pierceth into the conscience by his eye, and therefore only can
conduct it by his rule. Man cannot tell whether we embrace this
law in our heart and consciences, or only in appearance ; " He only
can judge it" (Luke xii. 3, 4), and therefore he only can impose
laws upon it ; it is out of the reach of human penal authority, if
their laws be transgressed inwardly by it. Conscience is a book in
some sort as sacred as the Scripture ; no addition can be lawfully
made to it, no subtraction from it. Men cannot diminish the duty
of conscience, or raze out the law God hath stamped upon it. They
cannot put a supersedeas to the Avrit of conscience, or stop its mouth
with a noli prosequi. They can make no addition by their authority
to bind it ; it is a flower in the crown of Divine sovereignty only.
2. His sovereignty appears in a jDower of dispensing with his own
laws. It is as much a part of his dominion to dispense with his
laws, as to enjoin them ; he only hath the power of relaxing his
own right, no creature hath power to do it ; that would be to usurp
a superiority over him, and order above God himself. Repealing or
dispensing with the law is a branch of royal authority. It is true,
God will never dispense with those moral laws which have an eter-
nal reason in themselves and their own nature ; as for a creature to
fear, love, and honor God ; this would be to dispense with his own
holiness, and the righteousness of his nature, to sully the purity of
his own dominion ; it would write folly upon the first creation of
man after the image of God, by writing mutability upon himself, in
framing himself after the corrupted image of man ; it would null
and frustrate the excellency of the creature, wherein the image of
God mostly shines ; nay, it -would be to dispense with a creature's
being a Creator, and make him independent upon the Sovereign of
the world in moral obedience. But God hath a right to dispense
with the ordinary laws of nature in the inferior creatures ; he hath
a power to alter their course by an arrest of miracles, and make
them come short, or go beyond his ordinances established for them.
He hath a right to make the sun stand still, or move backward ; to
392 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
bind up the womb of the earth, and bar the influences of the clouds ;
bridle in the rage of the fire, and the fury of lions ; make the liquid
waters stand like a wall, or pull up the dam, which he hath set to
the sea, and command it to overflow the neighboring countries : he
can dispense with the natural laws of the whole creation, and strain
everything beyond its ordinary pitch. Positive laws he hath revers-
ed ; as the ceremonial law given to the Jews. The very nature, in-
deed, of that law required a repeal, and fell of course ; when that
which was intended by it was come, it was of no longer significancy ;
as before it was a useful shadow, it would afterwards have been an
empty one : had not God took away this, Christianity had not, in
all likelihood, been propagated among the Gentiles. This was the
" partition wall between Jews and Gentiles" (Eph. xii. 14) ; which
made them a distinct family from all the world, and was the occa-
sion of the enmity of the Gentiles against the Jews. "When God
had, by bringing in what was signified by those rites, declared his
decree for the ceasing of them ; and when the Jews, fond of those
Divine institutions, would not allow him the right of repealing what
he had the authority of enacting ; he resolved, for the asserting his
dominion, to bury them in the ruins of the temple and city, and
make them forever incapable of practising the main and essential
parts of them ; for the temple being the pillar of the legal service,
by demolishing that, God hath taken away their rights of sacrificing,
it being peculiarly annexed to that place ; they have no altar digni-
fied with a fire from heaven to consume their sacrifices, no legal
high-priest to offer them. God hath by his providence changed his
own law as well as by his precept ; yea, he hath gone higher, by virtue
of his sovereignty, and changed the whole scene and methods of his
government after the fall, from King Creator to King Kedeemer.
He hath revoked the law of works as a covenant ; released the
penalty of it from the believing sinner, by transferring it upon the
Surety, who interposed himself by his own will and Divine designa-
tion. He hath established another covenant upon other promises
in a higher root, with greater privileges, and easier terms. Had
not God had this right of sovereignty, not a man of Adam's pos-
terity could have been blessed ; he and they must have lain groan-
ing under the misery of the fall, which had rendered both himself
and all in his loins unable to observe the terms of the first covenant.
He hath, as some speak, dispensed with his own moral law in some
cases ; in commanding Abraham to sacrifice his son, his only son,
a righteous son, a son whereof he had the promise, that " in Isaac
should his seed be called ;" yet he was commanded to sacrifice him
by the right of his absolute sovereignty as the supreme Lord of the
lives of his creatures, from the highest angel to the lowest worm,
whereby he bound his subjects to this law, not himself. Our lives
are due to him when he calls for them, and they are a just forfeit
to him, at the very moment we sin, at the very moment we come
into the world, by reason of the venom of our nature against him,
and the disturbance the first sin of man (whereof we are inheritors)
gave to his glory. Had Abraham sacrificed his son of his own
head, he had sinned, yea, in attempting it; but being authorized
ON" god's dominion. 393
from heaven, his act was obedience to the Sovereign of the world,
who had a power to dispense with his own law ; and with this law
he had before dispensed, in the case of Cain's murder of Abel, as
to the immediate punishment of it with death, which, indeed, was
settled afterwards by his authority, but then omitted because of the
paucity of men, and for the peopling the world ; but settled after-
wards, when there was almost, though not altogether, the like occa-
sion of omitting it for a time.
3. His sovereignty appears in punishing the transgression of his
law.
(1.) This is a branch of God's dominion as lawgiver. So was the
vengeance God would take upon the Amalekites (Exod. xvii. 16) ;
" The Lord hath sworn, that the Lord will have war ;" the Hebrew
is, " The hand upon the throne of the Lord," as in the margin : as a
" lawgiver" he " saves or destroys" (James, iv. 12). He acts accord-
ing to his own law, in a congruity to the sanction of his own pre-
cepts ; though he be an arbitrary lawgiver, appointing what laws he
pleases, yet he is not an arbitrary judge. As he commands nothing
but what he hath a right to command, so he punisheth none but
whom he hath a right to punish, and with such punishment as the
law hath denounced. All his acts of justice and inflictions of curses
are the effects of this sovereign dominion (Ps. xxix. 10) : " He sits
King upon the floods ;" upon the deluge of waters wherewith he
drowned the world, say some. It is a right belonging to the au-
thority of magistrates to pull up the infectious weeds that corrupt a
commonwealth ; it is no less the right of God, as the lawgiver and
judge of all the earth, to subject criminals to his vengeance, after
they have rendered themselves abominable in his eyes, and carried
themselves unworthy subjects of so great and glorious a King. The
first name whereby God is made known in Scripture, is Elohim (Gen.
i. 1) : " In the beginning God created the heaven and earth ;" a
name which signifies his power of judging, in the opinion of some
critics ; from him it is derived to earthly magistrates ; their judg-
ment is said, therefore, to be the "judgment of God" (Deut. i. 17).
When Christ came, he proposed this great motive of repentance
from the "kingdom of heaven being at hand ;" the kingdom of his
grace, whereby to invite men ; the kingdom of his justice in the
punishment of the neglecters of it, whereby to terrify men. Punish-
ments as well as rewards belong to royalty ; it issued accordingly ;
those that believed and repented came under his gracious sceptre,
those that neglected and rejected it fell under his iron rod ; Jerusa-
lem Avas destroyed, the temple demolished, the inhabitants lost their
lives by the edge of the sword, or lingered them out in the chains of
a miserable captivity. This term of "judge," which signifies a
sovereign right to govern and punish delinquents, Abraham gives
him, when he came to root out the people of Sodom, and make them
the examples of his vengeance (Gen. xviii. 26).
(2.) Punishing the transgressions of his law. This is a necessary
branch of dominion. His sovereignty in making laws would be a
trifle, if there were not also an authority to vindicate those laws
from contempt and injury ; he would be a Lord only spurned at by
394 CHARNOCK ON" THE ATTRIBUTES.
rebels. Sovereignty is not preserved without justice. "When the
Psahnist speaks of the majesty of God's kingdom, he tells us, that
"righteousness and judgment arc the habitation of his throne" (Ps.
xcvii. 1, 2). These arc the engines of Divine dignity which render
him glorious and majestic. A legislative power would be tramj^led
on without executive ; by this the reverential apprehensions of God
are preserved in the world. He is known to be Lord of the world
"by the judgments which he executes" (Ps. ix. 16). When he
seems to have lost his dominion, or given it up in the world, he re-
covers it by punishment. When he takes some away " with a whirl-
wind, and in his wrath," the natural consequence men make of it, is
this : " Surely there is a God that judgeth the earth" (Ps. Iviii. 9, 11).
He reduceth the creature, by the lash of his judgments, that would
not acknowledge his authority in his precepts. Those sins which
disown his government in the heart and conscience, as pride, inward
blasphemy, &c., he hath reserved a time hereafter to reckon for. He
doth not presently shoot his arrows into the marrow of every delin-
quent, but those sins which traduce his government of the world,
and tear up the foundations of human converse, and a public respect
to him, he reckons with particularly here, as well as hereafter, that
the life of his sovereignty might not always faint in the world.
(3.) This of punishing was the second discovery of his dominion
in the world. His first act of sovereignty was the giving a law ; the
next, his appearance in the state of a judge. When his orders were
violated, he rescues the honor of them by an execution of justice.
He first judged the angels, punishing the evil ones for their crime :
the first court he kept among them as a governor, was to give them
a law ; the second court he kept was as a judge trying the delin-
quents, and adjudging the offenders to be "reserved in chains of
darkness" till the final execution (Jude, 6) ; and, at the same time
probably, he confirmed the good ones in their obedience by grace.
So the first discovery of his dominion to man, was the giving him a
precept, the next was the inflicting a punishment for the breach of
it. He summons Adam to the bar, indicts him for his crime, finds
him guilty by his own confession, and passeth sentence on him, ac-
cording to the rule he had before acquainted him with.
(4.) The means whereby he punisheth shows his dominion.
Sometimes he musters up hail and mildew ; sometimes he sends
regiments of wild beasts ; so he threatens Israel (Lev. xxvi. 22).
Sometimes he sends out a party of angels to beat up the quarters of
men, and make a carnage among them (2 Kings, xix. 35). Some-
times he mounts his thundering battery, and shoots forth his ammu-
nition from the clouds, as against the Philistines (1 Sam. vii. 10).
Sometimes he sends the slightest creatures to shame the pride and
punish the sin of man, as " lice, frogs, locusts," as upon the Egypt-
ians (Exod. viii. — x.).
Secondly. This dominion it manifested by God as a proprietor and
Lord of his creatures and his own goods. And this is evident,
1. In the choice of some persons from eternity. He hath set
apart some from eternity, wherein he will display the invincible effi-
cacy of his grace, and thereby infallibly bring them to the fruition
ON GOD'S DOMINION. 895
of glory (Epli. i. 4, 5) : " According as lie liath cliosen us in him be-
fore the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love, having predestinated us to the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure
of his will," Why doth he write some names in the "book of life,"
and leave out others ? Why doth he enrol some, whom he intends
to make denizens of heaven, and refuse to put others in his register ?
The apostle tells us, it is the pleasure of his will. You may render
a reason for many of God's actions, till you come to this, the top and
foundation of all ; and under what head of reason can man reduce
this act but to that of his royal prerogative? Why doth God save
some, and condemn others at last ? because of the faith of the one,
and unbelief of the other. Why do some men believe? because
God hath not only given them the means of grace, but accompanied
those means with the efficacy of his Spirit. Why did God accom-
pany those means with the efficacy of his Spirit in some, and not in
others ? because he had decreed by grace to prepare them for glory.
But why did he decree, or choose some, and not others ? Into what
will 3^ou resolve this but into his sovereign pleasure ? Salvation and
condemnation at the last upshot, are acts of God as the Judge, con-
formable to his own law of giving life to believers, and inflicting
death upon unbelievers ; for those a reason may be rendered ; but
the choice of some, and pretention of others, is an act of God as he
is a sovereign monarch, before any law was actually transgressed,
because not actually given. When a prince redeems a rebel, he acts
as a judge according to law ; but when he calls some out to pardon,
he acts as a sovereign by a prerogative above law ; into this the apos-
tle resolves it (Rom. ix. 13, 15). When he speaks of God's loving
Jacob and hating Esau, and that before they had done either good or
evil, it is, " because God will have mercy on whom he will have
mercy, and compassion on whom he will have compassion." Though
the first scope of the apostle, in the beginning of the chapter, was to
declare the reason of God's rejecting the Jews, and calling in the
Gentiles ; had he only intended to demolish the pride of the Jews,
and flat their opinion of merit, and aimed no higher than that pro-
vidential act of God ; he might, convincingly enough to the reason
of men, have argued from the justice of God, provoked by the ob-
stinacy of the Jews, and not have had recourse to his absolute will ;
but, since he asserts this latter, the strength of his argument seems to
lie thus : if God by his absolute sovereignty may resolve, and fix his
love upon Jacob and estrange it from Esau, or any other of his
creatures, before they have done good or evil, and man have no
ground to call his infinite majesty to account, may he not deal thus
with the Jews, when their demerit would be a bar to any complaints
of the creature against him 7s If God were considered here in the
quality of a judge, it had been fit to have considered the matter of
fact in the criminal ; but he is considered as a sovereign, rendering
no other reason of his action but his own will ; " whom he will he
hardens" (ver. 18). And then the apostle concludes (ver. 20), " AVho
art thou, O man, that repliest against God ?" K the reason drawn
8 Auayrald, Dissert, pp. 101, 102.
396 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
from God's sovereignty doth not satisfy in this inquiry, no other rea-
son can be found wherein to acquiesce : for the last condemnation
there will be sufficient reason to clear the justice of his proceedings.
But, in this case of election, no other reason but what is alleged, viz.,
the will of God, can be thought of, but what is liable to such knotty
exceptions that cannot well be untied.
(1.) It could not be any merit in the creature that might determine
God to choose him. If the decree of election falls not under the
merit of Christ's passion, as the procuring cause, it cannot fall under
the merit of any part of the corrupted mass. The decree of sending
Christ did not precede, but followed, in order of nature, the determi-
nation of choosing some. When men were chosen as the subjects
for glory, Christ was chosen as the means for the bringing them to
glory (Eph. i. 4) : " Chosen us in him, and predestinated us to the
adoption of children by Jesus Christ." The choice was not merely
in Christ as the moving cause ; that the apostle asserts to be " the
good pleasure of his will ;" but in Christ, as the means of conveying
to the chosen ones the fruits of their election. What could there be
in any man that could invite God to this act, or be a cause of dis-
tinction of one branch of Adam from another ? Were they not all
hewed out of the same rock, and tainted with the same corruption in
blood ? Had it been possible to invest them with a power of merit
at the first, had not that venom, contracted in their nature, degraded
all of power for the future ? What merit was there in any but of
wrathful punishment, since they were all considered as criminals,
and the cursed brood of an ungTateful rebel ? What dignity can
there be in the nature of the purest part of clay, to be made a vessel
of honor, more than in another part of clay, as pure as that which
was formed into a vessel for mean and sordid use ? What had any
one to move his mercy more than another, since they were all chil-
dren of wrath, and equally daubed with original guilt and filth ?
Had not all an equal proportion of it to provoke his justice ? What
merit is there in one dry bone more than another, to be inspired
with the breath of a spiritual life ? Did not all lie wallowing in their
own filthy blood ? and what could the steam and noisomeness of that
deserve at the hands of a pure Majesty, but to be cast into a sink
furthest from his sight ? Were they not all considered in this de-
plorable posture, with an equal proportion of poison in their nature,
when God first took his pen, and singled out some names to write in
the book of life ? It could not be merit in any one piece of this
abominable mass, that should stir up that resolution in God to set
apart this person for a vessel of glory, while he permitted another to
putrefy in his own gore. He loved Jacob, and hated Esau, though
they were both parts of the common mass, the seed of the same loins,
and lodged in the same womb.
(2.) Nor could it be any foresight of works to be done in time by
them, or of faith, that might determine God to choose them. What
good could he foresee resulting from extreme corruption, and a
nature alienated from him ? What could he foresee of good to be
done by them, but what he resolved in his own will, to bestow an
ability upon them to bring forth ? His choice of them was to a
ON god's DOMINION". 897
holiness, not for a holiness preceding liis determination (Eph. i. 4).
He liath chosen us, " that we might be holy" before him ; he ordain-
ed us " to good works," not for them (Eph. ii, 10). What is a fruit
cannot be a moving cause of that whereof it is a fruit : grace is a
stream from the spring of electing love ; the branch is not the cause
of the root, but the root of the branch ; nor the stream the cause of
the spring, but the spring the cause of the stream. Good works
suppose grace, and a good and right habit in the person, as rational
acts suppose reason. Can any man say that the rational acts man
performs after his creation were a cause why God created him ?
This would make creation, and everything else, not so much an act
of his will, as an act of his understanding. God foresaw no rational
act in man, before the act of his will to give him reason ; nor fore-
sees faith in any, before the act of his will determining to give him
faith : " Faith is the gift of God" (Eph. ii. 8). In the salvation
which grows up from this first purpose of God, he regards not the
works we have done, as a principal motive to settle the top-stone of
our happiness, but his own purpose, and the grace given in Christ ;
" who hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not accord-
ing to our own works, but according to his own purpose and grace,
which was given to us in Christ, before the world began" (2 Tim. i.
9). The honor of our salvation cannot be challenged by our works,
much less the honor of the foundation of it. It was a pure gift of
grace, without any respect to any spiritual, much less natural, per-
fection. Why should the apostle mention that circumstance, when
he speaks of God's loving Jacob, and hating Esau, " when neither
of them had done good or evil" (Kom. ix. 11), if there were any fore-
sight of men's works as the moving cause of his love or hatred?
God regarded not the works of either as the first cause of his choice,
but acted by his own liberty, without respect to any of their actions
which were to be done by them in time. If faith be the fruit of
election, the prescience of faith doth not influence the electing act of
God. It is called " the faith of God's elect" (Tit. i. 1) : " Paul, an
apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect ;" i. e.
settled in this ofiice to bring the elect of God to faith. If men be
chosen by God upon the foresight of faith, or not chosen till they
have faith, they are not so much God's elect, as God their elect ;
they choose God by faith, before God chooseth them by love : it had
not been the faith of God's elect, ^. e. of those already chosen, but
the faith of those that were to be chosen by God afterwards. Elec-
tion is the cause of faith, and not faith the cause of election ; fire is
the cause of heat, and not the heat of fire ; the sun is the cause of
the day, and not the day the cause of the rising of the sun. Men
are not chosen because they believe, but they believe because they
are chosen : the apostle did ill, else, to appropriate that to the elect
which they had no more interest in, by virtue of their election, than
the veriest reprobate in the world.^ If the foresight of what works
might be done by his creatures was the motive of his choosing them,
why did he not choose the devils to redemption, who could have
done him better service, by the strength of their nature, than the
^ Daille, in he.
398 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
whole mass of Adam's posterity ? Well, then, there is no possible
way to lay the original foundation of this act of election and preteri-
tiou in anything but the absolute sovereignty of God. Justice or in-
justice comes not into consideration in this case. There is no debt
which justice or injustice always respects in its acting : if he had
pleased, he might have chosen all ; if he had pleased, he might have
chosen none. It was in his supreme power to have resolved to have
left all Adam's posterity under the rack of his justice ; if he deter-
mined to snatch out any, it was a part of his dominion, but without
any injury to the creatures he leaves under their own guilt. Did he
not pass by the angels, and take man ? and, by the same right of
dominion, may he pick out some men from the common mass, and
lay aside others to bear the punishment of their crimes. Are they
not all his subjects ? all are his criminals, and may be dealt with at
the pleasure of their undoubted Lord and Sovereign. This is a work
of arbitrary power ; since he might have chosen none, or chosen all,
as he saw good himself It is at the liberty of the artificer to deter-
mine his wood or stone to such a figure, that of a prince, or that of
a toad ; and his materials have no right to complain of him, since it
lies wholly upon his own liberty. They must have little sense of
their own vileness, and God's infinite excellency above them by
right of creation, that will contend that God hath a lesser right over
his creatures than an artificer over his wood or stone. If it were at
his liberty whether to redeem man, or send Christ upon such an un-
dertaking, it is as much at his liberty, and the prerogative is to be
allowed him, what person he will resolve to make capable of enjoy-
ing the fruits of that redemption. One man was as fit a subject for
mercy as another, as they all lay in their original guilt : why would
not Divine mercy cast its eye upon this man, as well as upon his
neighbor ? There was no cause in the creature, but all in God ; it
must be resolved into his own will : yet not into a will without wis-
dom. God did not choose hand over head, and act by mere will,
without reason and understanding ; an Infinite Wisdom is far from
such a kind of procedure ; but the reason of God is inscrutable to us,
unless we could understand God as well as he understands himself;
the whole ground lies in God himself, no part of it in the creature ;
" not in him that wills, nor in him that runs, but in God that shows
mercy" (Rom. ix. 15, 16). Since God hath revealed no other cause
than his will, we can resolve it into no other than his sovereign em-
pire over all creatures. It is not without a stop to our curiosity,
that in the same place where God asserts the absolute sovereignty
of his mercy to Moses, he tells him he could not see his face : "I
will be gracious to whom I will be gracious ;" and he said, " Thou
canst not see my face" (Exod. xxxiii. 19, 20) : the rays of his infinite
wisdom are too bright and dazzling for our weakness. The apostle
acknowledged not only a wisdom in this proceeding, but a riches
and treasure of wisdom ; not only that, but a depth and vastness of
those riches of wisdom ; but was unable to give us an inventory and
scheme of it (Rom. xi. 33). The secrets of his counsels are too deep
for us to wade into ; in attempting to know the reason of those acts,
we should find ourselves swallowed up into a bottomless gulf : though
ON GOD'S DOMINIOlSr. 399
the understanding be above our capacity, yet tbe admiration of his
authority and submission to it are not. " We should cast ourselves
down at his feet, with a full resignation of ourselves to his sovereign
pleasure."' This is a more comely carriage in a Christian than all
the contep-tious endeavors to measure God by our line.
2. In bestowing grace where he pleases. God in conversion
and pardon works not as a natural agent, putting forth strength to
the utmost, which God must do, if he did renew man naturall}^, as
the sun shines, and the fire burns, Avhich always act, ad extremum
virium, unless a cloud interpose to eclipse the one, and water to ex-
tinguish the other. But God acts as a voluntary agent, which can
freely exert his power when he please, and suspend it when he
please. Though God be necessarily good, yet he is not necessitated
to manifest all the treasures of his goodness to every subject ; he
hath power to distil his dews upon one part, and not upon another.
If he were necessitated to express his goodness without a liberty, no
thanks were due to him. Who thanks the sun for shining on him,
or the fire for warming him ? None ; because they are necessary
agents, and can do no other. What is the reason he did not reach
out his hand to keep all the angels from sinking, as well as some, or
recover them when they were sunk ? What is the reason he en-
grafts one man into the true Vine, and lets the other remain a wild
olive ? Why is not the efficacy of the Spirit always linked with the
motions of the Spirit? Why does he not mould the heart into a
gospel frame when he fills the ear with a gospel sound ? Why doth
he strike off the chains from some, and tear the veil from the heart,
while he leaves others under their natural slavery and Egyptian
darkness ? Why do some lie under the bands of death, while an-
other is raised to a spiritual life ? What reason is there for all this
but his absolute will? The apostle resolves the question, if the
question be asked, why he begets one and not another ? Not from
the will of the creature, but " his own will," is the determination of
one (James, i. 18). Why doth he work in one "to will and to do,"
and not in another? Because^of "his good pleasure," is the an-
swer of another (Phil. ii. 13). He could as well new create every
one, as he at first created them, and make grace as universal as na-
ture and reason, but it is not his pleasure so to do.
(1.) It is not from want of strength in himself. The power of
God is unquestionably able to strike off the chains of unbelief from
all ; he could surmount the obstinacy of every child of wrath, and
inspire every son of Adam with faith as well as Adam himself. He
wants not a virtue superior to the greatest resistance of his creature ;
a victorious beam of light might be shot into their understandings,
and a flood of grace might overspread their wills with one word of
his mouth, without putting forth the utmost of his power. What
hindrance could there be in any created spirit, which cannot be
easily pierced into and new moulded by the Father of spirits ? Yet
he only breathes this ef&cacious virtue into some, and leaves others
under that insensibility and hardness which they love, and suffer
them to continue in their benighting ignorance, and consume them-
• Tills was Dr. Goodwin's speech when he was in trouble.
400 CHAKNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
selves in the embraces of their dear, though deceitful Delilahs. He
could have conquered the resistance of the Jews, as well as chased
away the darkness and ignorance of the Gentiles. No doubt but he
could overpower the heart of the most malicious devil, as well as
that of the simplest and weakest man. But the breath of the Al-
mighty Spirit is in his own power, to breathe " where he lists"
(John, iii. 8). It is at his liberty whether he will give to any the
feelings of the invincible ef&cacy of his grace ; he did not want
strength to have kept man as firm as a rock against the temptation
of Satan, and poured in such fortifying grace, as to have made him
impregnable against the powers of hell, as well as he did secure the
standing of the angels against the sedition of their fellows : but it
was his will to permit it to be otherwise.
(2.) Nor is it from any prerogative in the creature. He converts
not any for their natural perfection, because he seizeth upon the
most ignorant ; nor for their moral perfection, because he converts
the most sinful ; nor for their civil perfection, because he turns the
most despicable.
[1.] Not for their natural perfection of knowledge. He opened
the minds and hearts of the more ignorant. Were the nature of
the Gentiles better manured than that of the Jews, or did the ta-
pers of their understandings burn clearer ? No ; the one were skilled
in the prophecies of the Messiah, and might have compared the pre-
dictions they owned with the actions and sufferings of Christ, which
they were spectators of. He let alone those that had expectations
of the Messiah, and expectations about the time of Christ's appear-
ance, both grounded upon the oracles wherewith he had entrusted
them. The Gentiles were unacquainted with the prophets, and
therefore destitute of the expectations of the Messiah (Eph. ii. 12) :
they were "without Christ;" without any revelation of Christ, be-
cause "aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the
covenant of promise, having no hope, and without God in the
world," without any knowledge of God, or promises of Christ. The
Jews might sooner, in a way of reason, have been wrought upon
than the Gentiles, who were ignorant of the prophets, by whose
writings they might have examined the truth of the apostles' decla-
rations. Thus are they refused that were the kindred of Christ, ac-
cording to the flesh, and the Gentiles, that were at a greater distance
from him, brought in by God ; thus he catcheth not at the subtle and
mighty devils, who had an original in spiritual nature more like to
him, but at weak and simple man.
[2.] Not for any moral perfection, because he converts the most
sinful : the Gentiles, steeped in idolatry and superstition. He sow-
ed more faith among the Romans than in Jerusalem ; more faith in
a city that was the common sewer of all the idolatry of the nations
conquered by them, than in that city which had so signally been
owned by him, and had not practised any idolatry since the Baby-
lonish captivity. He planted saintship at Corinth, a place notorious
for the infamous worship of Venus, a superstition attended with the
grossest uncleanness ; at Ephesus, that presented the whole world
with a cup of fornication in their temple of Diana ; among the Colos-
ON GOD'S DOMINION. 401
sians, votaries to Cybele in a manner of worship attended with
beastly and lascivious ceremonies. And what character had the
Cretians from one of their own poets, mentioned by the apostle to
Titus, whom he had placed among them to further the progress of
the gospel, but the vilest and most abominable ? (Titus i. 12) :
" liars," not to be credited ; " evil beasts," not to be associated with ;
" slow bellies," fit for no service. What prerogative was there in
the nature of such putrefaction ? as much as in that of a toad to be
elevated to the dignity of an angel. What steam from such dung-
hills could be welcome to him, and move him to cast his eye on
them, and sweeten them from heaven ? What treasures of worth were
here to open the treasures of his grace ! Were such filthy snuffs fit
of themselves to be kindled by, and become a lodging for, a gospel
beam ? What invitements could he have from lying, beastliness,
gluttony, but only from his own sovereignty ? By this he plucked
firebrands out of the fire, while he left straighter and more comely
sticks to consume to ashes.
[3.] Not for any civil perfection, because he turns the most des-
picable. He elevates not nature to grace upon the account of wealth,
honor, or any civil station in the world : he dispenseth not ordi-
narily those treasures to those that the mistaken world foolishly ad-
mire and dote upon (1 Cor. i. 26) ; "Not many mighty, not many
noble :" a purple robe is not usually decked with this jewel ; he takes
more of mouldy clay than refined dust to cast into his image, and
lodges his treasures more in the earthly vessels than in the world's
golden ones ; he gives out his richest doles to those that are the
scorn and reproach of the world. Should he impart his grace most
to those that abound in wealth or honor, it had been some founda-
tion for a conception that he had been moved by those vulgarly es-
teemed excellencies to indulge them more than others. But such a
conceit languisheth when we behold the subjects of his grace as void
originally of any allurements, as they are full of provocations.
Hereby he declares himself free from all created engagements, and
that he is not led by any external motives in the object.
[4.] It is not from any obligation which lies upon him. He is in-
debted to none : disobliged by all. No man deserves from him any
act of grace, but every man deserves what the most deplorable are
left to suffer. He is obliged by the children of wrath to nothing else
but showers of wrath ; owes no more a debt to fallen man, than to
fallen devils, to restore them to their first station by a superlative
grace. How was he more bound to restore them, than he was to
preserve them ; to catch them after they fell, than to put a bar in
the way of their falling? God, as a sovereign, gave laws to men,
and a strength sufficient to keep those laws. What obligation is
there upon God to repair that strength man wilfully lost, and extract
him out of that condition into which he voluntarily plunged him-
self? What if man sinned by temptation, which is a reason alleged
by some, might not many of the devils do so too ? Though there
was a first of them that sinned without a temptation, yet many of
them might be seduced into rebellion by the ringleader. Upon that
account he is no more bound to give grace to all men, than to devils.
VOL, II. — 26
402 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
If lie promised life upon obedience, lie threatened deatli upon trans-
gression. By man's disobedience God is quit of his promise, and
owes nothing but punishment upon the violation of his law. Indeed
man may pretend to a claim of sufficient strength from him by crea-
tion, as God is the author of nature, and he had it ; but since he hath
extinguished it by his sin, he cannot in the least pretend any obliga-
tion on God for a new strength. If it be a " perad venture" whether
he will " give repentance," as it is 2 Tim. ii. 25, there is no tie in
the case ; a tie would put it beyond a perad venture with a God that
never forfeited his obligation. No husbandman thinks himself
obliged to bestow cost and pains, manure and tillage, upon one field
more than another ; though the nature of the ground may require
more, yet he is at his liberty whether he will expend more upon one
than another."^ He may let it lie fallow as long as he please.
God is less obliged to till and prune his creatures, than man is obliged
to his field or trees. If a king proclaim a pardon to a company of
rebels, upon the condition of each of them paying such a sum of
money ; their estates before were capable of satisfying the condition,
but their rebellion hath reduced them to an indigent condition ; the
proclamation itself is an act of grace, the condition required is not
impossible in itself : the prince, out of a tenderness to some, sends
them that sum of moue}^, he hath by his proclamation obliged them
to pay, and thereby enabled them to answer the condition he re-
quires ; the first he doth by a sovereign authority, the second he
doth by a sovereign bounty. He was obliged to neither of them ;
punishment was a debt due to all of them ; if he would remit it upon
condition, he did relax his sovereign right ; and if he would by his
largess make any of them capable to fulfil the condition, by sending
them presently a sufficient sum to pay the fine, he acted as proprie-
tor of his own goods, to dispose of them in such a quantity to those
to whom he was not obliged to bestow a mite.
[5.] It must therefore be an act of his mere sovereignty. This
can only sit arbitrator in every gracious act. Why did he give
grace to Abel and not to Cain, since they both lay in the same
womb, and equally derived from their parents a taint in their na-
ture ; but that he would show a standing example of his sovereignty
to the future ages of the world in the first posterity of man ? Why
did he give grace to Abraham, and separate him from his idolatrous
kindred, to dignify him to be the root of the Messiah? Why did
he confine his promise to Isaac, and not extend it to Ishmael, the
seed of the same Abraham by Hagar, or to the children he had by
Keturah after Sarah's death ? What reason can be alleged for this but
his sovereign will ? Why did he not give the fallen angels a moment
of repentance after their sin, but condemned them to irrevocable
pains ? Is it not as free for him to give grace to whom he please, as
create what worlds he please ; to form this corrupted clay into his
own image, as to take such a parcel of dust from all the rest of the
creation whereof to compact Adam's body ? Hath he not as much
jurisdiction over the sinful mass of his creatures in a new creation,
as he had oyer the chaos in the old ? And what reason can be ren-
^ Claude, sur la Parabole des Noces, p. 29.
ON GOD'S DOMINION. 408
dered, of his advancing tliis part of matter to tlie nobler dignity of a
star, and leaving that other part to make up the dark body of the
eft,rth ; to compact one part into a glorious sun, and another part
into a hard rock, but his royal prerogative ? What is the reason a
prince subjects one malefactor to punishment, and lifts up another to
a place of trust and profit ? that Pharaoh honored the butler with
an attendance on his person, and remitted the baker to the hands of the
executioner ? It was his pleasure. And is not as great right due to God,
as is allowed to the worms of the earth ? What is the reason he
hardens a Pharaoh, by a denjdng him that grace which should mol-
lify him, and allows it to another ? It is because he will. " Whom
he will he hardens" (Rom. ix. 18). Hath not man the liberty to pull
up the sluice, and let the water run into what part of the ground he
pleases ? What is the reason some have not a heart to understand
the beauty of his ways ? Because the Lord doth not give it them
(Deut. xxix. 4). Why doth he not give all his converts an equal
measure of his sanctifying grace ? some have mites and some have
treasures. Why doth he give his grace to some sooner, to some
later ? some are inspired in their infancy, others not till a full age,
and after ; some not till they have fallen into some gross sin, as Paul ;
some betimes, that they may do him service : others later, as the
thief upon the cross, and presently snatcheth them out of the world ?
Some are weaker, some stronger in nature, some more beautiful and
lovely, others more uncomely and sluggish. It is so in supernatu-
rals. What reason is there for this, but his own will ? This is in-
stead of all that can be assigned on the part of God. He is the free
disposer of his own goods, and as a Father may give a greater portion
to one child than to another. And what reason of complaint is there
against God? may not a toad complain that God did not make it
a man, and give it a portion of reason ? or a fly complain that God
did not make it an angel, and give it a garment of light ; had they
but any spark of understanding ; as well as man complain that God
did not give him grace as well as another ? Unless he sincerely de-
sired it, and then was denied it, he might complain of God, though
not as a sovereign, yet as a promiser of grace to them that ask it.
God doth not render his sovereignty formidable ; he shuts not up
his throne of grace from any that seek him ; he invites man ; his
arms are open, and the sceptre stretched out ; and no man continues
under the arrest of his lusts, but he that is unwilling to be other-
wise, and such a one hath no reason to complain of God.
8. His sovereignty is manifest in disposing the means of grace to
some, not to all. He hath caused the sun to shine bright in one
place, while he hath left others benighted and deluded by the devil's
oracles. Why do the evangelical dews fall in this or that place, and
not in another ? Why was the gospel published in Rome so soon,
and not in Tartary ? Why hath it been extinguished in some places,
as soon almost as it had been kindled in them ? Why hath one
place been honored with the beams of it in one age, and been
covered with darkness the next ? One country hath been made a
sphere for this star, that directs to Christ, to move in ; and after-
wards it hath been taken away, and placed in another ; sometimes
404 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTEIBDTES.
more clearly it hatli shone, sometimes more darkly, in tbe same
place ; what is the reason of this ? It is true something of it may be
referred to the justice of God, but much more to the sovereignty df
God. That the gospel is published later, and not sooner, the apostle
tell us is "according to the commandment of the everlasting God"
(Rom. xvi. 26).
(1.) The means of grace, after the families from Adam became dis-
tinct, were never granted to all the world. After that fatal breach in
Adam's family by the death of Abel, and Cain's separation, we read
not of the means of grace continued among Cain's posterity ; it seems
to be continued in Adam's sole family, and not published in societies
till the time of Seth. " Then began men to call upon the name of
the Lord" (Gen. iv. 26). It was continued in that family till the
deluge, which was 1523 years after the creation, according to some,
or 1656 years, according to others. After that, when the world de-
generated, it was communicated to Abraham, and settled in the pos-
terity that descended from Jacob ; though he left not the world with-
out a witness of himself, and some sprinklings of revelations in other
parts, as appears by the Book of Job, and the discourses of his
friends.
(2.) The Jews had this privilege granted them above other nations,
to have a clearer revelation of God. God separated them from all
the world to honor them with the depositum of his oracles (Eom. iii.
2) : " To them were committed the oracles of God." In which re-
gard all other nations are said to be " without God" (Eph. ii. 12), as
being destitute of so great a privilege. The Spirit blew in Canaan
when the lands about it felt not the saving breath of it. " He hath
not dealt so with any nation ; and as for his judgments, they have
not known them" (Ps, cxlvii. 20). The rest had no warnings from
the prophets, no dictates from heaven, but what they had by the light
of nature, the view of the works of creation, and the administration
of Providence, and what remained among them of some ancient tradi-
tions derived from Noah, which, in tract of time, were much defaced.
We read but of one Jonah sent to Nineveh, but frequent alarms to
the Israelites by a multitude of prophets commissioned by God. It
is true, the door of the Jewish church was open to what proselytes
would enter themselves, and embrace their religion and worship ;
but there was no public proclamation made in the world ; only God,
by his miracles in their deliverance from Egypt (which could not but
be famous among all the neighbor nations), declared them to be
a people favored by heaven : but the tradition from Adam and Noah
was not publicly revived by God in other parts, and raised from that
grave of forgetfulness wherein it had lain so long buried. Was there
any reason in them for this indulgence ? God might have been as
liberal to any other nation, yea, to all the nations in the world, if it
had been his sovereign pleasure : any other people were as fit to be
entrusted with his oracles, and be subjects for his worship, as that
people ; yet all other nations, till the rejection of the Jews, because
of their rejection of Christ, were strangers from the covenant of
promise. These people were part of the common mass of the world :
they had no prerogative in nature above Adam's posterity. Were
ON GOD'S DOMINION. 405
tliey the extract of an innocent part of his loins, and all the other
nations drained out of his putrefaction ? Had the blood of Abraham,
from whom they were more immediately descended, any more pre-
cious tincture than the rest of mankind ? They, as well as other
nations, were made of "one blood" (Acts xvii, 26); and that cor-
rupted both in the spring and in the rivulets. Were they better than
other nations, when God first drew them out of their slavery ? We
have Joshua's authority for it, that they had complied with the Egypt-
ian idolatry, "and served other gods," in that place of their servi-
tude (Josh. xxiv. 14). Had they had an abhorrency of the supersti-
tion of Egypt, while they remained there, they could not so soon
have erected a golden calf for worship, in imitation of the Egyptian
idols. All the rest of mankind had as inviting reasons to present
God with, as those people had. God might have granted the same
privilege to all the world, as well as to them, or denied it them, and
endowed all the rest of the world with his statutes : but the enrich-
ing such a small company of people with his Divine showers, and
leaving the rest of the world as a barren wilderness in spirituals, can
be placed upon no other account originally than that of his unaccount-
able sovereignty, of his love to them : there was nothing in them to
merit such high titles from God as his first-born, his peculiar treas-
ure, the apple of his eye. He disclaims any righteousness in them,
and speaks a word sufficient to damp such thoughts in them, by
charging them with their wickedness, while he " loaded them with
his benefits" (Deut. ix. 4, 6). The Lord " gives thee not" this land
for " thy righteousness ;" for thou art a stiff-necked people. It was
an act of God's free pleasure to " choose them to be a people to him-
self" (Deut. vii. 6).
(3.) God afterwards rejected the Jews, gave them up to the hard-
ness of their hearts, and spread the gospel among the Gentiles. He
hath cast off the children of the kingdom, those that had been en-
rolled for his subjects for many ages, who seemed, by their descent
from Abraham, to have a right to the privileges of Abraham ; and
called men from the east and from the west, from the darkest cor-
ners in the world, to " sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in
the kingdom of heaven," i. e. to partake with them of the promises
of the gospel (Matt. viii. 11). The people that were accounted ac-
cursed by the Jews enjoy the means of grace, which have been hid
from those that were once dignified this 1600 years ; that they have
neither ephod, nor teraphim, nor sacrifice, nor any true worship of
God among them (Hos. iii. 4). Why he should not give them grace
to acknowledge and own the person of the Messiah, to whom he had
made the promises of him for so many successive ages, but let their
" heart be fat," and " their ears heavy" (Isa. vi. 10) ? — why the gos-
pel at length, after the resurrection of Christ, should be presented to
the Gentiles, not by chance, but pursuant to the resolution and pre-
diction of God, declared by the prophets that it should be so in time ?
— why he should let so many hundreds of years pass over, after the
world was peopled, and let the nations all that while soak in their
idolatrous customs ? — why he should not call the Gentiles without
rejecting the Jews, and bind them both up together in the bundle of
406 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
life ? — wliy lie should acquaint some people witli it a little after the
publishing it in Jerusalem, by the descent of the Spirit, and others
not a long time after ? — some in the first ages of Christianity enjoyed
it ; others have it not, as those in America, till the last age of the
world ; — can be referred to nothing but his sovereign pleasure. What
merit can be discovered in the Gentiles ? There is something of jus-
tice in the case of the Jews' rejection, nothing but sovereignty in the
Gentiles' reception into the church. If the Jews were bad, the Gen-
tiles were in some sort worse : the Jews owned the one true God,
without mixture of idols, though they owned not the Messiah in his
appearance, which they did in a promise ; but the Gentiles owned
neither the one nor the other. Some tell us, it was for the merit of
some of their ancestors. How comes the means of grace, then, to
be taken from the Jew, who had (if any people ever had) meritori-
ous ancestors for a plea ? If the merit of some of their former pro-
genitors were the cause, what was the reason the debt due to their
merit was not paid to their immediate progeny, or to themselves, but
to a posterity so distant from them, and so abominably depraved as
the Gentile world was at the day of the gospel-sun striking into their
horizon ? What merit might be in their ancestors (if any could be
supposed in the most refined rubbish), it was so little for themselves,
that no oil could be spared out of their lamps for others. What
merit their ancestors might have, might be forfeited by the succeed-
ing generations. It is ordinarily seen, that what honor a father de-
serves in a state for public service, may be lost by the son, forfeited
by treason, and himself attainted. Or was it out of a foresight that
the Gentiles would embrace it, and the Jews reject it ; that the Gen-
tiles would embrace it in one place, and not in another ? How did
God foresee it, but in his own grace, which he was resolved to dis-
play in one, not in another ? It must be then still resolved into his
sovereign pleasure. Or did he foresee it in their wills and nature ?
What, were they not all one common dross ? Was any part of Adam,
by nature, better than another ? How did God foresee that which
was not, nor could be, without his pleasure to give ability, and grace
to receive ? Well, then, what reason but the sovereign pleasure of
God can be alleged, why Christ forbade the apostles, at their first
commission, to preach to the Gentiles (Matt. x. 15), but, at the sec-
ond and standing commission, orders them to preach to "every crea-
ture ?" Why did he put a demur to the resolutions of Paul and
Timothy, to impart light to Bithynia, or order them to go into Mace-
donia ? Was that country more worthy upon whom lay a great
part of the blood of the world shed in Alexander's time (Acts xvi.
6, 7, 9, 10) ? Why should Corazin and Bethsaida enjoy those means
that were not granted to the Tyrians and Sidonians, who might prob-
ably have sooner reached out their arms to welcome it (Matt. xi. 21) ?
Why should God send the gospel into our island, and cause it to
flourish so long here, and not send it, or continue it, in the farthest
eastern parts of the world ? Why should the very profession of
Christianity possess so small a compass of ground in the world, but
five parts in thirty, the Mahometans holding six parts, and the other
nineteen overgrown with Paganism, where either the gospel was
ON GOD'S DOMINION". 407
never planted, or else since rooted up ? To whom will you refer
this, but to the same cause our Saviour doth the revelation of the
gospel to babes, and not to the wise — even to his Father ? " For so
it seemed good in thy sight" (Matt. xi. 25, 26) ; " For so was thy
good pleasure before thee" (as in the original) ; it is at his pleasure
whether he will give any a clear revelation of his gospel, or leave
them only to the light of nature. He could have kept up the first
beam of the gospel in the promise in all nations among the aposta-
sies of Adam's posterity, or renewed it in all nations when it began
to be darkened, as well as he first published it to Adam after his fall ;
but it was his sovereign pleasure to permit it to be obscured in one
place, and to keep it lighted in another.
4. His sovereignty is manifest in the various influences of the
means of grace. He saith to these waters of the sanctuary, as to the
floods of the sea, " Hitherto you shall go, and no further." Some-
times they wash away the filth of the flesh and outward man, but
not that of the spirit ; the gospel spiritualizeth some, and only
moralizeth others ; some are by the power of it struck down to con-
viction, but not raised up to conversion ; some have only the gleams
of it in their consciences, and others more powerful flashes ; some
remain in their thick darkness under the beaming of the gospel every
day in their face, and after a long insensibleness are roused by its
light and warmth ; sometimes there is such a powerful breath in it,
that it levels the haughty imaginations of men, and lays them at its
feet that before strutted against it in the pride of their heart. The
foundation of this is not in the gospel itself, which is always the
same, nor in the ordinances, which are channels as sound at one
time as at another, but Divine sovereignty that spirits them as he
pleaseth, and " blows when and where it lists." It has sometimes
conquered its thousands (Acts, ii. 41) ; at another time scarce its tens ;
sometimes the harvest hath been great, when the laborers have been
but fcAV ; at another time it hath been small, when the laborers have
been many ; sometimes whole sheaves ; at another time scarce glean-
ings. The evangelical net hath been sometimes full at a cast, and at
every cast ; at another time many have labored all night, and day
too, and catched nothing (Acts, ii. 47) : " The Lord added to the
church daily." The gospel chariot doth not always return with cap-
tives chained to the sides of it, but sometimes blurred and reproach-
ed, wearing the marks of hell's spite, instead of imprinting the
marks of its own beauty. In Corinth it triumphed over many
people (Acts, xviii. 10) ; in Athens it is mocked, and gathers but a
few clusters (Acts, xvii. 32, 34). God keeps the key of the heart,
as well as of the womb. The apostles had a power of publishing
the gospel, and working miracles, but under the Divine conduct ; it
was an instrumentality durante bene pJacito^ and as God saw it con-
venient. Miracles were not vipon every occasion allowed to them
to be wrought, nor success upon every administration granted to
them ; God sometimes lent them the key, but to take out no more
treasure than was allotted to them. There is a variety in the time of
gospel operation ; some rise out of their graves of sin, and beds of
sluggishness, at the first appearance of this sun ; others lie snorting
408 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
longer. Why dotli not God spirit it at one season as well as at
another, but set his distinct periods of time, but because he will show
his absolute freedom ? And do we not sometimes experiment that
after tlie most solemn preparations of the heart, we are frustrated of
those incomes we expected ? Perhaps it was because we tliought
Divine returns were due to our preparations, and God stops up the
channel, and we return drier than we came, that God may confute
our false opinion, and preserve the honor of his own sovereignty.
Sometimes we leap with John Baptist in the womb at the appear-
ance of Ciirist ; sometimes we lie upon a lazy bed when he knocks
from heaven ; sometimes the fleece is dry, and sometimes wet, and
God withholds to drop down his dew of the morning upon it. The
dews of his word, as well as the droppings of the clouds, belong to
his royalty; light will not shine into the heart, though it shine round
about us, without the sovereign order of that God " who command-
ed light to shine out of the darkness" of the chaos (2 Cor. iv. 6).
And is it not seen also in regard of the refreshing influences of the
word ? sometimes the strongest arguments, and clearest promises,
prevail nothing towards the quelling black and despairing imagi-
nations ; when, afterwards, we have found them frighted away
by an unexpected word, that seemed to have less virtue in it itself
than any that passed in vain before it. The reasonings of wisdom
have dropped down like arrows against a brazen wall, when the
speech of a weaker person hath found an efiicacy. It is God by his
sovereignty spirits one word and not another ; sometimes a secret
word comes in, which was not thought of before, as dropped from
heaven, and gives a refreshing, when emptiness was found in all the
rest. One word from the lips of a sovereign prince is a greater cordial
than all the harangues of subjects without it ; what is the reason of
this variety, but that God would increase the proofs of his own sover-
eignty ? that as it was a part of his dominion to create the beauty
of a world, so it is no less to create the peace as well as the grace of
the heart (Isa. Ivii. 19): " I create the fruit of the lips, peace." Let
us learn from hence to have adoring thoughts of, not murmuring
fancies against, the sovereignty of God; to acknowledge it with
thankfulness in what we have ; to implore it with a holy submission
in what we want. To own God as a sovereign in a way of depend-
ence, is the way to be owned by him as subjects in a way of favor.
5. His sovereignty is manifested in giving a greater measure of
knowledge to some than to others. What parts, gifts, excellency of
nature, any have above others, are God's donative ; " He gives wis-
dom to the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding"
(Dan. ii. 21) ; wisdom, the habit, and knowledge, the right use of it,
in discerning the right nature of objects, and the fitness of means
conducing to the end ; all is but a beam of Divine light ; and the
different degrees of knowledge in one man above another, are the
effects of his sovereign pleasure. He enlightens not the minds of
all men to know every part of his will ; one " eats with a doubtful
conscience," another in " faith," without any staggering (Rom. xiv.
2). Peter had a desire to keep up circumcision, not fully understand-
ing the mind of God in the abolition of the Jewish ceremonies ;
ON GOD'S DOMINION". 409
wliile Paul was clear in the truth of that doctrine. A thought comes
into our mind that, like a sunbeam, makes a Scripture truth visible
in a moment, which before we were poring upon without any suc-
cess ; this is from his pleasure. One in the primitive times had the
gift of knowledge, another of wisdom, one the gift of prophecy,
another of tongues, one the gift of healing, another that of discern-
ing spirits ; why this gift to one man, and not to another ? Why
such a distribution in several subjects ? Because it is his sovereign
pleasure. " The Spirit divides to every man severally as he will"
(1 Cor. xii. 11). Why doth he give Bezaleel and Aholiab the gift
of engraving, and making curious works for the tabernacle (Exod.
xxxi. 3), and not others? Why doth he bestow the treasures of
evangelical knowledge upon the meanest of earthen vessels, the poor
Galileans, and neglect the Pharisees, stored with the knowledge both
of naturals and morals? Why did he give to some, and not to
others, " to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven ?" (Matt.
xiii. 11.) The reason is implied in the words, " Because it was the
mystery of his kingdom," and tlierefore was the act of his sover-
eignty. How would it be a kingdom and monarchy if the govern-
or of it were bound to do what he did ? It is to be resolved only
into the sovereign right of propriety of his own goods, that he fur-
nisheth babes with a stock of knowledge, and leaves the wise and
prudent empty of it (Matt. xi. 26) : " Even so. Father : for so it
seemed good in thy sight." Why did he not reveal his mind to Eli,
a grown man, and in the highest office in the Jewish church, but
open it to Samuel, a stripling ? why did the Lord go from the one to
the other ? Because his motion depends upon his own will. Some
are of so dull a constitution, that they are incapable of any impres-
sion, like rocks too hard for a stamp ; others like water ; you may
stamp what you please, but it vanisheth as soon as the seal is re-
moved. It is God forms men as he pleaseth : some have parts to
govern a kingdom, others scarce brains to conduct their own afi'airs ;
one is fit to rule men, and another scarce fit to keep swine ; some
have capacious souls in crazy and deformed bodies, others contracted
spirits and heavier minds in a richer and more beautiful case. Why
are not all stones alike ? some have a more sparkling light, as gems,
more orient than pebbles ; — some are stars of first, and others of a
less magnitude ; others as mean as glow-worms, a slimy lustre : — it
is because he is the sovereign Disposer of what belongs to him ; and
gives here, as well as at the resurrection, to one "a glory of the sun;"
to another that of the " moon ;" and to a third a less, resembling
that of a " star" (1 Cor. xv. 40). And this God may do by the
same right of dominion, as he exercised when he endowed some
kinds of creatures with a greater perfection than others in their na-
ture. Why may he not as well garnish one man with a greater
proportion of gifts, as make a man differ in excellency from the na-
ture of a beast ? or frame angels to a more purely spiritual nature
than a man ? or make one angel a cherubim or seraphim, with a
greater measure of light than another ? Though the foundation of
this is his dominion, yet his wisdom is not uninterested in his sover-
eign disposal ; he garnisheth those with a greater ability whom he
410 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
intends for greater service, than those that he intends for less, or
none at all ; as an artificer bestows more labor, and carves a more
excellent figure upon those stones that he designs for a more honor-
able jjlace in the building. But though the intending this or that
man for service be the motive of laying in a greater provision in
him than in others, yet still it is to be referred to his sovereignty,
since that first act of culling him out for such an end was the fruit
solely of his sovereign pleasure : as when he resolved to make a crea-
ture actively to glorify him, in wisdom he must give him reason ; yet
the making such a creature was an act of his absolute dominion.
6. Plis sovereignty is manifest in the calling some to a more spe-
cial service in their generation. God settles some in immediate
offices of his service, and perpetuates them in those offices, with a
neglect of others, who seem to have a greater pretence to them.
Moses was a great sufferer for Israel, the solicitor for them in Egypt,
and the conductor of them from Egypt to Canaan ; yet he was not
chosen to the high j)riesthood, but that was an office settled upon
Aaron, and his posterity after him, in a lineal descent ; Moses was
only pitched upon for the present rescue of the captived Israelites,
and to be the instrument of Divine miracles ; but notwithstanding
all the success he had in his conduct, his faithfulness in his employ-
ment, and the transcendent familiarity he had with the great Ruler
of the world, his posterity were left in the common level of the tribe
of Levi, without any sj^ecial mark of dignity upon them above the
rest for all the services of that great man. Why Moses for a tem-
porary magistrate, Aaron for a perpetual priesthood, above all the
rest of the Israelites ? hath little reason but the absolute pleasure of
God, who distributes his employments as he pleaseth ; and as a
master orders his servant to do the noblest work, and another to
labor in baser offices, according to his pleasure. Why doth he call
out David, a shepherd, to sway the Jewish sceptre, above the rest
of the brothers, that had a fairer appearance, and had been bred in
arms, and inured to the toils and watchings of a camj) ? Why
should Mary be the mother of Christ, and not some other of the
same family of David, of a more splendid birth, and a nobler educa-
tion ? Though some other reasons may be rendered, yet that which
affords the greatest acquiescence, is the sovereign will of God. Why
did Christ choose out of the meanest of the people the twelve
a]3ostles, to be heralds of his grace in Judea, and other parts of the
world ; and afterwards select Paul before Gamaliel, his instructor,
and others of the Jews, as learned as himself, and advance him to be
the most eminent apostle, above the heads of those who had min-
istered to Christ in the days of his flesh ? Why should he preserve
eleven of those he first called to propagate and enlarge his kingdom,
and leave the other to the employment of shedding his blood?
Why, in the times of our reformation, he should choose a Luther
out of a monastery, and leave others in their superstitious nastiness,
to perish in the traditions of their fathers? Why set up Calvin, as
a bulwark of the gospel, and let others as learned as himself
wallow in the sink of popery ? It is his pleasure to do so. The
potter hath power to separate this part of the clay to form a vessel
ON god's dominion. 411
for a more public use, and another part of tlie clay to form a
vessel for a more private one. God takes tlie meanest clay to
form the most excellent and honorable vessels in his house. As
he formed man, that was to govern the creatures of the same clay
and earth whereof the beasts were formed, and not of that nobler
element of water, which gave birth to the fish and birds: so he
forms some, that are to do him the greatest service, of the meanest
materials, to manifest the absolute right of his dominion,
7. His sovereignty is manifest in the bestowing much wealth and
honor upon some, and not vouchsafing it to the more industrious
labors and attempts of others. Some are abased, and others are
elevated ; some are enriched, and others impoverished ; some scarce
feel any cross, and others scarce feel any comfort in their whole
lives; some sweat and toil, and what they labor for runs out of
their reach ; others sit still, and what they wish for falls into their
lap. One of the same clay hath a diadem to beautify his head, and
another wants a covering to protect him from the weather. One
hath a stately palace to lodge in, and another is scarce master of a
cottage where to lay his head. A sceptre is put into one man's
hand, and a spade into another's; a rich purple garnisheth one
man's body, while another wraps himself in dunghill rags. The
poverty of some, and the wealth of others, is an effect of the Divine
sovereignty, whence God is said to be the Maker of the " poor as
well as the rich" (Prov. xxii. 2), not only of their persons, but of
their conditions. The earth, and the fulness thereof, is his propriety ;
and he hath as much a right as Joseph had to bestow changes of
raiment upon what Benjamins he please. There is an election to a
greater degree of worldly felicity, as there is an election of some to
a greater degree of supernatural grace and glory : as he makes it
" rain upon one city, and not upon another" (Amos iv. 7), so he
causeth prosperity to distil upon the head of one and not upon
another; crowning some with earthly blessings, while he crosseth
others with continual afflictions : for he speaks of himself as a great
proprietor of the corn that nourisheth us, and the wine that cheers
us, and the wood that warm us (Hos. ii. 8, 9) : "I will take away,"
not your corn and wine, but " my corn, my wine, my wool." His
right to dispose of the goods of every particular person is unques-
tionable. He can take away from one, and pass over the propriety
to another. Thus he devolved the right of the Egyptian jewels to
the Israelites, and bestowed upon the captives what before he had
vouchsafed to the oppressors ; as every sovereign state demands the
goods of their subjects for the public advantage in a case of exi-
gency, though none of that wealth was gained by any public office,
but by their private industry, and gained in a country not subject
to the dominion of those that require a portion of them. By this
right he changes strangely the scene of the world ; sometimes those
that are liigh are reduced to a mean and ignominious condition,
those that are mean are advanced to a state of plenty and glory.
