CIV. SERM. bring forth grass; if animals should cease to increase and multiply; the whole frame of the creation would immediately be unhinged, the world would cease to be what it is, and become a mere chaos again, a dark confused heap, without any form or order, and so would not answer the end of its creation: for the prevention whereof, God hath so firmly established this law of nature in all inanimate and mere sensible creatures, that it can never be altered, but all things naturally move and act continually, just as He at first designed and ordained they should. But all these sorts of creatures, although they are, every one in its place and station, great monuments of the Divine perfections, exerted in the framing and government of them, yet they themselves do not know it, not being endued with any such principle whereby to reflect either upon themselves, or Him That made them: so that if there had been no other sorts of creatures made, none but God Himself could have seen His glory shining in them. Hence, therefore, He was pleased to make other creatures of such a nature as to be able to understand, acknowledge, and admire His Divine wisdom, and goodness, and power, both in themselves, and in all other creatures which He hath made and they are Angels and men. Of which, the first are purely intellectual or spiritual creatures, endued with power to understand and consider both the works and the commands of God, to distinguish between good and bad, what He would have them do, and what not to do, and to prefer and choose the one before the other to whom He hath therefore given another kind of laws suitable to their nature, requiring them to consider and contemplate upon what He hath done; to acknowledge and admire the Divine perfections which He exercised in the doing of it; and to love, and honour, and praise, and glorify Him for all the goodness, and the wonderful works that He hath shewn to them; and to be ready, upon all occasions, not only to do what He commands, but to do it in pure obedience to Him: all which, the greatest part of these glorious creatures have always punctually observed; and so have always continued in His love and favour. But some of them swelling with the conceit of their great power, and abusing it so far as to transgress His Laws, were immediately disgraced and cast into prison, in the pit of Hell; where, although they never willingly obey His commands, yet their hands are so tied, that they can do nothing but what He permits them. By which means they also live under some kind of government, though against their wills; being so confined and restrained by Almighty God, that they can never go beyond the bounds which He hath set them. The other sort of creatures which God hath made capable of apprehending, respecting, and owning Him in all that He hath made or done, are men, partly spiritual, and partly earthly creatures; being Angels, as it were, incorporated, or spirits united to matter, so as to make one person with it: and these God was pleased so to compose and put together, that the soul, or spiritual part, might always govern and rule over the body, or sensitive part; and so be always employed, as the holy Angels are, in loving and trusting on God, in rejoicing in Him, adoring, admiring, and praising, and giving Him thanks for His great glory and goodness, and the rest of His perfections; and in imitating of Him, as near as their finite capacities would reach, in being just, and merciful, and pure, and holy, and perfect, as He is. And so long as man continued in this state he needed no other revelation of his duty, his own natural constitution inclining him continually to think, and speak, and do as God would have him. And although, by the fall of the first man, the nature of man in general be very much disordered, and out of tune, yet there is so much still left of the first disposition, that they who have no other law, are still "a law unto themselves," in that they "do by nature the things contained in the Law," and thereby shew "the Law is written in their hearts," as the Apostle observes, Rom. ii. 14, 15. But this Law written upon the fleshly tables of man's heart, being so blotted and defaced by the fall, that none could read and understand it perfectly; God was afterwards pleased to transcribe it upon two tables of stone, in that which we now call the Decalogue, or Ten Commandments, all which are plainly nothing but a transcript of that Law which was first inscribed in man's nature, except the fourth, or last of the CIV. SERM. first table, which God was pleased to add to the other three, by a positive command: and that seems to be the reason wherefore He requires us to remember that, saying, "Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy;" which is more than He saith concerning any other of His Commandments; because, that not being written in the heart, but only proclaimed in their ears, mankind might be apt to forget it, unless they had a particular caution to remember, at the return of every seventh day, that God had commanded to keep it holy. Whereas, the other being only written in our natures, we could not be said properly to remember, but to be sensible of them, or conscious to ourselves that we ought to observe them, whether we are ever put in mind of them by any one else, or no: for if we do but look into our hearts, we may there see, or rather feel ourselves bound to love and serve God, to honour our parents, and the like. But though all people have some such sense of their duty left them, yet generally it is so little, that it doth not put them upon the practice of it. And hence it is, that God promiseth in the New Covenant, to quicken and actuate it, Jer. 31. 