The counter, which in accounting signifies now but a penny, is
presently raised up to signify a pound. The proud ladies of Israel,
instead of a girdle of curious needlework, arc brought to make use
4:12 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
of a cord ; as tlie vulgar translates rent^ a rag, or list of cloth (Isa.
iii. 24), and sackcloth for a stomacher instead of silk. This is the
sovereign act of God, as he is Lord of the world (Pa. Ixxv. 6, 7) :
" Promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from
the south, but God is the Judge : he putteth down one, and setteth
up another." He doth no wrong to any man, if he lets him languish
out his days in poverty and disgrace : if he gives or takes away,
he meddles with nothing but what is his own more than ours : if he
did dispense his benefits equally to all, men would soon think it
their due. The inequality and changes preserve the notion of God's
sovereignty, and correct our natural unmindfulness of it. If there
were no changes, God would not be feared as the " King of all the
earth" (Ps. Iv. 19) : to this might also be referred his investing some
countries with greater riches in their bowels, and on the surface ;
the disposing some of the fruitful and pleasant regions of Canaan
or Italy, while he settles others in the icy and barren parts of the
northern climates.
8. His sovereignty is manifest in the times and seasons of dispens-
ing his goods. He is Lord of the times when, as well as of
the goods which, he doth dispose of to any person ; these " the
Father hath put in his own power" (Acts i. 7). As it was his sov-
ereign pleasure to restore the kingdom to Israel, so he would pitch
upon the time when to do it, and would not have his right invaded,
so much as by a question out of curiosity. This disposing of op-
portunities, in many things, can be referred to nothing else but his
sovereign pleasure. Why should Christ come at the twilight and
evening of the world ? at the fulness, and not at the beginning, of
time ? Why should he be from the infancy of the world so long
wrapt up in a promise, and not appear in the flesh till the last
times and gray hairs of the world, when so many persons, in all
nations, had been hurried out of the world without any notice of
such a Eedeemer ? What was this but his sovereign will ? Why
the Gentiles should be left so long in the devil's chains, wallowing
in the sink of their abominable superstitions, since God had declared
his intention by the j^rophets to call multitudes of them, and reject
the Jews ; — why he should defer it so long, can be referred to
nothing but the same cause. What is the reason the veil continues
so long upon the heart of the Jews, that is promised, one time or
other, to be taken off? Why doth God delay the accomplishment
of those glorious predictions of the happiness and interest of that
people ? Is it because of the sin of their ancestors, — a reason that
cannot bear much weight? If we cast it upon that account, their
conversion can never be expected, can never be effected ; if for the
sins of their ancestors, is it not also for their own sins ? Do their
sins grow less in number, or less venomous, or provoking in quality,
by this delay ? Is not their blasphemy of Christ as malicious, their
hatred of him as strong and rooted, as ever ? Do they not as much
approve of the bloody act of their ancestors, since so many ages are
past, as their ancestors did applaud it at the time of the execution ?
Have they not the same disposition and will, discovered sufficiently
by the scorn of Christ, and of those that profess his name, to act the
ON GOD'S DOMINION. 413
same thing over again, were Christ now in the saftie state in the
world, and they invested with the same power of government? If
their conversion were deferred one age after the death of Christ for
the sins of their preceding ancestors, is it to be expected now ; since
the present generation of the Jews in all countries have the sins of
those remote, the succeeding, and their more immediate ancestors,
lying upon them ? This, therefore, cannot be the reason ; but as it
was the sovereign pleasure of God to foretell his intention to over-
come the stoutness of their hearts, so it is his sovereign pleasure
that it shall not be performed till the " fulness of the Gentiles be
come in" (Rom, xi. 25). As he is the Lord of his own grace, so he
is the Lord of the time when to dispense it. Why did God create
the world in six days, which he could have erected and beautified
in a moment ? Because it was his pleasure so to do. Why did he
frame the world when he did, and not many ages before ? Because
he is Master of his own work. Wliy did he not resolve to bring
Israel to the fruition of Canaan till after four hundred years ? Why
did he draw out their deliverance to so long time after he began to
attempt it? Why such a multitude of plagues upon Pharaoh to
work it, when he could have cut short the work by one mortal blow
upon the tyrant and his accomplices ? It was his sovereign plea-
sure to act so, though not without other reasons intelligible enough
by looking into the story. Why doth he not bring man to a perfec-
tion of stature in a moment after his birth, but let him continue in
a tedious infancy, in a semblance to beasts, for the want of an exer-
cise of reason ? Why doth he not bring this or that man, whom
he intends for service, to a fitness in an instant, but by long tracts of
study, and through many meanders and labyrinths ? Why doth he
transplant a hopeful person in his youth to the pleasures of another
world, and let another, of an eminent holiness, continue in the
misery of this, and wade through many floods of afflictions ? What
can we chiefly refer all these things to but his sovereign pleasure ?
The "times are determined by God" (Acts, xvii. 26).
Thirdly. The dominion of God is manifested as a governor, as well
as a lawgiver and proprietor.
1. In disposing of states and kingdoms. (Ps. Ixxv. 7) : " God is
Judge; he puts clown one, and sets up another," "Judge" is to be
taken not in the same sense that we commonly use the word, for a
judicial minister in a way of trial, but for a governor ; as you know
the extraordinary governors raised up among the Jews were called
judges, whence one entire book in the Old Testament is so denomi-
nated, the Book of Judges. God hath a prerogative to "change
times and seasons" (Dan. ii, 21), i. e. the revolutions of government,
whereby times are altered. How many empires, that have spread
their wings over a great part of the world, have had their carcasses
torn in pieces ; and unheard-of nations plucked off the wings of the
Roman eagle, after it had preyed upon many nations of the world ;
and the Macedonian empire was as the dew that is dried up a short
time after it falls,i He erected the Chaldean monarchy, used Nebu-
chadnezzar to overthrow and punish the ungrateful Jews, and, by a
' Mr. Mcde, ia one of his letters.
4:14 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
sovereign act, gave a great parcel of land into bis hands ; and what
he thought was his right by conquest, was God's donative to him.
You may read the charter to Nebuchadnezzar, whom he terms his
servant (Jer. xxvii. 6) : " And now I have given all those lands" (the
lands are mentioned ver. 3), " into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, the
king of Babylon, my servant :" which decree he pronounceth after
his asserting his right of sovereignty over the whole earth (ver. 6).
After that, he puts a period to the Chaldean empire, and by the same
sovereign authority decrees Babylon to be a spoil to the nations of
the north country, and delivers her up as a spoil to the Persian (Jer.
1. 9, 10) : and this for the manifestation of his sovereign dominion,
that he was the Lord, that made peace, and created evil (Isa. xlv. 6,
7). God afterwards overthrows that by the Grecian Alexander, pro-
phesied of under the figure of a goat, with " one horn between his
eyes" (Dan. viii.) : the swift current of his victories, as swift as his
motion, showed it to be from an extraordinary hand of heaven, and
not either from the policy or strength of the Macedonian. His
strength, in the prophet, is described to be less, being but one horn
running against the Persian, described under the figure of a ram with
two horns :"» and himself acknowledged a Divine motion exciting
him to that great attempt, when he saw Joddus, the high-priest, com-
ing out in his priestly robes, to meet him at his approach to Jeru-
salem, whom he was about to worship, acknowledging that the vision
which put him upon the Persian war appeared to him in such a garb.
What was the reason Israel was rent fi-om Judah, and both split into
two distinct kingdoms ? Because Kehoboam would not hearken to
sober and sound counsels, but follow the advice of upstarts. What
was the reason he did not hearken to sound advice, since he had so
advantageous an education under his father Solomon, the wisest
prince of the world? " The cause was from the Lord" (1 Kings, xii.
15), that he might perform what he had before spoke. In this he
acted according to his royal word ; but, in the first resolve, he acted
as a sovereign lord, that had the disposal of all nations in the world.
And though Ahab had a numerous posterity, seventy sons to inherit
the throne after him, yet God by his sovereign authority gives them
up into the hands of Jehu, who strips them of their lives and hopes
together : not a man of them succeeded in the throne, but the crown
is transferred to Jehu by God's disposal. In wars, whereby flour-
ishing kingdoms are overthrown, God hath the chief hand ; in ref-
erence to which it is observed that, in the two prophets, Isaiah and
Jeremiah, God is called "the Lord of Hosts" one hundred and thirty
times. It is not the sword of the captain, but the sword of the Lord,
bears the first rank ; " the sword of the Lord and of Gideon" (Judges,
vii. 18). The sword of a conquerer is the sword of the Lord, and
receives its charge and commission from the great Sovereign (Jer.
xlvii. 6, 7). We are apt to confine our thoughts to second causes,
lay the fault upon the miscarriages of persons, the ambition of the
one, and the covetousness of another, and regard them not as the
effects of God's sovereign authority, linking second causes together
to serve his own purpose. The skill of one man may lay ojaen the
"" Josephus,
ON GOD'S DOMINION. 415
folly of a counsellor ; an earthly force may break in pieces the power
of a mighty prince : but Job, in his consideration of those things,
refers the matter higher : " He looseth the bond of kings, and girdeth
their loins with a girdle" (Job, xii. 18). " He looseth the bonds of
kings," ^. e. takes otf the yokes they lay upon their subjects, " and
girds their loins with a girdle" (a cord^ as the vulgar) ; he lays upon
them those fetters they framed for others ; such a girdle, or band, as
is the mark of captivity, as the words, ver. 19, confirm it : " He leads
princes away spoiled, and overthrows the mighty." God lifts up
some to a great height, and casts down others to a disgraceful ruin.
All those changes in the face of the world, the revolutions of empires,
the desolating and ravaging wars, which are often immediately the
birth of the vice, ambition, and fury of princes, are the royal acts of
God as Governor of the world. All government belongs to him ;
he is the Fountain of all the great and the petty dominions in the
world ; and, therefore, may place in them what substitutes and vice-
gerents he pleaseth, as a prince may remove his officers at pleasure,
and take their commissions from them. The highest are settled by
God durante bene placito^ and not quamdiu bene se gesserint. Those
princes that have been the glory of their country have swayed the
sceptre but a short time, when the more wolvish ones have remained
longer in commission, as God hath seen fit for the ends of his own
sovereign government. Now, by the revolutions in the world, and
changes in governors and government, God keeps up the acknowl-
edgment of his sovereignty, when he doth arrest grand and public
offenders that wear a crown by his providence, and employ it, by
their pride, against him that placed it there. When he arraigns such
by a signal hand from heaven, he makes them the public examples
of the rights of his sovereignty, declaring thereby, that the cedars
of Lebanon are as much at his foot, as the shrubs of the valley ; that
he hath as sovereign an authority over the throne in the palace, as
over the stool in the cottage.
2. The dominion of God is manifested in raising up and ordering
the spirits of men according to his pleasure. He doth, as the Father
of spirits, communicate an influence to the spirits of men, as well as
an existence ; he puts what inclinations he pleaseth into the will,
stores it with what habits he please, whether natural or supernatural,
whereby it may be rendered more ready to act according to the Di-
vine purpose. The will of man is a finite principle, and therefore
subject to Him who hath an infinite sovereignty over all things ; and
God, having a sovereignty over the will, in the manner of its acting,
causeth it to will what he wills, as to the outward act, and the out-
ward manner of performing it. There are many examples of this
part of his sovereignty. God, by his sovereign conduct, ordered
Moses a protectoress as soon as his parents had formed an " ark of bul-
rushes," wherein to set him floating on the river (Exod, ii. 3-6) : they
expose him to the waves, and the waves expose him to the view of
Pharoah's daughter, Avhom God, by his secret ordering her motion,
had posted in that place ; and though she was the daughter of a
prince that inveterately hated the whole nation, and had, by various
arts, endeavored to extirpate them, yet God inspires the royal lady
416 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
with sentiments of compassion to tlie forlorn infant, tliougli slie kncAT
liini to be one of the Hebrews' children (ver. 6), i. e. one of that race
whom her father had devoted to the hands of the executioner ; yet
God, that doth by his sovereignty rule over the spirits of all men,
moves her to take that infant into her protection, and nourish him at
her own charge, give him a liberal education, adopt him as her son,
who, in time, was to be the ruin of her race, and the saviour of his
nation. Thus he appointed Cyrus to be his shepherd, and gave him
a pastoral spirit for the restoration of the city and temple of Jeru-
salem (Isa. xliv. 28): and Isaiah (chap. xlv. 5) tells them, in the
prophecy, that he had girded him, though Cyrus had not known
him, i. e. God had given him a military spirit and- strength for so
great an attempt, though he did not know that he was acted by God
for those divine purposes. And when the time came for the house
of the Lord to be rebuilt, the spirits of the people were raised up,
not by themselves, but by God (Ezra, i. 5), " Whose spirit God had
raised to go up;" and not only the spirit of Zerubbabel, the magis-
trate, and of Joshua, the priest, but the spirit of all the peoj)le, from
the highest to the meanest that attended him, were acted by God to
strengthen their hands, and promote the work (Hag. i. 14). The
spirits of men, even in those works which are naturally desirable to
them, as the restoration of the city and rebuilding of the Temple was
to those Jews, are acted by God, as the Sovereign over them, much
more when the wheels of men's spirits are lifted up above their or-
dinary temper and motion. It was this empire of God good Nehc-
miah regarded, as that whence he was to hope for success ; he did
not assure himself so much of it, from the favor he had with the
king, nor the reasonableness of his intended petition, but the abso-
lute power God had over the heart of that great monarch ; and, there-
fore, he supplicates the heavenly, before he petitioned the earthly,
throne (Neh. ii. 4) : " So I prayed to the God of heaven." The
heathens had some glance of this ; it is an expression that Cicero
hath somewhere, " That the Koman commonwealth was rather gov-
erned by the assistance of the Supreme Divinity over the hearts of
men, than by their own counsels and management." How often hath
the feeble courage of men been heightened to such a pitch as to stare
death in the face, which before were damped with the least thought
or glance of it ! This is a fruit of God's sovereign dominion.
3. The dominion of God is manifest in restraining the furious
passions of men, and putting a block in their way. Sometimes God
doth it by a remarkable hand, as the Babel builders were diverted
from their proud design by a sudden confusion of their language,
and rendering it unintelligible to one another ; sometimes by ordi-
nary, though unexpected, means ; as when Saul, like a hawk, was
ready to prey upon David, whom he had hunted as a partridge upon
the mountains, he had another object presented for his arms and
fury by the Philistines' sudden invasion of a part of his territory (1
Sam. xxiii. 26 — 28). But it is chiefly seen by an inward curbing
mutinous affections, when there is no visible cause. What reason
but this can be rendered, why the nations bordering on Canaan, who
bore no good will to the Jews, but rather wished the whole race of
ON GOD'S DOMINION". 417
tliem rooted out from the face of the earth, should not invade their
country, pilkige their houses, and plunder their cattle, while they
were left naked of any human defence, the males being annually
employed at one time at Jerusalem in worship ; what reason can be
rendered, but an invisible curb God put into their spirits ? What
Avas the reason not a man, of all the buyers and sellers in the Tem-
ple, should rise against our Saviour, when, with a high hand, he be-
gan to whip them out, but a Divine bridle upon them ? though it ap-
pears, by the questioning his authority, that there were Jews enough
to have chased out him and his company (John, ii. 15, 18). What
was the reason that, at the publishing the gospel by the apostles at
the first descent of the Spirit, those that had used the Master so bar-
barously a few days before, were not all in a foam against the ser-
vants, that, by preaching that doctrine, upbraided them with the late
murder ? Had they better sentiments of the Lord, whom they had
put to death ? Were their natures grown tamer, and their malignity
expelled? No; but that Sovereign who had loosed the reins of
their malicious corruption, to execute the Master for the purchase of
redemption, curbed it from breaking out against the servants, to fur-
ther the propagation of the doctrine of redemption. He that re-
strains the roaring lion of hell, restrains also his whelps on earth ;
he and they must have a commission before they can put forth a
finger to hurt, how malicious soever their nature and will be. His
empire reaches over the malignity of devils, as well as the nature of
beasts. The lions out of the den, as well as those in the den, are
bridled by him in favor of his Daniels. His dominion is above that
of principalities and powers ; their decrees are at his mercy, whether
they shall stand or fall ; he hath a vote above their stiffest resolves :
his single word, I will, or, I forbid^ outweighs the most resolute pur-
poses of all the mighty Nimrods of the earth in their rendezvouses
and cabals, in their associations and counsels (Isa. viii. 9, 10) : " As-
sociate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces ;
take counsel together, and it shall come to nought." " When the
enemy shall come in like a flood," with a violent and irresistible
force, intending nothing but ravage and desolation, " the Spirit of
the Lord shall lift up a standard against them" (Isa. lix. 19), shall
give a sudden check, and damp their spirits, and put them to a stand.
When Laban furiously pursued Jacob, with an intent to do him an
ill turn, God gave him a command to do otherwise (Gen. xxxi. 24).
Would Laban have respected that command any more than he did
the light of nature when he worshipped idols, had not God exercised
his authority in inclining his will to observe it, or laying restraints
upon his natural inclinations, or denying his concourse to the acting
those ill intentions he had entertained ? The stilling the principles
of commotion in* men, and the noise of the sea, are arguments of the
Divine dominion ; neither the one nor the other is in the power of
the most sovereign prince without Divine assistance : as no prince
can command a calm to a raging sea, so no prince can order stillness
to a tumultuous people ; they are both put together as equally parts
of the Divine prerogative (Ps. Ixv. 7), which " stills the noise of the
sea, and tumult of the people :" and David owns God's sovereignty
VOL. II. — 27
418 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRTBUTES.
more than his own, " in subduing the people under him" (Ps, xviii.
47). In this his empire is illustrious (Ps. xxix. 10): "The Lord
sitteth upon the floods, yea, the Lord sitteth King for ever;" a King-
impossible to be deposed, not only on the natural floods of the seu,
that would naturally overflow the world, but the metaphorical floods
or tumults of the people, the sea in every wicked man's heart, more
apt to rage morally than the sea to foam naturally. If you will take
the interpretation of an angel, waters and floods, in the prophetic
style, signify the inconstant and mutable people (Kev. xvii. 1, 5) :
" The waters where the whore sits are people, and multitudes, and
nations, ajid tongues :" so the angel expounds to John the vision
which he saw (ver. 1). The heathens acknowledged this part of
God's sovereignty in the inward restraints of men : those apparitions
of the gods and goddesses in Homer, to several of the great men
when they were in a fury, were nothing else, in the judgment of the
wisest philosophers, than an exercise of God's sovereignty in quelling
their passions, checking their uncomely intentions, and controlling
them in that which their rage prompted them to. And, indeed, did
not God set bounds to the storms in men's hearts, we should soon see
the funeral, not only of religion, but civility ; the one would be blown
out, and the other torn up by the roots.
4. The dominion of God is manifest in defeating the purposes and
devices of men. God often makes a mock of human projects, and
doth as well accomplish that which they never dreamt of, as disap-
point that which they confidently designed. He is present at all
cabals, laughs at men's formal and studied counsels, bears a hand
over every egg they hatch, thwarts their best compacted designs,
supplants their contrivances, breaks the engines they have been
many years rearing, diverts the intentions of men, as a mighty wind
blows an arrow from the mark which the archer intended. (Job, v.
12) : " He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands
cannot perform their enterprise ; he taketh the wise in their own
craftiness, and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong."
Enemies often draw an exact scheme of their intended proceedings,
marshal their companies, appoint their rendezvous, think to make
but one morsel of those they hate ;• God, by his sovereign dominion,
turns the scale, changeth the gloominess of the oppressed into a sun-
shine, and the enemies' sunshine into darkness. When the nations
were gathered together against Sion, and said, "Let her be defiled,
and let our eye look upon Sion" (Micah, iv. 11), what doth God do
in this case? (ver. 12), " He shall gather them," i. c. those conspiring
nations, as " sheaves into the floor." Then he sounds a trumpet to
Sion : " Arise, and thresh, 0 daughter of Sion, for I will make thy
horn iron, and thy hoofs brass, and thou shalt- beat in pieces many
people ; and I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord, and their
sul^stance unto the Lord of the whole earth." I will make them and
their counsels, them and their strength, the monuments and signal
marks of my empire over the whole earth. "When you see the cun-
ningest designs baffled by some small thing intervening ; when you
see men of profound wisdom infatuated, mistake their way, and
" grope in the noon-day as in the night" (Job, v. 14), bewildered in
ON GOD'S DOMINION. 419
a plain way ; wlien you see the hopes of miglity attempters dashed
into despair, their triumphs turned into funerals, and their joyful ex-
pectations into sorrowful disappointments ; when you see the weak,
devoted to destruction, victorious, and the most presumptuous de-
feated in their purposes, then read the Divine dominion in the deso-
lation of such devices. How often doth God take away the heart
and spirit of grand designs, and burst a mighty wheel, by snatching
but one man out of the world ! How often doth he " cut off the
spirits of princes" (Ps. Ixxvi. 12), either from the world by death, or
from the execution of their projects by some unforeseen interruption,
or from favoring those contrivances, which before they cherished by
a change of their minds ! How often hath confidence m God, and
religious prayer, edged the weakest and smallest number of weapons
to make a carnage of the carnally confident ! How often hath pre-
sumption been disappointed, and the contemned enemy rejoiced in
the spoils of the proud expectant of victory ! Phidias made the
image of Nemesis, or Eevenge, at Marathon, of that marble which
the haughty Persians, despising the weakness of the Athenian forces,
brought with them, to erect a trophy for an expected, but an un-
gained, victory." Haman's neck, by a sudden turn, was in the
halter, when the Jews' necks were designed to the block ; Julian de-
signed the overthrow of all the Christians, just before his breast was
pierced by an unexpected arrow ; the Powder-traitors were all ready
to give fire to the mine, when the sovereign hand of Heaven snatched
away the match. Thus the great Lord of the world cuts off men on
the pinnacle of their designs, when they seem to threaten heaven and
earth ; puts out the candle of the wicked, which they thought to use
to light them to the execution of their purposes ; turns their own
counsels into a curse to themselves, and a blessing to their adversa-
ries, and makes his greatest enemies contribute to the effecting his
purposes. How may we take notice of God's absolute disposal of
things in private affairs, when we see one man, with a small measure
of prudence and little industry, have great success, and others, with
a greater measure of wisdom, and a greater toil and labor, find their
enterprises melt between their fingers! It was Solomon's observa-
tion, " That the race was not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong,
neither bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor
yet favor to men of skill" (Eccles. ix. 11). Many things might in-
terpose to stop the swift in his race, and damp the courage of the
most valiant : things do not happen according to men's abilities, but
according to the overruling authority of God : God never yet granted
man the dominion of his own way, no more than to be lord of his
own time : " The way of man is not in himself, it is not in him that
walketh to direct his steps" (Jer. x. 23). He hath given man a power
of acting, but not the sovereignty to command success. He makes
even those things which men intended for their security to turn to
their ruin ; Pilate delivered up Christ to be accounted a friend to
Ci"esar, and Cajsar soon after proves an enemy to him, removes him
from his government, and sends him into banishment. The Jews
imagined by the crucifying Christ to keep the Roman ensigns at a
" Causin. Symb. lib. ii. cap. 65.
420 CHARNOCK ON" THE ATTRIBUTES.
distance from them, and this hasted their march, by God's sovereign
disposal, which ended in a total desolation. " He makes the judges
fools" (Job, xxii. 17), by taking away his light from their under-
standing, and suffering them to go on in the vanity of their own
spirits, that his sovereignty in the management of things may be
more apparent ; for then he is known to be Lord, when he " snares
the wicked in the work of his own hands" (Ps. ix. 16). You have
seen much of this doctrine in your experience, and, if my judgment
fail me not, you will yet see much more.
5. The dominion of God is manifest in sending his judgments upon
whom he please. " He kills and makes alive ; he wounds and heals"
whom he pleaseth : his thunders are his own, and he may cast them
upon what subjects he thinks good : he hath a right, in a way of jus-
tice, to punish all men ; he hath his choice, in a way of sovereignty,
to pick out whom he please, to make the examples of it. Might not
some nations be as wicked as those of Sodom and Gomorrah, yet
have not been scorched with the like dreadful flames? Zoar was
untouched, while the other cities, her neighbors, were burnt to
ashes. Were there never any places and persons successors in So-
dom's guilt ? Yet those only by his sovereign authority are sepa-
rated by him to be the examples of his " eternal vengeance" (Jude, 7).
Why are not sinners as Sodom, like as those ancient ones, scalded
to death by the like fiery drops ? It is because it is his pleasure ;
and the same reason is to be rendered, why he would in a way of
justice cut off the Jews for their sins, and leave the Gentiles un-
touched in the midst of their idolatries. When the church was con-
sumed because of her iniquities, they acknowledged God's sovereign-
ty in this. " We are the clay, and thou art our Potter, and we all
the work of thy hands" (Isa. Ixiv. 7, 8) ; thou hast a liberty to break
or preserve us. Judgments move according to God's order. When
the sword hath a charge against Ashkelon and the sea-shore, thither
it must march, and touch not any other place or person as it goes,
though there may be demerit enough for it to punish. When the
prophet had spake to the sword, " O thou sword of the Lord, how
long will it be ere thou be quiet ? put up thyself into thy scabbard,
rest and be still ;" the prophet answers for the sword, " How can it be
quiet, seeing the Lord hath given it a charge against Ashkelon?
there hath he appointed it" (Jer. xlvii. 6, 7). If he hath appointed
a judgment against London or Westminster, or any other place,
there it shall drop, there it shall pierce, and in no other place with-
out a like charge. God, as a sovereign, gives instructions to every
judgment, when, and against whom, it shall march, and what cities,
what persons, it shall arrest ; and he is punctually obeyed by them,
as a sovereign Lord. All creatures stand ready for his call, and are
prepared to be executioners of his vengeance, when he speaks the
word ; they are his hosts by creation, and in array for his service :
at the sound of his trumpet, or beat of his drum, they trooj) together
with arms in their hands, to put his orders exactly in execution.
6. The dominion of God is manifest in appointing to every man
his calling and station in the world. If the hairs of every man's
liead fall under his sovereign care, the calling of every man, wherein
ON GOD'S DOMINION. 421
he is to glorify God and serve his generation, which is of a greater
concern than the hairs of the head, falls under his dominion. He is
the master of the great family, and divides to every one his work as
he pleaseth. The whole work of the Messiah, the time of every
action, as well as the hour of his passion, was ordered and appointed
by God. The separation of Paul to the preaching of the gospel, was
by the sovereign disposal of God (Rom. i. 1). By the same exercise
of his authority, that he "sets every man the bounds of his habita-
tion" (Acts, xvii. 26), he prescribes also to him the nature of his
work. He that ordered Adam, the father of mankind, his work,
and the place of it, the "dressing the garden" (Gen. ii. 15), doth not
let any of his posterity be their own choosers, without an influence
of his sovereign direction on them. Though our callings are our
work, yet they are by God's order, wherein we are to be faithful to
our great Master and Ruler.
7. The dominion of God is manifest in the means and occasions
of men's conversion. Sometimes one occasion, sometimes another ;
one word lets a man go, another arrests him, and brings him before
God and his own conscience ; it is as God gives out the order. He
lets Paul be a prisoner at Jerusalem, that his cause should not be
determined there ; moves him to appeal to Ctesar, not only to make
him a prisoner, but a preacher, in Caesar's court, and render his
chains an occasion to bring in a harvest of converts in Nero's palace.
His bonds in or for Christ are " manifest in all the palace" (Phil. i.
12, 13); not the bare knowledge of his bonds, but the sovereign de-
sign of God in those bonds, and the success of them ; the bare knowl-
edge of them would not make others more confident for the gospel,
as it follows, ver. 14, without a providential design of them. Ones-
imus, running from his master, is guided by God's sovereign order
into Paul's company, and thereby into Christ's arms ; and he who
came a fugitive, returns a Christian (Philem. 10, 15). Some, by a
strong affliction, have had by the Divine sovereignty their under-
standings awakened to consider, and their wills spirited to conver-
sion. Monica being called Meribibula, or toss-pot, was brought to
consider her way, and reform her life. A word hath done that at
one time, which hath often before fallen without any fruit. Many
have come to suck in the eloquence of the minister, and have found
in the honey for their ears a sting for their consciences. Austin had
no other intent in going to hear Ambrose but to have a taste of his
famous oratory. But while Ambrose spake a language to his ear,
God spake a heavenly dialect to his heart. No reason can be ren-
dered of the order, and timing, and influence of those things, but the
sovereign pleasure of God, who will attend one occasion and season
with his blessing, and not another.
8. The dominion of God is manifest in disposing of the lives of
men. He keeps the key of death, as well as that of the womb, in
his own hand ; he hath given man a life, but not power to dispose
of it, or lay it down at his pleasure ; and therefore he hath ordered
man not to murder, not another, not himself; man must expect his
call and grant, to dispose of the life of his body. Why doth he cut
the thread of tliis man's life, and spin another's out to a longer term ?
422 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
Why doth one die an inglorious death, and another more honorable ?
One silently drops away in the multitude, while another is made a
sacrifice for the honor of God, or the safety of his country. This is
a mark of honor he gives to one and not to another. "To you it is
given" (Phil. i. 29). The manner of Peter's death was appointed
(John, xxi. 19). Why doth a small and slight disease against
the rules of physic, and the judgment of the best practitioners, dis-
lodge one man's soul out of his body, while a greater disease is
mastered in another, and discharges the patient, to enjoy himself a
longer time in the land of the living ? Is it the effect of means so
much as of the Sovereign Disposer of all things ? If means only
did it, the same means would always work the same effect, and
sooner master a dwarfish than a giant-like distemper. " Our times
are only in God's hands" (Ps. xxxi. 15) ; either to cut short or con-
tinue long. As his sovereignty made the first marriage knot, so he
reserves the sole authority to himself to make the divorce.
Fourthly. The dominion of God is manifest in his being a Re-
deemer, as well as Lawgiver, Proprietor, and Governor. His
sovereignty was manifest in the creation, in bestowing upon this or
that part of matter a form more excellent than upon another. He
was a Lawgiver to men and angels, and prescribed them rules ac-
cording to the counsel of his own will. These were his creatures,
and perfectly at his disposal. But in redemption a sovereignty is
exercised over the Son, the Second person in the Trinity, one equal
with the Father in essence and works, by whom the worlds were
created, and by whom they do consist. The whole gospel is nothing
else but a declaration of his sovereign pleasure concerning Christ,
and concerning us in him ; it is therefore called " the mystery of his
will" (Eph. i. 9) ; the will of God is distinct from the will of Christ,
a purpose in himself, not moved thereunto by any ; the whole
design was framed in the Deity, and as much the purpose of his
sovereign will as the contrivance of his immense wisdom. He de-
creed, in his own pleasure, to have the Second Person assume our
nature for to deliver mankind from that misery whereinto it
was fallen. The whole of the gospel, and the privileges of it, are in
that chapter resolved into the will and pleasure of God. God is
therefore called " the head of Christ" (1 Cor. xi. 3). As Christ is
superior to all men, and the man superior to the woman, so is God
superior to Christ, and of a more eminent dignity ; in regard of the
constituting him mediator, Christ is subject to God, as the body to
the head. " Head" is a title of government and sovereignty,
and magistrates were called the " heads" of the people. As Christ
is the head of man, so is God the head of Christ ; and as man is sub-
ject to Christ, so is Christ subject to God : not in regard of the Di-
vine nature, wherein there is an equality, and consequently no do-
minion of jurisdiction ; nor only in his human nature, but in the
economy of a Redeemer, considered as one designed, and consenting
to be incarnate, and take our flesh ; so that after this agreement,
God had a sovereign right to dispose of him according to the articles
consented to. In regard of his undertaking, and the advantage he
was to bring to the elect of God upon the earth, he calls God by the
ON GOD'S DOMINION. 423
solemn title of " his Lord" in that prophetic psalm of him (Ps. xvi.
2): " 0 my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, Thou art my Lord :
my goodness extends not unto thee, but unto the saints that are in
the earth." It seems to be the speech of Christ in heaven, mention-
ing the saints on earth as at a distance from him. I can add nothing
to the glory of thy majesty, but the whole fruit of my meditation
and sufferings will redound to the saints on earth. And it may be
observed, that God is called the Lord of Hosts in the evangelical
prophets, Isaiah, Haggai, Zachariah, and Malachi, more in reference
to this affair of redemption, and the deliverance of the church, than
for any other works of his providence in the world.
1. This sovereignty of God appears, in requiring satisfaction for
the sin of man. Had he indulged man after his fall, and remitted
his offence without a just compensation for the injury he had
received by his rebellion, his authority had been vilified, man would
always have been attempting against his jurisdiction, there would
have been a continual succession of rebellions on man's part ; and if a
continual succession of indulgences on God's part, he had quite dis-
owned his authority over man, and stripped himself of the flower of
his crown ; satisfaction must have been required some time or other
from the person thus rebelling, or some other in his stead; and to
require it after the first act of sin, was more preservative to the right
of the Divine sovereignty, than to do it after a multitude of repeated
revolts. God must have laid aside his authority if he had laid aside
wholly the exacting punishment for the offence of man.
2. This sovereignty of God appears, in appointing Christ to this
work of redemption. His sovereignty was before manifest over
angels and men by the right of creation ; there was nothing wanting
to declare the highest charge of it, but his ordering his own Son to
become a mortal creature ; the Lord of all things to become lower
than those angels that had, as well as all other things, received their
being and beauty from him, and to be reckoned in his death among
the dust and refuse of the world : he by whom God created all
things, not only became a man, but a crucified man, by the will of
his Father (Gal. i. 4), " who gave himself for our sins according to
the will of God ;" to which may refer that expression (Prov. viii.
22), of his being " possessed by God in the beginning of his way."
Possession is the dominion of a thing invested in the possessor ; he
was possessed, indeed, as a Son by eternal generation ; he was pos-
sessed also in the beginning of his way or works of creation, as a
Mediator by special constitution : to this the expression seems to re-
fer, if you read on to the end of ver. 31, wherein Christ speaks of
his " rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth," the earth of the
great God, who hath designed him to this special work of redemp-
tion. He was a Son by nature, but a Mediator by Divine will ; in
regard of which Christ is often called God's servant, which is a rela-
tion to God as a Lord. God being the Lord of all things, the do-
minion of all things inferior to him is inseparable from him ; and in
this regard, the whole of what Christ was to do, and did actually do,
was acted by him as the will of God, and is expressed so by himself
in the prophecy (Ps. xl. 7), " Lo, I come ;" (ver. 8), " I delight to do
424 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
thy will ;" wliich are put together (Heb. x. 7), " Lo, I come to do
thy will, O God." The designing Christ to this work was an act of
mercy, but founded on his sovereignty. His compassionate bowels
might have pitied us without his being sovereign, but without it
could not have relieved us. It was the council of his own will, as
well as of his bowels: none was his counsellor or persuader to that
mercy he showed: (Rom. xi. 34), "Who hath been his counsellor?"
for it refers to that mercy in " sending the Deliverer out of Sion"
(ver. 26), as well as to other things the apostle had been discourshig
of. As God was at liberty to create, or not to create, so he was at
liberty to redeem or not to redeem, and at his liberty whether to ap-
point Christ to this work, or not to call him out to it. In giving
this order to his Son, his sovereignty was exercised in a higher man-
ner than in all the orders and instructions he hath given out to men
or angels, and all the employments he ever sent them upon. Christ
hath names which signify an authority over him : he is called " an
Angel," and a " Messenger" (Mai. iii. 1) ; an " Apostle" (Heb, iii. 1) :
declaring thereby, that God hath as much authority over him as
over the angels sent upon his messages, or over the apostles com-
missioned by his authority, as he was considered in ■ the quality of
Mediator.
3. This sovereignty of God appears in transferring our sins upon
Christ. The supreme power in a nation can only appoint or allow
of a commutation of punishment; it is a part of sovereignty to
transfer the penalty due to the crime of one upon another, and sub-
stitute a sufferer, with the sufferer's own consent, in the place of a
criminal, whom he had a mind to deliver from a deserved punish-
ment. God transferred the sins of men upon Christ, and inflicted on
him a punishment for them. He summed up the debts of man,
charged them upon the score of Christ, imputing to him the guilt,
and inflicting upon him the penalty. (Isa. liii. 6) : " The Lord hath
laid upon him the iniquity of us all ;" he made them all to meet
upon his back : " He hath made him to be sin for us" (2 Cor. v. 21) ;
he was made so by the sovereign pleasure of God : a punishment for
sin, as most understand it, which could not be righteously inflicted,
had not sin been first righteously imputed, by the consent of Christ,
and the order of the Judge of the world. This imputation could be
the immediate act of none but God, because he was the sole creditor.
A creditor is not bound to accept of another's suretyship, but it is at
his liberty whether he will or no ; and when he doth accept of him,
he may challenge the debt of him, as if he were the j^rincipal debtor
himself Christ made himself sin for us by a voluntary submission ;
and God made him sin for us by a full imputation, and treated him
penally, as he would have done those sinners in whose stead he suf-
fered. Without this act of sovereignty in God, we had forever
perished : for if we could suppose Christ laying down his life for us
without the pleasure and order of God, he could not have been said
to have borne our punishment. What could he have undergone in
his humanity but a temporal death ? But more than this was due
to us, even the wrath of God, which far exceeds the calamity of a
mere bodily death. The soul being principal in the crime, was to
ON god's dominion. 425
be principal in the punishment. The wrath of God could not have
dropped upon his soul, and rendered it so full of agonies, without
the hand of God : a creature is not capable to reach the soul, neither
as to comfort nor terror ; and the justice of God could not have made
him a sufferer, if it had not first considered him a sinner by imputa-
tion, or by inherency, and actual commission of a crime in his own
person. The latter was far from Christ, who was holy, harmless,
and undefiled. He mtist be considered then in the other state of
imputation, which could not be without a sovereign appointment, or
at least concession of God : for without it, he could have no more
authority to lay down his life for us, than Abraham could have had to
have sacrificed his son, or any man to expose himself to death without
a call ; nor could any plea have been entered in the court of heaven,
either by Christ for us, or by us for ourselves. And though the
death of so great a person had been meritorious in itself, it had not
been meritorious for us, or accepted for us ; Christ is " delivered up
by him" (Rom. viii. 32), in every part of that condition wherein he
was, and suffered ; and to that end, that " we might become the
righteousness of God in him" (2 Cor. v. 21) : that we might have the
righteousness of him that was God imputed to us, or that we might
have a righteousness as great and proportioned to the righteousness
of God, as God required. It was an act of Divine sovereignty to
account him that was righteous a sinner in our stead, and to account
us, who were sinners, righteous upon the merit of his death.
4. This was done by the command of God ; by God as a Lawgiver,
having the supreme legislative and preceptive authority : in which
respect, the whole work of Christ is said to be an answer to a law,
not one given him, but put into his heart, as the law of nature was
in the heart of man at first. (Ps. xl. 7, 8) : " Thy law is within my
heart." This law was not the law of nature or moral law, though
that was also in the heart of Clirist, but the command of doing
those things which were necessary for our salvation, and not a com-
mand so much of doing, as of dying. The moral law in the heart
of Christ would have done us no good without the mediatory law ;
we had been where we were by the sole observance of the precepts
of the moral law, without his suffering the penalty of it : the law in
the heart of Christ was the law of suffering, or dying, the doing that
for us by his death which the blood of sacrifices was unable to effect..
Legal "sacrifices thou wouldest not ; thy law is Avithin my heart ;"
i. e. thy law ordered me to be a sacrifice ; it was that law, his obedi-
ence to which was principally accepted and esteemed, and that was
principally his passive, his obedience to death (Phil. ii. 8) ; this was
the special command received from God, that he should die (John
X. 18). It is not so clearly manifested when this command was given,
whether after the incarnation of Christ, or at the point of his consti-
tution as Mediator, upon the transaction between the Father and the
Son concerning the affair of redemption : the promise was given " be-
fore the world began" (Tit. i. 2). Might not the precept be given,
before the world began, to Christ, as considered in the quality of
Mediator and Redeemer ? Precepts and promises usually attend one
another ; every covenant is made up of both. Christ, considered
42'o CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
here as tlie Son of God in the Divine nature, was not capable of a
command or promise ; but considered in the relation of Mediator be-
tween God and man, he was capable of both. Promises of assist-
ance were made before his actual incarnation, of which the Prophets
are full : why not precepts for his obedience, since long before his
incarnation this was his speech in the Prophet, " Thy law is within
my heart !" however, a command, a law it was, which is a fruit of
the Divine sovereignty ; that as the sovereignty of God was im-
peached and violated by the disobedience of Adam, it might be
owned and vindicated by the obedience of Christ ; that as we fell by
disloj^alty to it, Ave might rise by the highest submission to it in an-
other head, infinitely superior in his person to Adam, by whom
we fell.
5. This sovereignty of God appears in exalting Christ to such a
sovereign dignity as our Eedeemer. Some, indeed, say, that this sov-
ereignty of Christ's human nature was natural, and the right of it
resulted from its union with the Divine ; as a lady of mean condi-
tion, when espoused and married to a prince, hath, by virtue of that,
a natural right to some kind of jurisdiction over the whole kingdom,
because she is one with the king." But to waive this ; the Scripture
placeth wholly the conferring such an authority upon the pleasure
and will of God. As Christ was a gift of God's sovereign will to us,
so this was a gift of God's sovereign will to Christ (Matt, xxviii. 28) :
" All power is given me." And he "gave him to be head over all
things to the church" (Eph. i. 22); "God gave him a name above
every name" (Phil. ii. 9) ; and, therefore, his throne he sits upon is
called " The throne of his Father" (Rev. iii. 21). And he " commit-
ted all judgment to the Son," i. e. all government and dominion ; an
empire in heaven and earth (John, v. 22) ; and that because he is " the
Son of Man" (ver. 27) ; which may understood, that the Father hath
given him authority to exercise that judgment and government as
the Son of Man, which he originally had as the Son of God ; or
rather, because he became a servant, and humbled himself to death,
he gives him this authority as the reward of his obedience and hu-
mility, conformable to Phil. ii. 9. This is an act of the high sover-
eignty of God, to obscure his own authority in a sense, and take
into association with him, or vicarious subordination to him, the hu-
man nature of Christ as united to the Divine ; not only lifting it
above the heads of all the angels, but giving that person in our na-
ture an empire over them, whose nature was more excellent than
ours : yea, the sovereignty of God appears in the whole management
of this kingly office of Christ ; for it is managed in every part of it
according to God's order (Ezek. xxxvii. 24, 25) : " David, my ser-
vant, shall be king over them," and " my servant David shall be
their prince forever :" he shall be a prince over them, but my servant
in that principality, in the exercise and duration of it. The sover-
eignty of God is paramount in all that Christ hath done as a priest,
or shall do as a king.
Use I. For instruction.
1. How great is the contempt of this sovereignty of God ! Man
" Lessius, de Perfect. Diviu. lib. x. p. 65.
ON GOD'S DOMINION. 427
naturally would be free from God's empire, to be a slave under tlie
dominion of his own lust ; the sovereignty of God, as a Lawgiver,
is most abhorred by man (Lev. xxvi. 43). The Israelites, the best
people in the world, were apt, by nature, not only to despise, but ab-
hor, his statutes ; there is not a law of God but the corrupt heart of
man hath an abhorrency of : how often do men wish that God had
not enacted this or that law that goes against the grain ! and, in wish-
ing so, wish that he were no sovereign, or not such a sovereign as he
is in his own nature, but one according to their corrupt model. This
is the great quarrel between God and man, whether he or they shall be
the Sovereign Ruler. He should not, by the will of man, rule in any
one village in the world ; God's vote should not be predominant in
any one thing. There is not a law of his but is exposed to contempt
by the perverseness of man (Prov. i. 21) : " Ye have set at nought
ail my counsel, and would have none of my reproof:" Septuag. " Ye
have made all my counsels without authority." The nature of man
cannot endure one precept of God, nor one rebuke from him ; and
for this cause God is at the expense of judgments in the world, to
assert his own empire to the teeth and consciences of men (Ps. lix.
13) : "Lord, consume them in wrath, and let them know that God
rules in Jacob, to the ends of the earth." The dominion of God is
not slighted by any creature of this world but man ; all others ob-
serve it by observing his order, whether in their natural motions or
preternatural irruptions ; they punctually act according to their com-
mission. Man only speaks a dialect against the strain of the whole
creation, and hath none to imitate him among all the creatures in
heaven and earth, but only among those in hell : man is more im-
patient of the yoke of God than of the yoke of man. There are
not so many rebellions committed by inferiors against their superi-
ors and fellow-creatures, as are committed against God. A willing
and easy sinning is an equalling the authority of God to that of m.an
(Hos. vi. 7) : " They, like men, have transgressed my covenant ;" they
have made no more account of breaking my covenant than if they
had broken some league or compact made with a mere man ; so
slightly do they esteem the authority of God ; such a disesteem of
the Divine authority is a virtual undeifying of him.P To slight his
sovereignty is to stab his Deity ; since the one cannot be preserved
without the support of the other, his life would expire with his au-
thority. How base and brutish is it for vile dust and mouldering
clay to lift up itself against the majesty of God, whose throne is in
the heavens, who sways his sceptre over all parts of the world — a
Majesty before whom the devils shake, and the highest cherubims
tremble ! It is as if the thistle, that can presently be trod down by
the foot of a wild beast, should think itself a match for the cedar of
Lebanon, as the phrase is, 2 Kings, xiv. 9.
Let us consider this in general ; and, also, in the ordinary practice
of men. First, In general.
(1.) All sin in its nature is a contempt of the Divine dominion.
j^s every act of obedience is a confirmation of the law, and conse-
quently a subscrijition of the authority of the Lawgiver (Deut. xxvii.
P Munster.
428 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
26), so every breach, to it is a conspiracy against tlie sovereignty of
tiie Lawgiver ; setting up our will against the will of God is an arti-
cling against his authority, as setting up our reason against the
methods of God is an articling against his wisdom ; the intendment
of every act of sin is to wrest the sceptre out of God's hand. The
authority of God is the first attribute in the Deity which it directs
its edge against ; it is called, therefore, a " transgression of his law"
(1 John, iii. 4), and, therefore, a slight, or neglect, of the majesty of
God ; and the not keeping his commands is called a " forgetting
God" (Deut. viii. 11), i. e. a forgetting him to be our absolute Lord.
As the first notion we have of God as a Creator is that of his sover-
eignty, so the first perfection that sin struck at, in the violation of
the law, was his sovereignty as a Lawgiver. " Breaking the law is
a dishonoring God" (Rom. ii. 23), a snatching off his crown ; to obey
our own wills before the will of God, is to prefer ourselves as our
own sovereigns before him. Sin is a wrong, and injury to God, not
in his essence, that is above the reach of a creature, nor in anything
profitable to him, or pertaining to his own intrinsic advantage ; not
an injury to God in himself, but in his authority, in those things
which pertain to his glory ; a disowning his due right, and not using
his goods according to his will. Thus the whole world may be
called, as God calls Chaldea, " a land of rebels" (Jer. 1, 21) : " Go
up against the land of Merathaim," or rebels : rebels, not against the
Jews, but against God. The mighty opposition in the heart of man
to the supremacy of God is discovered emphatically by the apostle
(Rom. viii. 7) in that expression, " The carnal mind is enmity against
God, ^. e. against the authority of God, because " it is not subject to
the law of God, neither indeed can be." It refuseth not subjection
to this or that part, but to the whole ; to every mark of Divine au-
thority in it ; it will not lay down its arms against it, nay, it cannot
but stand upon its terms against it ; the law can no more be fulfilled
by a carnal mind, than it can be disowned by a sovereign God.
God is so holy, that he cannot alter a righteous law, and man is so
averse, that he cares not for, nay, cannot fulfil, one title ; so much
doth the nature of man swell against the majesty of God. Now an
enmity to the law, which is in every sin, implies a perversity against
the authority of God that enacted it.
(2.) All sin, in its nature, is the despoiling God of his sole sover-
eignty, which was probably the first thing the devil aimed at. That
pride was the sin of the devil, the Scripture gives us some account
of, when the apostle adviseth not a novice, or one that hath but
lately embraced the faith, to be chosen a bishop (1 Tim. iii. 6), " Lest,
being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the
devil ;" lest he fall into the same sin for which the devil w^as con-
demned. But in what particular thing this pride was manifest, is
not so easily discernible ; the ancients generally conceived it to be
an affecting the throne of God, grounding it on Isa. xiv. 12 : " How
art thou fallen, O Lucifer, son of the morning ! for thou hast said in
thy heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above
the stars of God." It is certain the prophet speaks there of the king
of Babylon, and taxeth him for his pride, and gives to him the title
ON GOD'S DOMINION. 429
of " Lucifer," perhaps likening liiin in his pride to the devil, and
then it notes plainly the particular sin of the devil, attempting a
share in the sovereignty of God ; and some strengthen their conjec-
ture from the name of the archangel who contended against Satan
(Jude, 9), which is Michael, which signifies, " Who as God ?" or,
" Who like God ?" the name of the angel giving the superiority to
God, intimating the contrary disposition in the devil, against whom
he contended. It is likely his sin was an affecting equality with
God in empire, or a freedom from the sovereign authority of God ;
because he imprinted such a kind of persuasion on man at his first
temptation : " Ye shall be as gods" (Gen. iii. 5) ; and though it be
restrained to the matter of knowledge, yet that being a fitness for
government, it may be extended to that also. But it is plainly a
persuading them, that they might be, in some sort, equal with God,
and independent on him as their superior. What he had found so
fatal to himself, he imagined would have the same success in the ruin
of man. And since the devil hath, in all ages of the world, usurped
a worship to himself which is only due to God, and would be served
by man, as if he were the God of the world ; since all his endeavor
was to be worshipped as the Supreme God on earth, it is not unrea-
sonable to think, that he invaded the supremacy of God in heaven,
and endeavored to be like the Most High before his banishment, as
he hath attempted to be like the Most High since. And since the
devil and antichrist are reputed by John, in the Eevelation, to be so
near of kin, and so like in disposition, why might not that, which is
the sin of antichrist, the image of him, be also the sin of Satan, " to
exalt himself above all that is called God" (2 Thess. ii. 4), and " sit
as God in his temple," affecting a partnership in his throne and
worship ? Whether it was this, or attempting an unaccountable do-
minion over created things, or because he was the prime angel, and
the most illustrious of that magnificent corporation, he might think
himself fit to reign with God over all things else ? Or if his sin
Were envy, as some think, at the felicity of man in paradise, it was
still a quarrelling with God's dominion, and right of disposing his
own goods and favors ; he is, therefore, called " Belial" (2 Cor. vi.
14, 15) : " What concord hath Christ with Belial ?" ^. e. with the
devil, one " without yoke," as the word " Belial" signifies.
(3.) It is more plain, that this was the sin of Adam. The first
act of Adam was to exercise a lordship over the lower creatures, in
giving names to them, — a token of dominion (Gen. ii. 19). The next
was to affect a lordship over God, in rebelling against him. After
he had writ the first mark of his own delegated dominion, in the
names he gave the creatures, and owned their dependence on him as
their governor, he would not acknowledge his own dependence on
God. As soon as the Lord of the world had put him into possession
of the power he had allotted him, he attempted to strip his Lord of
that which he had reserved to himself; he was not content to lay a
yoke upon the other creatures, but desirous to shake off the Divine
yoke from himself, and be subject to none but his own will ; hence
Adam's sin is more particularly called " disobedience" (Rom. v. 19) :
for, in the eating the apple, there was no moral evil in itself, but a
430 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
contradiction to the positive command and order of God, "wliereby he
did disown God's right of commanding him, or reserving anything
from him to his own use. The language all his posterity speaks,
" Let us break his bands, and cast away his cords from us" (Ps. ii.
3), was learned from Adam in that act of his. The next act we read
of, was that of Cain's murdering Abel, which was an invading God's
right, in assuming an authority to dispose of the life of his brother,
■ — a life which God had given him, and reserved the period of it in
his own hands. And he persists in the same usurpation when God
came to examine him, and ask him where his brother was ; how
scornful was his answer ! (Gen. iv. 9) : *' Am I my brother's keeper ?"
as much as if he had said. What have you to do to examine me ? or,
What obligation is there upon me to render an account of him ? or, as
one saith, it is as much as if he had said, " Go, look for him yourself."q
The sovereignty of God did not remain undisturbed as soon as ever
it appeared in creation ; the devils rebelled against it in heaven, and
man would have banished it from the earth.
(4.) The sovereignty of God hath not been less invaded by the
usurpations of men. One single order of the Roman episcopacy
hath endeavored to usurp the prerogatives of God ; the Pope will
prohibit what God hath allowed ; the marriage of priests ; the re-
ceiving of the cup, as well as of the bread, in the sacrament ; the
eating of this or that sort of meat at special times, meats which God
hath sanctified ; and forbid them, too, upon pain of damnation. It
is an invasion of God's right to forbid the use of what God hath
granted, as though the earth, and the fulness thereof, were no longer
the Lord's, but the Pope's ; much more to forbid what God hath
commanded, as if Christ overreached his own authority, when he en-
joined all to drink of the sacramental wine, as well as eat of the
sacramental bread. No lord but will think his right usurped by that
steward who shall permit to others what his lord forbids, and forbid
that which his master allows, and act the lord instead of the servant.
Add to this the pardons of many sins, as if he had the sole key to
the treasures of Divine mercy ; the disposing of crowns and domin-
ions at his pleasure, as if God had divested himself of the title of
King of kings, and transferred it upon the see of Rome. The allow-
ing public stews, dispensing with incestuous marriages, as if God had
acted more the part of a tyrant than of a righteous Sovereign in for-
bidding them, depriving the Jews of the propriety in their estates
upon their conversion to Christianity, as if the pilfering men's goods
were the way to teach them self-denial, the first doctrine of Christian
religion ; and God shall have no honor from the Jew without a
breach of his law by theft from the Christian. Granting many
years' indulgences upon slight performances, the repeating so many
Ave- Marias and Pater- Nosters in a day, canonizing saints, claiming
the keys of heaven, and disposing of the honors and glory of it, and
proposing creatures as objects of religious worship, wherein he an-
swers the character of the apostle (2 Thess. ii. 4), " showing himself
that he is God," in challenging that power which is only the right
of Divine sovereignty ; exalting himself above God, in iudidging
q Trap, in Inc.
ON GOD'S DOMINION". 431
tliose tilings Avliicli the law of God never allowed, but liatli severely
prohibited. This controlling the sovereignty of God, not allowing
him the rights of his crown, is the soul and spirit of many errors.
Why are the decrees of election and. pretention denied ? Because
men will not acknowledge God the Sovereign Disposer of his crea-
ture. Why is effectual calling and. efficacious grace denied ? Be-
cause they will not allow God the proprietor and distributer of his
own goods. Why is the satisfaction of Christ denied? Because
they will not allow God a power to vindicate his own law in what
way he pleaseth. Most of the errors of men may be resolved into a
denial of God's sovereignty ; all have a tincture of the first evil sen-
timent of Adam.
Secondly. The sovereignty of God is contemned in the practices of
men — (1.) As he is a Lawgiver.
[1.] When laws are made, and urged in any state contrary to the
law of God. It is part of God's sovereignty to be a Lawgiver ; not
to obey his law is a breach made upon his right of government ; but
it is treason in any against the crown of God, to mint laws with a
stamp contrary to that of heaven, whereby they renounce their due
subjection, and vie with God for dominion, snatch the supremacy
from him, and account themselves more lords than the Sovereign
Monarch of the world. When men will not let God be the judge
of good and evil, but put in their own vote, controlling his to estab-
lish their own ; such are not content to be as gods, subordinate to
the supreme God, to sit at his feet ; nor co-ordinate with him, to sit
equal upon his throne ; but paramount to him, to over-top and shadow
his crown ; — a boldness that leaves the serpent, in the first temp-
tation, under the character of a more commendable modesty ; who
advised our first parents to attempt to be as gods, but not above
him, and would enervate a law of God, but not enact a contrary one
to be observed by them. Such was the usurpation of Nebuchad-
nezzar, to set up a golden image to be adored (Dan. iii.), as if he had
power to mint gods, as well as to conquer men ; to set the stamp of
a Deity upon a piece of gold, as well as his own effigies upon his
current coin. Much of the same nature was that of Darius, by the
motion of his flatterers, to prohibit any petition to be made to God
for the space of thirty days, as though God was not to have a wor-
ship without a license from a doting piece of clay (Dan. vi. 7). So
Henry the Third of France, by his edict, silenced masters of families
from praying with their households."^ And it is a farther contempt
of God's authority, when good men are oppressed by the sole weight
of power, for not observing such laws, as if they had a real sover-
eignty over the consciences of men, more than God himself.^ When
the apostles were commanded by an angel from God, to preach in
the Temple the doctrine of Christ (Acts, v. 19, 20), they were fetched
from thence with a guard before the council (ver. 6). And what is
the language of those statesmen to them? as absolute as God him-
self could speak to any transgressors of his law, " Did not we straitly
command you, that you should not teach in this name ?" (ver. 28l
It is sufficient that we gave yuo a command to be silent, and publisn
' Trap, inloc. • Faucheur, Vol. II. pp. 663, 664.
482 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
no more this doctrine of Jesus ; it is not for you to examine our de-
crees, but rest in our order as loyal subjects, and comply with your
rulers ; they might have added, — though it be with the damnation
of your souls. How would those overrule the apostles by no other
reason but their absolute pleasure ! And though God had espoused
their cause, by delivering them out of the prison, wherein they had
locked them the day before, yet not one of all this council had the
wit or honesty to entitle it a fighting against God, but Gamaliel (ver.
29). So foolishly fond are men to put themselves in the place of
God, and usurp a jurisdiction over men's consciences : and to pre-
sume that laws made against the interest and command of God, must
be of more force than the laws of God's enacting.
[2.] The sovereignty of God is contemned in making additions to
the laws of God. The authority of a sovereign Lawgiver is invaded and
vilified when an inferior presumes to make orders equivalent to his
edicts. It is a 'praemunire against heaven to set up an authority dis-
tinct from that of God, or to enjoin anything as necessary in matter
of worship for which a Divine commission cannot be shown, God
was always so tender of this part of his prerogative, that he would
not have anything wrought in the tabernacle, not a vessel, not an
instrument, but what himself had prescribed. " According to all that
I show thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of
all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it" (Exod. xxv. 9) ;
which is strictly urged again, ver. 40: "Look that thou make them
after their pattern ;" look to it, beware of doing anything of thine
own head, and justling with my authority. It was so afterwards in
the matter of the temple, which succeeded the tabernacle ; God gave
the model of it to David, and made him " understand in writing by
his hand upon him, even all the works of this pattern" (1 Chron.
xxviii. 19). Neither the royal authority in Moses, who was king in
Jesurun ; nor in David, who was a man after God's own heart, and
called to the crown by a special and extraordinary providence ; nor
Aaron, and the high priests his successors, invested in the sacerdotal
office, had any authority from God, to do anything in the framing
the tabernacle or temple of their own heads. God barred them from
anything of that nature, by giving them an exact pattern, so dear to
him was always this flower of his crown. And afterwards, the power
of appointing officers and ordinances in the church was delegated to
Christ, and was among the rest of those royalties given to him, which
he fully completed "for the edifying of the body" (Eph. iv. 11, 12);
and he hath the eulogy by the Spirit of God, to be " faithful as
Moses was in all his house, to Him that appointed him" (Heb. iii. 2).
Faithfulness in a trust implies a punctual observing directions ; God
was still so tender of this, that even Christ, the Son, should no more
do anything in this concern without appointment and pattern, than
" Moses, a servant" (ver. 5, 6). It seems to be a vote of nature to
refer the original of the modes of all worship to God ; and therefore
in all those varieties of ceremonies among the heathens, there was
scarce any but were imagined by them to be the dictates and orders
of some of their pretended deities, and not the resolves of mere hu-
man authority. What intrusion upon God's right hath the papacy
ON god's dominion. 433
made in regard of officers, cardinals, patriarchs, &c., not known in
an J Divine order? In regard of ceremonies in worship, pressed as
necessary to obtain the favor of God, holy water, crucifixes, altars,
images, cringings, reviving many of the Jewish and Pagan ceremo-
nies, and adopting them into the family of Christian ordinances ; as
if God had been too absolute and arbitrary in repealing the one, and
dashing in pieces the other. When God had by his sovereign order
framed a religion for the heart, men are ready to usurp an authority
to frame one for the sense, to dress the ordinances of God in new
and gaudy habits, to take the eye by a vain pomjD ; thus affecting a
Divine royalty, and acting a silly childishness ; and after this, to im-
pose the observation of those upon the consciences of men, is a bold
ascent into the throne of God ; to impose laws upon the conscience,
which Christ hath not imposed, hath deservedly been thought the
very spirit of antichrist ; it may be called also the spirit of anti-god.
God hath reserved to himself the sole sovereignty over the con-
science, and never indulged men any part of it ; he hath not given
man a power over his own conscience, much less one man a power
over another's conscience. Men have a power over outward things
to do this or that, Avhere it is determined by the law of God, but not
the least authority to control any dictate or determination of con-
science : the sole empire of that is appropriate to God, as one of the
great marks of his royalty. What an usurpation is it of God's right
to make conscience a slave to man, which God hath solely, as the
Father of spirits, subjected to himself! — an usurpation which, though
the apostles, those extraordinary officers, might better have claimed,
yet they utterly disowned any imperious dominion over the faith of
others (2 Cor. i. 24). Though in this they do not seem to climb up
above God, yet they set themselves in the throne of God, envy him
an absolute monarchy, would be sharers with him in his legislative
power, and grasp one end of his sceptre in their own hands. They
do not pretend to take the crown from God's head, but discover a
bold ambition to shuffle their hairy scalps under it, and wear part of
it upon their own, that they may rule with him, not under him ; and
would be joint lords of his manor with him, who hath, by the apos-
tle, forbidden any to be " lords of his heritage" (1 Pet. v. 8) : and
therefore they cannot assume such an authority to themselves till
they can show where God hath resigned this part of his authority to
them. If their exposition of that place (Matt. xvi. 18), "Upon this
rock I will build my church," be granted to be true, and that the
person and successors of Peter are meant by that rock, it could be no-
apology for their usurpations ; it is not Peter and his successors shall
build, but " I will build;" others are instruments in building, but
they are to observe the directions of the grand Architect.
[8.] The sovereignty of God is contemned when men prefer obe-
dience to men's laws before obedience to God. As God hath an
undoubted right, as the Lawgiver and Ruler of the world, to enact
laws without consulting the pleasure of men, or requiring their con-
sent to the verifying and establishing his edicts, so are men obliged,
by their allegiance as subjects, to observe the laws of their Creator,
without consulting whether they be agreeable to the laws of his re-
voL. 11. — 23
434 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
volted creatures. To consult with flesh and blood whether we should
obey, is to authorize flesh and blood above the purest and most
sovereign Spirit. When men will obey their superiors, without tak-
ing in the condition the apostle prescribes to servants (Col. iii. 22),
" In singleness of heart fearing God," and postpone the fear of God
to the fear of man, it is to render God of less power with them than
the drop of a bucket, or dust of the balance. When we, out of fear
of punishment, will observe the laws of men against the laws of God,
it is like the Egyptians, to worship a ravenous crocodile instead of a
Deity ; when we submit to human laws, and stagger at Divine, it is
to set man upon the throne of God, and God at the footstool of man ;
to set man above, and God beneath ; to make him the tail, and not
the head, as God speaks in another case of Israel (Deut. xxviii. 13).
When we pay an outward observation to Divine laws, because they
are backed by the laws of man, and human authority is the motive
of our observance, we subject God's sovereignty to man's authority;
what he hath from us, is more owing to the pleasure of men than
any value we have for the empire of God : when men shall commit
murders, and imbrue their hands in blood by the order of a grandee ;
when the worst sins shall be committed by the order of papal dis-
pensations ; when the use of his creatures, which God hath granted
and sanctified, shall be abstained from for so many days in the week,
and so many weeks in the year, because of a Roman edict, the au-
thority of man is acknowledged, not only equal, but superior, to that
of God ; the dominion of dust and clay is preferred before the un-
doubted right of the Soverign of the world ; the commands of God
are made less than human, and the orders of men more authoritative
than Divine, and a grand rebel's usurpation of God's right is coun-
tenanced. When men are more devout in observance of uncertain
traditions, or mere human inventions, than at the hearing of the un-
questionable oracles of God ; when men shall squeeze their counte-
nances into a more serious figure, and demean themselves in a more
religious posture, at the appearance of some mock ceremony, clothed
in a Jewish or Pagan garb, which hath unhappily made a rent in the
coat of Christ, and pay a more exact reverence to that which hath no
Divine, but only a human stamp upon it, than to the clear and plain
word of God, which is perhaps neglected with sleepy nods, or which
is worse, entertained with profane scoffs ; — this is to prefer the au-
thority of man employed in trifles, before the authority of the wise
Lawgiver of the world : besides, the ridiculousness of it is as great
as to adore a glow-worm, and laugh at the sun ; or for a courtier to
be more exact in his cringes and starched postures before a puppet
than before his sovereign prince. In all this we make not the will
and authority of God our rule, but the will of man ; disclaim oui
dependence on God, to hang upon the uncertain breath of a creature.
In all this God is made less than man, and man more than God ;
God is deposed, and man enthroned ; God made a slave, and man a
sovereign above him. To this we may refer the solemn addresses
of some for the maintenance of the Protestant religion according to
law, the law of man ; not so much minding the law of God, resolving
to make the law, the church, the state, the rule of their religion, and
ON GOD'S DOMINION. 435
change tliat if the laws be changed, steering their opinions by the
compass of the magistrate's judgment and interest,
(2.) The dominion of God, as a Proprietor, is practically con-
temned.
[1.] By envy. When we are not flush and gay, as well spread
and sparkling as others, this passion gnaws our souls, and we be-
come the executioners to rack ourselves, because God is the executor
of his own pleasure. The foundation of this passion is a quarrel
with God ; to envy others the enjoyment of their propriety is to envy
God his right of disposal, and, consequently, the propriety of his own
goods ; it is a mental theft committed against God ; we rob him of his
right in our will and wish ; it is a robbery to make ourselves equal
with God when it is not our due, which is implied (Phil. ii. 6), when
Christ is said " to think it no robbery to be equal with God." We
would wrest the sceptre out of his hand, wish he were not the con-
ductor of the world, and that he would resign his sovereignty, and
the right of the distribution of his own goods, to the capricios of our
humor, and ask our leave to what subjects he should dispense his
favors. All envy is either a tacit accusation of God as an usurper,
and assuming a right to dispose of that which doth not belong to
him, and so it is a denial of his propriety, or else charges him with
a blind or unjust distribution, and so it is a bespattering his wisdom
and righteousness. When God doth punish envy, he vindicates his
own sovereignty, as though this passion chiefly endeavored to blast
this perfection (Ezek. xxv. 11, 12): "As I live, saith the Lord, I will
do according to thy anger, and according to thy envy, and thou shall
know that I am the Lord." The sin of envy in the devils was im-
mediately against the crown of God, and so was the sin of envy in
the first man, envying God the sole prerogative in knowledge above
himself This base humor in Cain, at the preference of Abel's sacri-
fice before his, was the cause that he deprived him of his life : deny-
ing God, first his right of choice and what he should accept, and
then invading God's right of propriety, in usurping a power over
the life and being of his brother, which solely belonged to God.
[2.] The dominion of God, as a proprietor, is practically contemned
by a violent or surreptitious taking away from any what God hath
given him the possession of Since God is the Lord of all, and may
give the possession and dominion of things to whom he pleaseth, all
theft and purloining, all cheating and cozening another of his right,
is not only a crime against the true possessor, depriving him of what
he is entrusted with, but against God, as the absolute and universal
proprietor, having a right thereby to confer his own goods upon
whom he pleaseth, as well as against God as a Lawgiver, forbidding
such a violence : the snatching away what is another's, denies man
the right of possession, and God the right of donation : the Israelites
taking the Egyptians' jewels had been theft had it not been by a
Divine license and order, but cannot be slandered with such a term,
after the Proprietor of the whole world had altered the title, and
alienated them by his positive grant from the Egyptians, to confer
them upon the Israehtes.
[3.] The dominion of God, as a proprietor, is practically contemned
436 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
by not using wliat God liatli given ns for those ends for wliicli he
gave them to us. God passeth things over to us with a condition to
use that for his glory which he hath bestowed upon us by his boun-
ty : he is Lord of the end for which he gives, as well as Lord of what
he gives ; the donor's right of propriety is infringed when the lands
and legacies he leaves to a particular use are not employed to those
ends to which he bequeathed them : the right of the lord of a manor
is violated when the copyhold is not used according to the condition
of the conveyance. So it is an invasion of God's sovereignty not to
use the creatures for those ends for which we are entrusted with
them : when we deny ourselves a due and lawful support from them ;
hence covetousness is an invasion of his right : or when we unneces-
sarily waste them ; hence prodigality disowns his propriety : or when
we bestow not anything upon the relief of others ; hence uncharita-
bleness comes under the same title, appropriating that to ourselves,
as if we were the lords, when we were but the usufructuaries for our-
selves, and stewards for others ; this is to be " rich to ourselves, not
to God" (Luke xii. 21), for so are they who employ not their wealth
for the service, and according to the intent, of the donor. Thus the
Israelites did not own God the true proprietor of their corn, wine,
and oil, which God had given them for his worship, when they pre-
pared offerings for Baal out of his stock : " For she did not know
that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her gold and
silver, which they prepared for Baal" (Hos. ii. 8) ; as if they had been
sole proprietors, and not factors by commission, to improve the
goods for the true owner. It is the same invasion of God's right to
use the parts and gifts that God hath given us, either as fuel for our
pride, or advancing self, or a witty scofiing at God and religion ;
when we use not religion for the honor of our Sovereign, but a stool
to rise by, and observe his precepts outwardly, not out of regard to
his authority, but as a stale to our interest, and furnishing self with
a little concern and trifle ; when men will wrest his word for the favor
of their lusts, which God intended for the checking of them, and
make interpretations of it according to their humors, and not according
to his will discovered in the Scripture, this is to pervert the use of the
best goods and depositum he hath put into our hands, even Divine
revelations. Thus hypocrisy makes the sovereignty of God a nullity.
(3.) The dominion of God, as a Governor^ is practically con-
temned.
[1.] In idolatry. Since worship is an acknowledgment of God's
sovereignty, to adore any creature instead of God, or to pay to any-
thing that homage of trust and confidence which is due to God,
though it be the highest creature in heaven or earth, is to acknowl-
edge that sovereignty to pertain to a creature, which is challenged
by God; as to set up the greatest lord in a kingdom in the govern-
ment, instead of the lawful prince, is rebellion and usurpation ;
and that woman incurs the crime of adultery, who commits it with
a person of great port and honor, as well as with one of a mean
condition. While men create anything a god, they own themselves
supreme above the true God, yea, and above that which they ac-
count a god ; for, by the right of creation, they have a superiority,
ON" GOD'S DOMINION. 437
as it is a deity blown up bj the breath of their own imagination.
The authority of God is in this sin acknowledged to belong to an
idol ; it is called loathing of God as a husband (Ezek, xvi. 45), all
the authority of God as a husband and Lord over them : so when
we make anything or any person in the world the chief object and
prop of our trust and confidence, we act the same part. Trust in an
idol is the formal part of idolatry ; "so is every oiie that trusts in
them" (Ps. cxv. 8), i. e. in idols : whatsoever thing we make the ob-
ject of our trust, we rear as an idol. It is not unlawful to have the
image of a creature, but to bestow divine adoration upon it ; it was
not unlawful for the Egyptians to possess and use oxen, but to dub
them gods to be adored, it was : it is not unlawful to have wealth
and honor, nor to have gifts and parts, they are the presents of
God ; but to love them above God, to fix our reliance upon them
more than upon God, is to rob God of his due, who, being our
Creator, ought to be our confidence. What we want we are to de-
sire of him, and expect from him. When we confide in anything
else we deny God the glory of his creation ; we disown him to be
Lord of the world ; imply that our welfare is in the hands of, and
depends upon, that thing wherein we confide ; it is not only to
" equal it to God" in sovereign power, which is his own phrase (Isa.
xl, 25), but to prefer it before him in a reproach of him. When the
hosts of heaven shall be served instead of tlie Lord of those hosts ;
Avhen we shall lackey after the stars, depend barely upon their in-
fluences, without looking up to the great Director of the sun, it
is to pay an adoration unto a captain in a regiment which is due to
the general. When we shall " make gold our hope, and say to the
fine gold. Thou art my confidence," it is to deny the supremacy of
that God that is above ; as well as if we kiss our hands, in a way of
adoration, to the sun in its splendor, or "the moon walking in its
brightness," for Job couples them together (ch. xxxi. 25 — 28) ; it is
to prefer the authority of earth before that of heaven, and honor
clay above the Sovereign of the world : as if a soldier should con-
fide more in the rag of an ensign, or the fragment of a drum, for his
safety, than in the orders and conduct of his general ; it were as
much as is in his power to uncommission him, and snatch from him
his commander's stafiJ". When we advance the creature in our love
above God, and the altar of our soul smokes Avith more thoughts
and affections to a petty interest than to God, we lift up that which
was given us as a servant in the place of the Sovereign, and bestow
that throne upon it which is to be kept undefiled for the rightful
Lord, and subject the interest of God to the demands of the crea-
ture. So much respect is due to God, that none should be placed in
the throne of our affections equal with him, much less anything to
perk above him.
[2.] Impatience is a contempt of God as a governor. When we
meet with rubs in the way of any design, when our expectations are
crossed, we will break through all obstacles to accomplish our pro-
jects, whether God will or no. When we are too much dejected at
some unexpected providence, and murmur at the instruments of it,
as if God divested himself of his prerogative of conducting human
438 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
affairs ; wlien a little cross blows us into a mutiny, and swells us
into a sauciness to implead God, or make us fret against him (as the
expression is, Isa. viii. 21), wishing him out of his throne ; no sin is
so devilish as this ; there is not any strikes more at all the attributes
of God than this, against his goodness, righteousness, holiness, wis-
dom, and doth as little spare his sovereignty as any of the rest :
what can it be else, but an impious invasion of his dominion, to
quarrel with him for what he doth, and to say. What reason hast
thou to deal thus with me ? This language is in the nature of all
impatience, whereby we question his sovereignty, and parallel our
dominion with his. When men have not that confluence of wealth
or honor they greedily desired, they bark at God, and revile his
government : they are angry God doth not more respectfully ob-
serve them, as though he had nothing to do in their matters, and
were wanting in that becoming reverence which they think him bound
to pay to such great ones as they are ; they would have God obedient
to their minds, and act nothing but what he receives a commission
for from their wills. When we murmur, it is as if we would com-
mand his will, and wear his crown ; a wresting the sceptre out of his
hands to sway it ourselves ; we deny him the right of government,
disown his power over us, and would be our own sovereigns : you
may find the character of it in the language of Jehoram (as many
understand it), "Behold, this evil is of the Lord; what should I
wait for the Lord any longer ?" (2 Kings, vi. 83). This is an evil of
such a nature, that it could come from none but the hand of God ;
why should I attend upon him, as my Sovereign, that delights to do
me so much mischief, that throws curses upon me when I expected
blessings ? I will no more observe his directions, but follow my
own sentiments, and regard not his authority in the lips of his do-
ting prophet. The same you find in the Jews, when they were un-
der God's lash ; " And they said. There is no hope : but we will
walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagina-
tion of his evil heart" (Jer. xviii. 12) : we can expect no good from
him, and therefore we will be our own sovereigns, and prefer the
authority of our own imaginations before that of his precepts. Men
would be their own carvers, and not suffer God to use his right ; as
if a stone should order the mason in what manner to hew it, and in
what part of the building to place it. We are not ordinarily con-
cerned so much at the calamities of our neighbors, but swell against
heaven at a light drop upon ourselves. We are content God should
be the sovereign of others, so that he will be a servant to us : let
him deal as he will himself with others, so he will treat us, and
what relates to us, as we will ourselves. We would have God re-
sign his authority to our humors, and our humors should be in the
place of a God to him, to direct him what was fit to do in our cause.
When things go not according to our vote, our impatience is a wish
that God was deposed from his throne, that he would surrender his
seat to some that would deal more favorably, and be more punctual
observers of our directions. Let us look to ourselves in regard of
this sin, which is too common, and the root of much mischief. This
seems to be the first bubbling of Adam's will ; he was not content
ON GOD'S DOMINION". 439
witli the condition wlierein God had placed him, but affected an-
other, which ended in the ruin of himself, and of mankind.
[3.] Limiting God in his way of working to our methods, is an-
other part of the contempt of his dominion. When we will pre-
scribe him methods of acting, that he should deliver us in this or
that way, we would not suffer him to be the Lord of his own favors,
and have the privilege to be his own director. When we will limit
him to such a time, wherein to work our deliverance, we would rob
him of the power of times and seasons, which are solely in his
hand. We would regulate his conduct according to our imagina-
tions, and assume a power to give laws to our Sovereign. Thus the
Israelites " limited the Holy One of Israel" (Ps. Ixxviii. 41) : they
would control his absolute dominion, and, of a sovereign, make him
their slave. Man, that is God's vassal, would set bounds to his
Lord, and cease to be a servant, and commence master, when he
would give, not take, directions from him. When God had given
them manna, and their fancies were weary of that delicious food,
they would prescribe heaven to rain down some other sort of food
for them. When they wanted no sufficient provision in the wild-
erness, they quarrelled with God for bringing them out of Egypt,
and not presently giving them a place of seed, of figs, vines, and
pomegranates (Numb. xx. 5), which is called a "striving with the
Lord" (ver. 13), a contending with him for his Lordship. When we
tempt God, and require a sign of him as a mark of his favor, we
circumscribe his dominion ; when we Avill not use the means he hath
appointed, but father our laziness upon a trust in his providence, as
if we expected he should work a miracle for our relief; when we
censure him for what he hath done in the course of his providence ;
when we capitulate with him, and promise such a service, if he will
do us such a good turn according to our platform, we would bring
down his sovereign pleasure to our will, we invade his throne, and
expect a submissive obedience from liim. Man that hath not wit
enough to govern himself, would be governing God, and those that
cannot be their own sovereigns, affect a sovereignty over heaven.
[4.] Pride and presumption is another invasion of his dominion.
When men will resolve to go to-morrow to such a city, to such a
fair and market, to traffic, and get gain, without thinking of the ne-
cessity of a Divine license, as if ourselves were the lords of our time
and of our lives, and God were to lackey after us (James iv. 13, 15):
"Ye that say. To-day we will go into such a city, and buy and sell,
whereas ye ought to say. If the Lord will, we shall live ;" as if they
had a freehold, and were not tenants at will to the Lord of the
manor. When we presume upon our own strength or wit to get the
better of our adversaries ; as the Germans (as Tacitus relates) assured
themselves, by the numerousness of their army, of a victory against
the Romans, and prepared chains to fetter the captives before the
conquest, which were found in their camp after their defeat ; — ^when
we are peremptory in expectations of success according to our will ;
as Pharaoh (Exod. xv. 9), " I will pursue, I will overtake, I will
divide the spoil, my lust shall be satisfied upon them, I will draw
my sword, my hand shall destroy them :" he speaks more like a
440 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTEIBUTES.
god than a man, as if he were the sovereign power, and God only
his vicar and lieutenant ; how he struts, without thinking of a supe-
rior power to curb him ! — when men ascribe to themselves what is
the sole fruit of God's sovereign pleasure ; as the king of Assyria
speaks a language fit only to be spoken by God (Isa. x. 13, 14, &;c.),
" I have removed the bounds of the people ; my hand hath found
as a nest the riches of the people; I have gathered all the earth ;"
which God declares to be a wrong to his sovereignty by the title
wherewith he prefaceth his threatening against him (ver. 16) :
" Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat
ones leanness," &c. It is indeed a rifling, if not of his crown, yet
of the most glittering jewel of it, his glory. " He that mocks the
poor reproacheth his Maker" (Prov. xvii. 5). He never thinks that
God made them poor, and himself rich ; he owns not his riches to be
dropped upon him by the Divine hand. Self is the great invader of
God's sovereignty ; doth not only spurn at it, but usurp it, and as-
sume divine honors, payable only to the universal Sovereign. The
Assyrian was not so modest as the Chaldean, who would impute his
power and victories to his idol (Hab, i. 11), whom he thought to be
God, though yet robbing the true God of his authority; and so
much was signified by their names, Nebuchadnezzar, Evil-Merodach,
Belshazzar, Nebo, Merodach, Bel, being the Chaldean idols, and the
names signifying. Lord of wealth. Giver of riches, and the like. —
When we behave ourselves proudly towards others, and imagine
ourselves greater than our Maker ever meant us ; — when we would
give laws to others, and expect the most submissive observances
from them, as if God had resigned his authority to us, and made us,
in his stead, the rightful monarchs of the world. To disdain that
any creature should be above us, is to disdain God's sovereign dis-
position of men, and consequently, his own superiority over us. A
proud man would govern all, and would not have God his Sovereign,
but his subject ; to overvalue ourselves, is to undervalue God.
[5.] Slight and careless worship of God is another contempt of
his sovereignty. A prince is contemned, not only by a neglect of
those reverential postures which are due to him, but in a reproach-
ful and scornful way of paying them. To behave ourselves un-
comely or immodestly before a prince, is a disesteem of majesty.
Sovereignty requires awe in every address, where this is wanting
there is a disrepect of authority. "We contemn God's dominion
when we give him the service of the lip, the hand, the knee, and
deny him that of the heart ; as they in Ezekiel, xxxiii. 31, as though
he were the Sovereign only of the body, and not of the soul. To
have devout figures of the face, and uncomely postures of the soul,
is to exclude his dominion from our spirits, while we own it only
over our outward man ; we render him an insignificant Lord, not
worthy of any higher adorations from us than a senseless statue ; we
demean not ourselves according to his majestical authority over us,
when we present him not with the cream and quintessence of our
souls. The greatness of God required a great house, and a costly
palace (1 Chron. xxix. 11, 16) ; David speaks it in order to the
building God a house and a temple ; God being a great King ex-
ON GOD'S DOMINION". 441
pects a male, the best of our flock (Mai. i. 14), a masculine and vig-
orous service. When we present him with a sleepy, sickly rheu-
matic service, we betray our conceptions of him to be as mean as if
he were some petty lord, whose dominion were of no larger extent
than a mole-hill, or some inconsiderable village.
[6.] Omission of the service he hath appointed is another contempt
of his sovereignty. This is a contempt of his dominion, whereby
he hath a right to appoint Avhat means and conditions he pleaseth,
for the enjoyment of his proffered and promised benefits. It is an
enmity to his sceptre not to accept of his terms after a long series of
precepts and invitations made for the restoring us to that happiness
we had lost, and providing all means necessary thereunto, nothing
being wanting but our own concurrence with it, and acceptance of
it, by rendering that easy homage he requires. By withholding
from him the service he enjoins, we deny that we hold anything of
him ; as he that pays not the quit rent, though it be never so small,
disowns the sovereignty of the lord of the manor ; it implies, that
he is a miserable poor lord, having no right, or destitute of any
power, to dispose of anything in the world to our advantage (Job,
xxii. 17) : " They say unto God, Depart from us, what can the Al-
mighty do for them ?" They will have no commerce with him in a
Avay of duty, because they imagine him to have no sovereign power
to do anything for them in way of benefit, as if his dominion were
an empty title, and as much destitute of any authority to com-
mand a favor for them as any idol. They think themselves to have
as absolute a disposal of things, as God himself. What can he do
for us ? what can he confer upon us, that we cannot invest ourselves
in ? as though they were sovereigns in an equality with God. Thus
men live "without God in the world" (Eph, ii. 12), as if there were
no Sfapreme Being to pay a respect to, or none fit to receive any
homage at their hands ; withholding from God the right of his
time and the right of his service, which is the just claim of his
sovereignty.
[7.] Censuring others is a contempt of his sovereignty. When
we censure men's persons or actions by a rash judgment ; when we
will be judges of the good and evil of men's actions, where the law
of God is utterly silent, we usurp God's place, and invade his right;
we claim a superiority over the law, and judge God defective, as the
Eector of the world, in his prescriptions of good and evil. (James,
iv. 11, 12), " He that speaks evil of his brother, and judgeth his
brother, speaks evil of the law, and judgeth the law ; there is one
Lawgiver who is able to save, and to destroy : who art thou that
judgest another ? Do you know what you do in judging another ?
You take upon you the garb of a sovereign, as if he were more your
servant than God's, and more under your authority than the authori-
ty of God ; it is a setting thyself in God's tribunal, and assuming
his rightful power of judging ; thy brother is not to be governed by
thy fancy, but by God's law, and his own conscience.
2. Information. Hence it follows, that God doth actually govern
the world. He hath not only a right to rule, but " he rules over
all," so saith the text. He is " King of kings, and Lord of lords," —
442 CHARisrocK on the attributes.
Avliat, to let tTiem do what tliey please, and all that their lusts prompt
them to ? hath God an absolute dominion ? Is it good, and is it
wise ? Is it then a useless prerogative of the Divine nature ? Shall
so excellent a power lie idle, as if God were a lifeless image ?
Shall we fancy God like some lazy monarch, that solaceth himself in
the gardens of his palace, or steeps himself in some charming pleas-
ures, and leaves his lieutenants to govern the several provinces,
v/hich are all members of his empire, according to their own humor?
Not to exercise this dominion is all one as not to have it ; to what
purpose is he invested with this sovereignty, if he were careless of
what were done in the world, and regarded not the oppressions of
men ? God keeps no useless excellency by him ; he actually reigns
over the heathen (Ps. xlvii. 8), and those as bad, or worse than
heathens. It had been a vanity in David to call upon the heavens
to be glad, and the earth to rejoice, under the rule of a " sleepy
Deity" (1 Chron. xvi. 31). No ; his sceptre is full of eyes, as it was
painted by the Egyptians ; he is always waking, and always more
than Ahasuerus, reading over the records of human actions. Not to
exercise his authority, is all one as not to regard whether he keep
the crown upon his head, or continue the sceptre in his hand. If his
sovereignty were exempt from care, it would be destitute of justice;
God is more righteous than to resign the ensigns of his authority to
blind and oppressive man ; to think that God hath a power, and doth
not use it for just and righteous ends, is to imagine him an un-
righteous as well as a careless Sovereign ; such a thing in a man
renders him a base man, and a worse governor ; it is a vice that dis-
turbs the world, and overthrows the ends of authority, as to have a
power, and use it well, is the greatest virtue of an earthly sovereign.
What an unworthy conception is it of God, to acknowledge him to
be possessed of a greater authority than the greatest monarch, and
yet to think that he useth it less than a petty lord ; that his crown
is of no more value with him than a feather ? This represents God
impotent, that he cannot, or unrighteous and base, that he will not
administer the authority he hath for the noblest and justest end.
But can we say, that he neglects the government of the world ? How
come things then to remain in their due order ? How comes the law
of nature yet to be preserved in every man's soul ? How comes con-
science to check, and cite, and judge? If God did not exercise his
authority, what authority could conscience have to disturb man in
unlawful practices, and to make his sports and sweetness so unpleas-
ant and sour to him ? Hath he not given frequent notices and me-
morials, that he holds a curb over corrupt inclinations, puts rubs in
the way of malicious attempters, and often oversets the disturbers
of the peace of the world ?
3. Information. God can do no wrong, since he is absolute Sov-
ereign, Man may do wrong, princes may oppress and rifle, but
it is a crime in them so to do : because their power is a power of
government, and not of propriety, in the goods or lives of their
subjects ; but God cannot do any wrong, whatsoever the clamors of
creatures are, because he can do nothing but what he hath a sov-
ereign right to do. If he takes away your goods, he takes not
ON GOD'S DOMINION". 443
away anything tliat is yours more than his own, since though he
entrusted you with them, he divested not himself of the propriety.
When he takes away our hves, he takes what he gave us by a
temporary donation, to be surrendered at his call : we can claim no
right in anything but by his will. He is no debtor to us : and
since he owes us nothing, he can wrong us in nothing that he takes
away. His own sovereignty excuseth him in all those acts which
are most distasteful to the creature. If we crop a medicinal plant
for our use, or a flower for our pleasure, or kill a lamb for our
food, we do neither of them any wrong : because the original of
them was for our use, and they had their life, and nourishment, and
pleasing qualities for our delight and support. And are not we
much more made for the pleasure and use of God, than any of
those can be for us? "Of him and to him are all things" (Rom.
xi. 36) : hath not God as much right over any one of us, as over
the meanest worm ? Though there be a vast difference in nature
between the angels in heaven and the worms on earth, yet they are
all one in regard of subjection to God ; he is as much the Lord of
the one as the other ; as much the Proprietor of the one as the
other ; as much the Governor of one as the other ; — not a cranny
in the world is exempt from his jurisdiction ; — not a mite or grain
of a creature exempt from his propriety. He is not our Lord by
election ; he was a Lord before we were in being ; he had no terms
put upon him who capitulated with him, and set him in his throne
by covenant. What oath did he take to any subject at his first in-
vestiture in his authority ? His right is as natural, as eternal as
himself : as natural as his existence, and as necessary as his Deity.
Hath he any law but his own will ? What wrong can he do that
breaks no law, that fulfils his law in everything he doth, by ful-
filling his own will, which as it is absolutely sovereign, so it is in-
finitely righteous ? In whatsoever he takes from us, then, he can-
not injure us ; it is no crime in any man to seize upon his own
goods to vindicate his own honor ; and shall it be thought a wrong
in God to do such things, besides the occasion he hath from every
man, and that every day provoking him to do it ? He seems rather
to wrong himself by forbearing such a seizure, than wrong us b}'
executing it.
4. Information. If God have a sovereignty over the whole world,
then merit is totally excluded. His right is so absolute over all
creatures, that he neither is, nor can be, a debtor to any ; not to
the undefiled holiness of the blessed angels, much less to poor earthly
worms ; those blessed spirits enjoy their glory by the 'title of his
sovereign pleasure, not by virtue of any obligation devolving from
them upon God. Are not the faculties, whereby they and we per-
form any act of obedience, his grant to us ? Is not the strength,
whereby they and we are enabled to do anything pleasing to him,
a gift from him ? Can a vassal merit of his lord, or a slave of his
master, by using his tools, and employing his strength in his ser-
vice, though it was a strength he had naturally, not by donation
from the man in whose service it is employed ? God is Lord of all
— all is due to him ; how can we oblige him by giving him what
444 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
is liis own, more liis to whom it is presented, than ours by whom it
is offered ? He becomes not a debtor by receiving anything from
us, but by promising something to us.*
5, Information. If God hath a sovereign dominion over the whole
world, then hence it follows, that all magistrates are but sovereigns
under God. He is King of kings, and Lord of lords ; all the poten-
tates of the world are no other than his lieutenants, movable at his
pleasure, and more at his disposal than their subjects are at theirs.
Though they are dignified with the title of " gods," yet still they
are at an infinite distance from the supreme Lord ; gods under God,
not to be above him, not to be against him. The want of the due
sense of their subordination to God hath made many in the world
act as sovereigns above him more than sovereigns under him.
Had they all bore a deep conviction of this upon their spirits, such
audacious language had never dropped from the mouth of Pharaoh :
" Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice, to let Israel go?"
(Exod. V. 2), presuming that there was no superior to control him,
nor any in heaven able to be a match for him ; Darius had never
published such a doting edict, as to prohibit any petition to God ;
Nero had never fired Kome, and sung at the sight of the devouring
flames ; nor ever had he ripped up his mother's belly, to see the
womb where he first lodged, and received a life so hateful to his
country. Nor would Abner and Joab, the two generals, have ac-
counted the death of men but a sport and interlude. " Let the
young men arise and play before us" (2 Sam. ii. 14) ; what jDlay it
was, the next verse acquaints you with ; thrusting their swords
into one another's sides. They were no more troubled at the death
of thousands, than a man is to kill a fly, or a flea. Had a sense of
this but hovered over their souls, people in many countries had not
been made their foot-balls, and used worse than their dogs ! Nor
had the lives of millions, worth more than a world, been exposed to
fire and sword, to support some sordid lust, or breach of faith upon
an idle quarrel, and for the depredation of their neighbors' estates ;
the flames of cities had not been so bright, nor the streams of blood
so deep, nor the cries of innocents so loud. In particular,
(1). If God be Sovereign, all under-sovereigns are not to rule
against him, but to be obedient to his orders. If they " rule by
his authority" (Prov. viii. 15), they are not to rule against his in-
terest ; they are not to imagine themselves as absolute as God, and
that their laws must be of as sovereign authority against his honor,
as the Divine are for it. If they are his lieutenants on earth, they
ought to act according to his orders. No man but will account a
governor of a province a rebel, if he disobeys the orders sent to
him by the sovereign prince that commissioned him. Rebellion
against God is a crime of princes, as well as rebellion against princes
a crime of subjects. Saul is charged with it by Samuel in a high
manner for an act of simple disobedience, though intended for the
service of God, and the enriching his country with the spoils of the
Amalekites. " Rebellion is as the sin of vntchcraft" (1 Sam. xv. 23);
like witchcraft or covenanting with the devil, acting as if he had
* Austin.
ON GOD'S DOMINION". 445
received his commission not from God, but from Satan. Magis-
trates, as commissioned by God, ought to act for liim. Doth human
authority ever give a commission to any to rebel against itself? did
God ever depute any earthly sovereignty against his glory, and give
them leave to outlaw his laws, to introduce their own? No;
when he gave the vicarious dominion to Christ, he calls upon the
kings of the earth to be instructed, and be wise, and " kiss the Son"
(Ps. ii. 10, 12), i. e. to observe his orders, and pay him homage as
their Governor. What a silly doltish thing is it to resist that Su-
preme Authority, to which the archangels submit themselves, and
regulate their employments punctually by their instructions ! Those
excellent creatures exactly obey him in all the acts of their subor-
dinate government in the world ; those in whose hand the greatest
monarch is no more than a silly fly between the fingers of a giant.
A contradiction to the interest of God hath been fatal to kings.
The four monarchies have had their wings clipped, and most of
them have been buried in their own ashes ; they have all, like the
imitators of Lucifer's pride, fallen from the heaven of their glory to
the depth of their shame and misery. All governors are bound to
be as much obedient to God, as their subjects are bound to be sub-
missive to them. Their authority over men is limited ; God's au-
thority over them is absolute and unbounded. Though every soul
ought to be subject to the higher powers, yet there is a higher
Power of all, to which those higher powers are to subject them-
selves ; they are to be keepers of both the tables of the law of God,
and are then most sovereigns when they set in their own practice
an example of obedience to God, for their subjects to write after.
(2.) They ought to imitate God in the exercise of their sovereignty
in ways of justice and righteousness. Though God be an absolute
sovereign, yet his government is not tyrannical, but managed accord
ing to the rules of righteousness, wisdom, and goodness. If God,
that created them as well as their subjects, cloth so exercise his gov-
ernment, it is a duty incumbent upon them to do the same ; since
they are not the creators of their people, but the conductors. As
God's government tends to the good of the world, so ought theirs to
the good of their countries. God committed not the government of
the world to the Mediator in an unlimited way, but for the good of
the church, in order to the eternal salvation of his people. " He gave
him to be head over all things to the church" (Eph. i, 22). He had
power over the devils to restrain them in their temptation and malice ;
power over the angels to order their ministry for the heirs of salva-
tion. So power is given to magistrates for the civil preservation of
the world and of human society ; they ought therefore to consider
for what ends they were placed over the rest of mankind, and not
exercise their authority in a licentious way, but conformable to that
justice and righteousness wherein God doth administer his govern-
ment, and for the preservation of those who are committed to them.
(3.) Magistrates must then be obeyed when they act according to
God's order, and within the bounds of the Divine commission. They
are no friends to the sovereignty of God, that are enemies to magis ■
tracy, his ordinance. Saul was a good governor, though none of the
446 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
best men, and tlie despisers of his government after God's choice,
were the sons of Belial (1 Sam. x. 27). Christ was no enemy to
CiBsar. To pull down a faithful magistrate, such an one as Zerub-
babel, is to pluck a signet from the hand of God ; for in that capacity-
he accounts him (Hag. ii. 23). God's servants stand or fall to their
own Master ; how doth he check Aaron and Miriam for speaking
against Moses, his servant? " Were you not afraid to speak against
my servant Moses ?" (Numb. xii. 8) ; against Moses as related to you
in the capacity of a governor ; against Moses as related to you in the
capacity of my servant ? To speak anything against them, as they
act by God's order, is an invasion of God's sovereign right, who gave
them their commission. To act against just power, or the justice of
an earthly power, is to act against God's ordinance, who ordaiaed
them in the world, but not any abuse, or ill use of their power.
Use II. How dreadful is the consideration of this doctrine to all
rebels against God ! Can any man that hath brains in his head, im-
ao-ine it an inconsiderable thing to despise the Sovereign of the world?
It was the sole crime of disobedience to that positive law, whereby
God would have a visible memorial of his sovereignty preserved in
the eye of man, that showered down that deluge of misery, under
which the world groans to this day. God had given Adam a soul,
whereby he might live as a rational creature ; and then gives him a
law, whereby he might live as a dutiful subject: for God forbidding
him to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil,
declared his own supremacy over Adam, and his propriety in the
pleasant world he had given him by his bounty ; he let him know
hereby, that man was not his own lord, nor was to live after his own
sentiments, but the directions of a superior. As when a great lord
builds a magnificent palace, and brings in another to inhabit it, he
reserves a small duty to himself, not of an equal value with the
house, but for an acknowledgment of his own right, that the tenant
may know he is not the lord of it, but hath this grant by the liber-
ality of another." God hereby gave Adam matter for a pure obedi-
ence, that had no foundation in his own nature by any implanted
law ; he was only in it to respect the will of his Sovereign, and to
understand that he was to live under the power of a higher than him-
self. There was no more moral evil in the eating of this fruit, as
considered distinct from the command, than in eating of any other
fruit in the garden : had there been no prohibition, he might with as
much safety have fed upon it as upon any other. No law of nature
was transgressed in the act of eating of it, but the sovereignty of God
over him was denied by him ; and for this the death threatened was
inflicted on his posterity : for though divines take notice of other
sins in the fall of Adam, yet God, in his trial, chargeth him with
none but this, and doth put upon his question an emphasis of his
own authority : " Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded
ye that thou shouldst not eat ?" (Gen. iii. 11). This I am pleased
with, that thou shouldest disown my dominion over thyself, and this
garden. This was the inlet to all the other sins : as the acknowledg-
ment of God's sovereignty is the first step to the practice of all the
" Chiysost. in Gen. Horn. 16.
ON" GOD'S DOMINION. 447
duties of a creature, so tlie disowning liis sovereignty is the first
spring of all the extravagances of a creature. Every sin against the
sovereign Lawgiver is worthy of death : tlie transgression of this
command deserved death, and procured it to spread itself over the
face of the world. God's dominion cannot be despised without merit-
ing the greatest punishment.
1. Punishment necessarily follows upon the doctrine of sovereign-
ty. It is a faint and a feeble sovereignty that cannot preserve itself,
and vindicate its own wrongs against rebellious subjects ; the height
of God's dominion infers a vengeance on the contemners of it : if
God be an eternal King, he is an eternal Judge. Since sin unlinks
the dependence between God the Sovereign, and man the subject, if
God did not vindicate the rights of his sovereignty, and the authority
of his law, he would seem to despise his own dominion, be weary of
it, and not act the part of a good governor. But God is tender of
his prerogative, and doth most bestir himself when men exalt them-
selves proudly against him : "In the thing wherein they dealt
proudly, he will be above them" (Exod. xviii. 11). When Pharaoh
thought himself a mate for God, and proudly rejected his commands,
as if they had been the messages of some petty Arabian lord, God
rights his own authority upon the life of his enemy by the ministry
of the Eed Sea. He turned a great king into a beast, to make him
know that the Most High ruled in the kingdoms of men : " The
demand is by the word of the holy ones, to the intent that the living
may know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdoms of men"
(Dan. iv, 16, 17); and that by the petitions of the angels, who can-
not endure that the empire of God should be obscured and diminish-
ed by the pride of man. Besides the tender respect he hath to his
own glory, he is constantly presented with the solicitations of the
angels to punish the proud ones of the earth, that darken the glory
of his majesty : it is necessary for the rescue of his honor, and neces-
sary for the satisfaction of his illustrious attendants, who would think
it a shame to them to serve a Lord that were always unconcerned in
the rebellions of his creatures, and tamely suffer their spurns at his
throne ; and therefore there is a day wherein the haughtiness of man
shall be bowed down, the cedars of Lebanon overthrown, and high
mountains levelled, that " God may be exalted in that day" (Isa. ii.
11, 12), &c. Pride is a sin that immediately swells against God's
authority ; this shall be brought down that God may be exalted ;
not that he should have a real exaltation, as if he were actually de-
posed from his government, but that he shall be manifested to be the
Sovereign of the whole world. It is necessary there should be a day
to chase away those clouds that are upon his throne, that the lustre
of his majesty may break forth to the confusion of all the children
of pride that vaunt against him. God hath a dominion over us as a
Lawgiver, as we are his creatures ; and a dominion over us in a way
of justice, as we are his criminals.
2. This punishment is unavoidable.
(1.) None can escape him. He hath the sole authority over hell
and death, the keys of both are in his hand : the greatest Caesar can
no more escape him than the meanest peasant : " Who art thou, O
448 CHABNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
great mountain, before Zerubbabel ?" (Zecb. iv. 7). The heiglit*of
angels is no match for him, much less that of the mortal grandees of
the world ; they can no more resist him than the meanest person ;
but are rather, as the highest steeples, the fittest marks for his crush-
ing thunder. If he speaks the word, the principalities of men come
down, and " the crown of their glory" (Jer. xiii. 18). He can "take
the mighty away in a moment," and that "without hands," i. e.
without instruments (Job, xxxi.v 20). The strongest are like the
feet of Nebuchadnezzar's image, iron and clay ; iron to man, but clay
to God, to be crumbled to nothing.
(2.) What comfort can be reaped from a creature, when the Sover-
eign of the world arms himself with terrors, and begins his visitation ?
" "What will you do in the day of visitation, to whom will you flee
for help, and where will you leave your glory ?" (Isa. x. 3). The
torments from a subject may be relieved by the prince, but where
can there be an appeal from the Sovereign of the world ? Where is
there any above him to control him, if he will overthrow us ? Who
is there to call him to account, and say to him. What dost thou ?
He works by an uncontrollable authority ; he needs not ask leave
of any ; " he works, and none can let it" (Isa. xliii. 13) : as when he
will relieve, none can afflict ; so when he will wound, none can re-
lieve. If a king appoint the punishment of a rebel, the greatest
favorite in the court cannot speak a comfortable word to him : the
most beloved angel in heaven cannot sweeten and ease the spirit of
a man that the Sovereign Power is set against to make the butt of
his wrath. The devils lie under his sentence, and wear their chains
as marks of their condemnation, without hope of ever having them
filed off, since they are laid upon them by the authority of an unac-
countable Sovereign.
(3.) By his sovereign authority God can make any creature the
instrument of his vengeance. He hath all the creatures at his beck,
and can commission any of them to be a dreadful scourge. Strong
winds and tempests fulfil his word (Ps. cxlviii. 8) ; the lightnings
answer him at his call, and cry aloud, " Here are we" (Job, xxxviii.
35). By his sovereign authority he can render locusts as mischievous
as lions, forge the meanest creatures into swords and arrows, and
commission the most despicable to be his executioners. He can cut
off joy from our spirits, and make our own hearts be our tormentors,
our most confident friends our jiersecutors, our nearest relations to
be his avengers ; they are more his, who is their Sovereign, than
ours, who place a vain confidence in them. Eather than Abraham
shall want children, he can raise up stones, and adopt them into his
family ; and rather than not execute his vengeance, he can array the
stones in the streets, and make them his armed subjects against us.
If he speak the word, a hair shall drop from our heads to choke us,
or a vapor, congealed into rheum in our heads, shall drop down and
putrefy our vitals. He can never want weapons, who is Sovereign
over the thunders of heaven and stones of the earth, over every
creature ; and can, by a sovereign word, turn our greatest comforts
into curses.
8. This punishment must be terrible. How doth David, a great
ON GOD'S DOMINION. 449
king, sound in his body, prosperous in his crown, and successful in
his conquests, settled in all his royal conveniences, groan under the
wrathful touch of a greater King than himself (Ps. vi. xxxviii., and
his other penitential Psalms), not being able to give himself a writ
of ease by all the delights of his palace and kingdom ! "If the wrath
of a king be as the roaring of a lion" (Prov. xix, 10) to a poor sub-
ject, how great is the wrath of the King of kings, that cannot be set
forth by the terror of all the amazing volleys of thunder that have
been since the creation, if the noise of all were gathered into one
single crack ! As there is an inconceivable ground of joy in the
special favor of so mighty a King, so is there of terror in his severe
displeasure: he is "terrible to the kings of the earth; with God is
terrible majesty" (Ps. Ixxvi. 12). What a folly is it, then, to rebel
against so mighty a Sovereign !
Use III. Of comfort. The throne of God drops honey and sweet-
ness, as well as dread and terror ; all his other attributes afford little
relief without this of his dominion and universal command. When,
therefore, he speaks of his being the God of his people, he doth often
preface it with "the Lord thy God;" his sovereignty, as a Lord, be-
ing the ground of all the comfort we can take in his federal relation
as our God ; thy God, but superior to thee ; thy God, not as thy cat-
tle and goods are thine, in a way of sole propriety, but a Lord too,
in a way of sovereignty, not only over thee, but over all things else
for thee. As the end of God's settling earthly governments was for
the good of the communities over which the governors preside, so
God exerciseth his government for the good of the world, and more
particularly for the good of the church, over which he is a peculiar
Governor.
1. His love to his people is as great as his sovereignty over them.
He stands not upon his dominion with his people so much as upon
his affection to them ; he would not be caUed " Baali, my Lord," i. e.
he Avould not be known only by the name of sovereignty, but " Ishi,
my husband," a name of authority and sweetness together (Hos. ii.
16, 19, &c.) : he signifies that he is not only the Lord of our spirits
and bodies, but a husband by a marriage knot, admitting us to a
nearness to him, and communion of goods with him. Though he
majestically sits upon a high throne, yet it is a throne " encircled
with a rainbow" (Ezek. i. 28), to show that his government of his
people is not only in a way of absolute dominion, but also in a way
of federal relation ; he seems to own himself their subject rather than
their Sovereign, when he gives them a charter to command him in
the affairs of his church (Isa. xlv. 11) ; " Ask of me things to come
concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command
you me." Some read it by way of question, as a corrective of a
sauciness : Do you ask me of things to come, and seem to command
me concerning the works of my hands, as if you were more careful
of my interest among my people than I am, who have formed them ?
But if this were the sense, it would seem to discourage an importu-
nity of prayer for public deliverance ; and therefore, to take it ac-
cording to our translation, it is an exhortation to prayer, and a
mighty encouragement in the management and exercise of it. Urge
VOL. II. — 29
450 CHARNOCE ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
me with mj promise, in a way of liiimble importunity, and you shall
find me as willing to perform my word, and gratify your desires, as
if I were rather under your authority, than you under mine : as much
as to say. If I be not as good as my word, to satisfy those desires
that are according to my promise, implead me at my own throne,
and, if I be failing in it, I will give judgment against myself: almost
like princes' charters, and gracious grants, "We grant such a thing
against us and our heirs," giving the subject power to implead them
if they be not punctually observed by them. How is the love of
God seen in his condescension below the majesty of earthy governors !
He that might command, by the absoluteness of his authority, doth
not only do that, but entreats, in the quality of a subject, as if he had
not a fulness to supply us, but needed something from us for a sup-
ply of himself (2 Cor. v. 20) ; " As though God did beseech you by
us." And when he may challenge, as a due by the right of his pro-
priety, what we bestow upon his poor, which are his subjects as well
as ours, he reckons it as a loan to him, as if what we had were more
our own than his (Prov. xix. 17). He stands not upon his dominion
so much with us, when he finds us conscientious in paying the duty
we owe to him ; lie rules as a Father, by love as well as by authority ;
he enters into a peculiar communion with poor earthly worms, plants
his gracious tabernacle among the troops of sinners, instructs us by
his word, invites us by his benefits, admits us into his presence, is
more desirous to bestow his smiles than we to receive them, and acts
in such a manner as if he were willing to resign his sceptre into the
hands of any that were possessed with more love and kindness to us
than himself: this is the comfort of believers.
2. In his being Sovereign, his pardons carry in them a full secu-
rity. He that hath the keys of hell and death, pardons the crime,
and wipes off the guilt. Who can repeal the act of the chief Gover-
nor ? what tribunal can null the decrees of an absolute throne ? (Isa.
xliii. 25), " I, even I, am he that blots out thy transgressions, for my
name's sake." His sovereign dominion renders his mercy comforta-
ble. The clemency of a subject, though never so great, cannot par-
don ; people may pity a criminal, while the executioner tortures him,
and strips him of his life ; but the clemency of the Supreme Prince
establisheth a pardon. Since we are under the dominion of God, if
he pardons, who can reverse it ? if he doth not, what will the par-
dons of men profit us in regard of an eternal state ? If God be a
King forever, then he whom God forgives, he in whom God reigns,
shall live forever ; else he would want subjects on earth, and have
none of his lower creatures, which he formed upon the earth, to
reign over after the dissolution of the world ; if his pardons did not
stand secure, he would, after this life, have no voluntary subjects
that had formerly a being upon the earth ; he would be a King only
over the damned creatures.
3. Corruptions will certainly be subdued in his voluntary subjects.
The covenant, " I will be your God," implies protection, govern-
ment, and relief, which are all grounded upon sovereignty; that,
therefore, which is our greatest burden, will be removed by his sov-
ereign power (Mic. vii. 19) : " He will subdue our iniquities." If the
©N GOD'S DOMINION. 461
»
outward enemies of tlie cliurch shall not bear np against his domin-
ion, and perpetuate their rebellions unpunished, those within, his
people, shall as little bear up against his throne, without being de-
stroyed by him ; the billows of our own hearts, and the raging waves
within us, are as much at his beck as those without us ; and his sov-
ereignty is more eminent in quelling the corruptions of the heart,
than the commotions of the world in reigning over men's spirits, by
changing them, or curbing them, more than over men's bodies, by
pinching and punishing them. The remainders of Satan's empire
will moulder away before him, since He that is in us is a greater
Sovereign "than he that is in the world" (1 John, iv. 4). His ene-
mies will be laid at his feet, and so never shall prevail against him,
when his kingdom shall come. He could not be Lord of any man,
as a happy creature, if he did not, by his power, make them happy ;
and he could not make them happy, unless, by his grace, he made
them holy : he could not be praised, as a Lord of glory, if he did
not make some creatures glorious to praise him; and an earthly
creature could not praise him perfectly, unless he had every grain
of enmity to his glory taken out of his heart. Since God is the only
Sovereign, he only can still the commotions in our spirits, and pull
down all the ensigns of the devil's royalty ; he can waste him by the
powerful word of his lips.
4. Hence is a strong encouragement for prayer. " My King," was
the strong compellation David used in prayer, as an argument of
comfort and confidence, as well as that of " my God" (Ps. v. 2) :
" Hearken to the voice of my cry, my King and my God." To be
a king is to have an office of government and protection : he gives
us liberty to approach to him as the " Judge of all" (Heb. xii. 23),
i. e. as the Governor of the world ; we pray to one that hath the whole
globe of heaven and earth in his hand, and can do whatsoever he
will : though he be higher than the cherubims, and transcendently
above all in majesty, yoi we may soar up to him with the wings of
our soul, faith and love, and lay open our cause, and find him as
gracious as if he were the meanest subject on earth, rather than the
most sovereign God in heaven. He hath as much of tenderness as
he hath of authority, and is pleased with prayer, which is an ac-
knowledgment of his dominion, an honoring of that which he de-
lights to honor ; for prayer, in the notion of it, imports thus much —
that God is the Eector of the world, that he takes notice of human
affairs, that he is a careful, just, wise Governor, a storehouse of bless-
ing, a fountain of goodness to the indigent, and a relief to the op-
pressed. What have we reason to fear when the Sovereign of the
world gives us liberty to approach to him and lay open our case i
that God, who is King of the whole earth, not only of a few villages
or cities in the earth, but the whole earth ; and not only King of this
dreggy place of our dross, but of heaven, having prepared, or estab-
lished, his throne in the most glorious place of the creation.
5. Here is comfort in affliction. As a sovereign, he is the author
of afflictions ; as a sovereign, he can be the remover of them ; he
can command the waters of affliction to go so far and no farther. If
he speaks the word, a disease shall depart as soon as a servant shall
452 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
from your presence with a nod ; if we are banislied from one place,
he can command a shelter for us in another ; if he orders Moab, a
nation that had no great kindness for his people, to let "his outcasts
dwell with them," they shall entertain them, and afford them sanctu-
ary (Isa. xvi. 4). Again, God chasteneth as a " Sovereign," but teach-
eth as a " Father" (Ps. xcix. 12) ; the exercise of his authority is not
without an exercise of his goodness ; he doth not correct for his own
pleasure, or the creature's torment, but for the creature's instruction ;
though the rod be in the hand of a sovereign, yet it is tinctured with
the kindness of Divine bowels : he can order them as a sovereign to
mortify our flesh, and tr}^ our faith. In the severest tempest, the
Lord that raised the wind against us, which shattered the ship, and
tore its rigging, can change that contrary wind for a more happy one,
to drive us into the port.