33. saying, "I will put My Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts." That is, He will write His Law in our hearts, as He did at first, by giving us so quick and strong a sense of our duty to Him, as shall excite and stir us up to the sincere performance of it; which He doth by expounding it to us in the Old and New Testament, and by His Holy Spirit co-operating with the means of grace, which, for that purpose, He hath settled in His Church. By this Law, thus written at first upon their hearts, and then upon two tables of stone, and explained in the Old Testament by the Prophets, in the New by Christ and His Apostles; by this Law, I say, it is, that God governs and will judge mankind; and therefore by it He may be properly said to reign over this lower world, the earth, and all the inhabitants thereof. 4. The next thing I promised to consider, is, the form of that government which the Lord exerciseth; how and after what manner it is that He reigns over the world. Which I must confess to be a very hard question, yea, impossible to be perfectly resolved by any, much more by us in our im perfect state; every thing relating to this Divine government being matter of wonder rather than of discourse and ratiocination. For it is not like the government of any city, or nation, or kingdom, upon earth, but quite of another nature; and that, too, so high, mysterious, and Divine, that although we be continually subject to it, we can apprehend but very little of it. David himself, in this very place, having asserted, that "the Lord reigneth," he adds in the next verse, that "clouds and darkness are round about Him;" intimating that He reigns so insensibly and unintelligibly to us, that we are all in the dark about the way and manner of His reigning: insomuch that the great Apostle himself, considering His wonderful way of working in the world, was forced to cry out Bábos, “O the depth Rom.11.33. of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!" Which may be truly asserted, not only of the amazing revolutions of kingdoms and empires, and other great affairs of the world, but even of those which we think little and common: for those things which seem little or common to us, are managed and ordered by the same infinite wisdom and power that ordereth and manageth the greatest and rarest things in the world, yea the whole world itself. And, could we take a fair prospect of them, we should see the same Divine perfections shining forth in one thing as well as another. But, alas! we are so shortsighted, that we can perceive but very little of the most plain and obvious things that are before us; and at the best, but only the surface, and some few circumstances belonging to them. We cannot look so far as into the nature of any one thing, much less behold the rare contexture and dependence of one thing upon another; how every thing concurs to the preservation of all things, and all things to the good of every thing. Least of all are we able to reach so high as to behold the hand that moves this great chain of second causes, so as to make all and every thing produce what He pleaseth: and if we offer at it, we are presently at a loss, amazed, confounded at the infinite height of it, and His wonderful ways of working together with all things so infinitely below Him. And therefore expect not that I should CIV. SERM. give you any particular account of God's way and method in governing the world; or how it is that He reigns over it: but you must content yourselves with such general notions of it, as may affect your hearts with joy and gladness for it; such as these, I. He reigns absolutely, without control, receiving His power from none, nor being accountable to any for the exercise of it; for He hath it immediately from Himself, or rather He hath it all originally, essentially in Himself: His power being indeed the same with His will; so that He doth whatsoever He will, only by willing it should be done. Rom. 9. 19. And therefore the Apostle saith, "who hath resisted His ver. 20. will?" None certainly ever did or can resist it: for there can be no resistance without power to make it, but there is no power but what comes from God; and therefore none, be sure, can ever be exerted against Him: but, as the Psalmist Ps. 115. 3. saith, "He doth whatsoever He pleaseth." There is no withstanding or gainsaying of Him, all things being absolutely subject to His will and pleasure; as the Apostle intiRom. 9. 21. mates, where he saith," Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?" And, "who art thou, O man, that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to Him that formed it, Why hast Thou made me thus?" And Isa. 45. 9. the Prophet, "Woe unto him that striveth with His Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherd of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, he hath no hands." Implying, that God hath as much power over every creature, as a potter hath over the clay in his hand, to make what He will of it, and to do what He will with it: as much did I say? yea, He hath infinitely more, all things in the whole world being so perfectly at His command, that nothing can so much as subsist one moment without Him. II. And hence it is, that as He reigns absolutely over all things, so likewise over every thing particularly. For we must not apprehend Him as residing only in Heaven, and from thence issuing forth His commands and commissions for the exercise of His authority in other parts of His kingdom, as earthly princes are forced to do from the place of their |