6. It is a comfort against the projects of the church's adversaries
in times of public commotions. The consideration of the Divine
sovereignty may arm us against the threatenings of mighty ones, and
the menaces of persecutors. God hath authority above the crowns
of men, and a wisdom superior to the cabals of men ; none can have
a step without him ; he hath a negative voice upon their counsels, a
negative hand upon their motions ; their politic resolves must stop at
the point he hath prescribed them ; their formidable strength cannot
exceed the limits he hath set them ; their overreaching wisdom ex-
pires at the breath of God : " There is no wisdom nor understanding
nor counsel against the Lord" (Prov. xxi. 30) ; not a bullet can be
discharged, nor a sword drawn, a wall battered, nor a person de-
spatched out of the world, without the leave of God, by the mighti-
est in the world. The instruments of Satan are no more free from
his sovereign restraint than their inspirer ; they cannot pull the hook
out of their nostrils, nor cast the bridle out of their mouths ; this
Sovereign can shake the earth, rend the heavens, overthrow moun-
tains, the most mountainous opposers of his interest. Though the
nations rush in against his people like the rushing of many waters,
" God shall rebuke them, they shall be chased as the chaff of the
mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirl-
wind" (Isa. xvii. 13) ; so doth he often burst in pieces the most mis-
chievous designs, and conducts the oppressed to a happy port : he
often turns the severest tempests into a calm, as well as the most
peaceful calm into a horrible storm. How often hath a well-rigged
ship, that seemed to spurn the sea under her feet, and beat the waves
before her to a foam, been SAvallowed up into the bowels of that ele-
ment, over whose back she rode a little before ! God never comes
to deliver his church as a governor, but in a wrathful posture (Ezek.
XX. 33) : " Surely, saith the Lord, with a mighty hand, and with an
outstretched arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you ;"
not with fury poured out upon the church, but fury poured out upon
her enemies, as the words following evidence : the church he would
bring out from the countries where she was scattered, and bring the
people into the bond of the covenant. He sometimes " cuts off the
spirits of princes" (Ps. Ixxvi. 12), i. e. cuts off their designs as men
do the pipes of a water-course. The hearts of all are as open to him
ON god's dominion. 453
as the riches of heaven, where he resides ; he can shp an inchnation
into the heart of the mighty, which they dreamed not of before ; and
if he doth not change their projects, he can make them abortive, and
waylay them in their attempts. Laban marched with fury, but God
put a jDadlock on his passion against Jacob (Gen. xxxi. 24, 29) ; the
devils, Avhich ravage men's minds, must be still when he gives out his
sovereign orders. This Sovereign can make his people find favor in
the eyes of the cruel Egyptians, which had so long oppressed them
(Exod. xi. 3) ; and speak a good word in the heart of Nebuchadnez-
zar for the prophet Jeremiah, that he should order his captain to
take him into his special protection, when he took Zedekiah away
prisoner in chains, and "put out his eyes" (Jer. xxxix. 11). His
people cannot want deliverance from Him who hath all the world at
his command, when he is pleased to bestow it ; he hath as many in-
struments of deliverance as he hath creatures at his beck in heaven
or earth, from the meanest to the highest. As he is the Lord of hosts,
the church hath not only an interest in the strength he himself is
possessed with, but in the strength of all the creatures that are under
his command, in the elements below, and angels above. In those
armies of heaven, and in the inhabitants of the earth, he doth " what
he will" (Dan. iv. 35) ; they are all in order and array at his com-
mand. There are angels to employ in a fatal stroke, lice and frogs
to quell the stubborn hearts of his enemies ; he can range his thun-
ders and lightnings, the cannon and granadoes of heaven, and the
worms of the earth in his service ; he can muzzle lions, calm the
fury of the fire, turn his enemies' swords into their own bowels, and
their artillery on their own breasts ; set the wind in their teeth, and
make their chariot- wheels languish ; make the sea enter a quarrel
with them, and wrap them in its waves till it hath stifled them in its
lap. The angels have storms, and tempests, and wars in their hands,
but at the disposal of God ; when they shall cast them out against
the empire of antichrist (Rev. vii. 1, 2), then shall Satan be discharged
from his throne, and no more seduce the nations ; the everlasting
gospel shall be preached, and God shall reign gloriously in Sion.
Let us, therefore, shelter ourselves in the Divine sovereignty, regard
God as the most high in our dangers and in our petitions. This was
David's resolution (Ps. Ivii. 1, 2) : "I will cry unto God most high ;"
this dominion of God is the true "tower of David, wherein there are
a thousand shields" for defence and encouragement (Cant. iv. 4).
Use IV. If God hath an extensive dominion over the whole world,
this ought to be often meditated on, and acknowledged by us. This
is the universal duty of mankind. If he be the Sovereign of all, we
should frequently think of our great Prince, and acknowledge our-
selves his subjects, and him our Lord. God will be acknowledged
the Lord of the whole earth ; the neglect of this is the cause of the
judgments which are sent upon the world. All the prodigies were
to this end, that they might know, or acknowledge, that " God was
the Lord" (Exod. x. 2) ; as God was proprietor, he demanded the
first-born of every Jew, and the first-born of every beast ; the one
was to be redeemed, and the other sacrificed ; this was the quit rent
they were to pay to him for their fruitful land. The first-fruits of
454 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
the eartli were ordered to be paid to liim, as a homage due to the
landlord, and an acknowledgment they held all in chief of him. The
practice of offering first-fruits for an acknowledgment of God's sov-
ereignty, was among many of the heathens, and very ancient ; hence
they dedicated some of the chief of their spoils, owning thereby the
dominion and goodness of God, whereby they had gained the vic-
tory ; Cain owned this in offering the fruits of the earth, and it was
his sin he owned no more, viz., his being a sinner, and meriting the
justice of God, as his brother Abel did in his bloody sacrifice. God
was a sovereign Proprietor and Governor while man was in a state
of innocence ; but when man proved a rebel, the sovereignty of God
bore another relation towards him, that of a Judge, added to the
other. The first-fruits might have been offered to God in a state of
innocence, as a homage to him as Lord of the manor of the world ;
the design of them was to own God's propriety in all things, and
men's dependence on him for the influences of heaven in producing
the fruits of the earth, Avhich he had ordered for their use. The de-
sign of sacrifices, and placing beasts instead of the criminal, was to
acknowledge their own guilt, and God as a sovereign Judge ; Cain
owned the first, but not the second ; he acknowledged his depend-
ence on God as a Proprietor, but not his obnoxiousness to God as a
Judge ; which may be probably gathered from his own speech, when
God came to examine him, and ask him for his brother (Gen. iv. 9) :
" Am I my brother's keeper ?" Why do you ask me ? though I own
thee as the Lord of my land and goods, jet I do not think myself
accountable to thee for all my actions. This sovereignty of God
ought to be acknowledged in all the parts of it, in all the manifesta-
ttons of it to the creature ; we should bear a sense of this always
upon our spirits, and be often in the thoughts of it in our retirements ;
we should fancy that we saw God upon his throne in his royal garb,
and great attendants about him, and take a view of it, to imprint an
awe upon our spirits. The meditation of this would,
1. Fix us on him as an object of trust. It is U23on his sovereign
dominion as much as upon anything, that safe and secure confidence
is built ; for if he had any superior above him to control him in his
designs and promises, his veracity and power would be of little efii-
cacy to form our souls to a close adherency to him. It were not fit
to make him the object of our trust that can be gainsay ed by a
higher than himself, and had not a full authority to answer our ex-
pectations ; if we were possessed with this notion fully and believ-
ingly, that God were high above all, that " his kingdom rules over
all," we should not catch at every broken reed, and stand gaping for
comforts from a pebble stone. He that understands the authority of
a king, would not waive a reliance on his promise to depend upon
the breath of a changeling favorite. None but an ignorant man
would change the security he may have upon the height of a rock,
to expect it from the dwarfishness of a molehill. To put confidence
in any inferior lord more than in the prince, is a folly in civil con-
verse, but a rebelUon in divine ; God only being above all, can only
rule all ; can command things to help us, and check other things
which we depend on, and make them fall short of our expectations.
ON god's dominion. 455
The due consideration of this doctrine would make us pierce through
second causes to the first, and look further than to the smaller sort
of sailors, that climb the ropes, and dress the sails, to the pilot that
sits at the helm, the master, that, by an indisputable authority, orders
all their notions. We should not depend upon second causes for
our support, but look beyond them to the authority of the Deity,
and the dominion he hath over all the works of his hands (Zech. x.
1) : " Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain ;" when
the seasons of the year conspire for the producing such an effect,
when the usual time of rain is wheeled about in the year, stop not
your thoughts at the point of the heavens whence yon expect it, but
pierce the heavens, and solicit God, who must give order for it before
it comes. The due meditation of all things depending on the Divine
dominion would strike off our hands from all other holds, so that no
creature would engross the dependence and trust which is due to the
First Cause ; as we do not thank the heavens when they pour out
rain, so we are not to depend upon them when we want it ; God is
to be sought to when the womb of second causes is opened to relieve
us, as well as when the womb of second causes is barren, and brings
not forth its wonted progeny.
2. It would make us diligent in worship. The consideration of
God, as the Supreme Lord, is the foundation of all religion : " Our
Father, which art in heaven," prefaceththe Lord's prayer ; " Father"
is a name of authority ; " in heaven," the place where he hath fixed his
throne, notes his government; not "my Father," but " our Father,"
notes the extent of this authority. In all worship we acknowledge
the object of our worship our Lord, and ourselves his vassals ; if we
bear a sense that he is our Sovereign King, it would draw us to him
in every exigence, and keep us with him in a reverential posture, in
every address ; when we come, we should be careful not to violate
his right, but render him the homage due to his royalty. "We should
not appear before him with empty souls, but filled with holy
thoughts : we should bring him the best of our flock, and present
him with the prime of our strength ; were we sensible we hold all
of him, we should not withhold anything from him which is more
worthy than another. Our hearts would be framed into an awful
regard of him, when we consider that glorious and " fearful name,
the Lord our God" (Deut, xxviii. 58). We should look to our feet
when we enter into his house ; if we considered him in heaven upon
his throne, and ourselves on earth at his footstool (Eccles. v. 2),
lower before him than a worm before an angel, it would hinder gar-
nishness and lightness. The Jews, saith Capel, on 1 Tim. i. 17, re-
peat this expression, db^■sn -;b^, King of worlds, or Eternal King ;
probably the first original of it might be to stake them down from
wandering. When we consider the majesty of God, clothed with a
robe of light, sitting upon his high throne, adorned with his royal
ensigns, we should not enter into the presence of so great a Majesty
with the sacrifice of fools, with light motions and foolish thoughts,
as if he were one of our companions to be drolled with. We should
not hear his word as if it were the voice of some ordinary peasant.
The consideration of majesty would engender reverence in our ser-
456 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
vice ; it would also make us speak of God witli honor and respect,
as of a great and glorious king, and not use defaming expressions of
him, as if he were an infamous being. And were he considered as
a terrible majesty, he would not be frequently solicited by some to
pronounce a damnation upon them upon every occasion,
3. It would make us charitable to others. Since he is our Lord,
the great Proprietor of the world, it is fit he should have a part of
our goods, as well as our time : he being the Lord both of our goods
and time. The Lord is to be honored with our substance (Prov. iii.
9) ; kings were not to be approached to without a present ; tribute
is due to kings : but because he hath no need of any from us to
bear up his state, maintain the charge of his wars, or pay his mili-
tary officers and hosts, it is a debt due to him to acknowledge him in
his poor, to sustain those that are a part of his substance ; though he
stands in no need of it himself, yet the poor, that we have always
with us, do ; as a seventh part of our weekly time, so some part of
our weekly gains, are due to him. There was to be a weekly laying
by in store somewhat of what God had prospered them, for the re-
lief of others (1 Cor. xvi. 1, 2) ; the quantity is not determined, that
is left to every man's conscience, " according as God hath prospered
him" that week. If we did consider God as the Donor and Pro-
prietor, we should dispose of his gifts according to the design of the
true owner, and act in our places as stewards entrusted by him, and
not purse up his part, as well as our own, in our coffers. We should
not deny him a small quit rent, as an acknowledgement that we
have a greater income from him ; we should be ready to give the
inconsiderable pittance he doth require of us, as an acknowledgment
of his propriety, as well as liberality.
4. It would make us watchful, and arm us against all temptations.
Had Eve stuck to her first argument against the serpent, she had not
been instrumental to that destruction which mankind yet feel the
smart of (Gen. iii. 3) : " God hath said. Ye shall not eat of it;" the
great Governor of the world hath laid his sovereign command upon
us in this point. The temptation gained no ground till her heart let
go the sense of this for the pleasure of her eye and palate. The re-
petition of this, the great Lord of the world hath said or ordered,
had both unargumented and disarmed the tempter. A sense of
God's dominion over us would discourage a temptation, and put it
out of countenance ; it would bring us with a vigorous strength to
beat it back to a retreat. If this were as strongly urged as the
temptation, it would make the heart of the tempted strong, and the
motion of the tempter feeble.
5. It would make us entertain afflictions as they ought to be en-
tertained, viz.^ with a respect to God. When men make light of
any affliction from God, it is a contempt of his sovereignty, as to
contemn the frown, displeasure, and check of a prince, is an affront
to majesty : it is as if they did not care a straw what God did with
them, but dare him to do his worst. There is a "despising the
chastening of the Almighty" (Job, v. 17). To be unhumbled under
his hand, is as much, or more, affront to him, than to be impatient
under it. Afflictions must be entertained as a check from heaven,
ON GOD'S DOMINION. 457
as a frown from tlie great Monarch of the world ; under the feeling
of every stroke, we are to acknowledge his sovereignty and bounty ;
to despise it, is to make light of his authority over us ; as to despise
his favors is to make light of his kindness to us. A sense of God's
dominion would make us observe every check from him, and not
diminish his authority by casting off a due sense of his correction.
6. This dominion of God would make us resign up ourselves to
God in everything. He that considers himself a thing made by
God, a vassal under his authority, would not expostulate with him,
and call him to an account why he hath dealt so or so with him. It
would stab the vitals of all pleas against him. We should not then
contest with him, but humbly lay our cause at his feet, and say
with Eli, (1 Sam. iii. 18), " It is the Lord, let him do what seems
good." We should not commence a suit against God, when he doth
not answer our prayers presently, and send the mercy we Avant upon
the wings of the wind ; he is the Lord, the Sovereign. The consid-
eration of this would put an end to our quarrels with God ; should
I expect that the Monarch of the world should wait upon me ; or
I, a poor worm, wait upon him ? Must I take state upon me be-
fore the throne of heaven, and expect the King of kings should
lay by his sceptre, to gratify my humor? -Surely Jonah thought
God no more than his fellow, or his vassal, at that time when he
told him to his face he did well to be angry, as though God might
not do what he pleased with so small a thing as a gourd ; he
speaks as if he would have sealed a lease of ejectment, to exclude
him from any propriety in anything in the world.
7. This dominion of God would stop our vain curiosity. When
Peter was desirous to know the fate of John, the beloved disciple,
Christ answereth no more than this : (John, xxi. 22), " If I will that
he tarry till I come, what is that to thee ? follow thou me." Con-
sider your duty, and lay aside your curiosity, since it is my pleasure
not to reveal it. The sense of God's absolute dominion would
silence many vain disputes in the world. What if God will not re-
veal this or that ? the manner and method of his resolves should
humble the creature under intruding inquiries.
UseY. Of exhortation.
1. The doctrine of the dominion of God may teach us humility.
We are never truly abased, but by the consideration of the emi-
nence and excellency of the Deity. Job never thought himself so
pitiful a thing, so despicable a creature, as after God's magnificent
declamation upon the theme of his own sovereignty (Job, xlii. 5, 6).
When God's name is regarded as the most excellent and sovereign
name in all the earth, then is the soul in the fittest temper to lie
low, and cry out. What is man, that so gTcat a Majesty should be
mindful of him ? When Abraham considers God as the supreme
Judge of all the earth, he then owns " himself but dust and ashes"
(Gen. xviii. 25, 27). Indeed, how can vile and dusty man vaunt
before God, when angels, far more excellent creatures, cannot stand
before him, but with a veil on their faces ? How little a thing is
man in regard of all the earth ! How mean a thing is the earth in
regard of the vaster heavens ! How poor a thing is the whole
458 CHARNOCK ON" THE ATTRIBUTES,
world in comparison of God ! How pitiful a thing is man, if com-
pared with so excellent a Majesty ! There is as great a distance be-
tween God and man, as between being and not being ; and the more
man considers the Divine royalty, the more disesteem he will have
of himself ; it would make him stoop and disrobe himself, and fall
low before the throne of the King of kings, throwing down before
his throne any crown he gloried in (Rev. iv. 10).
(1). In regard of authority. How unreasonable is pride in the
presence of majesty ! How foolish is it for a country justice of
peace to think himself as great as his prince that commissioned him !
How unreasonable is pride in the presence of the greatest sov-
ereignty! What, is human greatness before Divine? The stars
discover no light when the sun appears, but in a humble posture
withdraw in their lesser beams, to give the sole glory of enlighten-
ing the world to the sun, who is, as it were, the sovereign of those
stars, and imparts a light unto them. The greatest prince is in-
finitely less, if compared with God, than the meanest scullion in his
kitchen can be before him. As the wisdom, goodness, and holiness
of a man is a mere mote compared to the goodness and holiness of
God, so is the authority of a man a mere trifle in regard of the
sovereignty of God : and who but a simple child would be proud
of a mote or trifle ? Let man be as great as he can, and command
others, he is still a subject to One greater than himself. Pride would
then vanish like smoke at the serious consideration of this sov-
ereignty. One of the kings of this country did very handsomely
shame the flattery of his courtiers, that cried him up as lord of sea
and land, by ordering his chair to be set on the sand of the sea
shore, when the tide was coming in, and commanding the waters
not to touch his feet, which when they did without any regard to
his authority, he took occasion thereby to put his flatterers out of
countenance, and instruct himself in a lesson of humility. " See,"
saith he, " how I rule all things, when so mean a thing as the water
will not obey me !" It is a ridiculous pride that the Turk and
Persian discover in their swelling titles. What poor sovereigns are
they, that cannot command a cloud, give out an effectual order for
a drop of rain, in a time of drought, or cause the bottles of heaven
to turn their mouth another way in a time of too much moisture !
Yet their own prerogatives are so much in their minds, that they
jostle out all thoughts of the supreme prerogative of God, and give
thereby occasion to frequent rebellions against him.
(2). In regard of propriety. And this doctrine is no less an
abatement of pride in the highest, as well as in the meanest; it
lowers pride in point of propriety, as well as in point of authority.
Is any proud of his possessions ? how many lords of those posses-
sions have gone before you! how many are to follow you!-^ Your
dominion lasts but a short time, too short to be a cause of any
pride and glory in it. God by a sovereign power can take you
from them, or them from you, when he pleaseth. The traveller re-
fresheth himself in the heat of summer under a shady tree ; how
many have done so before him the same day he knows not, and
* Raynard, de Deo, p. 766.
ON GOD'S DOMINION". 459
how many will liave tlie benefit after before night comes, he is as
much ignorant of; he, and the others that went before him and
follow after him, use it for their refreshment, but none of them can
say, that they are the lords of it ; the property is invested in some
other person, whom perhaps they know not. The propriety of all
you have is in God, not truly in yourselves. Doth not that man
deserve scorn from you, who will play the proud fool in gay clothes
and attire, which are known to be none of his own, but borrowed ?
Is it not the same case with every proud man, though he hath a
property in his goods by the law of the land ? Is anything you
have your own truly ? Is it not lent you by the great Lord ? Is
it not the same vanity in any of you, to be proud of what you have
as God's loan to you, as for such a one to be proud of what he hath
borrowed of man ? And do you not make yourselves as ridiculous
to angels and good men, who know that though it is yours in op-
position to man, yet it is not yours in opposition to God ? they are
granted you only for your use, as the collar of esses and sword,
and other ensigns of the chief magistrate in the city, pass through
many hands in regard of the use of them, but the propriety remains
in the community and body of the city : or as the silver plate of a
person that invites you to a feast is for your use during the time
of the invitation. What ground is there to be proud of those things
you are not the absolute lords and proprietors of, but only have
the use of them granted to you during the pleasure of the Sov-
ereign of the world !
2. Praise and thankfulness result from this doctrine of the sov-
ereignty of God.
(1). He is to be praised for his royalty. (Ps. cxlv. 1), "I will ex-
toll thee, my God, O King." The Psalmist calls upon men five
times to sing praise to him as King of all the earth. (Ps. xlvii.
6, 7), " Sing praises to God, sing praises : sing praises to our king,
sing praises : for God is the King of all the earth ; sing ye praises
with understanding." All creatures, even the inanimate ones, are
called upon to praise him because of the excellency of his name
and the supremacy of his glor}^, in the 148th Psalm throughout,
and ver. 13. That Sovereign Power that gave us hearts and
tongues, deserves to have them employed in his praises, especially
since he hath by the same hand given us so great matter for it. As
he is a Sovereign we owe him thankfulness ; he doth not deal with
us in a way of absolute dominion ; he might then have annihilated
us, since he hath as full a dominion to reduce us to nothing. Con-
sider the absoluteness of his sovereignty in itself, and you must
needs acknowledge that he might have multiplied precepts, enjoined
us the observance of more than he hath done ; he might have made
our tether much shorter ; he might exact obedience, and j^romise
no reward for it ; he might dash us against the walls, as a ^^otter
doth his vessel, and no man have any just reason to say, What dost
thou? or. Why dost thou use me so ? A greater right is in him to
use us in such a manner as we do sensible as well as insensible
things. And if you consider his dominion as it is capable to be ex-
ercised in a way of unquestionable justice, and submitted to the
460 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTEIBUTES.
reason and judgments of creatures, he might have dealt with us in
a smarter way than he hath hitherto done ; instead of one affliction,
we might have had a thousand: he might have shut his own hands
from pouring out any good upon us, and ordered innumerable
scourges to be prepared for us ; but he deals not with us according
to the rights of his dominion. He doth not oppress us by the great-
ness of his majesty ; he enters into covenant with us, and allures us
by the chords of a man, and shows himself as much a merciful as
an absolute Sovereign.
(2.) As he is a Proprietor, we owe him thankfulness. He is at his
own choice whether he will bestow upon us any blessings or no ; the
more value, therefore, his benefits deserve from us, and the Donor
the more sincere returns. K we have anything from the creature to
serve our turn, it is by the order of the chief Proprietor. He is the
spring of honor, and the fountain of supplies : all creatures are but
as the conduit pipes in a great city, which serve several houses with
water, but from the great spring. All things are conveyed originally
from his own hand, and are dispensed from his exchequer. If this
great Sovereign did not order them, you would have no more sup-
plies from a creature than you could have nourishment from a chip :
it is the Divine will in everything that doth us good ; every favor
from creatures is but a smile from God, an evidence of his royalty
to move us to pay a respect to him as the great Lord. Some hea-
thens had so much respect for God, as to conclude that his will, and
not their prudence, was the chief conductor of their affairs. His
goodness to us calls for our thankfulness, but his sovereignty calls
for a higher elevation of it : a smile from a prince is more valued,
and thought worthy of more gratitude, than a present from a peasant ;
a small gift from a great person is more gratefully to be received
than a larger from an inferior person : the condescension of royalty
magnifies the gift. What is man, that thou, so great a Majesty, art
mindful of him, to bestow this or that favor upon him ? — is but a
due reflection upon every blessing we receive. Upon every fresh
blessing we should acknowledge the Donor and true Proprietor, and
give him the honor of his dominion : his property ought to be thank-
fully owned in everything we are capable of consecrating to him ; as
David, after the liberal collection he had made for the building of
the temple, owns in his dedication of it to that use the propriety of
God : " Who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able
to offer so willingly after this sort ? for all things come of thee, and
of thine own have we given thee" (1 Chron. xxix. 14) : it was but a
return of God's own to him, as the waters of the river are no other
than the return to the sea of what was taken from it. Praise and
thankfulness is a rent due from all mankind, and from every crea-
ture, to the great Landlord, since all are tenants, and hold by him
at his will. " Every creature in heaven and earth, and under the
earth, and in the sea," were heard, by John, to ascribe " blessing,
honor, glory, and power, to Him that sits on the throne" (Rev. v. 13).
We are as much bound to the sovereignty of God for his preserva-
tion of us, as for his creation of us ; we are no less obliged to him
that preserves our beings ^Yhen exposed to dangers, than we are for
ON GOD'S DOMINION. 461
bestowing a being upon ns when we were not capable of danger.
Thankfulness is due to this Sovereign for public concerns. Hath
he not preserved the ship of his church in the midst of whistling
winds and roaring waves ; in the midst of the combats of men and
devils ; and rescued it often when it hath been near shipwrecked ?
3. How should we be induced from hence to promote the honor
of this Sovereign ! We should advance him as supreme, and all our
actions should concur in his honor : we should return to his glory
what we have received from his sovereignty, and enjoy by his mercy :
he that is the superior of all, ought to be the end of all. This is the
harmony of the creation ; that which is of an inferior nature is or-
dered to the service of that which is of a more excellent nature ;
thus water and earth, that have a lower being, are employed for the
honor and beauty of the plants of the earth, who are more excellent
in having a principle of a growing life : these plants are again sub-
servient to the beasts and birds, which exceed them in a principle
of sense, which the others want: those beasts and birds are ordered
for the good of man, who is superior to them in a principle of reason,
and is invested with a dominion over them. Man having God for
his superior, ought as much to serve the glory of God, as other
things are designed to be useful to man. Other governments are
intended for the good of the community, the chief end is not the
good of the governors themselves : but God being every way sover-
eign, the sovereign Being, giving being to all things, the sovereign
Ruler, giving order and preservation to all things, is also the end
of all things, to whose glory and honor all things, all creatures, are
to be subservient; "for of him, and through him, and to him, are
all things, to whom be glory for ever" (Rom. xi. S6): o/him, as the
efl&cient cause ; through him, as the preserving cause ; to him, as the
final cause. All our actions and thoughts ought to be addressed to
his glory ; our whole beings ought to be consecrated to his honor,
though we should have no reward but the honor of having been
subservient to the end of our creation : so much doth the excellency
and majesty of God, infinitely elevated above us, challenge of us.
Subjects use to value the safety, honor, and satisfaction of a good
prince above their own : David is accounted worth ten thousand of
the people ; and some of his courtiers thought themselves obliged to
venture their lives for his satisfaction in so mean a thing as a little
water from the well of Bethlehem. Doth not so great, so good a
Sovereign as God, deserve the same affection from us ? " Do we
swear," saith a heathen, " to prefer none before Caesar, and have we
not greater reason to prefer none before God ?"y It is a justice due
from us to God to maintain his glory, as it is a justice to preserve
the right and property of another. As God would lay aside his
Deity if he did deny himself, so a creature acts irregularly, and out
of the rank of a creature, if it doth not deny itself for God. He that
makes himself his own end, makes himself his own sovereign. To
napkin up a gift he hath bestowed upon us, or to employ what we
possess solely to our own glory, to use anything barely for ourselves,
without respect to God, is to apply it to a wrong use, and to injure
y Arrian iu Epictet.
462 CHARNOCE ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
God in his propriety, and tlie end of his donation. What we have
ought to be used for the honor of Grod : he retains the dominion and
lordship, though he grants us the use : we are but stewards, not pro-
prietors, in regard to God, who expects an account from us, how
Ave have employed his goods to his honor. The kingdom of God is
to be advanced by us : we are to pray that his kingdom may come :
we are to endeavor that his kingdom may come, that is, that God
may be known to be the chief Sovereign ; that his dominion, which
was obscured by Adam's fall, may be more manifested ; that his sub-
jects, which are suppressed in the world, maybe supported; his
laws, which are violated by the rebellions of men, may be more
obeyed ; and his enemies be fully subdued by his final judgment, the
last evidence of his dominion in this state of the world ; that the
empire of sin and the devil may be abolished, and the kingdom of
God perfected, that none may rule but the great and rightful Sover-
eign. Thus while we endeavor to advance the honor of his throne, we
shall not want an honor to ourselves. He is too gracious a Sovereign
to neglect them that are mindful of his glory; "those that honor
him, he will honor" (1 Sam. ii. 30).
4. Fear and reverence of God in himself, and in his actions, is a
duty incumbent on us from this doctrine (Jer. x. 7): "Who would
not fear thee, 0 King of nations ?" The ingratitude of the world is
taxed in not reverencing God as a great king, who had given so
many marks of his royal government among them. The prophet
wonders there was no fear of so great a King in the world, since,
" among all the wise men of the nations, and among all their kings,
there is none like unto this;" no more reverence of him, since none
ruled so wisely, nor any ruled so graciously. The dominion of God
is one of the first sparks that gives fire to religion and worship, con-
sidered with the goodness of this Sovereign (Ps. xii. 27, 28): "All
the nations shall worship before thee, for the kingdom is the Lord's,
and he is Governor among the nations." Epicurus, who thought
God careless of human affairs, leaving them at hap-hazard, to the
conduct of men's wisdom and mutability of fortune, yet acknowl-
edged that God ought to be worshipped by man for the excellency
of his nature, and the greatness of his majesty. How should we
reverence that God, that hath a throne encompassed with such glo-
rious creatures as angels, whose faces we are not able to behold,
though shadowed in assumed bodies ! how should we fear the Lord
of Hosts, that hath so many armies at his command in the heavens
above, and in the earth below, whom he can dispose to the exact
obedience of his will ! how should men be afraid to censure any of
his actions, to sit judge of their Judge, and call him to an account at
their bar ! how should such an earth-worm, a mean animal as man,
be afraid to speak irreverently of so great a King among his pots
and strumpets ! Not to fear him, not to reverence him, is to pull
his throne from under him, and make him of a lower authority than
ourselves, or any creature that we reverence more.
5. Prayer to God, and trust in him, is inferred from his sovereign-
ty. If he be the supreme Sovereign, holding heaven and earth in
his hand, disposing all things here below, not committing everything
ON GOD'S DOMINION. 463
to the influence of tlie stars or the liumors of men, we ought, then,
to apply ourselves to him in every case, implore the exercise of his
authority ; we hereby own his pecuhar right over all things and per-
sons. He only is the supreme Head in all causes, and over all per-
sons: " Thine is the kingdom" (Matt, vi. 13), concludes the Lord's
prayer, both as a motive to pray, and a ground to expect what we
want. He that believes not God's government Avill think it needless
to call upon him, will expect no refuge under him in a strait, but
make some creature-reed his support. If we do not seek to him,
but rely upon the dominion we have over our own possessions, or
upon the authority of anything else, we disown his supremacy and
dominion over all things ; we have as good an opinion of ourselves,
or of some creatures, as we ought to have of God; we think our-
selves, or some natural cause we seek to or depend upon, as much
sovereigns as he, and that all things which concern us are as much
at the dispose of an inferior, as of the great Lord. It is, indeed, to
make a god of ourselves, or of the creature ; when we seek to him,
upon all occasions, we own this Divine eminenc}^, we acknowledge
that it is by him men's hearts are ordered, the world governed, all
things disposed ; and God, that is jealous of his glory, is best pleas-
ed with any duty in the creature that doth acknowledge and desire
the glorification of it, which prayer and dependence on him doth
in a special manner, desiring the exercise of his authority, and the
preservation of it in ordering the affairs of the world.
6. Obedience naturallj'' results from this doctrine. As his justice
requires fear, his goodness thankfulness, his faithfulness trust, his
truth belief, so his sovereignty, in the nature of it, demands obe-
dience : as it is most fit he should rule, in regard of his excellency,
so it is most fit we should obey him in regard of his authority : he
is our Lord, and we his subjects ; he is our Master, and we his ser-
vants ; it is righteous we should observe him, and conform to his
will : he is everything that speaks an authority to command us, and
tliat can challenge an humility in us to obey. As that is the truest
doctrine that subjects us most to God, so he is the truest Christian
that doth, in his practice, most acknowledge this subjection ; and as
sovereignty is the first notion a creature can have of God, so obe-
dience is the first and chief thing conscience reflects upon the crea-
ture. Man holds all of God ; and therefore owes all the operations
capable to be produced by those faculties to that Sovereign Power
that endowed him with them. Man had no being but from him ; he
hath no motion without him ; he should, therefore, have no being
but for him ; and no motion but according to him : to call him
Lord, and not to act in subjection to him, is to mock and put a scorn
upon him (Luke vi. 46) : "Why call you me Lord, Lord, and do
not the things that I say ?" It is like the crucifying Christ un-
der the title of a King. It is not by professions, but by observ-
ance of the laws of a prince, that we m.anifest a due respect to
him : by that we reverence that authority that enacted them, and
the prudence that framed them.
This doctrine affords us motives to obey, and directs us to the
manner of obedience.
464 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
1st. Motives to obey,
(1.) It is comely and orderly. Is it not a more becoming thing to
be ruled by the will of our Sovereign than by that of our lusts ? —
to observe a wise and gracious Authority, than to set up inordinate
appetites in the room of his law ? Would not all men account it a
disorder to be abominated, to see a slave or vassal control the just
orders of his lord, and endeavor to subject his master's will to his
own ? much more to expect God should serve our humor rather
than we be regulated by his will. It is more orderly that subjects
should obey their governors, than governors their subjects ; that
passion should obey reason, than reason obey passion. When good
governors are to conform to subjects, and reason veil to passion, it is
monstrous ! the one disturbs the order of a community, and the
other defaceth the beauty of the soul. Is it a comely thing for God
to stoop to our meanness, or for us to stoop to his greatness?
(2.) In regard of the Divine sovereignty, it is both honorable and
advantageous to obey God. It is, indeed, the glory of a superior to
be obeyed by his inferior ; but where the sovereign is of transcend-
ent excellency and dignity, it is an honor to a mean person to be
under his immediate commands, and enrolled in his service. It is
more honor to be God's subject than to be the greatest worldly
monarch ; his very service is an empire, and disobedience to him is
a slavery. It is a part of his sovereignty to reward any service
done him.2 Other lords may be willing to recompense the service of
their subjects, but are often rendered unable ; but nothing can stand
in the way of God to hinder your reward, if nothing stand in your
way to hinder your obedience (Lev. xviii. 5) : "If you keep my
statutes, you shall live in them ; I am the Lord." Is there anything
in the world can recompense you for rebellion against God, and obe-
dience to a lust ? Saul cools the hearts of his servants from running
after David, by David's inability to give them fields and vineyards
(1 Sam. xxii. 7) : " Will the son of Jesse give every one of you
fields and vineyards, and make you captains of thousands, and cap-
tains of hundreds, that you have conspired against me ?" But God
hath a dominion to requite, as well as an authority to comm'and
your obedience ; he is a great Sovereign, to bear you out in your
observance of his precepts against all reproaches and violence of
men, and at last to crown you with eternal honor. If he should
neglect vindicating, one time or other, your loyalty to him, he
will neglect the maintaining and vindicating his own sovereignty
and greatness.
(3.) God, in all his dispensations to man, was careful to preserve
the rights of his sovereignty in exacting obedience of his creature.
The second thing he manifested his sovereignty in was that of a
Lawgiver to Adam, after that of a Proprietor in giving him the pos-
session of the garden ; one followed immediately the other (Gen. ii.
15, 16) : " The Lord God took the man, and put him into the gar-
den of Eden, to dress it ; and the Lord God commanded the man,
saying. Of every tree of the garden thou may est freely eat, but of
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it,"
* Servire, Deo regnare est.
ON god's dominion. 465
&c. Nothing was to be enjoyed by man but upon tlie condition of
obedience to his Lord ; and it is observed that in the description of
the creation, God is not called " Lord" till the finishing of the crea-
tion, and particularly in the forming of man. " And the Lord God
formed man" (Gen. ii. 7). Though he was Lord of all creatures, yet
it was in man he would have his sovereignty particularly manifest-
ed, and by man have his authority specially acknowledged. The
law is prefaced with this title : " I am the Lord thy God" (Exod.
XX. 2) : authority in Lord, sweetness in God, the one to enjoin, the
other to allure obedience ; and God enforceth several of the com-
mands with the same title. And as he begins many precepts with
it, so he concludes them with the same title, " I am the Lord," Lev.
xix. 37, and in other places. In all his communications of his good-
ness to man in ways of blessing them, he stands upon the preserva-
tion of the rights of his sovereignty, and manifests his graciousness
in favor of his authority. " I am the Lord your God," your God in
all my perfections for your advantage, but yet your Sovereign for
your obedience. In all his condescension he will have the rights of
this untouched and unviolated by us. When Christ would give the
most pregnant instance of his condescending and humble kindness,
he urgeth his authority to ballast their spirits from any presumptu-
ous eruptions because of his humility. " You call me Master, and
Lord ; and you say well : for so I am" (John, xiii, 18), He asserts
his authority, and presseth them to their duty, when he had seemed
to lay it by for the demeanor of a servant, and had, below the dig-
nity of a master, put on the humility of a mean underling, to wash
the disciples feet ; all which was to oblige them to perform the com-
mand he then gave them (ver. 14), and in obedience to his author-
ity, and imitation of his example.
(4.) All creatures obey him. All creatures punctually observe
the law he hath imprinted on their nature, and in their several capa-
cities acknowledge him their Sovereign ; they move according to the
inclinations he imprinted on them. The sea contains itself in its
bounds, and the sun steps out of its sphere ; the stars march in their
order, " they continue this day according to thy ordinance, for all
are thy servants" (Ps. cxix. 91). If he orders things contrary to their
primitive nature, they obey him. When he speaks the word, the
devouring fire becomes gentle, and toucheth not a hair of the
children he will preserve ; the hunger-starved lions suspend their
ravenous nature, when so good a morsel as Daniel is set before them ;
and the sun, which had been in perpetual motion since its creation,
obeys the writ of ease God sent it in Joshua's time, and stands still.
Shall insensible and sensible creatures be punctual to his orders, pas-
sively acknowledge his authority? shall lions and serpents obey
God in their places? — and shall not man, who can, by reason, argue
out the sovereignty of God, and understand the sense and goodness
of his laws, and actively obey God with that will he hath enriched
him with above other creatures ? Yet the truth is, every sensitive,
3^ea, every senseless creature, obeys God more than his rational, more
than his gracious creatures in this world. The rational creatures
since the fall have a prevailing principle of corruption. Let the obe-
VOL. II. — 30
466 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
dience of otlier creatures incite us more to imitate them, and shame
our remissness in not acknowledging the dominion of God, in the
just way he prescribes us to walk in. Well then, let us not pretend
to own God as our Lord, and yet act the part of rebels ; let us give
him the reverence, and pay him that obedience, which of right be-
longs to so great a King. Whatsoever he speaks as a true God,
ought to be believed; whatsoever he orders as a sovereign God,
ought to be obeyed ; let not God have less than man, nor man have
more than God. It is a common principle writ upon the reason of
all men, that respect and observance is due to the majesty of a man,
much more to the Majesty of God as a Lawgiver.
2d. As this doctrine presents us motives, so it directs us to the
manner and kind of our obedience to God.
(1.) It must be with a respect to his authority. As the veracity
of God is the formal object of faith, and the reason why we believe
the things he hath revealed ; so the authority of God is the formal
object of our obedience, or the reason why we observe the things he
hath commanded. There must be a respect to his will as the rule,
as well as to his glory as the end. It is not formally obedience that
is not done with regard to the order of God, though it may be ma-
terially obedience, as it answers the matter of the precept. As when
men will abstain from excess and rioting, because it is ruinous to
their health, not because it is forbidden by the great Lawgiver ; this
is to pay a respect to our own conveniency and interest, not a con-
scientious observance to God ; a regard to our health, not to our
Sovereign ; a kindness to ourselves, not a justice due to the rights
of God. There must not only be a consideration of the matter of the
precept as convenient, but a consideration of the authority of the
Lawgiver as obligatory. " Thus saith the Lord," ushers in every
order of his, directing our eye to the authority enacting it ; Jero-
boam did God's will of prophecy in taking the kingdom of Israel ;
and the devils may be subservient in God's will or providence ; but
neither of them are put upon the account of obedience, because not
done intentionally with any conscience of the sovereignty of God.
God will have this owned by a regular respect to it ; so much he insists
upon the honor of it, that the sacrifice of Christ, God-man, was
most agreeable to him, not only as it was great and admirable in it-
self, but also for that ravishing obedience to his will, which was the
life and glory of his sacrifice, whereby the justice of God wps not
only owned in the oifering, but the sovereignty of God owned in the
obedience^ " He became obedient unto death ; wherefore God highly
exalted him" (Phil. ii. 8).
(2.) It must be the best and most exact obedience. The most
sovereign authority calls for the exactest and lowest observance ; the
highest Lord for the deepest homage ; being, he is, a " great King,
he must have the best in our flock" (Mai. i. 14). Obedience is due
to God, as King, and the choicest obedience is due to him, as he is
the most excellent King. The more majestic and noble any man is,
the more careful we are in our manner of service to him. We are
bound to obey God, not only under the title of a "Lord" in regard
of jurisdiction and political subjection, but under the title of a true
ON GOD'S DOMINION". 467
" Lord and Master," in regard of propriety ; since -u'e are not only
his subjects but his servants, the exactest obedience is due to God,
jure servitutis ; " When you have done all, say you are unprofitable
servants" (Luke, xvii. 10), because we can do nothing which we owe
not to God.
(3.) Sincere and inward obedience. As it is a part of his sover-
eignty to prescribe laws not only to man in his outward state, but
to his conscience, so it is a part of our subjection to receive his laws
into our will and heart. The authority of his laws exceeds human
laws in the extent and riches of them, and our acknowledgment of
his sovereignty cannot be right, but by subjecting the faculties of our
soul to the Lawgiver of our souls; we else acknowledge his au-
thority to be as limited as the empire of man ; when his will not
only sways the outward action, but the inward motion, it is a giving
him the honor of his high throne above the throne of mortals. The
right of God ought to be preserved undamaged in affection, as well
as action,
(4.) It must be sole obedience. We are ordered to serve him only ;
" Him only shalt thou serve" (Matt. iv. 10) : as the only Supreme
Lord, as being the highest Sovereign, it is fit he should have the
highest obedience before all earthly sovereigns, and as being unpar-
alleled by any among all the nations, so none must have an obe-
dience equal to him. When God commands, if the highest power
on earth countermands it, the precept of God must be preferred be-
fore the countermand of the creature. " Whether it be right in the
sight of God, to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye"
(Acts, iv. 18, 19). We must never give place to the authority of all
the monarchs in the world, to the prejudice of that obedience we owe
to the Supreme Monarch of heaven and earth ; this would be to
place the throne of God at the footstool of man, and debase him
below the rank of a creature. Loyalty to man can never recompense
for the mischief accruing from disloyalty to God. All the obedience
we are to give to man, is to be paid in obedience to God, and with
an eye to his precept : therefore, what servants do for their masters,
they must do " as to the Lord" (Col. iii. 23) ; and children are to
obey their parents " in the Lord" (Eph. vi. 1). The authority of
God is to be eyed in all the services , payable to man ; proper and
true obedience hath God solely for its principal and primary object ;
all obedience to man that interferes with that, and would justle out
obedience to God, is to be refused. What obedience is due to man,
is but rendered as a part of obedienceto God, and a stooping of his
authority.
(5.) It must be universal obedience. The laws of man are not to
be universally obeyed ; some may be oppressing and unjust : no man
hath authority to make an unjust law, and no subject is bound to
obey an unrighteous law ; but God being a righteous Sovereign,
there is not one of his laws but doth necessarily oblige us to obe-
dience. Whatsoever this Supreme Power declares to be his will, it
must be our care to observe; man, being his creature, is bound to
be subject to whatsoever laws he doth impose to the meanest as well
as to the greatest : they having equally a stamp of Divine authority
468 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
upon them, "We are not to pick and clioose among his precepts :
this is to pare away part of his authority, and render him a half sov-
ereign. It must be universal in all places. An Englishman in
Spain is bound to obey the laws of that country wherein he resides :
and so not responsible there for the breach of the laws of his native
country. In the same condition is a Spaniard in England. But the
laws of God are to be obeyed in every part of the world ; whereso-
ever Divine Providence doth cast us, it casts us not out of the places
where he commands, nor out of the compass of his own empire. He
is Lord of the world, and his laws oblige in every part of the world ;
they were ordered for a world, and not for a particular climate and
territory.
(6.) It must be indisputable obedience. All authority requires
readiness in the subject; the centurion had it from his soldiers; they
went when he ordered them, and came when he beckoned to them
(Matt. viii. 9). It is more fit God should have the same promptness
from his subjects. We are to obey his orders, though our purblind
understanding may not apprehend the reason of every one of them.
It is without dispute that he is sovereign, and therefore it is without
dispute that we are bound to obey him, without controlling his
conduct. A master will not bear it from his slave, why should
God from his creature ? Though God admits his creatures some-
times to treat with him about the equality of his justice, and.
also about the reason of some commands, yet sometimes he gives no
other reason but his own sovereignty, " Thus saith the Lord ;" to
correct the malapertness of men, and exact from them an entire obe-
dience to his unlimited and absolute authority. When Abraham was
commanded to offer Isaac, God acquaints him not with the reason
of his demand till after (Gen. xxii. 2, 12), nor did Abraham enter
any demur to the order, or expostulate with God, either from his
own natural affection to Isaac, the hardness of the command, it being,
as it were, a ripping up of his own bowels, nor the quickness of it
after he had been a child of the promise, and a Divine donation above
the course of nature. Nor did Paul confer with flesh and blood,
and study arguments from nature and interest to oppose the Divine
command, when he was sent upon his apostolical employment (Gal.
i. 16). The more indisputable his right is to command, the stronger is
our obligation to obey, without questioning the reason of his orders.
(7.) It must be joyful obedience. Men are commonly more cheer-
ful in their obedience to a great prince than to a mean peasant ; be-
cause the quality of the master renders the service more honorable.
It is a discredit to a prince's government, when his subjects obey
him with discontent and dejectedness, as though he were a hard
master, and his laws tyrannical and unrighteous. When we pay
obedience but with a dull and feeble pace, and a sour and sad tem-
per, we blemish our great Sovereign, imply his commands to be
grievous, void of that peace and pleasure he proclaims to be in them ;
that he deserves no respect from us, if we obey him because we
must, and not because we will. Involuntary obedience deserves not
the title : it is rather submission than obedience, an act of the body,
not of the mind : a mite of obedience with cheerfulness, is better
ON GOD'S DOMINION. 469
than a talent "without it. In the little Paul did, he comforts himself
in this, that with the " mind he served the law of God" (Rom. vii.
25) ; the testimonies of God were David's delight (Ps. cxix. 24). Our
understandings must take pleasure in knowing him, our wills de-
lightfully embrace him, and our actions be cheerfully squared to
him. This credits the sovereignty of God in the world, makes
others believe him to be a gracious Lord, and move them to have
some veneration for his authority.
(8.) It must be a perpetual obedience. As man is a subject as
soon as he is a creature, so he is a subject as long as he is a creature.
God's sovereignty is of perpetual duration, as long as he is God ;
man's obedience must be perpetual, while he is a man. God cannot
part with his sovereignty, and a creature cannot be exempted from
subjection ; we must not only serve him, but cleave to him (Deut.
xiii. 4). Obedience is continued in heaven, his throne is established
in heaven, it must be bowed to in heaven, as well as in earth. The
angels continually fulfil his pleasure.
7. Exhortation. Patience is a duty flowing from this doctrine. In
all strokes upon ourselves, or thick showers upon the church, "the
Lord reigns," is a consideration to prevent muttering against him,
and make us quietly wait to see what the issue of his Divine
pleasure will be. It is too great an insolence against the Divine
Majesty to censure what he acts, or quarrel Avith him for what
he inflicts. Proud clay doth very unbecomingly swell against an
infinite superior. If God be our Sovereign, we ought to subscribe
to his afflicting will without debates, as well as to his liberal will
with affectionate applauses. We should be as full of patience
under his sharper, as of praise under his more grateful, dispen-
sations, and be without reluctancy against his penal, as well as his
preceptive, pleasure. It is God's part to inflict, and the creature's
part to submit.
This doctrine affords us motives, and shows us the nature of pa-
tience. 1. Motives to it,
(1.) God, being Sovereign, hath an absolute right to dispose of
all things. His title to our persons and possessions is, upon this ac-
count, stronger than our own can be ; we have as much reason to be
angry with ourselves, when we assert our worldly right against
others, as to be angry with God for asserting the right of his domin-
ion over us. Why should we enter a charge against him, because
he hath not tempered us so strong in our bodies, drawn us with as
fair colors, embellished our spirits with as rich gifts as others ? Is
he not the Sovereign of his own goods, to impart what, and in what
measure, he pleaseth ? Would you be content your servants should
check your pleasure in dispensing your own favors ? It is an un-
reasonable thing not to leave God to the exercise of his own domin-
ion. Though Job were a pattern of patience, yet he had deep tinc-
tures of impatience ; he often complains of God's usage of him as
too hard, and stands much upon his own integrity ; but when God
comes, in the latter chapters of that book, to justify his carriage to-
wards him, he chargeth him not as a criminal, but considers him
only as his vassal. He might have found flaws enough in Job's car-
470 CHARNOCK ON" THE ATTRIBUTES.
riage, and corruption enough in Job's nature, to clear the equity of
his proceeding as a judge ; but he useth no other medium to con-
vince him, but the greatness of his Majesty, the unlimitedness of
his sovereignty, which so appals the good man, that he puts his
finger on his mouth and stands mute with a self-abhorrency before
him, as a Sovereign, rather than as a Judge. When he doth pinch
us, and deprive us of what we most affect, his right to do it should
silence our lips and calm our hearts from any boisterous uproars
against him.
(2.) The property of all still remains in God, since he is sovereign.
He did not divest himself of the property when he granted us the use ;
the earth is his, not ours ; the fulness any of us have, as well as the
fulness others have. After he had given the Israelites corn, wine,
and oil, he calls them all his, and emphatically adds my, to every
one of them (Hos. ii. 9). His right is universal over every mite we
have, and perpetual too ; he may, therefore, take from us what he
please. He did but dejDosit in our hands for awhile the benefits we
enjoy, either children, friends, estate, or lives ; he did not make a
total conveyance of them, and alienate his own property, Avhen he
put them into our hands ; we can show no patent for them, wherein
the full right is passed over to us, to hold them against his will and
pleasure, and implead him if he offer to re-assume them : he re-
served a power to dispossess us upon a forfeiture, as he is the Lord
and Governor. Did any of us yet answer the condition of his grant?
it was his indulgence to allow them so long ; there is reason to sub-
mit to him, when he re-assumes what he lent us, and rather to thank
him that he lent it so long, and did not seize upon it sooner.
(3.) Other things have more reason to complain of our sover-
eignty over them, than we of God's exercise of his sovereignty
over us. Do we not exercise an authority over our beasts, as to
strike them when we please, and merely for our pleasure ; and
think we merit no reproof for it, because they are our own, and
of a nature inferior to ours ? And shall not God, who is abso-
lute, do as much with us, who are more below him than the mean-
est creatures are below us ? They are creatures as well as we, and
we no more creatures than they ; they were framed by Omnipotence
as well as we ; there is no more difference between them and us in
the notion of creatures. As there is no difference between the great-
est monarch on earth, and the meanest beggar on the dunghill, in
the notion of a man ; the beggar is a man, as well as the monarch,
and as much a man ; the difference consists in the special endow-
ments we have above them by the bounty of their and our common
Creator. We are less, if compared with God, than the worst, mean-
est, and most sordid creature can be, if compared with us. Hath not
a bird or a hare (if they had a capacity) more reason to complain of
men's persecuting them by their hawks and their dogs ? but would
their complaints appear reasonable, since both were made for the use
of man, and man doth but use the nature of the one to attain a
benefit by the other ? Have we any reason to complain of God if
he lets loose other creatures, the devouring hounds of the world, to
bite and afflict us ? We must not open our lips against him, nor
ON GOD'S DOMINION. 471
let our heart swell against his scourge, since both they and we
were made for his use, as well as other creatures for our ; this is a
reason to stifle all complaints against God, but not to make us care-
less of preventing afflictions, or emerging out of them by all just
ways. The hare hath a nature to shift for itself by its winding and
turning, and the bird by its flight ; and neither of them could be
blamed, if they were able, should the one scratch out the eyes of the
hounds, and the other sacrifice the hawk to its own fury.
(4.) It is a folly not to submit to him. Why should we strive
against him, since he is an unaccountable Sovereign, and " gives no
account of any of his matters ?" (Job, xxxiii. 13.) Who can dis-
annul the judgment God gives? There is no appeal from the su-
preme court ; a higher court can repeal or null the sentence of an
inferior court, but the sentence of the highest stands irreversible, but
by itself and its own authority. It is better to lower our sails, than
to grapple with one that can shoot us under water ; to submit to that
Sovereign whom we cannot subdue.
2. It shows us the true nature of patience in regard of God : it is
a submission to God's sovereignty. As the formal object of obe-
dience is the authority of God enacting the law, so the formal object
of patience is the authority of God inflicting the punishment : as his
right of commanding is to be eyed in the one, so his right of punish-
ing is to be considered in the other. This was Eli's condition, when
he had received a message that might put flesh and blood into a
mutiny, the rending the priesthood from his family, and the ruin of
his house : yet this consideration, " It is the Lord," calms him into
submission, and a willing compliance with the Divine pleasure (1
Sam. iii. 18) : " It is the Lord, let him do what seems good in his
sight." Job was of the same strain (Job, i. 21) : " The Lord gives,
and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord ;"
he considers God as a sovereign, who was not to be reproached, or
have anything uncomely uttered of him, for what he had done. To
be patient because we cannot avoid it, or resist it, is a violent, not a
loyal patience ; but to submit because it is the will of God to inflict ;
to be silent, because the sovereignty of God doth order it, is a pa-
tience of a true complexion. The other kind of patience is no other
than that of an enemy that will free hhnself as soon as he can, and
by any way, though never so violent, that offers itself. This sort of
patience is that of a subject acknowledging the supreme authority
over him, and that he ought to be ordered by the will, and to the
glory of God, more than by his own will, and for his own ease ; "I
was dumb, I opened not my mouth" (Ps. xxxix. 10) ; not because I
could not help it, but " because thou didst it," thou who art my
sovereign Lord. The greatness of God claims an awful and invio-
lable respect from his creatures in what way soever he doth dispose
of them ; this is due to him ; since his kingdom ruleth over all, his
kingdom should be acknowledged by all, and his royal authority
submitted to in all that he doth.
DISCOURSE XIV.
ON GOD'S PATIENCE.
Nahum, I. 3. — The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit
the wicked : the Lord liath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds
are the dust of his feet.
The subject of this prophecy is God's sentence against Nineveh,
the head and metropoHs of the Assyrian empire : a city famous for
its strength, and thickness of its walls, and the multitude of its
towers for defence against an enemy. The forces of this empire did
God use as a scourge against the Israelites, and by their hands ruined
Samaria, the chief city of the ten tribes, and transplanted them as
captives into another country (2 Kings, xvii. 5, 6), about six years
after Hezekiah came to the crown of Judah (2 Kings, xviii. compared
with chap. xvii. 6), in whose time, or, as some think, later, Nahum
uttered this prophecy. The name, Nahum, signifies Comforter ;
though the matter of his prophecy be dreadful to Nineveh, it was
comfortable to the people of God : for a promise is made, (ver. 7),
" The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble ; and he
knoweth them that trust in him." And an encouragement to Judah,
to keep their solemn feasts, (ver. 15 : and also in chap. ii. 3), with
a declaration of the misery of Nineveh, and the destruction of it.
Observe,
1. In all the fears of God's people, God will have a Comforter for
them. Judah might well be dejected with the calamity of their
brethren, not knowing but it might be their own turn shortly after.
They knew not where the ambition of the Assyrian would stop ;
but God by his prophets calms their fears of their furious neighbor,
by predicting to them the ruin of their feared adversary.
2. The destruction of the church's enemies is the comfort of the
church. By that God is glorified in his justice, and the church se-
cured in its worship.
3. The victories of persecutors secure them not from being the
triumphs of others. The Assyrians that conquered and captived
Israel, were themselves to be conquered and captived by the
Medes. The whole oppressing empire is threatened with destruction
in the ruin of their chief city ; accordingly it was accomplished, and
the empire extinguished by a greater power. God burns the rod
when it hath done the work he appointed it for ; and the wisp of
straw wherewith the vessels are scoured, is flung into the fire, or
upon the dunghill.
Nahum begins his prophecy majestically, with a description of the
ON" GOD'S PATIENCE. 473
wrath and fury of God. (Ver. 2), " God is jealous, and the Lord
revengeth ; the Lord revengeth, and is furious : the Lord will take
vengeance on his adversaries, and reserveth wrath for his enemies."
And therefore the whole of it is called (ver. 1), " The burden of
Nineveh," as those prophecies are, which are composed of threaten-
ings of judgments, which lie as a mighty weight upon the heads and
backs of sinners.
Ood is jealous — jealous of his glory and worship, and jealous for
his people, and their security. He cannot long bear the oppressions
of his people, and the boasts of his enemies. He is jealous for him-
self, and is jealous for you of Judah, who retain his worship. He is
not forgetful of those that remember him, nor of the danger of those
that are desirous to maintain his honor in the world. In this first
expression, the prophet uses the covenant name, God ; the covenant
runs, " I am your God," or " the Lord your God ;" mostly God with-
out Lord, never Lord without God : and, therefore, his jealousy here
is meant of the care of his people, and the relation that his actions
against his enemies have to his servants. He is a lover of his own,
and a revenger on his enemies.
The Lord revengeth, and is furious. — He now describes God by a
name of sovereignty and power, when he describes him in his wrath
and fury, and is furious. Heh. rvav. bi'D, Lord of hot anger. God will
vindicate his own glory, and have his right on his enemies in a way
of punishment, if they will not give it him in a way of obedience.
It is three times repeated, to show the certainty of the judgment ;a
and the name of " Lord" added to every one, to intimate the power
wherewith the judgment should be executed. It is not a fatherly
correction of children in a way of mercy, but an offended Sovereign's
destruction of his enemies in a way of vengeance. There is an anger
of God with his own people, which hath more of mercy than wrath ;
in this his rod is guided by his bowels. There is a fury of God
against his enemies, where there is sole wrath without any tincture
of mercy ; when his sword is all edge, without any balsam drops
upon it. Such a fury as David deprecates (Ps. vi. 1) : "0 Lord, re-
buke me not in thy anger, nor chasten me in thy sore displeasure,"
with a fury untempered with grace, and insupportable wrath.
Lie reserves ivrathfor his enemies. — He lays it up in his treasury, to
be brought out and expended in a due season. " Wrath" is supplied
by our translators, and is not in the Hebrew. He reserves, what ? —
that which is too sharp to be expressed, too great to be conceived :
a vengeance it is. And xin lais-i. Lie reserves it. He that hath an in-
finite wrath, he reserves it ; that hath a strength and power to exe-
cute it.
(Ver. 3.) The Lord is slow to anger, Lleb. d^bx "^is, ofhroad nostrils.
The anger of God is expressed by this word, which signifies " nos-
trils :" as. Job, ix. 13, " If God will not withdraw his anger," Heh.
" his nostrils." And the anger whereby the wicked are consumed,
is called the " breath of nostrils" (Job, iv. 9) ; and when he is angry,
smoke and fire are said to go out of his nostrils (2 Sam. ii. 9) ; and
in Psalm Ixxiv. 1, " Why doth thy anger smoke ?" Heh. " Why do
» Ribera, in loc.
474 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
thy nostrils smoke ?" So tlie rage of a horse, when he is provoked
in battle, is called the glory of his nostrils (Job, xxxix. 20). He
breathes quick fumes, and neighs with fury. And slowness to anger
is here expressed by the phrase of " long or wide nostrils :" because
in a vehement anger, the blood boiling about the heart, exhales men's
spirit, which fume up, and break out in dilated nostrils. But where
the passages are straighter the spirits have not so quick a vent, and
therefore raise more motions within ; or, because the wider the nos-
trils are, the more cool air is drawn in to temper the heat of the
heart, where the angry spirits are gathered ; and so the passion is
allayed, and sooner calmed. God speaks of himself in Scripture
often after the rate of men ; Jeremiah prays (ch. xv. 15) that God
would not take him away in his long-suffering, Heb. " in the length
of his nostrils," i. e. Be not slow and backward in thy anger against
my persecutors, as to give them time and opportunity to destroy me.
The nostrils, as well as other members of a human body, are ascribed
to God. He is slow to anger ; he hath anger in his nature, but is
not always in the execution of it.
And great in power. — This may refer to his patience as the cause
of it, or as a bar to the abuse of it.
1. " He is slow to anger, and great in power," i. e. his power mod-
erates his anger ; he is not so impotent as to be at the command of
his passions, as men are ; he can restrain his anger under just pro-
vocations to exercise it. His power over himself is the cause of his
slowness to wrath, as Numb. xiv. 17 : " Let the power of my Lord
be great," saith Moses, when he pleads for the Israelites' pardon.
Men that are great in the world are quick in passions, and are not so
ready to forgive an injury, or bear with an offender, as one of a
meaner rank. It is a want of a power over a man's self that makes
him do unbecoming things upon a provocation. A prince that can
bridle his passion, is a king over himself, as well as over his subjects.
God is slow to anger, because great in power : he hath no less power
over himself than over his creatures: he can sustain great injuries
without an immediate and quick revenge : he hath a power of pa-
tience, as well as a power of justice.
2. Or thus: "He is slow to anger and great in power." He is
slow to anger, but not for want of power to revenge himself; his
power is as great to punish, as his patience to spare. It seems thus,
that slowness to anger is brought in as an objection against the re-
venge proclaimed. What do you tell us of vengeance, vengeance,
nothing but such repetitions of vengeance ? — as though we were, ig-
norant that God is slow to anger. It is true, saith the prophet, I
acknowledge it as much as you, that God is slow to anger; but
withal, great in power. His anger certainly succeeds his abused
patience ; he Avill not always bridle in his wrath, but one time or
other let it march out in fury against his adversaries. The Assyrians,
who had captived the ten tribes, and been victorious a little against
the Jews, might think that the God of Israel had been conquered
by their gods, as well as the people professing him had been sub-
dued by their arms ; that God had lost all his power ; and the Jews
might argue, from God's patience to his enemies, against the credit
ON GOD'S PATIENCE. 475
of the prophet's denouncing revenge. The prophet answers, to the
terror of the one, and the comfort of the other, that this indulgence
to his enemies, and not accounting "svith them for their crimes, pro-
ceeded from the greatness of his patience, and not from any debihty
in his power. As it refers to the Assyrian, it may be rendered thus:
You Ninevites, upon your repentance after Jonah's thundering of
judgments, are witnesses of the slowness of God to anger, and had
your punishments deferred ; but, falling to your old sins, you shall
find a real punishment, and that he hath as much j^ower to execute
his ancient threatenings, as he had then compassion to recall them ;
his patience to you then was not for want of power to ruin you, but
was the effect of his goodness towards you. As it refers to the
Jews, it may be thus paraphrased : Do not despise this threatening
against your enemies because of the greatness of their might, the
seeming stability of their empire, and the terror they possess all the
nations with round about them : it may be long before it comes, but
assure yourselves the threatening I denounce shall certainly be exe-
cuted ; though he hath patience to endure them a hundred and
thirty-five years (for so long as it was before Nineveh was destroyed
after this threatening, as Ribera, in loc.^ computes from the years of
the reign of the kings of Judah), yet he hath also power to verify
his word, and accomplish his will : assure yourselves, he will not at
all acquit the wicked.
He will not acquit the wiclced. — He will not always account the crim-
inal an innocent, as he seems to do by a present sparing of them,
and dealing with them as if they were destitute of any provoking
carriage towards him, and he void of any resentment of it. He will
" not acquit the wicked ;" how is this ? Who then can be saved ?
Is there no place for remission? He will " not acquit the wicked."
i. e. he will not acquit obstinate sinners. As he hath patience for
the wicked, so he hath mercy for the penitent. The wicked are the
subjects of his long-suffering, but not of his acquitting grace ; he
doth not presently punish their sins, because he is slow to anger ;
but without their repentance he will not blot out their sins, because
he is righteous in judgment : if God should acquit them without re-
pentance for their crimes, he must himself repent of his own law
and righteous sanction of it. " He will not acquit," i. e. he will not
go back from the thing he hath spoken, and forbear, at long run,
the punishment he hath threatened.
The Lord hath his way in ilie ivhirlwind. — The way of God signifies
sometimes the law of God, sometimes the providential operations of
God : " Is not my way equal ?" (Ezek. xviii. 25). It seems there
to take in both.
And in the stor^n, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. — The pro-
phet describes here the fight of God with the Assyrians, as if he
rushed upon them with a mighty noise of an army, raising the dust
with the feet of their horses, and motion of their chariots.^ Symbol-
ically, it signifies the multitude of the Chaldean and Median forces,
invading, besieging, and storming the city. It signifies,
1. The rule of providence. The way of God is in every motion
'' Page 359, col. 1. <= Tiriuus, hi loc.
476 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
of the creature ; lie rules all things, whirlwinds, storms, and clouds ;
his way is in all their walks, in the whirlings and blusterings of the
one, in the raising and dissolving the other. He blows up the winds,
and compacts the clouds, to make them serviceable to his designs.
2. The management of wars by God. His way is in the storm :
as he was the Captain of the Assyrians against Samaria, so he will
be the Captain of the Medes against Nineveh : as Israel was not so
much wasted by the Assyrians as by the Lord, who levied and
armed their forces ; so Nineveh shall be subverted, rather by God,
than by the arms of the Medes. Their force is described not to be
so much from human power as Divine. God is President in all the
commotions of the world, his way is in every whirlwind.
3. The easiness of executing the judgment. He is of so great
power that he can excite tempests in the air, and overthrow them
with the clouds, which are the dust of his feet : he can blind his
enemies, and avenge himself on them : he is Lord of clouds, and
can fill their womb with hail, lightnings, and thunders, to burst out
upon those he kindles his anger against : he is of so great force, that
he needs not use the strength of his arm, but the dust of his feet, to
effect his destroying purpose.
4. The suddenness of the judgment. Whirlwinds come suddenly,
without any harbingers to give notice of their approach : clouds are
swift in their motion ; " Who are those that fly as a cloud ?" (Isa. Ix.
8), i. e. with a mighty nimbleness. What God doth, he shall do on
the sudden, come upon them before they are aware, be too quick for
them in his motion to overrun and overreach them. The winds are
described with wings, in regard of the quickness of their motion.
5. The terror of judgments. " The Lord hath his way in the
whirlwind," ^. e. in great displeasure. The anger of the Lord is
often compared to a storm ; he shall bring clouds of judgments upon
them, many and thick, as terrible as when a day is turned into night,
by the mustering of the darkest clouds that interpose between the
sun and the earth. " Clouds and darkness are round about him, and
a fire goes before him," when he "burns up his enemies" (Ps. xcvii.
2, 3). The judgments shall have terror without mercy, as clouds ob-
scure the light, and are dark masks before the face and glory of the
sun, and cut off its refreshing beams from the earth. Clouds note
multitude and obscurity ; God could crush them without a whirl-
wind, beat them to powder with one touch, but he will bring his
judgments in the most surprising and amazing manner to flesh and
blood, so that all their glory shall be changed into nothing but ter-
ror, by the noise of the bellowing winds, and the clouds, like ink,
blacking the heavens.
6. The confusion of the offenders upon God's proceeding. A
whirlwind is not only a boisterous wind, that hurls and rolls every-
thing out of its place, but, by its circular motion, by its winding to
all points of the compass, it confounds things, and jumbles them to-
gether. It keeps not one point, but, by a circumgyration, toucheth
upon all. Clouds, like dust, shall be blown in their face, and gum
up their eyes : they shall be in a posture of confusion, not know
what counsels to take, what motions to resolve upon. Let them look
ON GOD'S PATIENCE. 477
to every point of heaven and eartli, they shall meet with a whirl-
wind to confound them, and cloudy dust to blind them.
7. The irresistibleness of the judgment. Winds have more than
a giant-like force, a torrent of compacted air, that, with an invincible
wifulness, bears all before it, displaceth the firmest trees, and levels
the tallest towers, and pulls up bodies from their natural place.
Clouds also are over our heads, and above our reach ; when God
places them upon his people for defence they are an invincible se-
curity (Isa. iv. 5) ; and when he moves them, as his chariot, against
a people, they end in an irresistible destruction. Thus the ruin of
the wicked is described (Pro v. x. 25) : "As the whirlwind passes,
so is the wicked no more :" it blows them down, sweeps them away,
they irrecoverably fall before the force of it. What heart can en-
dure, and what hands can be strong, in the days wherein God doth
deal with them ! (Ezek. xxii. 14). Thus is the judgment against
Nineveh described : God hath his way in the whirlwind, to thunder
down their strongest walls, which were so thick that chariots could
march abreast upon them ; and batter down their mighty towers,
which that city had in multitudes upon their walls.
They are the first words I intend to insist upon, to treat of the
Patience of God described in those words, " The Lord is slow to
anger."
Doctrine. Slowness to anger, or admirable patience, is the property
of the Divine nature. As patience signifies suffering, so it is not in
God, The Divine nature is impassible, incapable of any impair, it
cannot be touched by the violences of men, nor the essential glory
of it be diminished by the injuries of men ; but as it signifies a will-
ingness to defer, and an unwillingness to pour forth his wrath upon
sinful creatures, he moderates his provoked justice, and forbears to
revenge the injuries he daily meets with in the world. He suffers
no grief by men's wronging him, but he restrains his arm from pun-
ishing them according to their merits ; and thus there is patience in
every cross a man meets with in the world, because, though it be a
punishment, it is less than is merited by the unrighteous rebel, and
less than may be inflicted by a righteous and powerful God. This
patience is seen in his providential works in the world : " He suffered
the nations to walk in their own way," and the witness of his provi-
dence to them was his " giving them rain and fruitful seasons, filling
their heart with food and gladness" (Acts, xvi. 17). The heathens
took notice of it, and signified it by feigning their god Saturn, to be
bound a whole year in a soft cord, a cord of wool, and expressed it
by this proverb: "The mills of the gods grind slowly;" i. e. God
doth not use men with that severity that they deserve ; the mills
being usually turned by criminals condemned to that work.<^ This,
in Scripture, is frequently expressed by a slowness to anger (Ps. ciii.
8), sometimes by long-suffering, which is a patience with duration
(Ps. cxlv. 8 ; Joel, ii. 13). He is slow to anger, he takes not the first
occasions of a provocation ; he is long-suffering (Kom. ix. 22), and
(Ps. Ixxxvi. 15) he forbears punishment upon many occasions of-
fered him. It is long before he consents to give fire to his wrath,
^ Rhodigi. lib. vi. c. 14.
478 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
and shoot out his thunderbolts. Sin hath a loud cry, but God seems
to stop his ears, not to hear the clamor it raises and the charge it
presents. He keeps his sword a long time in the sheath ; one calls
the patience of God the sheath of his sword, upon those words (Ezek.
xxi. 3), "I will draw forth my sword out of his sheath," This is one
remarkable letter in the name of God ; he himself proclaims it (Exod.
xxxiv. 6) : " The Lord, the Lord God, merciful, gracious, and long-
suffering." And Moses pleads it in the behalf of the people (Numb,
xiv. 18), where he placeth it in the first rank ; the Lord is " long-
suffering and of great mercy :" it is the first spark of mercy, and ush-
ers it to its exercises in the world. c In the Lord's proclamation, it is
put in the middle link, mercy and truth together ; mercy could have
no room to act if patience did not prepare the way ; and his truth
and goodness, in his promise of the Eedeemer, would not have been
manifest to the world if he had shot his arrows as soon as men com-
mitted their sins, and deserved his punishment. This perfection is
expressed by other phrases, as "keeping silence" (Ps. 1. 21) : "These
things hast thou done, and I kept silence," "'na nnm niay nbs ; it
signifies to behave one's self as a deaf or dumb man. I did not fly
in thy face, as some do, with a great noise upon a light provoca-
tion, as if their life, honor, estates, were at the stake ; I did not
presently call thee to the bar, and pronounce judicial sentence upon
thee according to the law, but demeaned myself as if I had been
ignorant of thy crimes, and had not been invested with the power
of judging thee for them. Chald. " I waited for thy conversion."
God's patience is the silence of his justice, and the first whisper of
his mercy. It is also expressed by not laying folly to men (Job, xxiv.
12) ; men groan under the oppressions of others, yet God lays not
folly to them, i. e. to the oppressors ; God sufifers them to go on with
impunity. He doth not dehver his people because he would try
them, and takes not revenge upon the unrighteous, because in pa-
tience he doth bear with them : patience is the life of his providence
in this world. He chargeth not men with their crimes here, but re-
serves them, upon impenitency, for another trial. This attribute is
so great a one, that it is signally called by the name of "Perfection"
(Matt. V. 45, 48). He had been speaking of Divine goodness, and
patience to evil men, and he concludes, " Be you perfect," &c., im-
plying it to be an amazing perfection of the Divine nature, and wor-
thy of imitation.
In the prosecution of this, I. Let us consider the nature of this pa-
tience. II. Wherein it is manifested. HI. Why God doth exercise
so much patience. IV. The Use.
I. The nature of this patience.
1. It is part of the Divine goodness and mercy, yet differs from
both. God being the greatest goodness, hath the greatest mildness.
Mildness is always the companion of true goodness, and the greater
the goodness the greater the mildness. Who so holy as Christ, and
who so meek ? God's slowness to anger is a branch or slip from his
mercy (Ps. cxlv. 8) : "The Lord is full of compassion, slow to anger "
' A^/lof 6i uTi eyxEi-pi.^101' ti/v rifiupiav KaXel, Ko7.iov 6t tovteotl r;)v d/JKi/v tov iyxeipu^cov
fiaKpoOv/iiav ovofid^et. Theodoret, in loc.
ON GOD'S PATIENCE. 479
It differs from mercy in the formal consideration of tlie object ; mercy
respects tlie creature as miserable, j)atience respects the creature as
criminal ; mercy pities liim in liis misery, and patience bears with
the sin which engendered that misery, and is giving birth to more.
Again, mercy is one end of patience ; his long-suffering is partly to
glorify his grace : so it was in Paul (1 Tim. i. 16). As slowness to
anger springs from goodness, so it makes mercy the butt and mark
of its operations (Isa. xxx. 18) : " He waits that he may be gTacious."
Goodness sets God upon the exercise of jDatience, and patience sets
many a sinner on running into the arms of mercy. That mercy
which makes God ready to embrace returning sinners, makes him
willing to bear with them in their sins, and wait their return. It
differs also from goodness, in regard of the object. The object of
goodness is every creature, angels, men, all inferior creatures, to the
lowest worm that crawls upon the ground. The object of patience
is, primarily, man, and secondarily, those creatures that respect men's
support, conveniency, and delight ; but they are not the objects of
patience, as considered in themselves, but in relation to man, for
whose use they were created ; and therefore God's patience to them
is properly his patience with man. The lower creatures do not in-
jure God, and therefore are not the objects of his jjatience, but as
they are forfeited by man, and man deserves to be deprived of them ;
as man in this regard falls under the patience of God, so do those
creatures which are designed for man's good. That patience which
spares man, spares other creatures for him, which were all forfeited
by man's sin, as well as his own life, and are rather the testimonies
of God's patience, than the proper objects of it. The object of God's
goodness, then, is the whole creation ; not a devil in hell, but as a
creature, is a mark of his goodness, but not of his patience. There
is a kind of sparing exercised to the devils, in deferring their com-
plete punishment, and hitherto keeping off the day wherein their
final sentence is to be pronounced ; yet the Scripture never mentions
this by the name of slowness to anger, or long-suffering. It can no
more be called patience, than a prince's keeping a malefactor in chains,
and not pronouncing a condemning sentence, or not executing a sen-
tence already pronounced, can be called a patience with him, when
it is not out of kindness to the offender, but for some reasons of state.
God's sparing the devils from their total punishment — which they
have not yet, but are "reserved in chains, under darkness for it"
(Jude, 6) — is not in order to repentance, or attended with any invita-
tions from God, or hopes in them ; and, therefore, cannot come un-
der the same title as God's sparing man : where there is no proposal
of mercy, there is no exercise of patience. The fallen angels had no
mercy reserved for them, nor any sacrifices prepared for them ; God
" spared not the angels" (2 Pet, ii. 4), " but delivered them into chains
of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment," i. e. he had no patience
for them ; for patience is properly a temporary sparing a person,
with a waiting of his relenting, and a change of his injurious de-
meanor. The object of goodness is more extensive than that of pa-
tience : nor do they both consider the object under the same relation.
Goodness respects things in a capacity, or in a state of creation, and
480 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
brings them forth into creation, and nurseth and supports them as
creatures. Patience considers them already created, and fallen short
of the duty of creatures ; it considers them as sinners, or in relation
to sinners. Had not sin entered, patience had never been exercised ;
but goodness had been exercised, had the creature stood firm in its
created state without any transgression ; nay, creation could not
have been without goodness, because it was goodness to create ; but
patience had never been known without an object, which could not
have been without an injury. Where there is no wrong, no suffer-
ing, nor like to be any, patience hath no prospect of any operation.
So, then, goodness respects persons as creatures, patience as trans-
gressors ; mercy eyes men as miserable and obnoxious to punish-
ment ; patience considers men as sinful, and provoking to punish-
ment.
2. Since it is a part of goodness and mercy, it is not an insensible
patience. What is the fruit of pure goodness cannot be from a weak-
ness of resentment ; he is " slow to anger ;" the prophet doth not
say, he is incapable of anger, or cannot discern what is a real object
of anger ; it implies, that he doth consider every provocation, but he
is not hasty to discharge his arrows upon the offenders ; he sees all,
while he bears with them ; his omniscience excludes any ignorance ;
he cannot but see every wrong ; every aggravation in that wrong,
every step and motion from the beginning to the completing it ; for
he knows all our thoughts ; he sees the sin and the sinner at the
same time ; the sin with an eye of abhorrency, and the sinner with
an eye of pity. His eye is upon their iniquities, and his hatred edged
against them ; while he stands with arms open, waiting a penitent
return. When he publisheth his patience in his keeping silence, he
publisheth also his resolution, to set sin in order before their eyes
(Ps. 1. 21) : " I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thy
eyes." Think me not such a piece of phlegm, and so dull as not to
resent your insolences ; you shall see, in my final charge, when I
come to judge, that not a wry look escaped my knowledge, that I
had an eye to heboid, and a heart to loathe every one of your trans-
gressions. The church was ready to think that God's slowness to de-
liver her, and his bearing with her oppressors, was not from any pa-
tience in his nature, but a drowsy carelessness, a senseless lethargy
(Ps. xliv. 23) : " Awake, why sleepest thou, 0 Lord ?" We must
conclude him an inapprehensive God, before we can conclude him
an insensible God. As his delaying his jDromise is not slackness to
his people (2 Pet. iii. 9), so his deferring of punishment is not from
a stupidity under the affronts offered him.
3. Since it is a part of his mercy and goodness, it is not a con-
strained or faint-hearted patience. It is not a slowness to anger,
arising from a despondency of his own power to revenge. He hath
as much power to punish as he hath to forbear punishment. He that
created a world in six days, and that by a word, wants not a strength
to crush all mankind in ore minute ; and with as much ease as a
word imports, can give satisfaction to his justice in the blood of the
offender. Patience in man is many times interpreted, and truly too,
a cowardice, a feebleness of spirit, and a want of strength. But it is
ON" GOD'S PATIENCE. . 481
not from the shortness of the Divine arm, that he cannot reach us,
nor from the feebleness of his hand, that he cannot strike us. It is
not because he cannot level us with the dust, dash us in pieces like
a potter's vessel, or consume us as a moth. He can make the might-
iest to fall before him, and lay the strongest at his feet the first mo-
ment of their crime. He that did not want a powerful word to create
a world, cannot want a powerful word to dissolve the whole frame
of it, and raze it out of being. It is not, therefore, out of a distrust
of his own power, that he hath supported a sinful world for so many
ages, and patiently borne the blasphemies of some, the neglects of
others, and the ingratitude of all, without inflicting that severe jus-
tice which righteously he might have done ; he wants no thunder to
crush the whole generation of men, nor waters to drown them, nor
earth to swallow them up. How easy is it for him to single out this
or that particular person to be the object of his wrath, and not of his
patience ! What he hath done to one, he may to another ; any sig-
nal judgment he hath sent upon one, is an evidence that he wants
not power to inflict it upon all. Could he not make the motes in
the air to choke us at every breath, rain thunderbolts instead of
drops of water, fill the clouds with a consuming lightning, take off
the reverence and fear of man, which he hath imprinted upon the
creature, spirit our domestic beasts to be our executioners, unloose
the tiles from the house-top to brain us, or make the fall of a house
to crush us ? It is but taking out the pins, and giving a blast, and
the work is done. And doth he want a power to do any of those
things ? It is not then a faint-hearted, or feeble patience, that he
exerciseth towards man.
4. Since it is not for want of power over the creature, it is from a
fulness of power over himself. This is in the text, " The Lord is
slow to anger, and great in power;" it is a part of his dominion over
himself, whereby he can moderate, and rule his own affections accord-
ing to the holiness of his own will. As it is the effect of his power,
so it is an argument of his power ; the greatness of the effect demon-
strates the fulness and sufficiency of the cause. The more feeble
any man is in reason the less command he hath over his passions,
and he is the more heady to revenge. Kevenge is a sign of a child-
ish mind ; the stronger any man is in reason, the more command he
hath over himself " He that is slow to anger is better than the
mighty ; and he that rules his own spirit, than he that takes a city"
(Prov. xvi. 32) ; he that can restrain his anger, is stronger than the
Ciesars and Alexanders of the world, that have filled the earth with
slain carcasses and ruined cities. By the same reason, God's slowness
to anger is a greater argument of his power than the creating a world,
or the power of dissolving it by a word ; in this he hath a dominion
over creatures, in the other over himself; this is the reason he will
not return to destroy; because "I am God, and not man" (Hos. xi.
9); I am not so weak and impotent as man, that cannot restrain his
anger. This is a strength possessed only by a God, wherein a crea-
ture is no more able to parallel him, than in any other ; so that he
may be said to be the Lord of himself; as it is in the verse before
the text, that he is the Lord of anger, in the Hebrew, instead of
VOL. II. — 31
482 . CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
" furious," as we translate it ; so lie is tlie Lord of patience. The end
why God is patient, is to show his power, " What if God, willing
to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with
much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction ?" (Rom.
ix. 22), To show his wrath upon sinners, and his power over him-
self in bearing such indignities, and forbearing punishment so long,
when men were vessels of wrath fitted for destruction, of whom there
was no hopes of amendment. Had he immediately broken in pieces
those vessels, his power had not so eminently appeared as it hath
done, in tolerating them so long, that had provoked him to take
them off so often ; there is indeed the power of his anger, and there
is the power of his patience ; and his power is more seen in his
patience than in his wrath : it is no wonder that He that is above all,
is able to crush all ; but it is a wonder, that he that is provoked by
all, doth not, upon the first provocation, rid his hands of all. This
♦ is the reason why he did bear such a weight of provocations from
vessels of wrath, prepared for ruin, that he might /j'wjjfawt to Swaibf
(Kvrov, show what he was able to do, the lordship and royalty he had
over himself. The power of God is more manifest in his patience
to a multitude of sinners, than it would be in creating millions of
worlds out of nothing; this was the ^v^al^)^' u^wv, a power over him-
self,
5. This patience being a branch of mercy, the exercise of it is
founded in the death of Christ. Without the consideration of this,
we can give no account why Divine patience should extend itself to
us, and not to the fallen angels. The threatening extends itself to
us as well as to the fallen angels ; the threatening must necessarily
have sunk man, as well as those glorious creatures, had not Christ
stepped in to our relief. Had not Christ interposed to satisfy the
justice of God, man upon his sin had been actually bound over to
punishment, as well as the fallen angels were upon theirs, and been
fettered in chains as strong as those spirits feel.f The reason wh\
man was not hurled into the same deplorable condition upon his sin,
as they were, is Christ's promise of taking our nature, and not theirs.
Had God designed Christ's taking their nature, the same patience
had been exercised towards them, and the same offers would have
been made to them, as are made to us. In regard to these fruits of
this patience, Christ is said to buy the wickedest apostates from him:
" Denying the Lord that bought them" (1 Pet, ii, 1), Such were
bought by him, as " bring upon themselves just destruction, and
whose damnation slumbers not" (ver, 3) ; he purchased the continu-
ance of their lives, and the stay of their execution, that offers of
grace might be made to them. This patience must be either upon
the account of the law, or the gospel ; for there are no other rules,
whereby God governs the world. A fruit of the law it was not ;
that spake nothing but curses after disobedience ; not a letter of
mercy was writ upon that, and therefore nothing of patience ; death
and wrath were denounced; no slowness to anger intimated. It
must be therefore upon account of the gospel, and a fruit of the cov-
enant of grace, whereof Christ was Mediator, Besides this perfection
f Testard. de Natur. et Grat. These. 119.
ON" GOD'S PATIENCE. 483
being God's " waiting tliat lie might be gracious" (Isa, xxx. 18), that
which made way for God's grace made way for his waiting to mani-
fest it. God discovered not his grace, but in Christ ; and therefore
discovered not his patience but in Christ ; it is in him he met with
the satisfaction of his justice, that he might have a ground for the
manifestation of his patience. And the sacrifices of the law, wherein
the life of a beast was accepted for the sin of man, discovered the
ground of his forbearance of them to be the expectation of the great
Sacrifice, whereby sin was to be completely expiated (Gen. viii. 21).
The publication of his patience to the end of the world is presently
after the sweet savor he found in Noah's sacrifice. The promised
and designed coming of Christ, was the cause of that patience God
exercised before in the world ; and his gathering the elect together,
is the reason of his patience since his death.
6. The naturalness of his veracity and holiness, and the strictness
of his justice, are no bars to the exercise of his patience.
(1.) His veracity. In those threatenings where the punishment is
expressed, but not the time of inflicting it prefixed and determined
in the threatening, his veracity suffers no damage by the delaying
execution ; so it be once done, though a long time after, the credit
of his truth stands unshaken : as when God promises a thing with-
out fixing the the time, he is at liberty to pitch upon what time he
pleases for the performance of it, without staining his faithfulness to
his Avord, by not giving the thing promised presently. Why should
the deferring of justice upon an offender be any more against his
veracity than his delaying an answer to the petitions of a suppliant?
But the difference will lie in the threatening. " In the day thou eat-
est thereof, thou shalt die the death" (Gen. ii. 17). The time was
there settled ; "in that day thou shalt die ;" some refer " day" to
eating, not to dying ; and render the sentence thus : I do not pro-
hibit thee the eating this fruit for a day or two, but continually. In
whatsoever day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt die ; but not under-
standing his dying that very day he should eat of it ; referring
" day" to the extensiveness of the prohibition, as to time. But to
leave this as uncertain, it may be answered, that as in some threat-
enings a condition is implied, though not expressed, as in that posi-
tive denouncing of the destruction of Ninevah : " Yet forty days,
and Mnevah shall be destroyed" (Jonah, iii. 4), the condition is im-
plied ; unless they humble themselves, and repent ; for upon their
repentance, the sentence was deferred. So here, " in the day thou
eatest thereof, thou shalt die the death," or certainly die, unless there
be a way found for the expiation of thy crime, and the righting my
honor. This condition, in regard of the event, may as well be as-
serted to be implied in this threatening, as that of repentance was in
the other ; or rather, " thou shalt die," thou shalt die spiritually, thou
shalt lose that image of mine in thy nature, that righteousness which
is as much the life of thy soul as thy soul is the life of thy body ;
that righteousness whereby thou art enabled to live to me and tlay
own happiness. What the soul is to the body, a quickening sou],
that the image of God is to the soul, a quickening image. Or "thou
shalt die the death," or certainly die ; thou shalt be liable to death.
484 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
And so it is to be understood, not of an actual death, of the bodj,
but the merit of death, and the necessity of death ; thou wilt be ob-
noxious to death, which will be avoided, if thou dost forbear to eat
of the forbidden fruit ; thou shalt be a guilty person, and so under
a sentence of death, that I may, when I please, inflict it on thee.?
Death did come upon Adam that day, because his nature was vitiat-
ed ; he was then also under an expectation of death, he was obnox-
ious to it, though that day it was not poured out upon him in the
full bitterness and gall of it : as when the apostle saith, " The body
is dead because of sin" (Rom. viii. 10), he speaks to the living, and
yet tells them the body was dead because of sin ; he means no more
than that it was under a sentence, and so a necessity of dying, though,
not actually dead ; so thou shalt be under the sentence of death that
day, as certainly as if that day thou shouldst sink into the dust : and
as by his patience towards man, not sending forth death upon him
in all the bitter ingredients of it, his justice afterwards was more
eminent upon man's surety, than it would have been if it had been
then employed in all its severe operations upon man. So was his
veracity eminent also in making good this threatening, in inflicting
the punishment included in it upon our nature assumed by a mighty
Person, and upon that Person in our nature, who was infinitely
higher than our nature.
(2.) His justice and righteousness are not prejudiced by his pa-
tience. There is a hatred of the sin in his holiness, and a sen-
tence past against the sin in his justice, though the execution of
that sentence be suspended, and the person reprieved by patience,
which is implied (Eccles. viii. 11) : " Because sentence against an
evil work is not executed speedily ; therefore, the heart of the sons
of men is fully set in them to do evil ;" sentence is past, but a speedy
execution is stopped. Some of the heathens, who would not imagine
God unjust, and yet, seeing the villanies and oppressions of men in
the world remain unpunished, and frequently beholding prosperous
wickedness, to free him from the charge of injustice, denied his
providence and actual government of the world ; for if he did
take notice of human affairs, and concern himself in what was done
upon the earth, they could not think an Infinite Goodness and Jus-
tice could be so slow to punish oppressors, and relieve the misera-
ble, and leave the world in that disorder under the injustice of men :
they judged such a patience as was exercised by him, if he did gov-
ern the world, was drawn out beyond the line of fit and just. Is it
not a presumption in men to prescribe a rule of righteousness and
conveniency to their Creator ? It might be demanded of such, whe-
ther they never injured any in their lives ; and when certainly they
have one way or another, would they not think it a very unworthy,
if not unjust, thing, that a person so injured by them should take a
speedy and severe revenge on them ? — and if every man should do
the like, would there not be a speedy despatch made of mankind ?
Would not the world be a shambles, and men rush forwards to one
another's destructions, for the wrongs they have mutually received ?
If it be accounted a virtue in man, and no unrighteousness, not pre-
f Perer, in loc.
ON GOD'S PATIENCE. 485
sently to be all on fire against an offence ; by what right should any
question the inconsistency of God's patience with his justice? Do
we praise the lenity of parents to children, and shall we disparage
the long-suffering of God to men ? We do not censure the right-
eousness of physicians and chirurgeons, because they cut not off a
corrupt member this day as well as to-morrow ? And is it just to
asperse God, because he doth defer his vengeance which man as-
sumes to himself a right to do ? We never account him a bad gov-
ernor that defers the trial, and consequently the condemnation and
execution of a notorious offender for important reasons, and bene-
ficial to the public, either to make the nature of his crime more evi-
dent, or to find out the rest of his complices by his discovery. A
governor, indeed, were unjust, if he commanded that which were
unrighteous, and forbade that which were worthy and commenda-
ble ; but if he delays the execution of a convict ofiender for weighty
reasons, either for the benefit of the state whereof he is the ruler, or
for some advantage to the offender himself, to make him have a
sense of, and a regret for his offence, we account him not unjust for
this. God doth not by his patience dispense with the holiness of
his law, nor cut off sftiything from its due authority. If men do
strengthen themselves by his long-suffering against his law, it is
their fault, not any unrighteousness in him ; he will take a time to
vindicate the righteousness of his own commands, if men will
wholly neglect the time of his patience, in forbearing to pay a duti-
ful observance to his precept. If justice be natural to him, and he
cannot but punish sin, yet he is not necessitated to consume sinners,
as the fire doth stubble put into it, which hath no command over its
own qualities to restrain them from acting ; but God is a free agent,
and may choose his own time for the distribution of that punish-
ment his nature leads him to. Though he be naturally just, yet it
is not so natural to him, as to deprive him of a dominion over his
own acts, and a freedom in the exerting them what time he judgeth
most convenient in his wisdom. God is necessarily holy, and is ne-
cessarily angry with sin ; his nature can never like it, and cannot
but be displeased with it ; yet he hath a liberty to restrain the effects
of this anger for a time, without disgracing his holiness, or being in-
terpreted to act unrighteously ; as well as a prince or state may sus-
pend the execution of a law, which they will never break, only for
a time and for a public benefit. If God should presently execute
his justice, this perfection of patience, which is a part of his good-
ness, would never have an opportunity of discovery ; part of his
glory, for which he created the world, would lie in obscurity from
the knowledge of his creature ; his justice would be signal in the
destruction of sinners, but this stream of his goodness would be
stopped up from any motion. One perfection must not cloud an-
other ; God hath his seasons to discover all, one after another : " The
times and seasons are in his own power" (Acts, i. 7) : the seasons of
manifesting his own perfections as well as other things ; succession
of them, in their distinct appearance, makes no invasion upon the
rights of any. If justice should complain of an injury from pa-
tience, because it is delayed, patience hath more reason to complain
486 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
of an injury from justice, that by such a plea it would be wholly
obscured and inactive : for this perfection hath the shortest time to
act its part of any, it hath no stage but this world to move in ;
mercy hath a heaven, and justice a hell, to display itself to eternity,
but long-suffering hath only a short-lived earth for the compass of
its operation. Again, justice is so far from being wronged by pa-
tience, that it rather is made more illustrious, and hath the fuller
scope to exercise itself ; it is the more righted for being deferred, and
will have stronger grounds than before for its activity ; the equity
of it will be more apparent to every reason, the objections more
fully answered against it, when the way of dealing with sinners by
patience hath been slighted. When this dam of long-suffering is re-
moved, the floods of fiery justice will rush down with more force
and violence ; justice will be fully recompensed for the delay, when,
after patience is abused, it can spread itself over the offender with a
more unquestionable authority ; it will have more arguments to hit
the sinner in the teeth with, and silence him ; there will be a sharper
edge for every stroke ; the sinner must not only pay for the score
of his former sins, but the score of abused patience, so that justice
hath no reason to commence a suit against God's slowness to anger :
what it shall want by the fulness of mercy upon the truly penitent,
it will gain by the contempt of patience on the impenitent abusers.
When men, by such a carriage, are ripened for the stroke of justice,
justice may strike without any regret in itself, or pull-back from
mercy ; the contempt of long-suffering will silence the pleas of the
one, and spirit the severity of the other. To conclude : since God
hath glorified his justice on Christ, as a surety for sinners, his pa-
tience is so far from interfering with the rights of his justice, that it
promotes it ; it is dispensed to this end, that God might pardon with
honor, both upon the score of purchased mercy and contented jus-
tice ; that by a penitent sinner's return his mercy might be acknowl-
edged free, and the satisfaction of his justice by Christ be glorified
in believing: for he is long-suffering from an unwillingness "that
any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Pet.
iii, 9) ; i. e. all to whom the promise is made, for to such the apostle
speaks, and calls it " long-suffering to us- ward ;" and repentance be-
ing an acknowledgment of the demerit of sin, and a breaking off
unrighteousness, gives a particular glory to the freeness of mercy,
and the equity of justice.
II. The second thing, How this patience or slowness to anger is
manifested.
1. To our first parents. His slowness to anger was evidenced in
not directing his artillery against them, when they first attempted to
rebel. He might have struck them dead when they began to bite at
the temptation, and were inclinable to a surrender ; for it was a de-
gree of sinning, and a breach of loyalty as well, though not so much
as the consummating act. God might have given way to the floods
of his wrath at the first spring of man's aspiring thoughts, when the
monstrous motion of being as God began to be curdled in his heart ;
but he took no notice of any of their embryo sins till they came to a
rij^eness, and started out of the womb of their minds into the open
ON GOD'S PATIENCE. 487
air: and after he had brought his sin to perfection, God did not
presently send that death upon him, which he had merited, but con-
tinued his Hfe to the space of 930 years (Gen. v. 5). The sun and
stars were not arrested from doing their office for him. Creatures
were continued for his use, the earth did not swallow him up, nor a
thunderbolt from heaven raze out the memory of him. Though he
had deserved to be treated with such a severity for his ungrateful
demeanor to his Creator and Benefactor, and affecting an equality
with him, yet God continued him with a sufficiency for his content,
after he turned rebel, though not with such a liberality as when he
remained a loyal subject ; and though he foresaw that he would not
make an end of sinning, but with an end of living, he used him not
in the same manner as he had used the devils. He added days and
years to him, after he had deserved death, and hath for this 5,000
years continued the propagation of mankind, and derived from his
loins an innumerable j)osterity, and hath crowned multitudes of
them with hoary heads. He might have extinguished human race
at the lirst ; but since he hath preserved it till this day, it must be
interpreted nothing else but the effect of an admirable patience.
2. His slowness to anger is manifest to the Gentiles. What they
were, we need no other witness than the apostle Paul, who sums up
many of their crimes (Rom. i. 29 — 32). He doth preface the cata-
logue with a comprehensive expression, " Being filled with all un-
righteousness ;" and concludes it with a dreadful aggravation, " They
not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them." They
were so soaked and naturalized in wickedness, that they had no de-
light, and found no sweetness in anything else but what was in itself
abominable ; all of them were plunged in idolatry and superstition ;
none of them but either set up their great men, or creatures, benefi-
cial to the world, and some the damned spirits in his stead, and paid
an adoration to insensible creatures or devils, which was due to God.
Some were so depraved in their lives and actions, that it seemed to
be the interest of the rest of the world, that they should have been
extinguished for the instruction of their contemporaries and pos-
terity. The best of them had turned all religion into a fable, coined
a world of rites, some unnatural in themselves, and most of them un-
becoming a rational creature to offer, and a Deity to accept : yet he
did not presently arm himself against them with fire and sword, nor
stopped the course of their generations, nor tear out all those relics
of natural light which were left in their minds. He did not do what
he might have done, but he winked at the " times of that ignorance"
(Acts, xvii. 30), their ignorant idolatry ; for that it refers to (ver.
29) : " They thought the Godhead was like to gold or silver, or stone
graven by art, and men's device ; ineQidwi'^ overlooking them. He
demeaned himself so, as if he did not take notice of them. He
winked as if he did not see them, and would not deal so severely
with them : the eye of his justice seemed to wink, in not calling them
to an account for their sin.
3. His slowness to anger is manifest to the Israelites. You know
how often they are called a " stiff-necked people ;" they are said to
do evil "from their youth ;" i. e. from the time wherein they were
488 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
erected a nation and common weal tli ; and that "the city had been
a provocation of his anger, and of his furj, from the day that they
built it, even to this day ;" i. c. the day of Jeremiah's prophecy,
" that he should remove it from before his face" (Jer, xxxii. 31) :
from the days of Solomon, say some, which is too much a curtailing
of the text, as though their provocations had taken date no higher
than from the time of Solomon's rearing the temple, and beautifying
the city, whereby it seemed to be a new building. They began more
early ; they scarce discontinued their revolting from God ; they were
a " grief to him forty years together in the wilderness" (Ps. xcv. 10),
"yet he suffered their manners" (Acts, xiii. 18). He bore with their
ill-behaviour and sauciness towards him ; and no sooner was Joshua's
head laid, and the elders, that were their conductors, gathered to
their fathers, but the next generation forsook God, and smutted
themselves with the idolatry of the nations (Judges, ii. 7, 10, 11):
and when he punished them by prospering the arms of their enemies
against them, they were no sooner delivered upon their cry and hu-
miliation, but they began a new scene of idolatry ; and though he
brought upon them the power of the Babylonian empire, and laid
chains upon them to bring them to their right mind. And at seventy
years' end he struck off their chains, by altering the whole posture
of affairs in that part of the world for their sakes : overturning one
empire, and settling another for their restoration to their ancient city.
And though they did not after disown him for their God, and set up
" Baal in his throne," yet they multiplied foolish traditions, whereby
they impaired the authority of the law ; yet he sustained them with
a wonderful patience, and preferred them before all other people in
the first offers of the gospel ; and after they had outraged not only
his servants, the prophets, but his Son, the Eedeemer, yet he did not
forsake them, but employed his apostles to solicit them, and publish
among them the doctrine of salvation : so that his treating this peo-
ple might well be called " much long-suffering," it being above 1500
years, wherein he bore with them, or mildly punished them, far less
than their deserts ; their coming out of Egypt being about the year
of the world 2450, and their final destruction as a commonwealth,
not till about forty years after the death of Christ ; and all this while
his patience did sometimes wholly restrain his justice, and sometimes
let it fall upon them in some few drops, but made no total devasta-
tion of their country, nor wrote his revenge in extraordinary bloody
characters, till the Eoman conquest, wherein he put a period to
them both as a church and state. In particular this patience is
manifest,
1st. In his giving warnings of judgments, before he orders them
to go forth. He doth not punish in a passion, and hastily ; he speaks
before he strikes, and speaks that he may not strike. Wrath is pub-
lished before it is executed, and that a long time ; an hundred and
twenty years' advertisement was given to a debauched world before
the heavens were opened, to spout down a deluge upon them. He
will not be accused of coming unawares upon a people ; he inflicts
nothing but what he foretold either immediately to the people that
provoke him, or anciently to them that have been their forerunners
ON GOD'S PATIENCE. 489
in the same provocation (Hos. vii. 12), " I will chastise them, as their
congregation hath heard." Many of the leaves of the Old Testament
are full of those presages and warnings of approaching judgment.
These make up a great part of the volume of it in various editions,
according to the state of the several provoking times. Warnings are
given to those people that are most abominable in his sight (Zeph. ii.
1, 2) ; " Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation
not desired," — it is a Meiosis, O nation abhorred, — "before the decree
bring forth." He sends his heralds before he sends his armies ; he
summons them by the voice of his prophets, before he confounds
them by the voice of his thunders. When a parley is beaten, a
white flag of peace is hung out, before a black flag of fury is set up.
He seldom cuts down men by his judgments, before he hath " hewed
them by his prophets" (Hos. vi. 5), Not a remarkable judgment but
was foretold : the flood to the old world by Noah ; the famine to
Egypt by Joseph ; the earthquake by Amos (ch. i. 1) ; the storm
from Chaldea by Jeremiah ; the captivity of the ten tribes by Hosea ;
the total destruction of Jerusalem and the Temj^le by Christ himself.
He hath chosen the best persons in the world to give those intima-
tions ; Noah, the most righteous person on the earth, for the old
world ; and his Son, the most beloved person in heaven, for the Jews
in the later time : and in other parts of the world, and in the later
times, where he hath not warned by prophets, he hath supplied it by
prodigies in the air and earth ; histories are full of such items from
heaven. Lesser judgments are forewarners of greater, as lightnings
before thunder are messengers to tell us of a succeeding clap.
(1). He doth often give warning of judgments. He comes not to
extremity, till he hath often shaken the rod over men ; he thunders
often, before he crusheth them with his thunderbolt ; he doth not
till after the first and second admonition punish a rebel, as he would
have us reject a heretic. " He speaks once, yea, twice" (Job, xxxiii,
14), " and man perceives it not ;" he sends one message after an-
other, and waits the success of many messages before he strikes.
Eight prophets were ordered to acquaint the whole world with
approaching judgment (2 Pet. ii. 5) : he saved " Noah, the eighth
person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the
world of the ungodly," called " the eighth" in respect of his preach-
ing, not in regard of his preservation ; he was the eighth preacher
in order, from the beginning of the world, that endeavored to restore
the world to the way of righteousness. Most, indeed, consider him
here as the eighth person saved, so do our translators ; and, there-
fore, add person, which is not in the Greek. Some others consider
him here as the eighth preacher of righteousness, reckoning Enoch,
the son of Seth, the first, grounding it upon Gen. iv. 26 : " Then
began men to call upon the name of the Lord," Eeh. " Then it was
began to call in the name of the Lord," t6 ovQi.m tov Kv^Iov Gfov. Sept.
" He began to call in the name of the Lord," which others render,
" He began to preach, or call upon men in the name of the Lord."
The word xbp signifies to preach, or to call upon men by preach-
ing (Prov. i. 21) : " Wisdom crieth," or " preaches ;" and if this be
so, as it is very probable, it is easy to reckon him the eighth
490 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTEIBUTES.
preacher, by numbering tlie successive heads of the generations
(Gen. v.), beginning at Enocli, the first preacher of righteousness.
So many there were before God choked the old world with water,
and swept them away. It is clear he often did admonish, by his
prophets, the Jews of their sin, and the wrath which should come
upon them.h One prophet, Ilosea, prophesied seventy years; for
he prophesied in the days of four kings of Judah, and one of Israel,
Jeroboam, the son of Joash (Hos. i. 1), or Jeroboam, the second of
that name. Uzziah, king of Judah, in whose reign Hosea pro-
phesied, lived thirty-eight years after the death of Jeroboam. The
second Jotham, Uzziah's successor, reigned sixteen years; Ahaz
sixteen ; Hezekiah twenty-nine years. Now, take nothing of Heze-
kiah's time, and date the beginning of his prophecy from the last
year of Jeroboam's reign, and the time of Hosea's prophecy will be
seventy years complete ; wherein God warned those people, and
waited the return particularly of Israel ;' and not less than five of
those we call the Lesser Prophets, were sent to foretell the destruc-
tion of the ten tribes, and to call them to repentance, — Hosea,
Joel, Amos, Micah, Jonah ; and though we have nothing of Jonah's
prophecy in this concern of Israel, yet that he lived in the time of
the same Jeroboam, and prophesied things which are not upon
record in the book of Jonah, is clear (2 Kings, xiv. 25), And
besides those, Isaiah prophesied also in the reign of the same kings
as Hosea did (Isa. i. 1); and it is God's usual method to send forlii
his servants, and when their admonitions are slighted he commissions
others, before he sends out his destroying armies (Matt, xxii,
3, 4, 7).
(2). He doth often give warning of judgments, that he might
not pour out his wrath. He summons them to a surrender of
themselves, and a return from their rebellion, that they might not
feel the force of his arms. He offers peace before he shakes off the
dust of his feet, that his despised peace might not return in vain to
him to solicit a revenge from his anger. He hath a right to punish
upon the first commission of a crime, but he warns men of what
they have deserved, of what his justice moves him to inflict, that
by having recourse to his mercy he might not exercise the rights
of his justice. God sought to kill Moses for not circumcising his
son (Exod. iv. 24). Could God, that sought it, miss a way to do
it? Could a creature lurch, or fly from him? God put on the
garb of an enemy, that Moses might be discouraged from being an
instrument of his own ruin : God manifested an anger against Moses
for his neglect, as if he would then have destroyed him, that Moses
might prevent it by casting off his carelessness, and doing his duty.
He sought to kill him by some evident sign, that Moses might es-
cape the judgment by his obedience. He threatens Nineveh, by
the prophet, with destruction, that Nineveh's repentance might
make void the prophecy. He fights with men by the sword of his
mouth, that he might not pierce' them by the sword of his wrath.
He threatens, that men might prevent the execution of liis threaten-
ing ; he terrifies, that he might not destroy, but that men by humi-
^ Vid. Gell's KyyElotiaria. ' Sanctius. Prolegom. in Hosea, Prolog. HI.
ON GOD'S PATIENCE. 491
liation may lie prostrate before liim, and move tlie bowels of his
mercy to a louder sound than the voice of his anger. He takes
time to whet his sword, that men may turn themselves from the
edge of it. He roars like a lion, that men, by hearing his voice,
may shelter themselves from being torn by his wrath. There is
patience in the sharpest threatening, that we may avoid the scourge.
Who can charge God with an eagerness to revenge, that sends so
many heralds, and so often before he strikes, that he might be pre-
vented from striking ? His threatenings have not so much of a
black flag as of an olive branch. He lifts up his hand before he
strikes, that men might see and avert the stroke (Isa. xxvi. 11).
2d. His patience is manifest in long delaying his threatened judg-
ments, though he finds no repentance in the rebels. He doth some-
times delay his lighter punishments, because he doth not delight in
torturing his creatures ; but he doth longer delay his destroying pun-
ishments, such as put an end to men's happiness, and remit them
to their final and unchangeable state ; because he " doth not de-
light in the death of a sinner." While he is preparing his an'ows,
he is waiting for an occasion to lay them aside, and dull their
points, that he may with honor march back again, and disband his
armies. He brings lighter smarts sooner, that men might not think
him asleep, but he suspends the more terrible judgments that men
might be led to repentance. He scatters not his consuming fires at
the first, but brings on ruining vengeance with a "slow pace ; sen-
tence against an evil work is not speedily executed" (Eccles. viii. 11).
The Jews therefore say, that Michael, the minister of justice, flies
with one wing, but Grabriel, the minister of mercy, with two. An
hundred and twenty years did God wait upon the old world, and
delay their punishment all the time the " ark was preparing"
(1 Pet. iii. 20) ; wherein that wicked generation did not enjoy only
a bare patience, but a striving patience (Gen. vi. 8) : " My Spuit
shall not always strive with man, yet his days shall be one hundred
and twenty years," the days wherein I will strive with him ; that
his long-siiifering might not lose all its fruit, and remit the objects
of'it into the hands of consuming justice. It was the tenth genera-
tion of the world from Adam, when the deluge overflowed it, so
long did God bear with them : and the tenth generation from Noah
wherein Sodom was consumed. God did not come to keep his as-
sizes in Sodom, till "the cry of their sins was very strong," that it
had been a wrong to his justice to have restrained it any longer.
The cry was so loud that he could not be at quiet, as it were, on
his throne of glory for the disturbing noise (Gen. xviii. 20, 21).
Sin transgresseth the law ; the law being violated, solicits justice ;
justice, being urged, pleads for punishment; the cry of their sins
did, as it were, force him from heaven to come down, and examine
what cause there was for that clamor. Sin cries loud and long be-
fore he takes his sword in hand. Four hundred years he kept off
deserved destruction from the Amorites, and deferred making good
his promise to Abraham, of giving Canaan to his posterity, out of his
long-suffering to the Amorites (Gen. xv. 16). In the fourth gene-
ration they shall come hither again, " for the iniquity of the Amor-
492 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES,
ites is not yet full." Their measure was filling then, but not so
full as to put a stop to any further patience till four hundred years
after. The usual time in succeeding generations, from the denounc-
ing of judgments to the execution, is forty years ; this some ground
upon Ezek. iv. 6, " Thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of
Judah forty days," taking each day for a year. Though Hosea
lived seventy years, yet from the beginning of his prophesying
judgments against Israel to the pouring them out upon that idola-
trous people, it was forty years. Hosea, as was mentioned before,
prophesied against them in the days of Jeroboam the Second, in
whose time God did wonderfully deliver Israel (2 Kings, xiv. 26,
27). From that time, till the total destruction of the ten tribes, it
was forty years, as may easily be computed from the story (2 Kings,
XV. — xvi.), by the reign of the succeeding kings. So forty years
aftSr the most horrid villany that ever was committed in the face of
the sun, viz.^ the crucifying the Son of God, was Jerusalem de-
stroyed, and the inhabitants captived ; so long did God delay a
visible punishment for such an outrage. Sometimes he prolongs
sending a threatened judgment upon a mere shadow of humiliation ;
so he did that denounced against Ahab. He turned it over to his
posterity, and adjourned it to another season (1 Kings, xxi, 29). He
doth not issue out an arrest upon one transgression ; you often find
him not commencing a suit against men till " three and four trans-
gressions." The first of Amos, all along that chapter and the second
chapter, for " three and four," i. e. " seven ;" a certain number for an
uncertain. He gives not orders to his judgments to march till men
be obstinate, and refuse any commerce with him ; he stops them till
" there be no remedy" (2 Chron. xxxvi. 16). It must be a great
wickedness that gives vent to them (Hos. x. 15); Heb. "Your
wickedness of wickedness." He is so " slow to anger," and stays the
punishment his enemies deserve, that he may seem to have forgot
his " kindness to his friends" (Ps. xliv. 24) : " Wherefore hidest thou
thy face, and forgettest our affliction and oppression ?" He lets his
people groan under the yoke of their enemies, as if he were made
up of kindness to his enemies, and anger against his friends. This
delaying of punishment to evil men is visible in his suspending the
terrifying acts of conscience, and supporting it only in its checking,
admonishing, and controlling acts. The patience of a governor is
seen in the patient mildness of his deputy : David's conscience did not
terrify him till nine months after his sin of murder. Should God
set open the mouth of this power within us, not only the earth, but
our own bodies and spirits, would be a burden to us : it is long be-
fore God puts scorpions into the hands of men's consciences to
scourge them : he holds back the rod, waiting for the hour of our
return, as if that would be a recompense for our offences and his
forbearance.
3d. His patience is manifest in his unwillingness to execute his
judgments when he can delay no longer. " He doth not afflict
willingly, nor grieve the children of men" (Lam. iii. 83) : Heb. " He
doth not afflict from his heart :" he takes no pleasure in it, as he is
Creator. The height of men's provocations, and the necessity of the
ON" GOD'S PATIENCE. 493
preserving his riglits, and vindicating his laws, obligeth him to it, as
he is the Governor of the world ; as a judge may willingly condemn
a malefactor to death out of affection to the laws, and desire to pre-
serve the order of government, but unwillingly, ont of compassion
to the offender himself When he resolved upon the destruction of
the old world, he spake it as a God grieved with an occasion of pun-
ishment (Gen. vi. 6, 7, compared together). When he came to reckon
with Adam, " he walked," he did not run with his sword in his hand
upon him, as a mighty man with an eagerness to destroy him (Gen.
iii. 8), and that "in the cool of the day," a time when men, tired in
the day, are unwilling to engage in a hard employment. His exer-
cising judgment is a " coming out of his place" (Isa. xxvi. 21 ; Mic.
i. 3) : he comes out of his station to exercise judgment ; a throne is
more his place than a tribunal. Every prophecy, loaded with threat-
enings,. is called the " burden of the Lord ;" a burden to him to exe-
cute it, as well as to men to suffer it. Though three angels came to
Abraham about the punishment of Sodom, whereof one Abraham
speaks to as to God, yet but two appeared at the destruction of Sod-
om, as if the Governor of the world were unwilling to be present at
such dreadful work (Gen. xix. 1) : and when the man, that had the
ink-horn by his side, that was appointed to mark those that were to
be preserved in the common destruction, returned to give an account
of the performing his commission (Ezek. ix. 10), we read not of the
return of those that were to kill, as if God delighted only to hear
again of his works of mercy, and had no mind to hear again of his
severe proceedings. The Jews, to show God's unwillingness to
punish, imagine that hell was created the second day, because that
day's work is not pronounced good by God as all the other days'
works are'' (Gen. i. 8).
(1.) When God doth punish he doth it with some regret. When
he hurls down his thunders, he seems to do it with a backward hand,
because with an unwilling heart.' He created, saith Chrysostom, the
world in six days, but was seven days in destroying one city, Jericho,
which he had before devoted to be razed to the ground. What is the
reason, saith he, that God is so quick to build up, but slow to pull
down ? His goodness excites his power to the one, but is not earn-
est to persuade him to the other : when he comes to strike, he doth
it with a sigh or groan (Isa. i. 24) : " Ah ! I will ease me of my ad-
versaries, and avenge me on my enemies," "^in, Ah ! a note of grief.
So Hos. vi. 4, " O Ephraim ! what shall I do unto thee ? 0 Judah !
what shall I do unto thee ?" It is an adduhitatio, a figure in rhetoric,
as if God were troubled that he must deal so sharply with them, and
give them up to their enemies : — I have tried all means to reclaim
you ; I have used all ways of kindness, and nothing prevails ; what
shall I do ? my mercy invites me to spare them, and their ingratitude
provokes me to ruin them. God had borne with that people of
Israel almost three hundred years, from the setting up of the calves
at Dan and Bethel ; sent many a prophet to warn them, and spent
many a rod to reform them : and when he comes to execute his
threatenings, he doth with a conflict in himself (Hos. xi. 8) : " How
^ Mercer in Gen. ' Cressol. Decad. 11. p. 163.
494 CHAHNOCK ON" THE ATTRIBUTES.
sliall I give tliee up, 0 Epliraim ? how shall I deliver thee, Israel ?"
as if there were a pull-back in his own bowels. He solemnizeth
their approaching funeral with a hearty groan, and takes his farewell
of the dying malefactor with a pang in himself. How often, in for-
mer times, when he had signed a warrant for their execution, did he
call it back ? (Ps. Ixxviii. 38) : " Many a time turned he his anger
away." Many a time he recalled or ordered his anger to return
again, as the word signifies, as if he were irresolute what to do : he
recalled it, as a man doth his servant, several times, when he is
sending him upon an unwelcome message ; or as a tender-hearted
prince wavers and trembles when he is to sign a writ for the death
of a rebel that hath been before his favorite, as if, when he had sign-
ed the -writ, he blotted out his name again, and flung away the pen.
And his method is remarkable when he came to punish Sodom ;
though the cry of their sin had been fierce in his ears, yet when he
comes to make inquisition, he declares his intention to Abraham, as
if he were desirous that Abraham should have helped him to some
arguments to stop the outgoings of his judgment. He gave liberty
to the best person in the world to stand in the gap, and enter into a
treaty with him, to show, saith one,™ how willingly his mercy would
have compounded with his justice for their redemption ; and Abra-
ham interceded so long, till he was ashamed for pleading the cause
of patience and mercy to the wrong of the rights of Divine justice.
Perhaps, had Abraham had the courage to ask, God would have
had the compassion to grant a reprieve just at the time of execution.
(2.) His patience is manifest in that when he begins to send out
his judgments, he doth it by degrees. His judgments are "as the
morning light," which goes forth by degrees in the hemisphere (Hos.
vi. 5). He doth not shoot all his thunders at once, and bring his
sharpest judgments in array at one time, but gradually, that a people
may have time to turn to him (Joel, i. 4). First the palmer-worm,
then the locust, then the canker-worm, then the caterpillar ; what
one left, the other was to eat, if there were not a timely return. A
Jewish writer" saith, these judgments came not all in one year, but
one year after another. The palmer- worm and locust might have
eaten all, but Divine patience set bounds to the devouring creatures.
God had been first as a moth to Israel (Hos. v. 12) : " Therefore will
I be to the house of Ephraim as a moth ;" Rivet translates it, " I
have been ;" in the Hebrew it is " I," without adding " I have been,"
or " I will be," and more probably " I have been ;" I was as a moth,
which makes little holes in a garment, and consumes it not all at
once ; and as " rottenness to the house of Judah," or a worm that
eats into wood by degrees. Indeed, this people had consumed in-
sensibly, partly by civil combustions, change of governors, foreign
invasions, yet they were as obstinate in their idolatry as ever ; at
last God would be no longer to them as a moth, but as a lion, tear
and go away (ver. 14) : so Hos. ii., God had disowned Israel for his
spouse (ver. 2), " She is not my wife, neither am I her husband ;"
yet he had not taken away her ornaments, which by the right of
divorce he might have done, but still expected her reformation, for
"» Pierce, Sinner Implead, p. 227. " Kimchi.
ON GOD'S PATIENCE. 495
that the threatening intimates (ver, 3) ; let her put away her whore-
dom, " lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day when she
was born." If she returned, she might recover what she had lost ;
if not, she might be stripped of what remained : thus God dealt with
Judah (Ezek. ix. 3). The glory of God goes first from the cherub
to the threshold of the house, and stays there, as if he had a mind to
be invited back again ; then it goes from the threshold of the house,
and stands over the cherubims, as if upon a penitent call it would
drop down again to its ancient station and seat, over which it hover-
ed (Ezek. X. 18) ; and when he was not solicited to return, he de-
parts out of the city, and stood upon the mountain, which is on the
east part of the city (Ezek. xi. 23), looking still towards, and hover-
ing about the temple, which was on the east of Jerusalem, as if loth
to depart, and abandon the place and people. He walks so leisurely,
with his rod in his hand, as if he had a mind rather to fling it away
than use it ; his patience in not pouring out all his vials, is more re-
markable than his wrath in pouring out one or two. Thus hath God
made his slowness to anger visible to us in the gradual punishment
of us ; first, the pestilence on this city, then firing our houses, con-
sumption of trade ; these have not been answered with such a carriage
as God expects, therefore a greater is reserved. I dare prognosti-
cate, upon reasons you may gather from what hath been spoke be-
fore, if I be not much mistaken, the forty years of his usual patience
are very near expired ; he hath inflicted some, that he might be met
with in a way of repentance, and omit with honor the inflicting the
remainder.
4th. His patience is manifest, in moderating his judgments, when
he sends them. Doth he empty his quiver of his arrows, or exhaust
his magazines of thunder? No; he could roll one thunderbolt suc-
cessively upon all mankind ; it is as easy with him to create a j^ei'pet-
ual motion of lightning and thunder, as of the sun and stars, and
make the world as terrible by the one, as it is delightful by the
other. He opens not all his store, he sends out a light party to skir-
mish with men, and puts not in array his whole army ; " He stirs
not up all his wrath" (Ps. Ixxviii. 38) ; he doth but pinch, where he
might have torn asunder ; when he takes away much, he leaves
enough to support us ; if he had stirred up all his anger, he had
taken away all, and our lives to boot. He rakes up but a few sparks,
takes but one firebrand to fling upon men, when he might discharge
the whole furnace upon them ; he sends but a few drops out of the
cloud, which he might make to break in the gross, and fall down
upon our heads to overwhelm us ; he abates much of what he might
do. When he might sweep away a whole nation by deluges of
water, corruption of the air, or convulsions of the earth, or by other
ways that are not wanting at his order ; he picks out only some
persons, some families, some cities ; sends a plague into one house,
and not into another; here is patience to the stock of a nation, while
he inflicts punishment upon some of the most notorious sinners in it.
Herod is suddenly snatched away, being willingly flattered into the
thoughts of his being a god ; God singled out the chief in the herd
for whose sake he had been affronted by the rabble (Acts xii. 22,
496 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
23). Some find liim sparing them, while otliers feel Lim destroying
tliem ; he arrests some, when he might seize all, all being his debt-
ors ; and often in great desolations brought upon a people for their
sin, he hath left a stump in the earth, as Daniel speaks (Dan. iv. 15),
for a nation to grow upon it again, and arise to a stronger constitu-
tion. He doth punish " less than our iniquities deserve" (Ezra ix,
13), and rewards us " not according to our iniquities" (Ps, ciii. 10).
The greatness of any punishment in this life, answers not the great-
ness of the crime. Though there be an equity in whatsoever he
doth, yet there is not an equality to what we deserve ; our iniquities
Would justify a severer treating of us ; his justice goes not here to
the end of its line, it is stopped in its progress, and the blows of it
weakened by his patience ; he did not curse the earth after Adam's
fall, that it should bring forth no fruit, but that it should not bring forth
fruit without the wearisome toil of man, and subjected him to distem-
pers presently, but inflicted not death immediately ; while he pun-
ished him, he supported him; and while he expelled him from
paradise, he did not order him not to cast his eye towards it, and
conceive some hopes of regaining that happy place.
5th. His patience is seen iu giving great mercies after provoca-
tions. He is so slow to anger, that he heaps many kindnesses upon
a rebel, instead of punishment. There is a prosperous wickedness,
wherein the provoker's strength continues firm ; the troubles, which
like clouds drop upon others, are blown away from them, and they
are "not plagued like other men," that have a more worthy de-
meanor towards God (Ps. Ixxiii. 3' — 5). He doth not only continue
their lives, but sends out fresh beams of his goodness upon them,
and calls them by his blessings, that they may acknowledge their
own fault and his bounty, which he is not obhged to by any grati-
tude he meets with from them, but by the richness of his own patient
nature : for he finds the unthankfulness of men as great as his bene-
fits to them. He doth not only continue his outward mercies, while
we continue our sins, but sometimes gives fresh benefits after new
provocations, that if possible he might excite an ingenuity in men.
When Israel at the Red Sea flung dirt in the face of God, by quar-
relling with his servant Moses for bringing them out of Egypt, and
misjudging God in his design of deliverance, and were ready to sub-
mit themselves to their former oppressors (Exod. xiv. 11, 12), which
might justly have urged God to say to them, Take your own course;
yet he is not only patient under their unjust charge, but " makes
bare his arm in a deliverance at the Red Sea," that was to be an
amazing monument to the world in all ages ; and afterwards, when
they repiningly quarrelled with him in their wants in the wilderness,
he did not only not revenge himself upon them, or cast off the con-
duct of them, i3ut bore with them by a miraculous long-suffering,
and supplied them with miraculous provision, — manna from heaven,
and water from a rock. Food is given to support us, and clothes to
cover us, and Divine patience makes the creature which we turn to
another use than what they were at first intended for, serve us con-
trary to their own genius : for had they reason, no question but
they would complain to be subjected to the service of man, who
ON GOD'S PATIENCE. 497
hatli been so ungrateful to their Creator, and groan at the abuse
of God's patience, in the abuse they themselves suffer from the
hands of man.
6th. All this is more manifest, if we consider the provocations he
hath. Wherein his slowness to anger infinitely transcends the pa-
tience of any creature ; nay, the spirits of all the angels and glorified
saints in heaven, would be too narrow to bear the sins of the world
for one day, nay, not so much as the sins of churches, which is a lit-
tle spot in the whole world ; it is because he is the Lord, one of an
infinite power over himself, that not only the whole mass of the re-
bellious world, but of the sons of Jacob (either considered as a
church and nation springing from the loins of Jacob, or considered
as the regenerate part of the world, sometimes called the seed of
Jacob), " are not consumed" (Mai. iii. 6). A Jonah was angry with
God, for recalling his anger from a sinful people ; had God com-
mitted the government of the world to the glorified saints, who are
perfect in love and holiness, the world would have had an end long
ago ; they would have acted that which they sue for at the hands of
God, and is not granted them. " How long. Lord, holy and true,
dost thou not avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth ?"
(Rev. vi. 10). God hath designs of patience above the world, above
the unsinning angels, and perfectly renewed spirits in glory. The
greatest created long-suffering is infinitely disproportioned to the Di-
vine : fire from heaven would have been showered down before the
greatest part of a day were spent, if a created patience had the con-
duct of the world, though that creature were possessed with the spirit
of patience, extracted from all the creatures which are in heaven, or
are, or ever were upon the earth. Methinks Moses intimates this ; for
as soon as God had passed by, proclaiming his name gracious and
long suffering, as soon as ever Moses had paid his adoration, he falls
to praying that God would go with the Israelites ; " For it is a stiff-
necked people" (Exod. xxxiv. 8, 9). What an argument is here for
God to go along with them ! he might rather, since he had heard
him but just before say "he would by no means clear the guilty,"
desire God to stand further off" from them, for fear the fire of his
wrath should burst out from him, to burn them as he did the Sodom-
ites. But he considers, that as none but God had such anger to
destroy them, so none but God had such a patience to bear with
them ; it is as much as if he should have said. Lord ! if thou shouldest
send the most tender-hearted angel in heaven to have the guidance
of this people, they would be a lost people ; a period will quickly
be set to their lives, no created strength can restrain its jDOwer from
crushing such a stiff-necked people; flesh and blood cannot bear
them, nor any created spirit of a greater might.
(1.) Consider the greatness of the provocations. No light matter,
but actions of a great defiance : what is the practical language of
most in the world, but that of Pharoah ? " Who is the Lord, that I
should obey him ?" How many questions his being, and more his
authority ? What blasphemies of him, what reproaches of his Ma-
jesty ! 'Men " drinking up iniquity like water," and with a haste
and ardency " rushing into sin, as the horse into the battle." What
VOL. II. — 32
498 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
is there in tlie reasonable creature, tliat liatli the quickest capacity,
and the deepest obligation to serve him, but opposition and enmity,
a slight of him in everything, yea, the services most seriously per-
formed, unsuited to the royalty and purity of so great a Being ? such
provocations as dare him to his face, that are a burden to so right-
eous a Judge, and so great a lover of the authority and majesty of
his laws ; tliat were there but a spark of anger in him, it is a wonder
it doth not show itself. When he is invaded in all his attributes, it
is astonishing that this single one of patience and meekness should
withstand the assault of all the rest of his perfections ; his being,
which is attacked by sin, speaks for vengeance; his justice cannot
be imagined to stand silent without charging the sinner. His holi-
ness cannot but encourage his justice to urge its pleas, and be an ad-
vocate for it. His omniscience proves the truth of all the charge,
and his abused mercy hath little encouragement to make opposition
to the indictment ; nothing but patience stands in the gap to keep
off the arrest of judgment from the sinner.
(2.) His patience is manifest, if you consider the multitudes of these
provocations. Every man hath sin enough in a day to make him
stand amazed at Divine patience, and to call it, as well as the apostle
did, " all long-suffering" (1 Tim. i. 16). How few duties of a per-
fectly right stamp are performed ! "What unworthy considerations
mix themselves, like dross, with our purest and sincerest gold ! How
more numerous are the respects of the worshippers of him to them-
selves, than unto him ! How many services are paid him, not out
of love to him, but because he should do us no hurt, and some ser-
vice ; when we do not so much design to please him, as to please
ourselves by expectations of a reward from him ! What master
v/ould endure a servant that endeavored to please him, only because
he should not kill him ? Is that former charge of God upon the old
world yet out of date, " That the imagination of the thoughts of
the heart of man was only evil, and that continually ?" (Gen. vi. 5.)
Was not the new world as chargeable with it as the old ? Certainly
it was (Gen. viii. 21) ; and is of as much force this very minute as
it was then. How many are the sins against knowledge, as well as
those of ignorance ; presumptuous sins, as well as those of infirmity !
How numerous those of omission and commission ! It is above the
reach of any man's understanding to conceive all the blasphemies,
oaths, thefts, adulteries, murders, oppressions, contempt of religion,
the open idolatries of Turks and heathens, the more spiritual and
refined idolatries of others.'' Add to those, the ingratitude of those
that profess his name, their pride, earthliness, carelessness, sluggish-
ness to Divine duties, and in every one of those a multitude of
provocations ; the whole man being engaged in every sin, the under-
standing contriving it, the will embracing it, the affections comply-
ing with it, and all the members of the body instruments in the
acting the unrighteousness of it ; every one of these faculties be-
stowed upon men by him, are armed against him in every act : and
in every employment of them there is a distinct provocation, though
centred in one sinful end and object. What are the offences all the
•• Lessius, p. 152.
ON" god;? patience, 499
men of the world receive from their fellow-creatures, to the injuries
God receives from men, but as a small dust of earth to the whole
mass of earth and heaven too ? What multitudes of sins is one
profane wretch guilty of in the space of twenty, forty, fifty years ?
Who can compute the vast number of his transgressions, from the
first use of reason to the time of the separation of his soul from his
body, from his entrance into the world to his exit? What are
those, to those of a whole village of the like inhabitants ? What
are those, to those of a great city ? Who can number up all the
foul-mouthed oaths, the beastly excess, the goatish uncleanness, com-
mitted in the space of a day, year, twenty years in this city, much
less in the whole nation, least of all, in the whole world ? Were it
no more than the common idolatry of former ages, when the whole
world turned their backs upon their Creator, and passed him by to
sue to a creature, a stock or stone, or a degraded spirit ? How pro-
voking would it be to a prince to see a whole city under his domin-
ion deny him a respect, and pay it to his scullion, or the common
executioner he employs ! Add to this the unjust invasion of kings,
the oppressions exercised upon men, all the private and public sins
that have been in the world ever since it began. The Gentiles were
described by the apostle (Rom. i. 29 — 31), in a black character,
" They were haters of God ;" yet how did the " riches of his pa-
tience" preserve multitudes of such disingenuous persons, and how
" many millions of such haters of him" breathe every day in his
air, and are maintained by his bounty, have their tables spread, and
their cups filled to the brim, and that, too, in the midst of reiterated
belchings of their enmity against him? All are under sufficient
provocations of him to the highest indignation. The presiding
angels over nations could not forbear, in love and honor to their
governor, to arm themselves to the destruction of their several
charges, if Divine patience did not set them a pattern, and their
obedience incline them to expect his orders, before they act what
their zeal would prompt them to. The devils would be glad of a
commission to destroy the world, but that his patience puts a stop
to their fury, as well as his own justice.
(3.) Consider the long time of this patience. He spread out his
hands " all the day" to a rebelhous world (Isa. Ixv. 2). All men's
day, all God's day, which is a " thousand years," he hath borne
with the gross of mankind, with all the nations of the world in a
long succession of ages, for five tliousand years and upwards already,
and will bear with them till the time comes for the world's dissolu-
tion. He hath suffered the monstrous acts of men, and endured the
contradictions of a sinful world against himself, from the first sin of
Adam, to the last committed this minute. The line of his patience
hath run along with the duration of the world to this day ; and there
is not any one of Adam's posterity but hath been expensive to him,
and partaken of the riches of it.
(4.) All these he bears when he hath a sense of them. He sees
every day the roll and catalogue of sin increasing ; he hath a distinct
view of every one, from the sin of Adam to the last filled up in his
omniscience ; and yet gives no order for tlie arrest of the world. He
500 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
knows men fitted for destruction ; all the instants he exerciseth long-
suffering towards them, which makes the apostle call it not simply
long-suffering, without the addition of 7toU\ " much long-suffering"
(Rom. ix. 23). There is not a grain in the whole mass of sin, that
he hath not a distinct knowledge of, and of the quality of it. He
perfectly understands the greatness of his own majesty that is vili-
fied, and the nature of the offence that doth disparage him. He is
solicited by his justice, directed by his omniscience, and armed with
judgments to vindicate himself, but his arm is restrained by patience.
To conclude : no indignity is hid from him, no iniquity is beloved by
him ; the hatred of their sinfulness is infinite, and the knowledge of
the malice is exact. The subsisting of the world imder such weighty
provocations, so numerous, so long time, and with his full sense
of every one of them, is an evidence of such a "forbearance and
long-suffering," that the addition of riches which the apostle puts
to it (Rom. ii, 4), labors with an insufficiency clearly to display it.
III. Why God doth exercise so much patience.
1. To show himself appeasable. God did not declare by his pa-
tience to former ages, or any age, that he was appeased with them,
or that they were in his favor ; but that he was appeasable, that
he was not an implacable enemy, but that they might find him
favorable to them, if they did seek after him. The continuance
of the world by patience, and the bestowing many mercies by
goodness, were not a natural revelation of the manner how he
would be appeased : that was made known only by the prophets,
and after the coming of Christ by the apostles ; and had indeed
been intelligible in some sort to the whole world, had there been
a faithfulness in Adam's posterity, to transmit the tradition of the
first promise to succeeding generations. Had not the knowledge
of that died by their carelessness and neglect, it had been easy
to tell the reason of God's patience to be in order to the exhibition
of the " Seed of the woman to bruise the serpent's head." They
could not but naturally know themselves sinners, and worthy of
death ; they might, by easy reflections upon themselves, collect that
they were not in that comely and harmonious posture now, as they
were when God first wrought them with his own finger, and placed
them as his lieutenants in the world ; they knew they did grievously
offend him ; this they were taught by the sprinklings of his judg-
ments among them sometimes. And since he did not utterly root
up mankind, his sparing patience was a prologue of some further
favors, or pardoning grace to be displayed to the world by some
methods of God yet unknown to them. Though the earth was
something impaired by the curse after the fall, yet the main pillars
of it stood ; the state of the natural motions of the creature was not
changed ; the heavens remained in the same posture wherein they
were created ; the sun, and moon, and other heavenly bodies, con-
tinued their usefulness and refreshing influences to man.
The heavens did still " declare the glory of God, day unto day"
did " utter speech ; their line is gone throughout all the earth, and
their words to the end of the world" (Ps. xix. 1 — 4) : which declared
God to be willing to do good to his creatures, and were as so many
OlSr GOD'S PATIENCE. 501
legible letters or rudiments, whereby they might read his patience,
and that a farther design of favor to the world lay hid in that pa-
tience, Paul applies this to the preaching of the gospel (Rom. x.
18) : " Have they not heard the word of God ? yes, verily, their
sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the end of the
world." Redeeming grace could not be spelled out by them in a
clear notion, but yet they did declare that Avhich is the foundation
of gospel mercy. Were not God patient, there were no room for a
gospel mercy, so that the heavens declare the gospel, not formally,
but fundamentall}^, in declaring the long-suffering of God, without
which no gospel had been framed, or could have been expected.
They could not but read in those things favorable inclinations to-
wards them : and though they could not be ignorant that they de-
served a mark of justice, yet seeing themselves supported by God,
and beholding the regular motions of the heavens from day to day,
and the revolutions of the seasons of the year, the natural conclu-
sions they might draw from thence was, that God was placable ;
since he behaved himself more as a tender friend, that had no mind
to be at war with them, than an enraged enemy. The good things
which he gave them, and the patience whereby he spared them,
were no arguments of an implacable disposition ; and, therefore, of
a disposition willing to be appeased. This is clearly the design of
the apostle's arguing with the Lystrians, when they would have of-
fered sacrifices to Paul (Acts, xiv. 17). When God " suffered all na-
tions to walk in their own ways, he did not leave himself without
witness, giving rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons." What were
those witnesses of? not only of the being of a God, by their readi-
ness to sacrifice to those that were not gods, only supposed to be so
in their false imaginations ; but witnesses to the tenderness of God,
that he had no mind to be severe with his creatures, but would
allure them by ways of goodness. Had not God's patience tended
to this end, to bring the world under another dispensation, the
apostle's arguing from it had not been suitable to his design, which
seems to be a hindering the sacrifices they intended for them, and a
drawing them to embrace the gospel, and therefore preparing the
way to it, by speaking of the patience and goodness of God to them,
as an unquestionable testimony of the reconcilableness of good to
them, by some sacrifice Avhich was represented under the common
notion of sacrifices.? These things were not witnesses of Christ, or
syllables whereby they could spell out the redeeming person ; but
witnesses that God was placable in his own nature. When man
abused those noble faculties God had given him, and diverted them
from the use and service God intended them for, God might have
stripped man of them the first time that he misemployed them ; and
it would have seemed most agreeable to his wisdom and justice, not
to suffer himself to be abused, and the world to go contrary to its
natural end. But since he did not level the world with its first
nothing, but healed the world so favorably, it was evident that his
patience pointed the world to a further design of mercy and good-
ness in him. To imagine that God had no other design in his long-
P Amyrald, Dissert, pp. 191, 192.
502 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTKIBUTES.
suffering "but tliat of vengeance, liad been a notion unsuitable to the
goodness and wisdom of God. He would never have pretended
himself to be a friend, if he had harbored nothing but enmity in his
heart against them. It had been far from his goodness to give them
a cause to suspect such a design in him, as his patience certainly did,
had he not intended it. Had he preserved men only for punishment,
it is more like he would have treated men as princes do those they
reserve for the axe or halter, give them only things necessary to up-
hold their lives till the day of execution, and not have bestowed
upon them so many good things to make their lives delightful to
them, nor have furnished them with so many excellent means to
please their senses, and recreate their minds ; it had been a mocking
of them to treat them at that rate, if nothing but punishment had
been intended towards them, K the end of it, to lead men to re-
pentance, were easily intelligible by them, as the apostle intimates
(Rom. ii. 4) — which is to be linked with the former chapter, a dis-
course of the Gentiles: "Not knowing," saith he, "that the riches
of his forbearance and goodness leads thee to repentance" — it also
gives them some ground to hope for pardon. For what other argu-
ment can more induce to repentance than an ex2:)ectation of mercy
upon a relenting, and acknowledging the crime ? Without a design
of pardoning grace, his patience would have been in a great mea-
sure exercised in vain : for by mere patience God is not reconciled
to a sinner, no more than a prince to a rebel, by bearing with him.
Nor can a sinner conclude himself in the favor of God, no more than
a rebel can conclude himself in the favor of his prince ; only, this
he may conclude, that there is some hopes he may have the grant
of a pardon, since he hath time to sue it out. And so much did the
patience of God naturally signify that he was of a reconcilable tem-
per, and was willing men should sue out their pardon upon repent-
ance; otherwise, he might have magnified his justice, and con-
demned men by the law of works.
(2.) He therefore exercised so much patience to wait for men's
repentance. All the notices and warnings that God gives men, of
either public or personal calamities, is a continual invitation to re-
pentance. This was the common interpretation the heathens made
of extraordinary presages and prodigies, which showed as well the
delays as the approaches of judgments. What other notion but this,
that those warnings of judgments witness a slowness to anger, and a
willingness to turn his arrows another way, should move them to
multiply sacrifices, go weeping to their temples, sound out prayers
to their gods, and show all those other testimonies of a repentance
which their blind understandings hit upon ? If a prince should
sometmies in a light and gentle manner punish a criminal, and then
relax it, and show him much kindness, and afterwards inflict upon
him another kind of punishment as light as the former, and less than
was due to his crime, what could the malefactor suspect by such a
way of proceeding, but that the prince, by those gently-repeated
chastisements, had a mind to move him to a regret for his crime?'!
And what other thoughts could men naturally have of G od's con-
1 Amyraldus, Moral. Tom. II. p. 186.
ON GOD'S PATIENCE. 503
duct, that he should warn them of great judgments, send light
afflictions, which are testimonies rather of a patience than of a severe
wrath, but that it was intended to move them to a relenting, and a
breaking off their sins by working righteousness ? Though Divine
patience does not, in the event, induce men to repentance, yet the
natural tendency of such a treatment is to mollify men's hearts, to
overcome their obstinacy ; and no man hath any reason to judge
otherwise of such a proceeding. The " long-suffering of God is sal-
vation," saith Peter (2 Pet. iii. 15), i. e. hath a tendency to salvation,
in its being a solicitation of men to the means of it ; for the apostle
cites Paul for the confirmation of it, — " Even as our beloved brother,
Paul, hath written unto you," which must refer to Eom, ii. 4 : "it
leads to repentance," «V^'j it conducts, which is more than barely to
invite ; it doth, as it were, take us by the hand, and point us to the
way wherein we should go ; and for this end it was exercised, not
only towards the Jews, but towards the Gentiles, not only towards
those that are within the pale of the church, and under the dews of
the gospel, but to those that are in darkness, and in the shadow of
death ; for this discourse of the apostle was but an inference from
what he had treated of in the first chapter concerning the idolatry
and ingratitude of the Gentiles ; since the Gentiles were to be pun-
ished for the abuse of it as well as the Jews, as he intimates, ver. 9.
It is plain that his i3atience, which is exercised towards the idol-
atrous Gentiles, was to allure them to repentance as Avell as others ;
and it was a sufficient motive in itself to persuade them to a change
of their vile and gross acts, to such as were morally good : and there
was enough in God's dealing with them, and in that light they had
to engage them to a better course than what they usually walked in ;
and though men do abuse God's long-suffering, to encourage their
impenitence, and persisting in their crimes, yet that they cannot
reasonably imagine that to be the end of God is evident ; their own
gripes of conscience would acquaint them that it is otherwise. They
know that conscience is a principle that God hath given them, as well
as understanding, and will, and other faculties ; that God doth not
approve of that which the voice of their own consciences, and of
the consciences of all men under natural light, are utterly against :
and if there were really, in this forbearance of God, an approbation
of men's crimes, conscience could not, frequently and universally in
all men, check them for them. What authority could conscience
have to do it ? But this it doth in all men : as the apostle (Rom. i.
22), " They know the judgment of God, that those that do such
things," which he had mentioned before, "are worthy of death."
In this thing the consciences of all men cannot err : they could not,
therefore, conclude from hence God's approbation of their iniqui-
ties, but his desire that their hearts should be touched with a repent-
ance for them. The "sin of Ephraim is hid" (Hos. xiii. 12, 13) ; i. e.
God doth not presently take notice of it, to order punishment ; he
lays it in a secret place from the eye of his justice, that Ephraim
might not be his unwise son, and " stay long in the place of the
breaking forth of children ;" i. e. that he should speedily reclaim
himself, and not continue in the way of destruction. God hath no
504 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
need to abuse any ; he doth not he to the sons of men ; if he would
have men perish, he could easily destroy them, and have done it
long ago : he did not leave the woman Jezebel in being, nor length-
ened out her time, but as a space to repent (Rev. ii. 21), that she
might reflect upon her ways, and devote herself seriously to his ser-
vice, and her own happiness. His patience stands between the
offending creature and eternal misery a long time, that men might
not foolishly throw away their souls, and be damned for their im-
penitency ; by this he shows himself ready to receive men to mercy
upon their return. To what purpose doth he invite men to repent-
ance, if he intended to deceive them, and damn them after they
repent ?
3. He doth exercise patience for the propagation of mankind. If
God punished every sin presently, there would not only be a period
put to churches, but to the world ; without patience, Adam had sunk
into eternal anguish the first moment of his provocation, and the
whole world of mankind, in his loins, had perished with him, and
never seen the light. If this perfection had not interposed after the
first sin, God had lost his end in the creation of the world, which he
" created not in vain, but formed it to be inhabited" (Isa. xlv. 18).
It had been inconsistent with the wisdom of God to make a world
to be inhabited, and destroy it upon sin, when it had but two prin-
cipal inhabitants in it ; the reason of his making this earth had been
insignificant ; he had not had any upon earth to glorify him, without
erecting another world, which might have proved as sinful and as
quickly wicked as this ; God should have always been pulling down
down and rearing up, creating and annihilating ; one world would
have come after another, as wave after wave in the sea. His patience
stepped in to support the honor of God, and the continuance of men,
without which one had been in part impaired, and the other totally
lost.
4. He doth exercise patience for the continuance of the church.
If he be not patient toward sinners, what stock would there be for
believers to spring up from ? He bears with the provoking carriage
of men, evil men, because out of their loins he intends to extract
others, which he will form for the glory of his grace. He hath some
unborn that belong to the election of grace, which are to be the seed
of the worst of men ; Jeroboam, the chief incendiary of the Israelites
to idolatry, had an Abijah, in whom was found " some good thing
towards the Lord God of Israel" (1 Kings, xiv. 13). Had Ahaz been
snapped in the first act of his wickedness, the Israelites had wanted
so good a prince and so good a man as Hezekiah, a branch of that
wicked predecessor. What gardener cuts off the thorns from the
rose-brush till he hath gathered the roses ? and men do not use to
burn all the crab-tree, but preserve a stock to engraft some sweet
fruit upon. There could not have been a saint in the earth, nor,
consequently, in heaven, had it not been for this perfection : he did
not destroy the Israelites in the wilderness, that he might keep up a
church among them, and not extinguish the whole seed that were
heirs of the promises and covenant made with Abraham. Had God
punished men for their sins as soon as they had been committed,
ON" GOD'S PATIENCE. 505
none would have lived to have been better, none could have con-
tinued in the world to honor him by their virtues. Manasseh had
never been a convert, and many brutish men had never been changed
from beasts to angels, to praise and acknowledge their Creator. Had
Peter received his due recompense upon the denial of his Master, he
had never been a martyr for him ; nor had Paul been a preaclier of
the gospel ; nor any else : and so the gospel had not shined in any
part of the world. No seed would have been brought into Christ ;
Christ is beholding immediately to this attribute for all the seed he
hath in the world : it is for his name's sake that he doth defer his
anger ; and for his praise that he doth refrain from " cutting us off"
(Isa. xlviii. 9) : and in the next chapter follows a prophecy of Christ.
To overthrow mankind for sin, were to prevent the spreading a
church in the world : a woman that is guilty of a capital crime, and
lies under a condemning sentence, is reprieved from execution for
her being with child ; it is for the child's sake the woman is respited,
not for her own : it is for the elect's sake, in the loins of transgressors,
that they are a long time spared, and not for their own (Isa. Ixv.
8): "As the new wine is found in a cluster, and one saith. De-
stroy it not, for a blessing is in it, so will I do for my servants' sakes,
that I may not destroy them all ;" as a husbandman spares a vine for
some good clusters in it. He had spoke of vengeance before, yet
he would reserve some from whom he would bring forth those that
should be " inheritors of his mountains," that he might make up his
church of Judea ; Jerusalem being a mountainous place, and the type
of the church in all ages. What is the reason he doth not level his
thunder at the heads of those for whose destruction he receives so
many petitions from the "souls under the altar?" (Rev. vi. 9, 10).
Because God had others to write a testimony for him in their own
blood, and perhaps out of the loins of those for whom vengeance
was so earnestly supplicated ; and God, as the master of a vessel,
lies patiently at anchor, till the last passenger he expects be taken in.""
6. For the sake of his church he is patient to wicked men. The
tares are patiently endured till the harvest, for fear in the plucking
up the one, there might be some prejudice done to the other. Upon
this account he spares some, who are worse than others whom he
crusheth by signal judgments : the Jews had committed sins worse
than Sodom, for the confirmation of which we have God's oath
(Ezek. xvi. 48); and more by half than Samaria, or the ten tribes
had done (ver 51) : yet God spared the Jews, though he destroyed
the Sodomites. What was the reason, but a larger remnant of right-
eous persons, more clusters of good grapes, were found among them
than grew in Sodom ? (Isa. i. 9). A fiew more righteous in Sodom had
damped the fire and brimstone designed for that place, and a "rem-
nant of such in Judea" was a bar to that fierceness of anger, which
otherwise would have quickly consumed them. Had there been but
" ten righteous in Sodom," Divine patience had still bound the arms
of Justice, that it should not have prepared its brimstone, notwith-
standing the clamor of the sins of the multitude. Judea was ripe
for the sickle, but God would put a lock upon the torrent of his
"■ Siiiltli on the Creed, p. 404.
506 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
judgments, tliat tliey slioulcl not flow down upon that wicked place,
to make them a desolation and a curse, as long as tender-hearted
Josiah lived, " who had humbled himself" at the threatening, and
wept before the Lord (1 Kings, xxii. 19, 20). Sometimes he bears
with wicked men, that they might exercise the patience of the saints
(Rev. xiv. 12): the whole time of the "forbearance of antichrist" in
all his intrusions into the temple of God, invasions of the rights of
God, usurpations of the office of Clirist, and besmearing himself with
the blood of the saints, was to give them an opportunity of patience.
God is patient towards the wicked, that by their means he might try
the righteous. He burns not the wisp till he hath scoured his ves-
sels ; nor lays by the hammer, till he hath formed some of his matter
into an excellent fashion. He useth the worst men as rods to correct
his people, before he sweeps the twigs out of his house. God some-
times uses the thorns of the world, as a hedge to secure his church,
sometimes as instruments to try and exercise it. Howsoever he useth
them, whether for security or trial, he is patient to them for his
church's advantage.
6. When men are not brought to repentance by his patience, he
doth longer exercise it, to manifest the equity of his future justice
upon them. As wisdom is justified by her obedient children, so is
justice justified by the rebels against patience ; the contempt of the
latter is the justiiication of the former. The " apostles were unto
God a sweet savor of Christ in them that perish," as well as in
them that were saved by the acceptation of their message (2 Cor. ii.
15). Both are fragrant to God ; his mercy is glorified by the one's
acceptance of it, and his justice freed from any charge against it by
the other's refusal. The cause of men's ruin cannot be laid upon
God, who provided means for their salvation, and solicited their
compliance with him. What reason can they have to charge the
Judge with any wrong to them, who reject the tenders he makes,
and who hath forborne them with so much patience, when he might
have censured them by his righteous justice, upon the first crime
they committed, or the first refusal of his gracious offers? " Quanto
Dei mag is judicium tardum est tanto magis justumr^ After the despis-
ing of patience, there can be no suspicion of an irregularity in the
acts of justice. Man hath no reason to fall foul in his charge upon
God, if he were punished for his own sin, considering the dignity
of the injured person, and the meanness of himself, the offender; but
his wrath is more justified when it is poured out upon those whom
he hath endured with much long-suffering. There is no plea against
the shooting of his arrows into those, for whom this voice hath been
loud, and his arms open for their return. As patience, while it is
exercised, is the silence of his justice, so when it is abused, it silenc-
eth men's complaints against his justice. The " riches of his forbear-
ance" made way for the manifesting the " treasures of his wrath."
If God did but a little bear with the insolencies of men, and cut them
off after two or three sins, he would not have opportunity to show
either the power of his patience, or that of his wrath ; but when he
hath a right to punish for one sin, and yet bears with them for many,
' Miiiuc. Felix, p. 41.
ON GOD'S PATIENCE. 607
and tliey will not be reclaimed, the sinner is more inexcusable,
Divine justice less chargeable, and bis wrath more powerful. (Eom.
ix. 22), " What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his
power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath
fitted for destruction?" The proper and immediate end of his long-
suffering is to lead men to repentance ; but after they have by their
obstinacy fitted themselves for destruction, he bears longer with
them, to " magnify his wrath" more upon them ; and if it is not the
finis operaniis, it is at least the finis opens, where patience is abused.
Men are apt to complain of God, that he deals hardly with them ;
the Israelites seem to charge God with too much severity, to cast
them off, when so many promises were made to the fathers for their
perpetuity and preservation, which is intimated, Hos. ii. 2. " Plead
with your mother, plead :" by the double repetition of the word
"plead;" do not accuse me of being false or too rigorous, but accuse
your mother, your church, your magistracy, your ministry, for their
spiritual fornications which have provoked me; for their rr^EitN:,
intimating the greatness of their sins by the reduplication of the
word, " lest I strip her naked." I have borne with her under many
provocations, and I have not yet taken away all her ornaments, or
said to her, according to the rule of divorce, Jies tuas iihi kabeio. God
answers their impudent charge : " She is not my wife, nor am I her
husband ;" he doth not say first, I am not her husband, but she is
not my wife ; she first withdrew from her duty by breaking the
marriage covenant, and then I ceased to be her husband. No man
shall be condemned, but he shall be convinced of the due desert of
his sin, and the justice of God's proceeding. God will lay open
men's guilt, and repeat the measures of his patience to justify the
severity of his wrath (Hos. vii. 10), " Sins will testify to their face."
What is in its own nature a preparation for glory, men by their ob-
stinacy make a preparation for a more indisputable punishment.
We see many evidences of God's forbearance here, in sparing men
under those blasphemies which are audible, and those profane car-
riages which are visible, which would sufficiently justify an act of
severity ; yet when men's secret sins, both in heart and action, and the
vast multitude of them, far surmounting what can arrive to our knowl-
edge here, shall be discovered, how great a lustre will it add to God's
bearing with them, and make his justice triumph without any rea-
sonable demur from the sinner himself! He is long-suffering here,
that his justice may be more public hereafter.
Use IV. For instruction. How is this patience of God abused !
The Gentiles abused those testimonies of it, which were written in
showers and fruitful seasons. No nation was ever stripped of it,
under the most provoking idolatries, till after multiplied spurns at it :
not a person among us but hath been guilty of the abuse of it. How
have we contemned that which demands a reverence from us ! How
have we requited God's waitings with rebellions, while he hath con-
tinued urging and expecting our return ! Saul relented at David's
forbearing to revenge himself, when he had his prosecuting and in-
dustrious enemy in his power. (1 Sam. xxiv. 17), " Thou art more
righteous than I ; thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have re-
508 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
warded thee evil :" and sliall we not relent at God's wonderful long-
suffering, and silencing his anger so much ? He could puff away
our lives, but he will not, and yet we endeavor to strip him of his
being, though we cannot.
1. Let us consider the ways, how slowness to anger is abused.
(1.) It is abused by misinterpretations of it, when men slander his
patience to be only a carelessness and neglect of his providence ; as
Averroes argued from his slowness to anger, a total neglect of the
government of the lower world : or when men from his long-suffer-
ing charge him with impurity, as if his patience were a consent to
their crimes ; and because he suffered them, without calling them to
account, he were one of their partisans, and as wicked as themselves
(Ps. I. 21) : " Because I kept silence, thou thoughtest I was altogether
such a one as thyself" His silence makes them conclude him to be
an abettor of, and a consort in their sins ; and think him more
pleased with their iniquity than their obedience. Or when they will
infer from his forbearance a want of his omniscience ; because he
suffers their sins, they imagine he forgets them (Ps. x. 11) : " He
hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten :" thinking his patience
proceeds not from the sweetness of his nature, but a weakness of his
mind. Hoav base is it, instead of admitting him, to disparage him
for it ; and because he stands in so advantageous a posture towards
us, not to own the choicest prerogatives of his Deity ! This is to
make a perfection, so useful to us, to shadow and extinguish those
others, which are the prime flowers of his crown.
(2.) His patience is abused by continuing in a course of sin under
the influences of it. How much is it the practical language of men,
Come, let us commit this or that iniquity ; since Divine patience
hath suffered worse than this at our hands ! Nothing is remitted to
their sensual pleasures, and eagerness in them. How often did the
Israelites repeat their murmurings against him, as if they would put
his patience to the utmost proof, and see how far the line of it could
extend! They were no sooner satisfied in one thing, but they quar-
relled with him about another, as if he had no other attribute to put
in motion against them. They tempted him as often as he relieved
them, as though the declaration of his name to Moses (Exod. xxxiv.),
" to be a God gracious, and long-suffering," had been intended for no
other purpose but a protection of them in their rebellions. Such a
sort of men the prophet speaks of, that were " settled in their lees,"
or dregs (Zeph. i. 12) : they were congealed, and frozen in their suc-
cessful wickedness. Such an abuse of Divine patience is the very
dregs of sin ; God chargeth it highly upon the Jews (Isa. Ivii. 11) :
" I have held my peace, even of old, and thou fearest me not;" my
silence made thee confident, yea, impudent in thy sin.
(3.) His patience is abused by repeating sin, after God hath, by an
act of his patience, taken off some affliction from men. As metals
melted in the fire remain fluid under the operations of the flames, yet
when removed from the fire, they quickly return to their former
hardness, and sometimes grow harder than they were before ; so men
who, in their afflictions, seem to be melted, like Ahab confess their
sins, lie prostrate before God, and seek him early ; yet, if they be
ON GOD'S PATIENCE. 509
brouglit from under the power of their afflictions, thej return to
their old nature, and are as stiff against God, and resist the blows of
the Spirit as much as they did before. They think they have a new
stock of patience to sin upon. Pharaoh was somewhat thaAved un-
der judgments, and frozen again under forbearance (Exod. ix. 27, 34).
Many will howl when God strikes them, and laugh at him when he
forbears them. Thus that patience which should melt us, doth often
harden us, which is not an effect natural to his patience, but natural
to our abusing corruption.
(4.) His patience is abused, by taking encouragement from it to
mount to greater degrees of sin. Because God is slow to anger, men
are more fierce in sin, and not only continue in their old rebellions,
but heap new upon them. If he spare them for three transgressions,
they will commit four, as is intimated in the first and second of
Amos ; " Men's hearts are fully set in them to do evil, because sen-
tence against an evil work is not speedily executed" (Eccles. viii. 11).
Their hearts are more desperately bent; before they had some
waverings, and pull-backs, but after a fair sunshine of Divine pa-
tience, they entertain more unbridled resolutions, and pass forward
with more liberty and licentiousness. They make his long-suffering
subservient to turn out all those little relentings and regrets they
had before, and banish all thoughts of barring out a temptation. No
encouragement is given to men by God's patience, but they force it
by their presumption. They invert God's order, and bind themselves
stronger to iniquity by that which should bind them faster to their
duty. A happy escape at sea makes men go more confidently into
the deeps afterward. Thus we deal with God as debtors do with
good-natured creditors : because they do not dun them for what they
owe, they take encouragement to run more upon the score, till the
sum amounts above their ability of payment.
But let it be considered, 1st. That this abuse of patience is a high
sin. As every act of forbearance obligeth us to duty, so every act
of it abused, increaseth our guilt. The more frequent its solicita-
tions of us have been, the deeper aggravations our sin receives by it.
Every sin, after an act of Divine patience, contracts a blacker guilt.
The sparing us after the last sin we committed, was a suj^eradded act
of long-suffering, and a lajdng oiit more of his riches upon us : and,
therefore, every new act committed is a despite against greater riches
expended, and greater cost upon us, and against his preserving us
from the hand of justice for the last transgression. It is disingenuous
not to have a due resentment of so much goodness, and base to in-
jure him the more, because he doth not right himself Shall he re-
ceive the more wrongs from us, by how much the sweeter he is to
us ? No man's conscience but will tell him it is vile to prefer the
satisfaction of a sordid lust, before the counsel of a God of so gra-
cious a disposition. The sweeter the nature, the fouler is the injury
that is done unto it. 2d. It is dangerous to abuse his patience.
Contempt of kindness is most irksome to an ingenuous spirit ; and
he is worthy to have the arrows of God's indignation lodged in his
heart, who despiseth the riches of his long-suffering. For,
[1.] The time of patience will have an end. Though his Spirit
510 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
strives with man, yet it shall " not always strive" (Gen. vi. 3). Though
there be a time wherein Jerusalem might "know the things that con-
cerned her peace," yet there is another period wherein they should
be " hid from her eyes" (Luke xix. 43) : •' O that thou hadst known
in this thy day!" Nations have their day, and persons have their
day ; and the day of most persons is shorter than the day of nations.
Jerusalem had her day of forty years ; but how many particular
persons were taken off" before the last or middle hours of that day
were arrived ! " Forty years was God grieved" with the generation
of the Israelites (Heb. iii. 11). One carcass dropped after another in
that limited time, and at the end not a man but fell under the judi-
cial stroke, except Caleb and Joshua. One hundred and twenty
years was the term set to the mass of the old world, but not to every
man in the old world ; some fell while the ark was preparing, as well
as the whole stock when the ark was completed. Though he be pa-
tient with most, yet he is not in the same degree with all ; every sin-
ner hath his time of sinning, beyond which he shall proceed no fur-
ther, be his lusts never so impetuous, and his affections never so im-
perious. The time of his patience is, in Scripture, set forth some-
times by years ; three years he came to find fruit on the fig-tree :
sometimes by days ; some men's sins are sooner ripe, and fall. There
is a measure of sin (Jer. ii. 13), which is set forth by the ephah
(Zech, V. 8), which, when it is filled, is sealed up, and a weight of
lead cast upon the mouth of it. When judgments are preparing,
once and twice the Lord is prevailed with by the intercession of the
prophet : the prepared grass-hoppers are not sent to devour, and the
kindled fire is not blown up to consume (Amos, vii. 1 — 8). But at
last God takes the plumb-line, to suit and measure punishment to
their sin, and would not pass by them any more ; and when their
sin was ripe, represented by a "basket of summer-fruit," God would
withhold his hand no longer, but brought such a day upon them,
wherein " the songs of the Temple should be bowlings, and dead
bodies be in every place" (Amos, viii. 2, 3). He lays by any further
thoughts of patience to speed their ruin. God had borne long with
the Israelites, and long it was before he gave them up. He would
first brake the "bow in Jezreel" (Hos. i. 5) ; take away the strength
of the nation by the death of Zechariah, the last of Jehu's race, which
introduced civil dissentions and ambitious murders, for the throne,
whereby in weakening one part they weakened the whole ; or, as
some think, alluding to Tiglah Pilezar, who carried captive two
tribes and a half If this would not reclaim them, then follows
"Lo-ruhamah, I will not have mercy," I will sweep them out of the
land (ver. 6). If they did not repent, they should be "Lo-ammi"
(ver. 9), " You are not my people," and " I will not be your God."
They should be discovenanted, and stripped of all federal relation.
Here patience forever withdrew from them, and wrathful anger took
its place. And, for particular persons, the time of life, whether
shorter or longer, is the only time of long-suffering. It hath no other
stage than the present state of things to act upon ; there is none else
to be expected after but giving account of what hath been done in
the body, not of anything done after the soul is fled from the body ;
ON GOD'S PATIENCE. 611
tlie time of patience ends witli tlie first moment of tlie soul's depar-
ture from the body. Tliis time only is the " day of salvation ;" i. e.
the day wherein God offers it, and the day wherein God waits for
our acceptance of it : it is at his pleasure to shorten or lengtlien our
day, not at ours ; it is not our long-suffering, but his ; he hath the
command of it.
[2.] God hath ■\^a•atll to punish, as well as patience to bear. He
hath a fury to revenge the outrages done to his meekness : when his
messages of peace, sent to reclaim men, are slighted, his sword shall
be whetted, and his instruments of war prepared (Hos. v. 3) : "Blow
ye the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Eamah." As he deals
gently, like a father, so he can punish capitally as a judge : though
he holds his peace for a long time, yet at last he will go forth like a
mighty man, and stir up jealousy, as a man of war, to cut in pieces
his enemies. It is not said he hath no anger, but that he is " slow to
anger," but sharp in it : he hath a sword to cut, and a bow to shoot,
and arrows to pierce (Ps. xii. 13) : though he be long drawing the
one out of its scabbard, and long fitting the other to his bow, yet,
when they are ready, he strikes home, and hits the mark : though he
hath a time of patience, yet he hath also a "day of rebuke" (Hos.
V. 9) ; though patience overrules justice, by suspending it, yet justice
will at last overrule patience, by an utter silencing it. God is Judge
of the whole earth to right men, yet he is no less Judge of the inju-
ries he receives to right himself. Though God awhile was pressed
with the murmurings of the Israelites, after their coming out of Egypt,
and seemed desirous to give them all satisfaction upon their unwor-
thy complaints, yet, when they came to open hostility, in setting a
golden calf in his throne, he commissions the " Levites to kill every
man his brother and companion in the camp" (Exod. xxxii. 27) : and
liow desirous soever he was to content them before, they never mur-
mured afterwards but they severely smarted for it. When once he
hath begun to use his sword, he sticks it up naked, that it might be
ready for use upon every occasion. Though he hath feet of lead, yet
he hath hands of iron. It was long that he supported the peevish-
ness of the Jews, but at last he captived them by the arms of the
Babylonians, and laid them waste by the jiower of the Romans. He
planted, by the apostles, churches in the east ; and when his good-
ness and long-suffering prevailed not with them, he tore them up by
the roots. What Christians are to be found in those once famous parts
of Asia but what are overgrown with much error and ignorance ?
[3.] The more his patience is abused, the sharper will be the wrath
he inflicts. As his wrath restrained makes his patience long, so his
compassions restrained will make his wrath severe ; as he doth tran-
scend all creatures in the measures of the one, so he doth transcend
all creatures in the sharpness of the other. Christ is described with
"feet of brass," as if they burned in a furnace (Eev. i. 15), slow to move,
but heavy to crush, and hot to burn. His wrath loseth nothing
by delay ; it grows the fresher by sleeping, and strikes with greater
strength when it awakes : all the time men are abusing his patience,
God is whetting his sword, and the longer it is whetting the shar])er
will be the edge ; the longer he is fetching his blow, the smarter it
512 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
will be. The heavier the cannons are, the more difficultly are they
drawn to the besieged town ; but, when arrived, they recompense
the slowness of their march by the fierceness of their battery. " Be-
cause I have purged thee," i. e. used means for thy reformation, and
waited for it, " and thou wast not purged, thou shalt not be purged
from thy filthiness any more, till I have caused my fury to rest upon
thee : I will not go back, neither will I spare ; according to thy ways,
and according to thy doings, shall they judge thee" (Ezek. xxiv. 13,
14). God will spare as little then as he spared much before ; his
wrath shall be as raging upon them as the sea of their wickedness
was within them. When there is a bank to forbid the irruption of
the streams, the waters swell ; but when the bank is broke, or the
lock taken away, they rush with the greater violence, and ravage
more than they would have done had they not met with a stop : the
longer a stone is in falling, the more it bruiseth and grinds to pow-
der. There is a greater treasure of wrath laid up by the abuses of
patience : every sin must have a just recompense of reward ; and
therefore every sin, in regard of its aggravations, must be more pun-
ished than a sin in the singleness and simplicity of its own nature.
As treasures of mercy are kept by God for us, " he keeps mercy for
thousands ;" so are treasures of wrath kept by him to be expended,
and a time of expense there must be : patience will account to jus-
tice all the good offices it hath done the sinner, and demand to be
righted by justice ; justice will take the account from the hands of
patience, and exact a recompense for every disingenuous injury of-
fered to it. When justice comes to arrest men for their debts, pa-
tience, mercy, and goodness, Avill step in as creditors, and clap their
actions upon them, which will make the condition so much more
deplorable.
[4.] When he puts an end to his abused patience, his wrath will
make quick and sure work. He that is " slow to anger" will be
swift in the execution of it. The departure of God from Jerusalem
is described with " wings and wheels" (Ezek. xi. 23). One stroke of
his hand is irresistible ; he that hath spent so much time in waiting
needs but one minute to ruin ; though it be long ere he draws his
sword out of his scabbard, yet, when once he doth it, he despatcheth
men at a blow. Ephraim, or the ten tribes, had a long time of pa-
tience and prosperity, but now shall a " month devour him with his
portion" (Hos. v. 7). One fatal month puts a period to the many
years' peace and security of a sinful nation ; his arrows wound sud-
denly (Ps. Ixiv. 7) ; and while men are about to fill their bellies, he
casts the fruits of his wrath upon them (Job, xx. 23), like thunder
out of a cloud, or a bullet out of a cannon, that strikes dead before it
is heard. God deals with sinners as enemies do with a town, batter
it not by planted guns, but secretly undermines and blows up the
walls, whereby they involve the garrison in a sudden ruin, and carry
the town. God spared the Amalekites a long time after the injury
committed against the Israelites, in their passage out of Egypt to Ca-
naan ; but when he came to reckon with them, he would waste them
in a trice, and make an utter consumption of them (1 Sam. xv. 2, 3).
He describes himself by a " travailing woman" (Isa. xxiv. 14), that
ON GOD'S PATIENCE, 513
hath borne long in her womb, and at last sends forth her birth with
strong cries. Though he hath held his peace, been still, and refrained
himself, yet, at last, he will destroy and devour at once : the Nine-
vites, spared in the time of Jonah for their repentance, are, in nature,
threatened with a certain and total ruin, when God should come to
bring them to an account for his length and patience, so much abused
by them. Though God endured the murmuring Israelites so long in
the wilderness, yet he paid them off at last, and took away the reb-
els in his wrath : he uttered their sentence with an irreversible oath,
that " none of them should enter into his rest;" and he did as surely
execute it as he had solemnly sworn it.
[5.] Though he doth defer his visible wrath, yet that very delay
may be more dreadful than a quick punishment. He may forbear
striking, and give the reins to the hardness and corruption of men's
hearts ; he may suffer them to walk in their own counsels, without
any more striving with them, whereby they make themselves fitter
fuel for his vengeance. This was the fate of Israel when they would
not hearken to his voice ; he " gave them up to their own hearts'
lusts, and they walked in their own counsels" (Ps. Ixxxi. 12).
Though his sparing them had the outward aspect of patience, it was
a wrathful one, and attended with spiritual judgments ; thus many
abusers of patience may still have their line leng-thened, and the
candle of prosperity to shine upon their heads, that they may in-
crease their sins, and be the fitter mark at last for his arrows ; they
swim down the stream of their own sensuality with a deplorable se-
curity, till they fall into an unavoidable gulf, where, at last, it will
be a great part of their hell to reflect on the length of Divine pa-
tience on earth, and their inexcusable abuse of it.
2. It informs us of the reason why he lets the enemies of his
church oppress it, and defers his promise of the deliverance of it.
If he did punish them presently, his holiness and justice would be
glorified, but his poAver over himself in his patience would be ob-
scured. Well may the church be content to have a perfection of
God glorified, that is not like to receive any honor in another world
by any exercise of itself. If it were not for this patience, he were
incapable to be the Governor of a sinful world ; he might, without
it, be the Governor of an innocent world, but not of a criminal one ;
he would be the destroyer of the world, but not the orderer and dis-
poser of the extravagancies and sinfulness of the world. The in-
terest of his wisdom, in drawing good out of evil, would not be
served, if he were not clothed with this perfection as well as with
others. If he did presently destroy the enemies of his church upon
the first oppression, his wisdom in contriving, and his power in
accomplishing deliverance against the united powers of hell and
earth, would not be visible, no, nor that power in preserving his
people unconsumed in the furnace of affliction. He had not got so
great a name in the rescue of his Israel from Pharaoh, had he thun-
dered the tyrant into destruction upon his first edicts against the
innocent. If he were not patient to the most violent of men, he
might seem to be cruel. But when he offers peace to them un-
der their rebellions, waits that they may be members of his church,
VOL. II. — 33
514 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
rather than enemies to it, he frees himself from any such impu-
tation, even in the judgment of those that shall feel most of his
wrath ; it is this renders the equity of his justice unquestionable,
and the deliverance of his people righteous in the judgment of
those from whose fetters they are delivered, Christ reigns in the
midst of his enemies, to show his power over himself, as well as
over the heads of his enemies, to show his power over his re-
bels. And though he retards his promise, and suffers a great in-
terval of time between the publication and performance, sometimes
years, sometimes ages to pass away, and little appearance of any
preparation, to show himself a God of truth ; it is not that he hath
forgotten his word, or repents that ever he passed it, or sleeps in a
supine neglect of it : but that men might not perish, but bethink
themselves, and come as friends into his bosom, rather than be
crushed as enemies under his feet (2 Pet. iii. 9) : " The Lord is not
slack concerning his promise, but is long-suffering to us-ward, not
willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repent-
ance." Hereby he shows, that he would be rather pleased with the
conversion, than the destruction, of men.
3. We see the reason why sin is suffered to remain in the regene-
rate ; to show his patience towards his own ; for since this attribute
hath no other place of appearance but in this world, God takes op-
portunity to manifest it ; because, at the close of the world, it will
remain closed up in the Deity, without any further operation. As
God suffers a multitude of sins in the world, to evidence his pa-
tience to the wicked, so he suffers great remainders of sin in his
people, to show his patience to the godly. His sparing mercy is ad-
mirable, before their conversion, but more admirable in bearing with
them after so high an obligation as the conferring upon them special
converting grace.
Use 2. Of comfort. It is a vast comfort to any when God is paci-
fied towards them ; but it is some comfort to all, that God is yet pa-
tient towards them, though but very little to a refractory sinner.
His continued patience to all, speaks a possibility of the care of all,
would they not stand against the way of their recovery. It is a
terror that God hath anger, but it is a mitigation of that terror that
God is slow to it ; while his sword is in his sheath there is some
hopes to prevent the drawing of it : alas ! if he were all fire and
sword upon sin, what would become of us ? We should find no-
thing else but overflowing deluges, or sweeping pestilences, or per-
petual flashes of Sodom's fire and brimstone from heaven. He dooms
us not presently to execution, but gives us a long breathing time
after the crime, that by retiring from our iniquities, and having re-
course to his mercy, he may be withheld forever from signing a war-
rant against us, and change his legal sentence into an evangelical
pardon. It is a special comfort to his people, that he is a " sanc-
tuary to them" (Ezek. xi. 16) ; a place of refuge, a place of spiritual
communications ; but it is some refreshment to all in this life, that
he is a defence to them : for so is his patience called (Numb. xiv.
9) : " Their defence is departed from them ;" speaking to the
Israelites, that they should not be afraid of the Canaanites, for
ON GOD'S PATIENCE. 515
their defence is departed from tliem. God is no longer patient to
tliem, since their sins be full and ripe. Patience, as long as it lasts,
is a temporary defence to those that are under the wing of it ; but
to the believer it is a singular comfort ; and God is called the " God
of patience and consolation" in one breath (Rom. xv. 5) : " The God
of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded ;" all interpre-
ters understand it effectively. The God that inspires you with pa-
tience, and cheers you with comfort, grant this to you. Why may
it not be understood formally, of the j)atience belonging to the na-
ture of God ? and though it be expressed in the way of petition,
yet it might also be proposed as a pattern for imitation, and so
suits very well to the exhortation laid down (ver. 1), which was
to "bear with the infirmities of the weak," which he presseth
them to (ver. 3) by the example of Christ ; and (ver. 5) by the pa-
tience of God to them, and so they are very well linked together.
"God of patience and consolation" may well be joined, since pa-
tience is the first step of comfort to the poor creature. If it did
not administer some comfortable hopes to Adam, in the interval
between his fall and God's coming to examine him, I am sure it
was the first discovery of any comfort to the creature, after the
sweeping the destroying deluge out of the world (Gen. ix. 21) ;
after the "savor of Noah's sacrifice," representing the great Sac-
rifice which was to be in the world, had ascended up to God,
the return from him is a publication of his forbearing to punish
any more in such a manner : and though he found man no bet-
ter than he was before, and the imaginations of men's hearts as
evil as before the deluge, that he would not again smite every
living thing, as he had done. This was the first expression of
comfort to Noah, after his exit from the ark ; and declares no-
thing else but the continuance of patience to the new world
above what he had shown to the old.
1. It is a comfort, in that it is an argument of his grace to his peo-
ple. If he hath so rich a patience to exercise towards his enemies,
he hath a greater treasure to bestow upon his friends. Patience is
the first attribute which steps in for our salvation, and therefore
called " salvation" (2 Pet. iii. 15). Something else is therefore built
upon it, and intended by it, to those that believe. Those two letters
of his name, " a God keeping mercy for thousands, and forgiving
iniquity, transgressions and sin," follow the other letter of his long-
suffering in the proclamation (Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7). He is " slow to
anger," tliat he may be merciful, that men may seek, and receive
their pardon. If he be long-suffering, in order to be a pardoning
God, he will not be wanting in pardoning those who answer the de-
sign of his forbearance of them. You would not have had sparing
mercy to improve, if God would have denied you saving mercy upon
the improvement of his sparing goodness. If he hath so much re-
spect to his enemies that provoke him, as to endure them with much
long-suffering, he will surely be very kind to those that obey him,
and conform to his Avill. If he hath much long-suffering to those
that are " fitted for destruction" (Rom. ix. 22), he will have a much-
ness of mercy for those that are prepared for glory by faith and re-
516 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
pentance. It is but a natural conclusion a gracious soul may make,
— If God liad not a mind to be appeased towards me, he would not
have had a mind to forbear me ; but since he hath forborne me, and
given me a heart to see, and answer the true end of that forbearance,
I need not question, but that sparing mercy will end in saving, since
it finds that repentance springing up in me, which that patience con-
ducted me to.
2. His patience is a ground to trust in his promise. If his slow-
ness to anger be so great when his precept is slighted, his readiness
to give what he hath promised will be as great when his promise is
believed. If the provocations of them meet with such an unwill-
ingness to punish them, faith in him will meet with the choicest
embraces from him. He was more ready to make the promise of
redemption after man's apostasy, than to execute the threatening of
the law. He doth still witness a greater willingness to give forth the
fruits of the promise, than to pour out the vials of his curses. His
slowness to anger is an evidence still, that he hath the same disposi-
tion, which is no slight cordial to faith in his word.
3. It is a comfort in infirmities. If he were not patient, he could
not bear with so many peevishnesses and weaknesses in the hearts
of his own. If he be patient to the grosser sins of his enemies, he
will be no less to the lighter infirmities of his people. When the
soul is a bruised reed, that can emit no sound at all, or one very
harsh and ungrateful, he doth not break it in pieces, and fling it
away in disdain, but waits to see whether it will fully answer his
pains, and be brought to a better frame and sweeter note. He brings
them not to account for every slip, but, " as a father, spares his son
that serves him" (Mai. iii. 17). It is a comfort to us in our distracted
services ; for were it not for this slowness to anger, he would stifle us
in the midst of our prayers, wherein there are as many foolish thoughts
to disgust him, as there are petitions to implore him. The patientest
angels would hardly be able to bear with the foUies of good men in
acts of worship.
Use 3. For exhortation,
1. Meditate often on the patience of God. The devil labors for
nothing more than to deface in us the consideration and memory of
this perfection. He is an envious creature ; and since it hath reached
out itself to us and not to him, he envies God the glory of it, and
man the advantage of it : but God loves to have the volumes of it
studied, and daily turned over by us. We cannot without an inex-
cusable wilfulness miss the thoughts of it, since it is visible in every
bit of bread, and breath of air in ourselves, and all about us.
(1.) The frequent consideration of his patience would render God
highly amiable to us. It is a more endearing argument than his mere
goodness ; his goodness to us as creatures, endowing us with such ex-
cellent faculties, furnishing us with such a commodious world, and
bestowing upon us so many attendants for our pleasure and service,
and giving us a lordship over his other works, deserves our affection :
but his patience to us as sinners, after we have merited the greatest
wrath, shows him to be of a sweeter disposition than creating good-
ness to unoffending creatures ; and, consequently, S23eaks a greater
ON GOD'S PATIENCE. 617
love in liim, and bespeaks a greater affection from ns. His creating
goodness discovered the majesty of liis Being, and the greatness of
his mind, but this the sweetness and tenderness of his nature. In
this patience he exceeds the mildness of all creatures to us ; and
therefore should be enthroned in our affections above all other crea-
tures. The consideration of this would make us affect him for his
nature as well as for his benefits.
(2.) The consideration of his patience would make us frequent and
serious in the exercise of repentance. In its nature it leads to it, and
the consideration of it would engage us to it, and melt us in the ex-
ercise of it. Could we deeply think of it without being touched with
a sense of the kindness of our forbearing Creditor and Governor ?
Could we gaze upon it, nay, could we glance upon it, without relent-
ing at our offending one of so mild a nature, without being sensibly
affected, that he hath preserved us so long from being loaded with
those chains of darkness, under which the devils groan ? This for-
bearance hath good reason to make sin and sinners ashamed. That
you are in being, is not for want of advantages enough in his hand
against you ; many a forfeiture you have made, and many an en-
gagement you have broke ; he hath scarce met with any other deal-
ing from us, than what had treachery in it. Whatsoever our sincerity
is, we have no reason to boast of it, when we consider what mixtures
there are in it, and what swarms of base motions taint it. Hath he
not lain pressed and groaning under our sins, as a "cart is pressed
with sheaves" (Amos, ii. 13), when one shake of himself, as Sampson,
might have rid him of the burden, and dismissed us in his fury into
hell? If we should often ask our consciences why have we done
thus and thus against so mild a God, would not the reflection on it
put us to the blush ? If men would consider, that such a time they
provoked God to his face, and yet not have felt his sword ; such a
time they blasphemed him, and made a reproach of his name, and
his thunder did not stop their motion ; such a time they fell into an
abominable brutishness, yet he kept the punishment of devils, the
unclean spirits, from reaching them ; such a time he bore an open
affront from them, when they scoffed at his word, and he did not
send a destruction, and laugh at it: would not such a meditation
work some strange kind of relentings in men? What if we should
consider, that we cannot do a sinful act without the support of his
concurring Providence ? We cannot see, hear, move, without his
concourse. All creatures we use for our necessity or pleasure, are
supported by him in the very act of assisting to pleasure us ; and
when we abuse those creatures against him, which he supports for our
use, how great is his patience to bear with us, that he doth not anni-
hilate those creatures, or at least embitter their use ! What issue
could reasonably be expected from this consideration, but, " 0
wretched man that I am, to serve myself of God's power to affront
him, and of his long-suffering to abuse him ?" O infinite patience
to employ that power to preserve me, that might have been used
to punish me ! He is my Creator, I could not have a being with-
out him, and yet I offend him ! He is my Preserver, I cannot main-
tain my being without him, and yet I affront him! Is this a
518 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
worthy requital of God (Deut. xxxii. 6), " Do you thus requite the
Lord?" would be the heart-breaking reflection. How would it
give men a fuller prospect of the depravation of their nature than
anything else ; that their corruption should be so deep and strong,
that so much patience could not overcome it ! It would certainly
make a man ashamed of his nature as well as his actions.
(3.) The consideration of his patience would make us resent more
the injuries done by others to God. A patient sufferer, though a
deserving sufferer, attracts the pity of men, that have a value for any
virtue, though clouded with a heap of vice. How much more should
we have a concern of God, who suffers so many abuses from others !
and be grieved, that so admirable a patience should be slighted by
men, who solely live by and under the daily influence of it ! The
impression of this would make us take God's part, as it is usual with
men to take the part of good dispositions that lie under oppression.
(4.) It would make us patient under God's hand. His slowness to
anger and his forbearance is visible, in the very strokes we feel in
this life. "We have no reason to murmur against him, who gives us
so little cause, and in the greatest afflictions gives us more occasion
of thankfulness than of repining. Did not slowness to the extremest
anger moderate every affliction, it had been a scorpion instead of a
rod. We have reason to bless Him, who, from his long-suffering,
sends temporal sufferings, where eternal are justly due. (Ezra, ix.
13), " Thou hast punished us less than our iniquities do deserve."
His indulgences towards us have been more than our corrections, and
the length of his patience hath exceeded the sharpness of his rod.
Upon the account of his long-suffering, our mutinies against God
have as little to excuse them, as our sins against him have to deserve
his forbearance. The consideration of this would show us more rea-
son to repine at our own repinings, than at any of his smarter deal-
ings ; and the consideration of this would make us submissive under
the judgments we expect. His undeserved patience hath been more
than our merited judgments can possibly be thought to be. If we
fear the removal of the gospel for a season, as we have reason to do,
we should rather bless him, that by his waiting patience, he hath
continued it so long, than murmur, that he threatens to take it away
so late. He hath borne with us many a year, since the light of it
was rekindled, when our ancestors had but six years' of patience
between the rise of Edward the Sixth, and the ascent of Queen
Mary, to the crown.
2. Exhortation is to admire and stand astonished at his patience,
" and bless him for it." If you should have defiled your neighbor's
bed, or sullied his reputation, or rifled his goods, would he have
withheld his vengeance, unless he had been too weak to execute it ?
We have done worse to God than we can do to man, and yet he
draws not that sword of wrath out of the scabbard of his patience,
to sheath it in our hearts. It is not so much a wonder that any
judgments are sent, as that there are no more, and sharper. That
the world shall be fired at last, is not a thing so strange, as that
fire doth not come down every day upon some part of it. Had the
disciples, that saw such excellent patterns of mildness from their
ON GOD'S PATIENCE. 519
Master, and were so often urged to learn of him that was lowly
and meek, the government of the world, it had been long since
turned into ashes, since they were too forward to desire him to open
his magazine of judgments, and kindle a fire to consume a Samaritan
village, for a slight affront in comparison of what he received from
others, and afterwards from themselves in their forsaking of him
(Luke, ix. 52 — 54). We should admire and praise that here which
shall be praised in heaven ; though patience shall cease as to its
exercise after the consummation of the world, it shall not cease from
receiving the acknowledgments of what it did, when it traversed
the stage of this earth. If the name of God be glorified, and ac-
knowledged in heaven, no question but this will also ; since long-
suffering is one of his Divine titles, a letter in his name, as well as
"merciful, and gracious, abundant in goodness and truth." And
there is good reason to think that the patience exercised towards
some, before converting grace was ordered to seize upon them, will
bear a great part in the anthems of heaven. The greater his long-
suffering hath been to men, that lay covered with their own dung,
a long time before they were freed by grace from their filth ; the
more admiringly and loudly they will cry up his mercy to them,
after they have passed the gulf, and see a deserved hell at a distance
from them, and many in that place of torment who never had the
tastes of so much forbearance. If mercy will be 23raised there, that
which began the alphabet of it, cannot be forgot. If Paul speak so
highly of it in a damping world, and under the pull-backs of a
" body of death," as he doth 1 Tim. i. 16, 17 : " For this cause I ob-
tained mercy ; that Christ might show forth all long-suffering. Now
unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be
honor, and glory, for ever and ever. Amen." No doubt, but he
will have a higher note for it, when he is surrounded with a hea-
venly flame, and freed from all remains of dulness. Shall it be
praised above, and have we no notes for it here below ? Admire
Christ, too, who sued out your reprieve upon the account of his merit.
As mercy acts not upon any but in Christ, so neither had patience
borne with any but in Christ. The pronouncing the arrest of
judgment (Gen. viii. 21) was when " God smelled a sweet savor
from Noah's sacrifice," not from the beasts offered, but the anti-
typical sacrifice represented. That we may be raised to bless God
for it, let us consider,
(1.) The multitude of our provocations. Though some have
blacker guilt than others, and deeper stains, yet let none wipe his
mouth, but rather imagine himself to have but little reason to bless
it. Are not all our offences as many as there have been minutes in
our lives ? All the moments of our continuance in the world have
been moments of his patience and our ingratitude. Adam was
punished for one sin, Moses excluded Canaan for a passionate un-
believing word. Ananias and Sapphira lost their lives for one sin
against the Holy Ghost. One sin sullied the beauty of the world,
defaced the works of God, and cracked heaven and earth in pieces,
had not infinite satisfaction been proposed to the provoked Justice
by the Redeemer ; and not one sin committed, but is of the same
520 CHAENOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
venomous nature. How many of those contradictions against him-
self hath he borne with ! Had we been only unprofitable to him,
his forbearance of us had been miraculous ; but how much doth it
exceed a miracle, and lift itself above the meanness of a conjunction
Avith such an epithet, since we have been provoking ! Had there
been no more than our impudent or careless rushings into his pres-
ence in worship ; had they been only sins of omission, and sins of
ignorance, it had been enough to have put a stand to any farther
operations of this perfection towards us. But add to those, sins of
commission, sins against knowledge, sins against spiritual motions,
sins against repeated resolutions, and pressing admonitions, the
neglects of all the opportunities of repentance ; put them all toge-
ther, and we can as little recount them, as the sands on the sea-shore.
But what, do I only speak of particular men ? View the whole
world, and if our own iniquities render it an amazing patience, what a
mighty supply will be made to it in all the numerous and weighty
provocations, under which he hath continued the world for so many
revolutions of years and ages! Have not all those pressed into
his presence with a loud cry, and demanded a sentence from justice?
yet hath not the Judge been overcome by the importunity of our
sins ? Were the devils punished for one sin, a proud thought, and
that not committed against the blood of Christ, as we have done
numberless times ; yet hath not God made us partakers in their
punishment, though we have exceeded them in the quality of their
sin. O admirable patience! that would bear with me under so
many, while he would not bear with the sinning angels for one.*
(2.) Consider how mean things we are, who have provoked him.
What is man but a vile thing, that a God, abounding with all
riches, should take care of so abject a thing, much more to bear so
many affronts from such a drop of matter, such a nothing creature !
That he that hath anger at his command, as well as pity, should endure
such a detestable, deformed creature by sin, to fly in his' face 1
" What is man, that thou art mindful of him ?" (Ps. viii.) ^isx,
miserable, incurable man, derived from a word, that signifies to be
incurably sick. Man is "Adam," earth from his earthly original,
and " Enoch," incurable from his corruption. Is it not worthy to
be admired, that a God of infinite glory should wait on such Adams,
worms of earth, and be, as it were, a servant, and attendant to such
Enochs, sickly and peevish creatures ?
(3.) Consider who it is that is thus patient. He it is that, with
one breath, could turn heaven and earth, and all the inhabitants of
both, into nothing ; that could, by one thunderbolt, have razed up
the foundations of a cursed world. He that wants not instruments
without to ruin us, that can arm our own consciences against us, and
can drown us in our own phlegm ; and, by taking out one pin from
our bodies, cause the whole frame to fall asunder. Besides, it is a God
that, while he suffers the sinner, hates the sin more than all the holy
men upon earth, or angels in heaven, can do ; so that his patience
for a minute transcends the patience of all creatures, from the crea-
tion to the dissolution of the world : because it is the patience of a
' Pont. Part I. p. 42.
ON" GOD'S PATIENCE. 521
God, infinitely more sensible to the cursed quality of sin, and infi-
nitely more detesting it.
(4.) Consider how long he hath forborne his anger. A reprieve
for a week or a month is accounted a great favor in civil states ; the
civil law enacts, " That if the emperor commanded a man to be con-
demned, the execution was to be deferred thirty days : because in
that time the prince's anger might be appeased."" But how great a
favor is it to be reprieved thirty years for many offences, every one
of which deserves death more at the hands of God than any offence
can at the hands of man ! Paul was, according to the common
account, but about thirty years old at his conversion ; and how
much doth he elevate Divine long-suffering ! Certainly there are
many who have more reason, as having larger quantities of patience
cut out to them, who have lived to see their own gray hairs in a
rebellious posture against God, before grace brought them to a sur-
render. We were all condemned in the womb ; our lives were
forfeited the first moment of our breath, but patience hath stopped
the arrest ; the merciful Creditor deserves to have acknowledgment
from us, who hath laid by his bond so many years without putting
it in suit against us. Many of your companions in sin have perhaps
been surprised long ago, and haled to an eternal prison ; nothing is
remaining of them but their dust, and the time is not 3^et come for
your funeral. Let it be considered, that that God that would not
wait upon the fallen angels one instant after their sin, nor give them
a moment's space of repentance, hath prolonged the life of many a
sinner in the world to innumerable moments, to 420,000 minutes in
the space of a year, to 8,400,000 minutes in the space of twenty
years. The damned in hell would think it a great kindness to have
but a year's, month's, nay, day's respite, as a space to repent in.
(5.) Consider also, how many have been taken away under
shorter measures of jjatience : some have been struck into a hell of
misery, while thou remainest upon an earth of forbearance. In a
plague, the destroying angel hath hewed down others, and passed
by us ; the arrows have flew about our heads, passed over us, and
stuck in the heart of a neighbor. How many rich men, how many
of our friends and familiars, have been seized by death since the be-
ginning of the year, when they least thought of it, and imagined it
far from them ! Have you not known some of your acquaintance
snatched away in the height of a crime ? Was not the same wrath
due to you as well as to them ! And had it not been as dreadful
for you to be so surprised by Him as it was for them ? Why should
he take a less sturdy sinner out of thy company, and let thee re-
main still upon the earth ? If God had dealt so with you, how had
you been cut off, not only from the enjoyment of this life, but the
hopes of a better ! And if God had made such a providence bene-
ficial for reclaiming you, how much reason have you to acknowledge
him ! He that hath had least patience, hath cause to admire ; but
those that have more, ought to exceed others in blessing him for it.
If God had put an end to your natural life before you had made pro-
vision for eternal, how deplorable would your condition have been !
" Cod. lib. ix. Titul. 476, p. 20.
522 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
Consider also, whoever have been sinners formerly of a deeper note ;
might not God have struck a man in the embraces of his harlots,
and choked him in the moment of his excessive and intemperate
healths, or on the sudden have spurted fire and brimstone into a
blasphemer's mouth ? What if God had snatched you away, when
you had been sleeping in some great iniquity, or sent you while
burning in lust to the fire it merited ? Might he not have cracked
the string that linked your souls to your bodies, in the last sickness
you had ? And what then had become of you ? What could have
been expected to succeed your impenitent state in this world, but
bowlings in another ? but he reprieved you upon your petitions, or
the solicitations of your friends ; and have you not broke your word
with him ? Have your hearts been steadfast ; hath he not yet
waited, expecting when you would put your vows and resolutions
into execution ? What need had he to cry out to any so loud and so
long, O you fools, " how long will you love foolishness ?" (Pro v. i.
22), when he might have ceased his crying to you, and have by your
death prevented your many neglects of him ? Did he do all this
that any of us might add new sins to our old ; or rather, that we
should bless him for his forbearance, comply with the end of it in
reforming our lives, and having recourse to his mercy ?
3. Exhortion ; therefore presume not upon his patience. The ex-
ercise of it is not eternal ; you are at present under his patience ;
yet, while you are unconverted, you are also under his anger (Ps,
vii. 11), " God is angry with the wicked every day." You know
not how soon his anger may turn his patience aside, and step before
it. It may be his sword is drawn out of his scabbard, his arrows
may be settled in his bow ; and perhaps there is but a little time be-
fore you may feel the edge of the one or the point of the other : and
then there will be no more time for patience in God to us, or petition
from us to him. If we repent here he will pardon us. If we defer
repentance, and die without it, he will have no longer mercy to par-
don, nor patience to bear. What is there in our power but the
present ? the future time we cannot command, the past time we can-
not recall ; squander not then the present away. The time will come
when " time shall be no more," and then long-suffering shall be no
more. Will you neglect the time, wherein patience acts, and vainly
hope for a time beyond the resolves of patience ? Will you spend
that in vain, which goodness hath allotted you for other purposes ?
What an estimate will you make of a little forbearance to respite
death, when you are gasping under the stroke of its arrows ! How
much would you value some few days of those many years you now
trifle away ! Can any think God will be always at an expense
with them in vain, that he will have such riches trampled under
their feet, and so many editions of his patience be made waste
paper ? Do you know how few sands are yet to run in your glass ?
Are you sure that He that waits to-day, will wait as well to-morrow ?
How can you tell, but that God that is slow to anger to-day, may be
swift to it the next ? Jerusalem had but a day of peace, and the
most careless sinner hath no more. When their day was done, they
were destroyed by famine, pestilence, or sword, or led into a doleful
ON" GOD'S PATIENCE. 523
captivity. Did God make our lives so uncertain, and the duration
of his forbearance unknown to us, that we should live in a lazy
neglect of his glory, and our own happiness ? If you should have
more patience in regard of your lives, do you know whether you
shall have the effectual offers of grace ? As your hves depend upon
his will, so your conversion depends solely upon his grace. There
have been many examples of those miserable wretches, that have
been left to a reprobate sense, after they have a long time abused
Divine forbearance. Though he waits, yet he "binds up sin." (Hos.
xiii. 12), " The sin of Ephraim is bound up," as bonds are bound
up by a creditor till a fit opportunity : when God comes to put the
bond in suit, it will be too late to wish for that patience we have so
scornfully despised. Consider therefore the end of patience. The
patience of God considered in itself, without that which it tends to,
affords very little comfort ; it is but a step to pardoning mercy, and
it may be without it, and often is. Many have been reprieved that
were never forgiven ; hell is full of those that had patience as well
as we, but not one that accepted pardoning grace went within the
gates of it. Patience leaves men, when their sins have ripened them
for hell ; but pardoning grace never leaves men till it hath con-
ducted them to heaven. His patience speaks him placable, but doth
not assure us that he is actually appeased. Men may hope that a
long-suffering tends to a pardon, but cannot be assured of a pardon,
but by something else above mere long-suffering. Best not then
upon bare patience, but consider the end of it ; it is not that any
should sin more freely, but repent more meltingly ; it is not to spirit
rebellion, but give a merciful stop to it. Why should any be so
ambitious of their ruin, as to constrain God to ruin them against the
inclinations of his sweet disposition ?
4. The fourth exhortation is, Let us imitate God's patience in our
own to others. He is unlike God that is hurried, with an unruly
impetus, to punish others for wronging him. The consideration of
Divine patience should make us square ourselves according to that
pattern. God hath exercised a long-suffering from the fall of Adam
to this minute on innumerable subjects, and shall we be transported
with desire of revenge upon a single injury ? K God were not
" slow to wrath," a sinful world had been long ago torn up from the
foundation. And if revenge should be exercised by all men against
their enemies, what man should have been alive, since there is not a
man without an enemy ? If every man were like Saul, breathing
out threatenings, the world would not only be an aceldema, but a
desert. How distant are they from the nature of God, who are in a
flame upon every slight provocation from a sense of some feeble and
imaginary honor, that must bloody their sword for a trifle, and write
their revenge in wounds and death ! When God hath his glory
every day bespattered, yet he keeps his sword in his sheath ; what a
woe would it be to the world, if he drew it upon every affront !
This is to be like brutes, dogs, or tigers, that snarl, bite, and devour,
upon every slight occasion : but to be patient is to be divine, and to
show ourselves acquainted with the disposition of God. "Be you
therefore perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt. v. 48) :
524 CHARNOCK ON THE ATTRIBUTES.
i. e. Be you perfect and good ; for lie had been exTiorting tliem to
bless them that cursed them, and to do good to them that hated
them, and that from the example God had set them, in causing
his sun to rise upon the evil as well as the good. "Be you there-
fore perfect." To conclude : as patience is God's perfection, so it is
the accomplishment of the soul : and as his " slowness to anger"
argues the greatness of his power over himself, so an unwillingness
to revenge is a sign of a power over ourselves which is more noble
than to be a monarch over others.
INDEX.
Acquaintance with God, men are unwilling
to have any, i. 158. — fe^ee Conummion.
Actions a greater proof of principles than
words, i. 92. All are known by God, i.
424.
Activiti/ required in spiritual worship, i.
227 228.
Adam, the greatness of his sin, ii. 269, 429.
— See Man, and Fall of Man.
Additions in matters of religion an inva-
sion of God's sovereignty, ii. 432, 433. —
See Worship, and Ceremonies.
Admiration ought to be exercised in spir-
itual worship, i. 233.
Affections, human, in what sense ascribed
'to God, i. 340—343.
Afflictions, sharp, make Atheists fear there
is a God, i. 81. Make us impatient (See
Impatience). We should be patient un-
der them (see Patience). Many call on
God only under them, i. 151. Fill us
with distraction in the worship of God,
i. 258. The presence of God a comfort
in them, i. 399 ; and his knowledge, i.
488. The wisdom of God apparent in
them, i. 547 — 550. The wisdom of God a
comfort in them, i. 593 ; and his power,
ii. 98, 99 ; and his sovereignty, ii. 451.
Do not impeach his goodness, ii. 243,
244. The goodness of God seen in them,
ii. 309 — 311. His goodness a comfort in
them, ii. 342. Acts of God's sovereignty,
ii. 373 — 376; the consideration of which
would make us entertain them as we
ought, ii. 456.
Age, many neglect the serving of God till
old, i. 113.
Air, how useful a creature, i. 54.
Almighty, how often God is so called in
Scripture, ii. 10. How often in Job, ii.
36.
Angels, good, what benefit they have by
Christ, i. 536, ii. 263, 264, Not instru-
ments in the creation of man, ii. 41.
Evil, not redeemed, ii. 263, 264.
Angels, not governors of the world, ii. 328, |
329. Subject to God, ii. 381, 382. j
Apostasy. Men apostatize from God when
his will crosses theirs, i. 135. In times
of persecution, i. 149, 150. By reason of
practical atheism, i. 167.
Apostles, the first preachers of the gospel,
mean and worthless men, ii. 69 — 71.
Spirited by Divine power for spreading
of it, ii. 72—74. The wisdom of God
seen in using such instruments, i. 578,
579.
Applaiiding ourselves. — See Pride.
Atheism opens a door to all manner of
wickedness, i. 24. Some spice of it in aU
men, i. 25—27. The greatest folly, i. 24
— 77. Common in our days, i. 26, 79,
80. Strikes at the foundation of all re-
ligion, i. 26. We should establish our-
selves against it, ib. It is against the
light of natural reason, i. 2. Against the
universal consent of all nations, i. 29, 30.
But few, if any, professed it in former
ages, i. 32—34, 80. Would root up the
foundations of all government, i. 77. In-
troduce all evil into the world, i. 78.
Pernicious to the atheist himself, i. 79.
The cause of public judgments, i. 80.
Men's lusts the cause of it, i. 82. Pro-
moted by the devil most since the de-
struction of idolatry, i. 84. Uncomfort-
able, i. 85. Directions against it, i. 87.
All sin founded in a secret atheism, i.
93.
Atheism, practical, natural to man, i. 89.
Natural since the fall, i. 90. To all men,
ib. Proved by arguments, i. 99 — 161. We
ought to be humbled for it, both in our-
selves and others, i. 167. How great a
sin it is, i. 169 — 171. Misery will at-
tend it, i. 171, 172. We should watch
against it, ib. Directions against it, i.
172, 173.
Atheist can never prove there is no God, i.
81. All the creatures fight against him,
ib. In afilictions, suspects and fears
there is a God, i. 82. How much pains
he takes to blot out the notion, ib. Sup-
pose it were an even lay that there were
no God, yet he is very imprudent, i. 83.
Uses not means to inform himself, ib.
526
INDEX.
Atoms, the world not made by a casual
concourse of theui, i. 50.
Attributes of God bear a comfortable re-
spect to believers, i. 513.
Author if I/, how distiuguished from power,
ii. 364.
B.
Best we have, ought to be given to God, i.
242—244.
Blessings, spiritual, God only the author
of, ii. 357. Temporal, God uses a sover-
eignty in bestowing them, ii. 412, 413. —
See RicJies.
Body of man, how curiously wrought, i.
63 — 67, 523. Every human one hath
different features, i. 66. God hath none
(See Spirit). We must worship God
with our bodies, i. 219 — 222 ; yet not
with our bodies only. — See Soul, and
Worship.
Bodily shape, we must not conceive of God
under a, i. 197, 198.
Bodily members ascribed to him. — See
Members.
Brain, how curious a workmanship, i. 65.
C.
Calf, golden, the Israelites worshipped the
true God under, i. 195.
Callings, God fits and inclines men to seve-
ral, i. 531, 532 ; ii.598. Appoints every i
man's calling, ii. 421.
Cause, a first, of all things, i. 50, 51 ; which
doth necessarily exist, and is infinitely
perfect, i. 51.
Censure. God not to be censured in his
counsels, actions, or revelations, i. 295.
Or in his ways, i. 605, 606.
Censuring the hearts of others is an injury
to God's omniscience, i. 478. Men, is a
contempt of God's sovereignty, ii. 441.
Ceremonial Lam abolished to promote spir-
itual worship, i. 213. Called flesh, ib.
Not a fit means to bring the heart into a
spiritual frame, i. 214. Rather hindered
than furthered spiritual worship, i. 215,
216. God never testified himself well-
pleased with it, nor intended it should
always last, i. 216 — 218. The abroga-
tion of it doth not argue any change in
God, i. 346. The holiness of God ap-
pears in it, ii. 131, 132.
Ceremonies, men are prone to bring their
own into God's worship, i. 133, 134. —
See Worship, and Adxlitions, <fec.
Chance, the world not made nor governed
by it, i. 59.
Charity, meu have bad ends in it, i. 153. We
should exercise it, ii. 853, 354. The
consideration of God's sovereignty would
promote it, ii. 456.
Cheerful, in God's worship we should be, i.
235.
Christ, his Godhead proved from his eter-
nity, i. 291 — 293 ; from his omnipresence,
i. 392, 393 ; from his immutability, i. 346
— 348 ; from his knowledge of God, all
creatures, the hearts of men, and his
prescience of their inclinations, i. 465 —
469 ; from his omnipotence, manifest in
creation, preservation and resurrection,
ii. 80 — 86; from his holiness, ii. 190;
from his wisdom, i. 558.
Christ is God man. ii. 62. Spiritual wor-
ship offered to God through him, i. 241,
242. The imperfectness of our services
should make us prize his medtation, i.
261. The only fit Person in the Ti-inity
to assume our nature, i. 558 — 560. Fit-
ted to be our Medtator and Saviour by
his two natures, i. 563 — 565. Should be
imitated in his holiness, and often viewed
by us to that end, ii. 200 — 207. The
greatest gift, ii. 266—269. Appointed
by the Father to be our Redeemer, iL
424—426.
Christian religion, its excellency, i. 167.
Of Divine extraction, i. 580. Most op-
posed in the world, i. 111. — See Gospel.
Church, God's eternity a comfort to her in
all her distresses and threatenings of her
enemies, i. 299, 300. Under God's spe-
cial providence, i. 406. His infinite
knowledge a comfort in all subtile con-
trivances of men against her, i. 483, 484.
Troublers of her peace by corrupt doc-
trines no better than devils, i. 498. God's
wisdom a comfort to her in her greatest
dangers, i. 694. Hath shown his power
in her deliverance in all ages, i. 277, ii.
55 ; and in the destruction of her ene-
mies, il 66 — 59. Ought to take comfort
in his power in her lowest estate, ii. 101.
Should not fear her enemies (see Jf'ear).
His goodness a comfort in dangers, ii.
344. How great is God's love to her, ii.
449 — 515. His sovereignty a comfort to
her, ii. 452, 463. He will comfort her in
her fears, and destroy her enemies, iL
472, 473. God exercises patience to-
wards her, ii. 504, 505 ; for her sake to
the wicked also, ii. 506. Why her ene-
mies are not immediately destroyed, ii.
513, 513.
Commands of God. — See Laws.
Comfort, the holiness of God to be relied
on for, ii. 190, 191.
Comfort us, creatures cannot, if God be an-
gry, il 448.
Comforts, God gives great, in or after
temptations, ii. 311 — 313.
Communion with God, man naturally no
desire of, i. 161. The advantage of, i.
172. Can only be in our spirits, i. 202.
We should desire it, i. 308. Cannot be
between God and sinners, ii. 183. Holi-
ness only fits us for it, ii. 204, 205.
Conceptions, we cannot have adequate ones
of God, i. 196, 197. We ought to labor af-
ter as high ones as we can, ib. They must
INDEX.
527
not be of him ia a corporeal shape, i.
197, 198. There will be iu them a sim-
iltude of some corporeal thing iu our
fancy, i. 198, 199. We ought to refine
and spiritualize them, i. 200.
Conceptions, right, of him, a great help to
spiritual worship, i. 27'2, 273.
Concurreiice of God to all the actions of his
creatures, ii. 156, 157.
Concurring to sinful actions no blemish to
God's holiness, ii. 157—163.
Conditions, various, of men, a fruit of Di-
vine wisdom, i. 531, 532.
Conditions of the covenant. — See Covenant,
Faith, and Repentance.
Confession of sin, men may have bad ends
iu it, i. 153. Partial ones a practical de-
nial of God's omniscience, i. 480, 481.
Co7iscience proves a Deity, i. 69 — 73. Fears
and stings of it in all men upon the com-
mission of sin, i. 70 — 72; though never
so secret, i. 71, 72. Cannot be totally
shaken off, i. 72. Comforts a man in
well-doing, i. 72, 73. Necessary for the
good of the world, i. 73. Terrified ones
wish there were no God, i. 97. Men
naturally displeased with it, when it
contradicts the desires of self, i. 123.
Obey carnal self against the light of it,
i. 140, 141. Accusations of it evidence
God's knowledge of all things, i. 463.
God, and he only, can speak peace to it
when troubled, ii. 79, 386. His laws
only reach it, ii. 390, 391, 432, 433.
Constancy in that which is good, we should
labor after, and why, i. 360, 361.
Content the soul, nothing but an infinite
good can, i. 73, 74. — See Satisfaction, and
Soul.
Contingents all foreknown by God. — See
Knowledge of God.
Contradictions cannot be made true by
God, ii. 26 — 30 ; yet this doth not over-
throw God's omnipotence, ib. It is an
abuse of God's power to endeavor to
justify them by it, ii. 95.
Contrary qualities linked together in the
creatures, i. 52, 53, 524.
Conversion, carnal self-love a great hin-
drance to it, 1. 137. There may be a
conversion from sin which is not good, i.
150. Men are enemies to it, i. 160, 161.
The necessity of it, i. 163, 164. God
only can be the Author of it, i. 165, 166,
ii. 396. The wisdom of God appears in it,
in the subjects, seasons, and manner of
it, i. 544 — 547 ; and his power, ii. 72 —
78; and his holiness, ii. 139; and his
goodness, ii. 306, 307 ; and his sovereign-
ty, ii. 396 — 104. He could convert all,
ii. 399. Not bound to convert any, ii.
401, 402. The various means and occa-
sions of it, ii. 421.
Convictions, genuine, would be promoted
by right and strong apprehensions of
God's holiness, ii. 191.
Corruptions, the knowledge of God a com-
fort under fears of them lurking in the
heart, i. 489, 490. The power of God a
comfoi't when they are strong and stir-
ring, ii. 99 In God's people shall be
subdued, ii. 450, 451 ; tbe remainders of
them God orders for their good, i. 538,
544.
Covenant of God with his people eternal,
i. 297, 298 ; and unchangeable, i. 354.
Covenant, God in, an eternal good to his
people, i. 297.
Covenant of grace, conditions of, evidence
the wisdom of God, i. 571. Suited to
man's lapsed state, and God's glory, ib.
Opposite to that which was the cause of
the fall, i. 572. Suited to the common
sentiments and customs of the world and
consciences of men, i. 572, 573. Only
likely to attain the end, i. 573. Evidence
God's holiness, ii. 138. The wisdom of
God made over to believers iu it, i. 593
594; and power, ii. 98 ; and holiness, ii.
190, 191. A promise of life implied in
the covenant of woi'ks, ii. 253, 254 ; why
not expressed, ii. 527. The goodness of
God manifest in making a covenant of
grace after nian had broken the first, ii.
274, 275. In the nature and tenor of
it, ii. 275 — 277. In the choice gift of
himself made over in it, ii. 277, 278. In
its confirmation, ii. 278, 279. Its condi-
tions easy, reasonable, necessary, ii. 279
— 284. It promises a more excellent re-
ward than the life in paradise, iL 291 —
293.
Covctousness. — See Riches, and World.
Creation, the wisdom of God appears in it,
i. 518 — 525; and should be meditated
upon, i. 525 ; motives to it, ii. 5 — 9 ; his
power, ii. 35 — 44; his holiness, ii. 126,
127; his goodness, 244 — 258. Goodness
the end and motive of it, ii. 228, 229.
Ascribed to Christ, ii. 81 — 85. The
foundation of God's dominion, ii. 368 —
370.
Creatures evidence the being of God, i. 28,
42 — 64 ; in their production, i. 43 — 51 ; in
their harmony, i. 52 — 60 ; in pursuing
their several ends, i. 60 — 62 ; iu their
preservation, i. 62, 63. Were not, and
cannot be, from eternity, i. 45, 46, 292.
None of them can make themselves, i. 47
— 49 ; or the world, i. 49, 50. Subservi-
ent to one another, i. 53, 378. Regular,
uniform, and constant in it, i. 56, 57.
Are various, i. 58, 519, 520. Have seve-
ral natures, i. 60. All fight against the
atheist, i. 82. God ought to be studied
in them, i. 86. All manifest something
of God's perfections, ib. Setting them
up as our end (see End). Must not be
worshipped (see Idolatry). Used by nian
to a contrary end than God appuiuted,
L 148. All are changeable, i. 356.
Therefore an immutable God to be pre-
528
INDEX.
ferred before them, i. 358. Are nothing
to God, 31)5. Are all known by God, i.
422, 423. Shall be restored to their
primitive end, i. 313, ii. 293. Their beau-
tiful order and situation, i. 520, 521. Are
fitted for their several ends, i 522 — 524.
None of them can be omnipresent, i.
378; or omnipotent, ii. 18; or infinitely
perfect, ii. 24; God could have made
moi-e than he hath, ii. 21, 22. Made
them all moie perfect than they are, ii.
23, 24. Yet all are made in the best
manner, ii. 24, 25. The power that is in
them demonstrates a greater to be in
God, ii. 31. Ordered by God as he
pleases, ii. 57. The meanest of them
can destroy us by God's order, ii. 107,
448. Making dift'erent ranks of them,
doth not impeach God's goodness, ii. 232
— 235. Cursed for the sin of man, ii.
250, 293. What benefit they have by
the redemption of man, ii. 293, 294.
Cannot comfort us if God be angry, ii.
448. All subject to God, ii. 381—387.
All obey God, ii.,465, 466.
Curiosity in inquiries about God's counsels
and actions, a great folly, i. 295. It is
an injuring God's knowledge, 475 — 477.
It is a contempt of Divine wisdom, i. 590.
Should not be employed about what God
hath not revealed, i. 603, 604. The
consideration of God's sovereignty would
check it, ii. 457.
D.
Day, how necessary, i, 523.
Death of Christ, its value is from his Di-
vine Nature, i. 564. Vindicated the
honor of the law, both as to precept and
penalty, i. 566. Overturned the Devil's
empire, i. 568. He sufl'ered to rescue us
by it, ii. 268. By the command of the
Father, ii. 425, 426.
Debauched persons wish there were no
God, i. 97.
Decrees of God, no succession in them, i.
285. Unchangeable, i. 582, 583, ii. 451,
452. — See Immutability.
Defilement, God not capable of it from any
corporeal thing, i. 201, 390, 392.
Delight, holy duties should be performed
with, i. 234—236. All delight in wor-
ship doth not prove it to be spiritual, i.
235. We should examine ourselves after
worship, what delight we had in it, i.
252.
Deliverances chiefly to be ascribed to God,
i. 406. The wisdom of God seen in them,
i. 550—552.
Desires, of man, naturally after an infinite
good, i. 73, 74 ; which evidences the be-
ing of a God, i. 74. Men naturally have
no desire of remembrance of God, con-
verse with him, thorough return to him,
or imitation of him, i. 159 — 161.
Devil, man naturally under his dominion,
i. 118, 119. God's restraining him, how
great a mercy (see Restraint). Shall be
totally subdued by God, i. 498. Out-
witted by God, i. 568. His first sin,
what it was, ii. 427 — 429. — See Angel.
Direction, men neglect to ask it of God
(see Trusting in oiir selves). Should seek
it of him, i. 585. Not to do it, how sin-
ful, i. 589, 590. Should not presume to
give it to him, i. 591.
Disappointments make many cast off their
obedience to God, i. 115, 116. God dis-
appoints the devices of men, ii. 418 —
420.
Dispensations of God with his own law, ii.
391—393.
Distance from God naturally affected by
men, i. 158, 159. How great it is, ii. 180.
Distractions in the service of God, how
natural, i. 114, 256. Will be so while
we have natural corruption within, i. 256,
257 ; while we are in the Devil's precinct,
i. 257. Most frequent in time of afflic-
tion, i. 258. May be improved to make
us more spiritual, i. 258 — 261 ; when we
are humbled for them in worship, i, 258,
259 ; and for the baseness of our natures,
the cause of them, i. 259. Make us prize
duties of worship the more, ib. Fill us
with admirations of the graciousness of
God, i. 260. Prize the meditation of
Christ, i. 261. They should not discou-
rage us, if we resist them, ib ; and if we
narrowly watch against them, i. 262.
Should be speedily cast out, i. 274.
Thoughts of God's presence a remedy
against them, i. 404.
Distresses. — See Afflictions.
Distrust of God, a contempt of God"s wis-
dom, i. 593 ; and his power, ii. 93 ; and
of his goodness, ii. 319, 320. Too great
fear of man arises from it, ii. 94. — See
Trusting in God, and iri ourselves.
Dhmiity of Christ. — See Christ. Of the
Holy Ghost — See Holy Ghost.
Doctrines that are self-pleasing desired by
men, i. 139. — See Truths.
Dominion of God distinguished from his
power, ii. 364 All his other attributes
tit him for it, ii 364, 365. Acknowledged
by all, ib. Inseparable from the notion
of God, ii. 365, 366. We cannot suppose
God a creator without it, ii. 366. Can-
not be renounced by God himself, ib.;
nor communicated to any creature, ii. 366,
367. Its foundation, ii. 367—372. It is
independent, ii. 372, 373 ; absolute, ii.
373 — 377 ; yet not tyrannical, ii. 377,
378; managed with wisdom, righteous-
ness, and goodness, ii. 378 — 380. It is
eternal, ii. 386, 387. It is manifested as
he is a lawgiver, ii. 387 — 394 ; as a pro-
prietor, ii. 394 — 413 ; as a governor, ii.
413 — 422; as a redeemer, ii. 422 — 426.
The contempt of it, how great, ii. 426,
INDEX.
529
42*7. All sin is a contempt of it, ii. 427,
428. The first thing the devil aimed
against, ii. 428, 429 ; and Adam, ii. 429.
Invaded by the usurpations of men, ii.
430, 431. Wherein it is contemned at
as he is a lawgiver, ii. 431 — 435; as a
proprietor, ii. 435, 436 ; as a governor,
li. 436 — 441. It is terrible to the wick-
ed, ii. 446 — 448. Comfortable to the
righteous, ii. 449 — 453. Should be often
meditated upon by us, ii. 453, 454. The
advantages of so doing, ii. 454 — 457. It
should teach us humility, ii. 458. Calls
for our praise and thanks, ii. 459, 460.
Should make us promote his honor, ii.
461, 462. Calls for fear, prayer, and
obedience, ii. 462, 463. Affords motives
to obedience, ii. 463 — 466 ; and shows the
manner of it, ii. 466—469. Calls for
patience, ii. 469. Affords motives to it,
li. 469 — 471. Shows us the true nature
of it, ii. 471.
Duties of religion performed often merely
for self-interest, i. 150 — 154. Men un-
wieldy to them, i. 151. Perforin them
only m affliction, i. 151, 152. — See Ser-
vice of God, and Worship.
Dwelling in heaven, and in the ark, how to
be understood of God, i. 385, 386,
E.
Sar of man, how curious an organ, i. 65.
Earth, how useful, i. 54, 55. 'J'he wisdom
of God seen in it, i. 522.
Earthly things. — See World.
Ejaculations, how useful, i. 272.
Elect, God knows all their persons, i. 485,
486.
Election evidenced by holiness, ii. 205. The
sovereignty of God appears in it, ii. 394
— 396. Not grounded on merit in the
creature, ii. 396. Nor on foresight of
faith and good works, ii. 396 — 399.
Elements, though contrary, yet linked to-
gether, i. 62, 53.
End. All creatures conspire to one com-
mon end, i. 53 — 60 ; pursue their several
ends, though they know them not, i. 60
— 62. Men have corrupt ends in reli-
gious duties, i. 132, 150 — 154; for evil
ends, i. 105, 106 ; desire the knoAvledge
of God's law, for by ends, i. 104. Man
naturally would make himself his own
end, i. 135 — 141 ; how sinful this is, i.
141, 142 ; would make anything his end
rather than God, i. 142 — 144 ; a creature,
or a lust, i. 144 — 146 ; how siuful this is,
ib. ; would make himself the end of all
creatures, i. 147, 149 ; how sinful this
is, i. 149 ; would make himself the end
of God, i. 148 — 164; how sinful this is, i.
154, 155 ; cannot make God his end, till
converted, i. 163. 164. Spiritual ones
required in spiritual worship, i. 239 —
241 ; many have other ends in it, ib.
VOL. II. — 34
God orders the hearts of all men to his
own, ii. 54. God hath one, and man
another in sin, i. 161, 162. We should
make God our end, ii. 206. God makes
himself his own end, how to be under-
stood, ii. 228—230. His being the end
of all things is one foundation of his do-
minion, ii. S70, 371. Not using God's
gifts for the end for which he gave
them, how great a sin, ii. 435, 436.
Enemies of the church (see Church). We
should be kind to our worst enemies, ii.
354, 355.
Enjoyment of God in heaven always fresh
and glorious, i. 298, 299. We should en-
deavor after it here, ii. 344 — 346.
Envy. Men envy the gifts and prosperi-
ties of others, i. 131, 132. An imitation
of the devil, ib. A sense of God's good-
ness would check it, ii. 351. A contempt
of God's dominion, ii. 435.
Essence of God cannot be seen, i. 184, 186.
Is unchangeable, i. 319.
Eternity a property of God and Christ, i.
278, 279, 293, 294. What it is, L 280.
In what respects God is eternal, i. 280 —
286. That he is so, proved, i. 286—291.
God's incommunicable property, i. 44 —
46, 291—293. Dreadful to sinners, i.
295, 296. Comfortable to the righteous,
i. 297—301. The thoughts of it should
abate our pride, i. 302 — 304 ; take off our
love and confidence from the world, i. 304
— 306. We should provide for a happy
interest in it, i. 306 ; often meditate on
it, i. 307, 308. Renders him worthy of
our choicest affections, i. 308 ; and our
best service, i. 308, 309.
Exaltation of Christ, the holiness of God
appears in it, ii. 136, 137. His goodness
to us as well as to Christ, ii. 268, 269 ;
and his sovereignty, ii. 426.
Examination of ourselves before and after
worship, and wherein our duty, i. 252 —
266, 275.
Experience of God's goodness a preserva-
tive against atheism, i. 86, 87.
Extremity, then God usually delivers his
church, 101.
Faith, the same thing may be the object
of it, and of reason too, i. 27 — 29, Must
be exercised in spiritual worship, i. 230^
231. The wisdom, holiness, and good-
ness of God in prescribing it as a condi-
tion of the covenant of grace (see Cove-
nant). Must look back as far as the
foundation promise, i. 499. Only the
obedience flowing from it acceptable to
God, i. 504, 506. Distinct, but insepara-
ble from obedience, i. 505, 606. Fore-
sight of it not the ground of election, iL
396—399.
Fall of man, God no way the author of it,
530
INDEX.
il 123—125, 142, 143. How great it is,
ii. 480, 481. Doth not impeach God's
goodness, ii. -231, 232. It is evident, ii.
325, 326 ; brought a curse on the crea-
tures.— See Creatures.
Falls of God's children turned to their good,
i. 537—547.
Fear, not the cause of the belief of a God,
i. 41. Men that are under a slavish fear
of him wish there were no God, L 98, 99.
Of man, a contempt of God's power, ii.
93, 94. Should be of God, and not of
the pride or force of man, il 106, 107.
God's sovereignty should cause it, ii. 462.
Features different in every man, and how
necessary it should be so, i. 66, 67, 520.
Fervency. — See Activity.
Flesh, the legal services so called, i. 213,
214.
Fools, wicked men are so, i. 23, 586, 587.
Folly, sin is so. — See Sin.
Forgetfulness of God, men naturally are
prone to it, i. 159, 160. Of his mercies
a great sin (see Mercies). How attrib-
uted to God, i. 421.
Foreknowledge in God of sin, no blemish to
his holiness, ii. 145, 146. — See Knowledge
of God.
Future things, men desirous to know them,
i. 476, 477. Known by God. — See Know-
ledge of God.
G.
Gabriel, on what messages he was sent, ii.
75.
Generation, could not be from eternity, i.
44—46.
Gifts, God can bestow them on men, ii.
384, 385. His sovereignty seen in giving
greater measures to one than another, ii.
408—410.
Glory of all they do or have, men are apt
to ascribe to themselves, i. 139. Of God
little minded in many seemingly good
actions, i. 124 — 127. Men are more con-
cerned for their own reputation than
God's glory, i. 140. Should be aimed at
in spiritual worship, i. 239 — 241. God's
permission of sin is in order to it, ii. 154
— 156. Should be advanced by us, ii.
461, 462.
God, his existence known by the light of
nature, i. 86 ; by the creatures, i. 28, 29,
42 — 64. Miracles not wrought to prove
it, i. 29. Owned by the universal con-
sent of all nations, L 30, 31. Never dis-
puted of old, i. 31, 32. Denied by very
few, if any, i. 32, 33. Constantly owned
in all changes of the world, i. 34 ; under
anxieties of conscience, ib. The devil
not able to root out the belief of it, i. 35.
Natural and innate, i. 35, 36. Not intro-
duced merely by tradition, i. 37, 38 ; nor
policy, i. 38, 39 ; nor fear, i. 41. Wit-
nessed to by the very nature of man, i.
63 — 75 ; and by extraordinary occur-
rences, i. 76, 77 ; impossible to demon-
strate there is none, i. 81. Motives to
endeavor to be settled in the belief of it,
i. 84, 85. Directions, I 86, 87. Men wish
there were none, and who they are, i. 96
— 99. Two ways of describing him, ne-
gation and affirmation, i. 181, 182. Is
active and communicative, L 201. Pro-
priety in him a great blessedness (See
Covenant). Infinitely happy, ii. 86, 87.
Good, that which is materially so may be
done, and not formally, i. 120, 124—126.
Actions cannot be performed before con-
version, i. 168, 164. The thoughts of
God's presence a spur to them, i. 404,
405. God only is so, ii. 210, 211.
Goodness, pure and perfect, the royal pre-
rogative of God only, ii. 214. Owned by
all nations, ii. 215, 219. Inseparable
from the notion of God, il 216, 217.
What is meant by it, ii. 217. How dis-
tinguished from mercy, ii. 218, 219. Com-
prehends all his attributes, il 219, 220.
Is so by his essence, ii. 221, 222. The
chief, ib. It is commimicative, ii. 223,
224 ; necessary to him, ii. 224 — 226 ;
voluntary, ii. 226, 227 ; communicative
with the greatest pleasure, ii. 227, 228 ;
the displaying of it, the motive and end of
all his works, ii. 228 — 230. Arguments
to prove it a property of God, ii 230,
231 ; vindicated from the objections made
against it, il 231 — 244 ; appears in crea-
tion, ii. 244 — 258 ; in redemption, il 258
— 294 : in his government, il 295 — 313 ;
frequently contemned and abused, il 313,
314 ; the abuse and contempt of it, base
and disingenuous, il 314, 315 ; highly re-
sented by God, ii. 315, 316. How it is
contemned and abused, ii. 316 — 325. Men
justly punished for it, ii. 326, 327. Fits
God for the government of the world,
and engages him actually to govern it, ii.
327, 328. The gi-ound of all religion, il
329, 330. Renders God amiable to him-
self, ii. 331. Should do so to us, and
why, il 332—335. Renders him a fit
object of trust, with motives to it, drawn
hence, il 335 — 338 ; and worthy to be
obeyed and honored, ii. 338 — 341. Com-
fortable to the righteous, and wherein, ii.
341 — 344. Should engage us to endeavor
after the enjoyment of him, with mo-
tives, il 344 — 347. Should be often
meditated on, and the advantages of so
doing, il 347 — 351. We should be thank-
ful for it, il 351—353; and imitate it,
and wherein, ii. 353 — 355.
Gospel, men greater enemies to, than to the
law, i. 165. Its excellency, I 167, 501,
502. Called spirit, I 213. The only
means of establishment, i. 501. Of an
eternal resolution, though of a tempora-
ry revelation, i. 502. Mysterious, ib.
The fii-st preachers of it (see Apostles).
INDEX.
531
Its aatic^uity, i. 503, 504. The goodness
of God m spreading it among the Gen-
tiles, i. 504. Gives no encouragement to
licentiousness, ib. The wisdom of God
in its propagation, i. 574 — 580 ; and
power, ii. 65 — 73. — See Christian Reli-
gion.
Government of the World : God could not
manage it without immutability, i. 394 ;
and knowledge, i. 464, 465 ; and wisdom,
i. 575, 576. The wisdom of God appears
in his government of man, as rational, i.
525—532 ; as sinful, i. 532—544 ; as re-
stored, i. 544 — 547. The power of God
appears in natural government, ii. 44 —
52 ; moral, ii. 52 — 54 ; gracious and ju-
dicial, ii. 55 — 58. The goodness of God
in it, ii. 295—313. God only fit for it,
i. 580, 581, 544 ; ii. 186, 327 ; doth actual-
ly manage it, i. 580, 581 ; ii. 328, 329. Is
contemned, ii. 436 — 441. — See Laws.
Governor, God's dominion as such, ii. 413
— i22.
Grace, the power of God in planting it, ii.
74 — 78 (see Conversion) ; and preserving
it, ii. 79, 80. — See Perseverance. God's
withdrawing it no blemish to his holi-
ness, i. 166 — 170. Shall be perfected in
the upright, ii. 190, 191. God exercises
a sovereignty in bestowing and denying
it, ii. 400 — 404. Means of grace. — See
Means.
Graces must be acted in worship, ii. 229 — ^
234. We should examine how we acted
them after it, i. 253, 254.
Growth in grace annexed to true sanctifica-
tion, il 358. Should be labored after, ii.
206, 207.
H.
Habits, spiritual, to be acted in spiritual
worship, i. 229, 230. The rooting up
evil ones shows the power of God, iL 76,
77.
Hand. Christ's sitting at God's right hand
doth not prove the ubiquity of his hu-
man nature, ii. 378.
Hardness., how God, and how man, is the
cause of it, ii. 166—168.
Harmony of the creatures show the being
and wisdom of God, i. 62 — 60.
Heart of man, how curiously contrived, i.
65. We should examine ourselves, how
our hearts are prepared for worship, i.
252, 253 ; how they are fixed in it, and
how they are after it, i. 253 — 256. God
orders all men's to his own ends, ii. 54.
Heaven, the enjoyment of God there will
be always fresh and glorious, i. 298, 299.
Why called God's throne, i. 385, 386.
Heavenly bodies subservient to the good
of the world, i. 53, 54.
Hosea, when he prophesied, ii. 490.
Holiness a necessary ingredient in spiritual
worship, i. 238, 239. A glorious perfec-
tion of God, ii. 110, 111, Owned to be
so both by heathens and heretics, ii. 111.
God cannot be conceived without it, iL
111, 112. It hath an excellency above
all his other perfections, ii. 112. Most
loftily and frequently sounded forth by
the angels, ib. He swears by it, ib. It
is his glory and life, ii. 112, 113, The
glory of all the rest, ii. 113, 114. What
it is. and how distinguished from right-
eousness, ii. 114, 115. His essential and
necessary perfection, ii. 115, 116. God
only absolutely holj^, ii. 116 — 118. Causes
him to abhor all sm necessarily, intense-
ly, universally, and perpetually, ii. 118
— 122. Inclines him to love it in others,
ii. 121, 190, 191. So great that he cannot
positively will and encourage sin in oth-
ers,or do it himself, iL 122 — 126. Appears
in his creation, ii. 126, 127 ; in his gov-
ernment, ii. 127 — 135 ; in redemption, ii,
135 — 138; in justification, iL 138; in
regeneration, iL 139. Defended in all his
acts about sin, ii. 139 — 171. How much
it is contemned in the world, and where-
in, ii. 171—180. To hate and scoff at it
in others, how great a sin, iL 176. Ne-
cessarily obliges him to punish sin, iL
181 — 183 ; and exact satisfaction for it,
ii. 183, 184. Fits him for the govern-
ment of the world, ii. 186, 187. Com-
fortable to holy men, ii. 190, 191. Shall
be perfected in the upright, ib. We
should get, and preserve right and strong
apprehensions of it ; and the advantage
of so doing, iL 191 — 196. We should
glorify God for it, and how, ii. 196 — 199 ;
and labor after a conformity to it, and
wherein, ii. 199 — 201 ; motives to do so,
iL 203—205 ; and directions, iL 205—207.
We should labor to grow in it, ii. 206,
207. Exert it in our approaches to God,
iL 207. Seek it at his hands, iL 207, 208.
Holy Ghost, his Deity proved, ii. 86.
Humility a necessary ingredient in spirit-
ual worship, i. 237, 238. We should ex-
amine ourselves about it after worship, L
256. A consideration of God's eternity
would promote it, i. 302 ; and of his
knowledge, L 496, 497 ; and of his wis-
dom, i. 697 ; and of his power, ii. 106 ;
and of his holiness, iL 192, 193 ; and of
his goodness, ii. 323 ; and his sovereign-
ty, iL 457, 458.
Hypocrites, their false pretences a virtual
denial of God's knowledge, i. 481, 483 ; it
is terrible to them, i. 492.
Idleness, it is an abuse of God's mercies to
make them an occasion of it, ii. 323.
Idolatry of the heathens proves the belief
of a God to be universal, i. 30, 31. The
first object of it was the heavenly bodies,
L 43. Springs from unworthy imagina-
tions of God, L 157. Not countenanced
532
INDEX.
by God's omnipresence, i. 389, 390.
Springs from a want of due notion of
God's infinite power, ii. 92. A contempt
of God's dominion, ii. 436, 437.
Image of God in man consists not in exter-
nal form and figure, i. 192, 192. Un-
reasonable to make any of him, i. 193 —
195; it is idolatry so to do, i. 195, 196.
The defacing it an injury to God's holi-
ness, ii. 173, 174. Man, at first, made
after it, ii. 248.
Imaginations, men naturally have un-
worthy ones of God, i. 155, 156. Vain
ones the cause of idolatry, and supersti-
tion, and presumption, i. 156, 157 ; worse
than idolatry or atheism, i. 158 ; an in-
jury to God's holiness, ii. 172, 173.
Imitation of God, man naturally hath no
desire of it, i. 161. We should strive to
imitate his immutability in that which
is good, i. 360, 361. In holiness, wherein,
and why, and how, ii. 199 — 207 ; and in
goodness, ii. 353 — 355.
Immortal, God is so, i. 202. — See Eternity
of God.
Immutability a property of God, i. 316,
317 ; a perfection, i. 317, 318 ; a glory
belonging to all his attributes, i. 318;
necessary to him, i. 318, 319. God is
immutable in his essence, i. 319 — 321 ;
in knowledge, i. 321 — 825 ; in his will,
though the things willed by him are not,
i 325—328. This doth not infringe his
liberty, i. 328. Immutable in regard of
place, i. 328, 329. Proved by arguments,
i. 320—334, 582, 583; ii. 87. Incom-
municable to any creature, i. 334, 335,
ii. 141. Objections against it answered, i.
337—346. Ascribed to Christ, i. 346—
348. A ground and encouragement to
worship him, i. 348 — 350. How contra-
ry to God in it man is, i. 350, 353. Ter-
rible to sinners, i. 353, 354. Comfortable
to the righteous, and wherein, i. 354 —
356. An argument for patience, i. 359.
Should make us prefer God before all
creatures, i. 358. We should imitate
this his immutability in goodness ; mo-
tives to it, i. 360, 361.
Impatience of men is great when God
crosses them, i. 130, 131. A contempt
of God's wisdom, i. 592 ; and of his good-
ness, ii. 317, 318 ; and of his dominion,
ii. 437, 438.
Impenitence an abuse of God's goodness, ii.
319. It will clear the equity of God's
justice, ii. 506, 507. An abuse of pa-
tience, ii, 508, 509.
Imperfections in holy duties we should be
sensible of, i. 232. Should make us prize
Christ's meditation, i. 261.
Impossible, some things are in their own
nature, iL 26, 27. Some things so to the
nature and being of God, and his per-
fections, ii. 27 — 29. Some things so, be-
cause of God's ordination, ii. 29, 30. Do
not infringe the almightiness of God's
power, ii. 29 — 30.
Incarnation of Christ, the power of God
seen in it, ii. 59 — 65.
Incomprehensible, God is so, i. 394, 395.
hiconstancy, natural to man, i. 350 — 353.
In the knowledge of the truth, i. 350,
351 ; in will and affections, i. 351 ; in
practice, i. 352 — 354; is the root of
much evil, ib.
Infirmities, the knowledge of God a com-
fort to his people under them, i. 488,
489. The goodness of God in bearing
with them, ii. 309. His patience a com-
fort under them, ii. 516.
Injuries, men highly concerned for those
that are done to themselves ; little for
those that are done to God, i. 140. God's
patience under them should make us re-
sent thera, ii. 517, 518.
Injustice, a contempt of God's dominion, ii,
435,
Innocent person, whether God may inflict
eternal torments upon him, ii. 375, 380,
381.
Instruynents, men are apt to pay a service
to them rather than to God, i. 144;
which is a contempt of divine power, ii.
94, 95 ; and of his goodness, ii. 324, 325.
Deliverances not to be chiefly ascribed
to them, i. 407. God makes use of sin-
ful ones, i. 534, 535. None in creation,
ii. 40 — 42. The power of God seen in
effecting his purposes by weak ones, ii.
58, 59.
Inventions of men. — See Addition and
Worship.
J.
Jehovah signifies God's eternity, i. 290 ; and
his immutability, i. 330. God called so
but once in the book of Job, ii. 36.
Job, when he lived, ii. 8.
Jonah, how he came to be believed by the
Ninevites, i. 537.
Joy, a necessary ingredient in spiritual
worship, i. 234 — 236. Should accompa-
ny all our duties, ii. 468, 469.
Judging the hearts of others, a great sin, i.
478, 479. Their eternal state a greater,
ib.
Judgment-day, necessity of it, i. 470, 471,
583, 584.
Judgments, extraordinary, prove the being
of God, i. 74, 75. Men are apt to put
bold interpretations on them, i. 1 33. God
is just in them, i. 162, 163; especially
after the abuse of his goodness and pa-
tience, ii. 326, 327, 606, 507. On God's
enemies, matter of praise, ii. 110. De-
clare God's holiness, ii. 132 — 135; which
should be observed in them, ii. 1 97. Not
sent without warning, ii. 241, 242, 488 —
491. Mercy mixed with them, ii. 242,
243. God sends them on whom he
pleases, iL 420. Delayed a long time
mDEX.
533
where there is no repentance, ii. 491,
492. God unwilling to pour them out
when he cannot delay them any longer,
ii. 492, 493. Poured out with regret, ii,
493, 494; by degrees, ii. 494, 495;
moderated, il 495, 496. — See Punish-
ments.
Justice of God, a motive to worship, i. 207.
Its plea against man, i. 554 — 556. Re-
conciled with mercy in Christ, i. 556,
657. Vindictive, natural to God, ii. 181
— 183. Requires satisfaction, ii. 185,
186.
Justification cannot be by the best and
strongest works of nature, i. 166, 473,
474; ii. 177, 178, 185, 186. The holi-
ness of God appears in that of the gos-
pel, ii. 138. The expectations of it by
the outward observance of the law can-
not satisfy an inquisitive conscience, ii.
2 1 2. Men naturally look for it by works,
ii. 212, 213.
K
Kinqdoms are disposed of by God, ii. 413,
414.
Knowledge in God hath no succession, i.
284, 285. 294, 295, 454 — 456. Immu-
table, i. 321—324, 460. Arguments to
prove it, i. 393—395, 461 — 465. The
manner of it incomprehensible, i. 324,
325, 428, 429, 438. God is infinite in it,
L 409. Owned by all, i. 409, 410. He
hatii a knowledge of vision and intelli-
gence, speculative and practical, i. 411,
412; of apprehension and approbation,
i. 412, 413. Hath a knowledge of him-
self, i. 414 — 417. Of all things possible,
i. 417 — 420 ; of all things past and pres-
ent, i. 420 — 422. Of all creatures, their
actions and thoughts, i. 422—427. Of
all sins, and how, i. 427 — 429. Of all
future things, he alone, and how, i. 429
— 439. Of all future contingencies, i.
439 — 446. Doth not necessitate the will
of man, i. 446 — 451. It is by his essence,
I 452, 453. Intuitive, i. 453 — 456. In-
dependent, i. 456, 457. Distin t, i. 458,
459. Infallible, i. 459. No blemish to
his holiness, i. 461 — 465. Infinite, at-
tributed to Christ, i. 465 — 469. Infers
his providence, i. 469, 470 ; and a day
of judgment, i. 470, 471 ; and the resur-
rection, i. 471, 472. Destroys all hopes
of justification by anything in ourselves,
i. 472, 473. Calls for our adoring
thoughts of him, I 473, 474 ; and humili-
ty, i. 474, 475. How injured in the
world, and wherein, i. 475 — 483. Com-
fortable to the righteous, and wherein, i.
483—491. Terrible to sinners, i. 491,
492. We should have a sense of it on
our hearts, and the advantages of it, i.
492—497.
Knowledge of God's will, men negligent in
using the means to attain it, i. 100, 101.
Enemies to it, and have no delight in it,
i. 101—103. Seek it for by-ends, i. 104.
Admit it with wavering affections, ib.
Seek it, to improve some lust by it, i.
105, 106. A sense of man's, hath a
greater influence on us than that of
God, i. 144, 145, 479, 480. Sins against
it should be avoided, i. 173. Distinct
from wisdom, i. 508. Of all creatures,
is derived from God, i. 462, 463. Ours,
how imperfect, i. 474, 475.
Law of God, how opposite man naturally
is to it — See Man. There is one in the
minds of men, which is the rule of good
and evil, i. 69, 70. A change of them
doth not infer a change in God, L 346.
Vindicated, both as to the precept and
penalty, in the death of Christ, i. 565 —
567. Suited to our natures, happiness,
and conscience, i. 527 — 529 ; ii. 253. We
should submit to them, L 603, 604. The
transgression of them punished by God,
ii. 132, 133, 393, 394. God's enjoining
one which he knew man would not ob-
serve, no blemish to his holiness, ii. 143.
To charge them with rigidness, how
great a sin, ii. 178, 179. We should
imitate the holiness of them, ii. 199 —
201. The goodness of God in that of in-
nocence, ii. 252 — 254. Cannot but be
good, ii. 339, 340. He gives laws to all,
il 388, 389. Positive ones, ib. His
only reach the conscience, ii. 390, 391.
Dispensed with by him, but cannot by
man, ii. 391—393, 430, 431. To make
any, contrary to God's, how great a sin,
iL 431, 432; or make additions to them,
ii. 432, 433 ; or obey those of men be-
fore them, ii. 433—435, 467, 468.— See
Governor and Magistrates.
Licentiousness, the gospel no friend to, i.
504.
Life, eternal, expected by men from some-
thing of their own. — See Justification.
Assured to the people of God, i. 356.
Light, a glorious creature, ii. 343, 344.
Light of nature shows the being of a God,
i. 27—29.
Limiting God, a contempt of his dominion,
ii. 439.
Lives of men at God's disposal, ii. 421, 422.
Love to God, sometimes arises merely from
some self-pleasing benefits, i. 149 — 151.
A necessary ingredient in spiritual wor-
ship, i. 231, 232. A great help to it, i. 272.
God is highly worthy of it, i. 308 ; ii. 196,
197, 332 — 335. Outward expressions of
it insignificant without obedience, ii. 213,
214. God's gospel name, ii. 257, 259.
Of God to his people, great, ii. 449, 450,
Liists of men make them atheists, i. 24, 25.
534
INDEX.
M.
Magistracy, the goodaess of God Iq settling
it, ii. 300, 301.
Magistrates are inferior to God ; to be obe-
dient to him, W. 444, 445. Ought to
govern justly and righteously, ii. 445. To
be obeyed, ii. 445, 446.
Man could not make himself, i. 45 — 49.
The world subservient to him, i. 53 — 55.
The abridgment of the universe, i. 64 ; ii.
248, 249. Naturally disowns the rule
God hath set him, i. 99 — 117. Owns any
rule rather than God's, i. 1 1 7 — 121. "Would
set himself up as his own rule, i. 121 — 127.
Would give laws to God, i. 127—135.
Would make himself his own end. — See
End. His natural corruption how great,
ii. 53, 54. Made holy at first, ii. 126,
127, 248, ; yet mutable, which was no
blemish to God's holiness, ii. 140 — 143.
Made after God's image, ii. 248. The
world made and furnished for him, ii.
249 — 252. In his corrupt estate, with-
out any motives to excite God's redeem-
ing love, ii. 268—273. Restored to a
more excellent state than his first, ii.
291 — 293. Under God's dominion, ii.
384—386.
Means. — See Instrument. To depend on
the power of God, and neglect them, is
an abuse of it, ii. 96. Of grace, to neg-
lect them an affront of God's wisdom, i.
589, 590. Given to some, and not to
others, ii. 403 — 407. Have various in-
fluences, ii. 407, 408.
Meditation on the law of God, men have
no delight in, i. 101, 102.
Members, bodily, attributed to God do not
prove him a body, i. 188—190. What
sort of them attributed to him, i. 189;
with a respect to the incarnation of
Christ, i. 189, 190.
Mercies of God to sinners, how wonderful,
L 161, 162. A motive to worship, i. 206
— 208. Former ones should be remem-
bered when we come to beg new ones, i.
277, 278. Its plea for fallen man, i. 556,
557. It and justice reconciled in Christ,
i. 657, 558. Holiness of God in them to
be observed, ii. 197, 198. Contempt and
abuse of them. — See Goodness. One
foundation of God's dominion, n. 371,
372. Call for our love of him, ii. 232—
235 ; and obedience to him, iL 338, 339.
Given after great provocations, ii. 496,
497.
Merit of Christ, not the cause of the first
resolution of God to redeem, ii. 265, 266.
Not the cause of election, ii. 396. Man
incapable of, ii. 343, 344.
Miracles prove the being of a God, though
not wrought to that end, i. 29, 76.
Wrought by God but seldom, i. 550. The
power of God, ii. 34, 35 ; seen no more in
them than in the ordinary works of na-
ture, ii. 51, 52. Many •wrought by Christ,
ii. 64.
Moral goodness encouraged by God, ii. 303,
304.
Moral law, commands things good in their
own nature, i. 94, 95 ; ii. 389. The holi-
ness of God appears in it, ii. 128. Holy
in the matter and manner of his pre-
cepts, ii. 128 — 130. Reaches the inward
man, ii. 130. Perpetual, ii. 130, 131. —
See Law of God. Published with maj-
esty, il 390.
Mortification, how difficult, i. 164, 165.
Motions of all creatures in God, ii. 49. Va-
riety of them in a single creature, ii. 50.
Mountains, how useful, i. 54. Before the
deluge, i. 278.
Mouth, how curiously contrived, i. 65.
N,
Nature of man must be sanctified before it
can perform spiritual worship, i. 223,
224. Human, highly advanced by its
union Avith the Son of God, ii. 273, 274.
Human and divine in Christ. — See
Union.
Night, how necessary, i 623.
O.
Obedience to God, not true tmless it be
universal, i. 108, 109. Due to him upon
the account of his eternity, i. 308, 309.
To him should be preferred before obe-
dience to men. — See Laws. Of faith only
acceptable to God, i. 505. Distinct, but
inseparable from faith, i. 505, 506. Shall
be rewarded, i. 629, 530. Redemption
a strong incentive to it, i. 571. Without
it nothing will avail us, ii. 213, 214. The
goodness of God in accepting it, though
imperfect, ii. 309. Due to God for his
goodness, ii. 338 — 341. Due to him as a
sovereign, ii. 462 — 466. What kind of
it due to him, ii. 466 — 469.
Objects, the proposing them to man which
God knows he will use to sin, no blemish
to God's holiness, ii. 161—166.
Obsthiacy in sin a contempt of Divine
power, ii. 92, 93.
Omissions of prayer a practical denial of
God's knowledge, i. 481 ; of duty, a con-
tempt of his goodness, ii. 320, 321.
Omnipresence, an attribute of God, i. 366,
367. Denied by some Jews and hea-
thens, but acknowledged by the wisest
amongst them, i. 368. To be understood
negatively, i. 369. Influential on all
creatures, i. 369, 370. Limited to sub-
jects capacitated for this or that kind of
it, i. 370. Essential, i. 371. In all places, i.
371, 372. With all creatures, i. 373, 374 ;
without mixture with them, or division
of himself, i. 374. Not by multiplica-
tion or extension, i. 375 ; but totally, ib.
INDEX.
635
In imaginary spaces beyond the world,
i. 375 — 377. God's incommunicable prop-
erty, i. 378. Arguments to prove his
omnipresence, i. 378 — 385. Objections
against it answered, i. 385 — 392. As-
cribed to Christ, i. 392, 393. Proves God
a Spirit, i. 393 ; and his providence, ib. ;
and omniscient and incomprehensible, i.
394, 395. Calls for admiration of him,
i. 395, 396. Forgotten and contemned, i.
896, 397. Terrible to sinners, i. 397,
398. Comfortable to the righteous, and
wherein, i. 398—402. Should be often
thought of, and the advantages of so
doing, i. 402 — i05.
Opposition in the hearts of men naturally
against the will of God, i. 102, 103.
Pardon, God's infinite knowledge a com-
fort when we reflect on it, or seek it, i.
490, 491. The power of God in granting
it, and giving a sense of it, ii. 78 — 80.
The spring of all other blessings, ii. 357.
Always accompanied with regeneration,
ib. Punishment remitted upon it, ii.
358. It is perfect, ib. Of God, and his
alone, gives a full security, ii. 450.
Patience under afflictions a duty, i. 604,
605. God's immutability should teach us
it i. 359. A sense of God's holiness
would promote it, ii. 195, 196; and his
goodness, ii. 350. Motives to it. ii. 469,
470, The true nature of it, ii. 471. Con-
sideration of God's patience to us would
promote it, ii. 518.
Patience of God how admirable, i. 161, 395,
396 ; ii. 497—500. His wisdom the
ground of it, i. 581, 582. Evidences his
power, ii. 64, 474. Is a property of the
Divine nature, ii. 477, 478. A part of
goodness and mercy, but differs from
both, ii. 478 — 480. Not insensible, con-
strained, or faint-hearted, ii. 480, 481.
Flows from his fulness of power over
himself, ii. 481, 482. Founded in the
death of Christ, ii. 482, 483. His vera-
city, holiness, and justice no bars to it,
ii, 483 — 486. Exercised towards our
first parents. Gentiles, and Israelites, ii.
486 — 488. Wherein it is evidenced, ii.
488 — 500. The reason of its exercise, ii.
500 — 507. It is abused, and how, ii. 507
— 509. The abuse of it sinful and danger-
ous, ii. 509 — 513. Exercised towards
sinners and saints, ii. 513, 514. Com-
fortable to all, ii. 514 — 516; especially
to the righteous, ib. Should be medita-
ted on, and the advantage of so doing, ii.
516 — 518. We should admire and bless
God for it, with motives so to do, ii. 518
— 622. Should not be presumed on, ii.
522, 523. Should be imitated, ii. 523, 524.
Poems, fewer sacred ones good, than of any
other kind, i. 143.
Peace, God only can speak it to troubled
souls, ii. 79.
Permission of sin, what it is, and that it is
no blemish to God's holiness, ii. 146 —
156.
Persecufio7is, the goodness of God seen in
them, ii. 309—311. See Apostasy.
Perseverance of the saints a gospel doctrine,
i. 501. Certain, i. 365, 356 ; ii. 100, 189.
Motives to labor after it, i. 360, 361. De-
pends on God's power and wisdom, i.
500, 501 ; ii. 79, 80.
Pleasures, sensual men strangely addicted
to, i. 144. We ought to take heed of
them, i. 173.
Poor, the wisdom of God in making some
so, i. 531, 532.
Power, infinite, belongs to God, ii. 10. The
meaning of the word, ii. 12. Absolute
and ordinate, ii. 12, 13. Distinct from
will and wisdom, ii. 14, 15. Gives life
and activity to his other perfections, iL
15, 16. Of a larger extent than some
others, ii 16. Originally and essentially,
in the nature of God, and the same with
his essence, ii. 17, 18. Incommunicable
to the creature, il 18, 24. Infinite and
eternal, ii. 18 — 26. Bounded by his de-
cree, ii. 25, 26. Not infringed by the
impossibility of doing some things, ii. 26
— 30. Arguments to prove it is in God,
ii. 30 — 35. Appears in creation, ii. 35 —
44 ; in the government of the world, ii.
44 — 69 ; in redemption, ii. 59 — 65 ; in
the publication and propagation of the
gospel, ii. 66 — 74 ; in planting and pre-
serving grace, and pardoning sin, ii. 74 —
80. Ascribed to Christ, ii. 80 — 86 ; and
to the Holy Ghost, ii. 86. Infers his
blessedness, immutability, and provi-
dence, ii. 86 — 88. A ground of worship,
ii. 88 — 90 ; and for the belief of the re-
surrection, ii. 90 — 92. Contemned and
abused, and wherein, ii. 92 — 96. Terri-
ble to the wicked, ii. 96 — 98. Comfortr
able to the righteous, and wherein, ii.
98—102. Should be meditated on, ii.
102, 103; and trusted in, and why, ii.
103 — 106. Should teach us humility and
submission, ii. 106 ; and the fear of him,
and not of man, ii. 106, 107.
Praise, consideration of God's wisdom and
goodness would help us to give it to liim,
i. 697, 698 ; ii. 361. Men backward to
it, ii. 366, 357. Due to him, ii. 459, 460.
Prayer, men impatient if God do not an-
swer it, i. 162, 163. We should take
the most melting opportunities for secret
prayer, i. 275. Not unnecessary because
of God's immutability and knowledge, i.
348 — 350, 479. To creatures a wrong
to God's omniscience, i. 475, 476. Omis-
sion of it a practical denial of God's
knowledge, i. 481. It is a comfort that
the most secret ones are understood by
God, i. 486 — 488. God's wisdom a com-
536
INDEX.
fort in delaying or denying an answer to
them, i. 593. For success on wicked de-
signs how sinful, ii. 175, 176. God fit to
be trusted in for an answer of them, ii
188, 189. The goodness of God in an-
swering them, iL 307 — 309. His good-
ness a comfort in them, ii. 341, 342.
God's dominion an encouragement to, and
ground of it, ii. 451, 462, 463.
Preparation, we should examine ourselves
concerning it before worship, i. 252, 253.
Consideration of God's knowledge would
promote it, i. 495, 496. How great a sin
to come into God's presence without it,
ii. 176, 177.
Presence of men more regarded than God's,
i. 144. We should seek for God's special
and influential presence, L 405. See Om-
nipresence.
Preserve himself, no creature can, i. 48, 49 ;
ii. 46, 47. God only can the world, i. 62,
63. The power of God seen in it, ii. 44 —
47. One foundation of God's dominion,
ii. 371.
Presumption springs from vain imagina-
tions of God, 1. 1 67. A contempt of God's
dominion, ii. 440, 441.
Pride, how common, i. 139. An exalting
ourselves above God, i. 147, 148. The
thoughts of God's eternity should abate
it, i. 303. An aftront to God's wisdom, i.
592. Of our own wisdom, foolish, i. 600,
601. God's mercies abused to it, ii. 323.
A contempt of his dominion, ii. 439, 440.
Principles better known by actions than
words, i. 92, 93. Some kept up by God
to facilitate the reception of the gospel,
i. 676, 577.
Propagation of creatures, the power of God
seen in it, ii. 47 — 49. Of mankind one
end of God's patience, ii. 604.
Prophesies prove the being of God, i. 76,
77.
Promises, men break them with God, i. 116,
117, 351, 353. Of God shall be per-
formed, i. 300, 301 ; ii. 99, 100, 516. We
should believe them, and leave God to
his own season of accomplishing them, i.
499. Distrust of them a contempt of
God's wisdom, i. 593. The holiness of
God in the performance of them to be
observed, ii. 197, 198.
Providence of God proved, i. 393, 394, 469,
470 ; ii. 87, 88. — See Government of the
world. Especially to his church, and the
meanest in it, i. 406 — 408. Extends to
all creatures, ii. 296 — 300. Distrust of
it, a contempt of God's goodness, ii. 319,
320.
Punishments. — See Judgments. God al-
ways just in them, i. 162, 163 ; ii. 326,
327. Of sinners eternal, i. 296, 297.
The wisdom of God seen in them, i. 548.
Necessarily follow sins, ii. 181 — 183. Do
not impeach God's goodness, ii. 236 — 244.
Not God's primary intention, iL 240, 241.
Inflicting them a branch of God's domin-
ion, ii. 393, 394 ; necessarily follow upon
it, ii. 447. Of the wicked unavoidable
and terrible, ii. 447 — 449.
Purgatory held by the Jews,i, 126.
R.
Rain, an instance of God's wisdom and
power, i. 522.
Reason should not be the measure of God's
revelations, i. 602, 603.
Repentance, how ascribed to God, i. 341,
342. A reasonable condition, i 573.
The end of God's patience, ii. 502 — 504.
The consideration of God's patience would
make us frequent and serious in the
practice of it, ii. 517, 518.
Reprobation consistent with God's holiness
and justice, ii. 146, 147.
Reproof may be for evil ends, i. 1 54.
Reputation, men more concerned for their
own, than God's glory, i. 140.
Resignation of ourselves would flow from
consideration of God's wisdom, i. 604,
606 ; should from that of his sovereignty,
ii. 467.
Restraint of men and devils by God in
mercy to man, L 532, 533, ii. 52 — 54, 154,
301-, 416—418.
Resolutions, good, how soon broken, i. 351.
Resurrection of the body no incredible doc-
trine, i. 471, 472 , ii. 90—92. The power
of God in that of Christ, ii. 65. Of men,
ascribed to Christ, iL 84, 86.
Reverence necessary in the worship of God,
L 236, 237.
Revelations of God are not to be censured,
L 590, 691.
Riches, inordinate desire after them a hin-
drance to spiritual worship, i. 273. God
exercises a sovereignty in bestowing
them, iL411., 412.
Rivers, how useful, L 622, 523.
Rome, why called Babylon, i. 39.
S.
Sacraments, the goodness of God in appoint-
ing them. ii. 287, 288.
Salvation of men, how desirous God is of
it, ii. 284—287, 500—602.
Sanctification deserves our thanks as much
as justification, ii. 367, 358. — See Holi-
ness.
Satisfaction of the soul only in God, i. 74,
202, 203, 305, 306. Necessary for sin, ii,
183, 184.
Sceptics must own a First Cause, i. 51.
Scoffing at holiness a great sin, iL 170 ; and
at convictions in others, iL 191, 192.
Scriptures are Avrested and abused, i. 105,
106, 134, 136. Ought to be prized and
studied, L 173. The not fulfilling some
predictions in them, doth not prove God
to be changeable, i. 342—345. Of the
INDEX.
537
Old Testament give credit to the New ;
and of the New illustrate those of the
Old, i. 503. All truth to be drawn thence,
ib. Of the Old Testament to be studied,
ib. Something in them suitable to all
sorts of men, i. 528 — 530. Written so
as to prevent foreseen corruption?, i. 530,
631. To study arguments from them to
defend sin, a contempt of God's holiness,
ii. 175. The goodness of God in giving
them as a rule, ii. 304, 305.
Sea, how useful, i. 54, 55. The wisdom of
God seen in it, i. 622 ; and his power, ii,
7, 45, 46.
Searching the hearts of men, how to be un-
derstood of God, I 427, 428.
Seasons, the variety of them necessary, i.
623.
Secresy, a poor refuge to sinners, i. 491,
492.
Secret sins cause stings of conscience, i. 71,
72, 463 ; known to God, i. 394, 397, 398,
490, 491 ; shall be revealed in the day
of judgment, i. 470, 471 ; prayers and
works known to God, i. 486 — 488.
Security, men abuse God's blessings to it,
ii. 323.
Self, man most opposite to those truths
that are most contrary to it, i. 107. Man
sets up as his own rule, i. 121. Dissatis-
fied with conscience when it contradicts
its desires, i. 123, 124. Merely the
agreeabieness to it the springs of many
materially good actions, i. 124 — 126, 149
—154, 240, 241. Would make it the
rule of God, i. 127 — 135 ; and his own
end, and the end of all creatures, and of
God. — See End. Applauding thoughts
of it how common, i. 138, 139. Men
ascribe the glory of what they have or
do to it, i. 139, 140 ; desire doctrines
pleasing to it, ib ; highly concerned for
any injury done to it, i. 140; obey it
j^ainst the light of conscience, i. 140,
141 ; how great a sin this is, i. 141, 142.
The giving mercies pleasing to it, the
only cause of many men's love to God, i.
149, 150. Men unwieldy to their duty
•where it is not concerned, i. 151, 152 •
how sinful this is, i. 154, 155. The great
enemy to the gospel and conversion, i.
165.
Self-love threefold, i. 136. The cause of all
sin, and hindrance of conversion, i. 135 —
138.
Service of God, how unwilling men are to
it, i. 112 — 114; slight in the perform-
ance of it, i. 1 13, 1 14 ; show not that natu-
ral vigor in it as they do in their world-
ly business, i. 113 — 115 ; quickly weary
of it, i. 114, 115 ; desert it, i. 115—117.
The presence of God a comfort in it, i.
401, 402. Hypocritical pretences for
avoiding it, a denial of God's knowledge,
i. 481, 482. A sense of God's goodness
would make us faithful in it, ii. 339 — 341.
Some called to, and fitted for more emi-
nent ones in their generation, ii. 410 —
416. Omissions of it a contempt of God's
sovereignty, ii. 441.
Sin founded in a secret atheism and self-
love, i. 93, 136—138. Reflects a dis-
honor on all the attributes of God, i. 93,
94. Implies God is unworthy of a being,
ib. Would make him a foohsh, impure
and miserable being, i. 94, 95. More
troublesome than holiness, I 111, 112.
To make it our end, a great debasing of
God, i. 144 — 146. No excuse, but an ag-
gravation, that we serve but one, i. 145,
146. Abstinence from it proceeds many
times from an evil cause, i. 150, 479, 480.
God's name, word, and mercies, made
use of to countenance it, I 154; ii. 172,
173, 321—324, 508, 509. Spiritual to
be avoided, i. 203, 204. It is folly, i.
295, 296. Past ones we should be hum-
bled for, i. 301, 302, 492, 493. Hath
brought a curse on the creation, i. 315. —
See Creatures. Past known to God, i,
420, 421 ; all known to him, and how, i.
427 — 131, 493, 494. A sense of God's
knowledge and holiness would check it,
494, 495 ; ii. 194. Bounded by God, I 532,
533. God brings glory to himself, and
good to the creature out of it, i. 533 —
544. God hath shown the greatest ha-
tred of it in redemption, i. 567, 568. A
contempt of God's power, ii. 92. Ab-
horred by God, ii. 118—122, 181, 182.
In God's people more severely punished
in this world than in others, ii. 120, 121.
God cannot be the author of it in others,
or do it himself, ii. 122 — 127. God pun-
ishes it, and cannot but do so, ii. 132,
133, 182, 183. The instruments of it
detestable to God, ii. 183, 134. Opposite
to the holiness of God, ii. 171, 172. To
charge it on God, or defend it by his
word, a great sin, ii. 174, 175. Entrance
of it into the world doth not impeach
God's goodness, ii. 231, 232. Those that
disturb societies most signally punished
in this life, ii. 301, 302. A contempt of
God's dominion, iL 427 — 431. How much
God is daily provoked by it, ii. 497 — 499.
519, 520. An abuse of God's patience, ii.
508, 509.
Sincerity required in spiritual worship, i
225, 226. Cannot be unknown to God,
i. 486. Consideration of God's know-
ledge would promote it, i. 496.
Sinful times, in them we should be most
holy, ii. 198, 199.
Sinners, God hath shown the greatest love
to them, and hatred to their sins, i. 567,
668. Everything in their possession de-
testable to God, ii. 133, 134.
Society, the goodness of God seen in the
preservation of it, ii. 300—302. Could
538
INDEX.
not exist without restraining grace. —
See Restraint.
Soul, the vastness of its capacity, and
quickness of its motion, i. 67, 68. Its
union to the body wonderful, i. 69. God
only can satisfy it. — See Satisfaction.
They only can converse with God, i. 202.
Should be the objects of our chiefest cai-e,
i. 203. We should worship God with
them, i. 209—211. The wisdom and
goodness of God seen in them, ii. 49, 247,
248.
Spaces, imaginary beyond the world, God
is present with, i. 375 — 377.
Spirit, that God is so, plainly asserted but
once in scripture, 1. 180. Various ac-
ceptations of the word, i. 181, 182. That
God is so, how to be understood, ib.
God the only pure one, i. 182, 183.
Arguments to prove God is one, i. 183 —
188. Objection against it answered, i.
188—190.
Spirit of God, his assistance necessary to
spiritual worship, i. 224, 225.
Spirits of men raised up, and ordered by
God as he pleases, ii. 415, 416.
Subjection, to our superiors, God remits of
his own right for preservuig it, ii. 301,
302.
Success, men apt to ascribe to themselves,
i. 139. Not to be ascribed to ourselves,
ii. 324, 325. Denied by God to some, ii.
411, 412.
Summer, how necessary, i. 523.
Sun, conveniently placed, i. 53. Its motion
useful, i. 53, 57. The power of God seen
in it, i. 195, 196.
Supper, Lord's, the goodness of God in ap-
pointing it, ii. 287, 288. Seals the cove-
nant of grace, ii. 288, 289. In it we
have union and communion with Christ,
ii. 289—291. The neglect of it reproved,
ii. 291.
Supererogation, an opinion that injures the
holiness of God, ii. 179, 180.
Superstition proceeds from vain imagina-
tions of God, i. 156, 157.
Swearing by any creature, an injury to
God's omniscience, i. 477, 478.
Temptati*)is, the presence of God a comfort
in them, i. 399 ; the thoughts of it would
be a shield against tiiem, i. 403. The
wisdom and power of God a comfort un-
der them, i. 594; ii. 99. The goodness
manifested to his people under them, ii.
311—313. The thoughts of God's sov-
eignty would arm and make us watchful
against them, ii. 456.
Thankfulness, a necessary ingredient in
spiritual worship, i. 233, 234. Due to
God, ii. 351, 352, 460, 518—522 ; a sense
of his goodness would promote it, i. 351,
Theft, an invasion of God's dominion, ii.
435.
Thoughts should be often upon God, i. 87,
88 ; seldom are on him, i. 143, 159, 160.
All known by God only, i. 424 — 427 ;
and by Christ, i. 467 — 469. Cherishing
evil ones a practical denial of God's know-
ledge, i. 482, 483. Thoughts of God's
knowledge would make us watchful over
them, i. 495.
Tlireatenings, the not fulfilling them some-
times, argue no change in God, i. 342 —
345. Are conditional, ib. The goodness
of God in them, ii. 255. Go before
judgments. — See Judgments.
Time cannot be infinite, i. 44, 45.
Times of bestowing mercy, God orders as
a sovereign, ii. 412, 413.
Tongue, how curious a workmanship i. 66.
Traditions, old ones generally lost, i. 37,
38. Belief of a God not owing merely
to them, ib.
Transubstantiation an absurd doctrine, ii.
95.
Trees, how useful, i. 54, 523.
Trust in themselves, men do, and not in
God, i. 150. We should not in the world,
i. 304—307, 857, 358. God the fit ob-
ject of it, i. 484, 485, 569, 570, 583 ; ii.
103, 104, 188, 335—337,462,463; means
to promote it, i. 497 ; ii. 454, 455. Should
not in our own wisdom, i. 600, 601. In
ourselves, a contempt of God's power
and dominion, ii. 94, 95, 486, 437. God's
power the main ground of trusting him,
ii. 104, 105 ; and sometimes the only one,
ii. 105, 106. Should be placed in God
against outward appearances, ii. 198.
Goodness the first motive of it, ii. 386.
More foundations of it, and motives to it
under the gospel than under the law, il
337. Gives God the glory of his good-
ness, ii. 337, 338. God's patience to the
wicked, a ground for the righteous to
trust in his promise, ii. 516.
Truths of God most contrary to self, man
most opposite to ; and to those that are
most holy, spiritual, lead most to God,
and relate most to him, i. 107. Men in-
constant in the belief of them, i. 350, 351.
U.
Ubiquity of Christ's human nature con-
futed, i. 378.
Venial sins, an opinion that reproaches
God's holiness, ii. 179.
Virtue and vice not arbitrary things i. 93,
94.
Unbelief, the reason of it, i. 165. A con-
tempt of Divine power, ii. 95 ; and good-
ness, ii. 819.
Union of soul and body an effect of Al-
mighty power, i. 69-
Union of two natures in Christ, made no
INDEX.
539
change in his Divine nature, i. 339, 340.
Shows the wisdom of God, i. 552 — 568.
How necessary for us, i. 563 — 566. Shows
the power of God, ii. 62. Explained, ii.
62, 63. — See Incarnation,
Usurpations of men an invasion of God's
sovereignty, ii. 430, 431.
"W.
Water, an excellent creature, ii. 224.
Weakness, sensibleness of a necessary in-
gredient in spiritual worship, i. 232.
Will of God cannot be defeated, i. 95, 96.
Man averse to it. — See Man. The same
with his essence, i. 325, 326. Always
accompanied with his understanding, i.
326. Unchangeable, i. 326—328. The
unchangeableness of it doth not make
things willed by him so, i. 327, 328.
Free, ib. How concurrent about sin, ii.
147, 148.
Will of man not necessitated by God's fore-
knowledge, i. 446 — 451 ; subject to God,
ii. 385, 386.
Winds, how useful, i. 522.
Winter, how useful, i. 523.
Wisdom, an attribute of God, L 507. What
it is, and wherein it consists, ib. Distinct
from knowledge, i. 508. Essential, which
is the same with his essence ; and per-
sonal, ib. In what sense God is only
wise, i. 509 — 514. Proved to be in God,
i. 515 — 518. Appears in creation, i.
518 — 525. In the govei-nment of man
as rational, i. 525 — 532 ; as fallen and
sinful, i. 532 — 544 ; as restored, i. 544 —
552. In redemption, i. 552 — 571. In
the condition of the covenant of grace, i.
571 — 574. In the propagation of the
gospel, i. 574 — 580. Asc ibed to Christ,
i. 580. Renders God fit to govern the
world, and inclines him actually to gov-
ern it, L 5S0 — 582. A ground of his
patience and immutability in his de-
crees, i. 582, 583. Makes him a fit object
of our trust, i. 583. Infers a day of
judgment, i. 583, 584. Calls for a vene-
ration of him, i. 584. A ground of
prayer to him, i. 585. Prodigiously
contemned, and wherein, i. 585 — 593.
Comfortable to the righteous, i. 593 — 595.
In creation and government should be
meditated on, and motives to it, i. 595 —
598. In redemption to be studied and
admired, i. 598—600. To be submitted
to in his revelations, precepts, provi-
dences, i. 602 — 605. Not to be censured
in any of his ways, i. 605, 606.
Wisdom, no man should be proud of, or
trust in, i. 600, 601. Should be sought
from God, i. 601, 602.
World was not, and could not be from
eternity, i. 44 — 46, Could not make it-
self, L 47 — 49. No creature could make
it, I 49, 50. Its harmony, i. 52—60.
Greedily pursued by men, i. 143, 144.
Inordinate desires after it a great hin-
drance to spiritual worship, i. 273. Our
love and confidence not to be placed in
it, i. 304, 315, 316. Shall not be annihi-
lated, but refined, i. 311 — 314. — See
Creatures. We should be sensible of
the inconstancy of all things in it, i. 356,
357 ; our thoughts should not dwell
much on them, L 357 ; we should not
trust or rejoice in them, i. 357, 358.
Not to be preferred before God, i. 358,
359. Made in the best manner, ii. 24, 25.
Made and richly furnished for man, ii.
249 — 251. A sense of God's goodness
would lift us up above it, ii. 351.
Worship of God, a folly to neglect it, i. 87,
88. If not according to his rule, no bet-
ter than a worshipping the devil, i. 118,
119. Men prone to corrupt it with their
own rites and inventions, i. 133, 134.
Spiritual, men naturally have no heart
to, i. 160. Cannot be right without a
true notion of God, i. 198. Should be
spiritual, and spiritually performed, i.
205, 206. God's spirituality the rule,
though his attributes be the foundation
of it, i. 206—208 ; ii. 88—90. Spiritual,
to be due to him, manifest by the light
of nature, though not the outward means
and matter of an acceptable worship dis-
coverable by it, i. 208—211. Spiritual,
owned to be due to God by heathens, i.
209, 210. Always required by God, i.
211, 212. Men as much obliged to it as
to worship him at all, i. 212, 213. Cere-
monial law abolished to promote it, i.
213 — 219. Legal ceremonies did not
promote, but rather hinder it, i. 214 —
216. By them God was never well-
pleased with, nor intended it should be
durable, i. 216 — 219. Under the gospel
it is more spiritual than under the law,
i. 219. Yet doth not exclude bodily
worship, i. 219 — 222. In societies, due
to God, i. 221. Spiritual, what it is, and
wherein it consists, i. 222 — 242. Due to
God, proved, i. 242—249. Those re-
proved that render him none at all, i.
249. A duty incumbent on all, i. 249,
250. Wholly to neglect it a great de-
gree of atheism, i. 250. To a false God,
or in a false manner, better than a total
neglect of it, i. 250, 251. Outward, not
to be rested in, i. 251, 252. We should
examine ourselves of the manner of it,
and in what particulars, i. 252 — 256.
Spiritual, it is a comfort that God re-
quires it, i. 256. Not to give it to God,
is to affront all his attributes, i. 263 —
271, 481. To give it him, and not that
of our spirits, is a bad sign, i 268, 269.
Merely carnal, uncomfortable, unaccept-
able, abominable, i. 269 — 271. Directions
640
INDEX.
for spiritual, i. 271 — 2'75. Immutability
of God, a ground of worship, and en-
couragement to it, i. 348 — 360. Bring-
ing human inventions into it an affront
to God's wisdom, i. 587 — 589. — See Cere-
monies. A strong sense of God's holi-
ness would make us reverent in it, ii.
194. We should carry it holily in it, ii.
207. Ingenuous, would be promoted by
a sense of God's goodness, ii. 348. Slight
and careless, a contempt of God's sover-
eignty, ii. 440, 441 ; and so is omission
of it, ii. 441. Thoughts of God's sover-
eignty would make us diligent in it, ii.
455, 456.
Worship of creatures is idolatry, i. 194 —
196. Not- countenanced by God's omni-
presence, i. 390, 391.
Wrong, God can do none, i. I7l, iL 442, 443.
Zeal, sometimes a base end in it, L 154.
A TABLE
PLACES OF SCEIPTURE EXPLAINED IN THIS BOOK.
GENESIS.
Chap.
I.
i.
ii.
ii.
iii.
iii.
iv.
yi.
xviil
xxii.
xxxii.
xlvL
xlviL
111.
iii.
ir.
vi.
ix.
XT.
xxxii.
xxxiii.
xxxir.
Ver,
XXXII.
xxxir.
VIU.
viii.
xz.
XX.
1
26
1
It
8
15
26
6
19
12
30
4
31
11
14
24
3
16
11
10
19
9
Vol.
EXODUS,
Page
519, ii. 36
42
64, ii. 249
483
493
61
221, iL 489
343
427
ib.
Ill
310
222
482
2S7
490
36
55
108
241
219
497
NUMBERS.
14 . . . i.
33, 84
10 .
1 KINGS.
27
39
2 KINGS
3 .
1, 4, 5 .
2 CHRONICLES.
15 . . . i.
DEUTERONOMY.
190
445
185
375
467
112
342, 344
118
JOB.
Chap.
Ver
Vol.
Page
iv.
18
ii.
117
ix.
21
i.
473
xii.
18
ii.
415
xiv.
5
i.
435
xiv.
17
i.
420
xvi.
19
i.
486
xxii.
14
ii.
383
xxiv.
12 .
ii.
478
xxvi.
5—14
ii.
. 5—10
xxxi.
26—28
i.
146
xxxiv.
21 .
i.
423
xxxviii.
7 .
ii.
258
PSALMS.
Psalm
L
4 . . . i.
353
ii.
4
i.
385
viii.
4
ii.
520
X.
11,13
i.
23
xir.
1
ib.
xvL
2
ii.
423
xix.
1—4
il
500
xix.
4
i.
520
xix.
9
ii.
130
xix.
12
i.
427
xxii
2—4
ii.
198
xxvi.
8
i.
386
xxvii.
4
il
113
XXV ii.
10
i.
400
xxix.
10
iL
393
xxxii.
1,2
L
480
1.
21
ii.
478, 480
1.
23
i.
480
Ii.
4
i.
449
Ii.
6 .
i.
566
Iviii.
3
i
90
Iviii.
4
i.
91
Iviii.
10
ii.
242
Ixii.
11
ii.
10
Ixix.
19
i.
483
Ixxiv.
14
i.
694
Ixxvi.
12
ii.
452
Ixxviii.
36
i.
481
Ixxviii.
38
ii .
494
xc.
1 .
L .
276
542
PLACES OF SCRIPTURE EXPLAINED.
Psalm
Ver.
Vol.
Page
xc.
2 .
L
277. 278
xc.
8 .
i.
470
cil
25—27
i. 310—314
eii.
3—28
i.
347, 348
ciii.
5 .
ii.
358
ciiL
14
i.
489
ciil
19
ii.
358, 359
civ.
2
i.
42
civ.
31
i.
315
cv.
25
ii.
163
cvi.
19
i.
195
cxi.
20
L
41
cxiii.
5
i.
385
cxxx.
4
i.
206
cxxxix.
2
i.
445
cxxxix.
"7-9
i.
372
cxxxix.
16, 16
i.
64
cxxxix.
16
i.
435
cxxxix.
23, 24
i.
490
exlv.
17
ii.
218
cxlvii.
1—3
i.
406, 407
cxlviL
4
i. 40
7 ; ii. 382
cxlvii.
5
i.
408
PROVERI
JS.
viii.
12 .
i.
518
viiL
22 .
i.29'
t;ii.423
viii.
30 .
i.
415
iz.
10 .
i.
41
XV.
11 . . .
i.
425
xvL
4 .
.
ii.
155
XXIX.
xxxiv.
xxxviii.
xl.
xU.
xliiL
xlv.
xlv.
xlviiL
lii.
liv.
Ixvi.
VI.
vii.
xii.
XV.
xvi.
xxi.
xxiii.
t:xxiL
a
ECCLESIASTES.
11 . . . L
ISALA.H.
10, 11, 14
2
6
15
4
1, 5
15, 17
21, 22
20, 21
5 . . . il
11 . . . ii.
10 . . . ii.
4, 5
16
1
JEREMIAH.
21
21
9
15
17
35, 36
16—24 . . i
31 ; . . ii.
LAMENTATIONS.
33 . . . ii.
90
217
60
465
483
312
342
379
431
115
416
449
310
ib.
518
377
162
217
352
474
427
313
363—366
488
492
EZEKIEL.
Chap.
Ver. Vol
Page
IV.
6
11.
492
viu.
2
11.
114
IX.
10
11.
493
XI.
16
11.
310
XVlll.
25
u.
475
XX.
33 .
u.
DANIEL.
452
VIU.
xiv.
111.
iii.
197
HOSEA.
1.
5
11.
2,3
u.
16
u.
19
V.
6
V.
12
VI.
4
VI.
1
Vll.
3
Vll.
15
Vlll.
12
X.
15
XI.
10
XI.
8
XIU.
12,13
XIV.
2
11.
510
11.
i.
494,
507
230
u.
449
lU
134
11.
494
11.
ib.
u.
427
1.
121
11.
324
L
100
1.
194
1.
236
11.
493
i.494;
ii.503
523
I.
283
JOEL.
u.
494
AMOS.
6 . . . i. .145,146
2 . . . i . 418
JONAH.
4,10. . . L . 342
MICAH.
2 . . . I . 294
NAHUM.
1, 2 . . ii. 472, 473
3 . . . ii. 473—477
HABAKKUK.
16 . . . i. . 144
ZEPHANIAH.
1, 2 . . . ii. . 489
ZECHARIAH.
1 . . . i. . 325
3 . . . L . 386
16 . . . i. . 234
MALACHL
31, 14 . . i. . 113
5 . . . i. . 471
6 . . . ii. . 497
PLACES OF SCRIPTURE EXPLAINED.
MATTHEW.
Chap.
Ver. VoL
Page
1.
18 . . . ii.
60
lU.
9 . . . ii.
13
V.
48 . . , ii.
478, 523
VII.
11 . . . ii.
188
VlL
23 . . . i.
413
XV.
6 . . . i.
110
XVUl.
10 . . . i.
414
XXV.
12 . . .1.
413
L
iv.
iv.
v.
vi.
vii.
ix.
X.
xii.
xiL
xvii.
Vll.
xvii.
XV iL
xvii.
L
i.
i.
i.
ii.
iii.
iii.
V.
viL
vii.
viii.
viii.
viii.
viii.
ix.
ix.
ix.
X.
xii.
XV.
xvL
MARK.
18 , . . ii. 209—211
LUKE.
35
20
59
355
JOHN.
3 .
10—24
24 .
19 .
64 .
37 .
3 .
30 .
38 .
39, 41.
5 .
ii. . 83
i. 176—178
i. 177—179, 205
ii. . 81
i. . 468
i. . 234
ii. . 376
i. . 393
i. . 449
ii. . 186
i. 293, 340
ACTS.
51
18
28
30
103
66
367, 373
487
ROMANS.
19—21 L 27, 2
23
25
4
9—12
23
7
6
4
10
21
38, 39
38, 39
6
22
18
1
6
25—27
11.
1. . 225
, 42, 519 ; ii. 216
386
80
502
90
180
219
214
102
666
484
313
609
395
214
482, 507
601
220
615
498—507
1 CORINTHIANS.
21 . . . L
618
Chap.
ui.
iv.
Ver.
2 .
10, 11
20, 21
Vol.
2 CORINTHIANS.
18
GALATIANS.
EPHESIANS.
10
18
3
12
10
6
PHILIPPIANS.
COLOSSIANS.
16
20
3
10
19
16
2 TIMOTHY.
TITUS.
HEBREWS.
1, 2, 10, 11
1.
iv.
9
12
XI.
3
XI.
6
XI.
16
XI.
21
JAMES.
10, 11. . . i.
15 . , . i.
2 PETER.
1
5 .
9 .
12, 13.
10 .
18, 19, 22
10 .
14 .
543
Page
427
414
118
652
214
262
654
166
158
553
370
122
82
262
580
277
355
i. . 25, 92
i. 347; ii. 82
ii. . 136
i. . 424
ii. 104
27
277
222
i. 44
REVELATION.
108
91
482
489
488
312
270
484
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285 BROADWAY, New York, Sept. 1, 1852. \
EGBERT CARTER & BROTHERS \
HAVE JUST ISSUED \
)
DISCOURSES AND SAYINGS OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, ?
Illustrated in a Series of Expositions. By John Bkown, D.D., nuthor of the " Exposition ?
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" Here we have sacred herineneutics developed pretalion ia given, it is set forth with so much clear -
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discrimination is admirable; wlien his own inter- The volumes are beautifully printed." — Kiito. ^
and applied in a manner the most satisfactory. No iiess, and appears so reasonable, that the reader will S
difficulty of any importance is evaded, and some seldom feel disposed to withhold his assent. As an >
portion of light is thrown upon all. Where SL'veral able expositor — clear, candid, comprehensive— Dr. S
ANNOTATIONS UPON THE HOLY BIBLE, ■
Wherein tlie Sacred Text is inserted, and various readings annexed; together with the )
parallel Scriptures. The more ditScult terms are explained ; seeming contradictions ?
reconciled; doubts resolved, and the whole text opened. By Matthew Poole. ^
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Henry bequi'athed a copy to each of his four daugh- Thomas Hartwell Home, in his '■ Inlroduclion to the C
ters ; and a still more significant tribute was paid by Critical Study of the Holy Scriptures," remarks — C
his son, who, assuming that they were already in "The Annotations are mingled with the text, and \
the hands of his readers, in his own Exposition are allowed to be very judicious; and he who t
passed briefly over many matters there largely dis- wishes to understand the Scriptures will rarely c
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must have commentators, as we certainly must, perial 8vo. editiiin is very beautifully and correctly '
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