A Discourse of the Judgments of God, Chapter 4
CHAP. IV. A Solution offered to the ſeveral Objections againſt this Poſition, That Judgments are from God.
IT is an obſervation of old, a little knowledge of Nature makes men ſwollen with ſudden conceit, Atheiſts; but a deep and accurate inſight into things, ſurpriſes them with the clearneſs and evidence of a Deity. Men having plaid a while upon the ſurface of things, and leaping off from them, conclude haſtily againſt a Providence, while thoſe that are patient, and leiſurely conſider, ſee even greateſt reaſon for it, there where Triflers pitch againſt it: Contentious minds that will not obey the truth, nor can be quiet in any of the ſageſt Principles, faſten in the ſofteſt places, that give ſome little entrance to bold cavil; but they that ſearch deeper, find ſolid Rock there.
Wits that think themſelves never high enough, except they are advanced upon the ruines of all ſound Maximes, and have that under their feet, which others wear as a Crown upon their heads, diſpute againſt them, till they are thrown off with ſcorn and ſhame by the evidence of unmoveable truth and certainty, that cannot be unfixed by a breath; but though theſe winds and waves beat, yet the houſe they conceit fallen, ſtands, and great is the ſtanding of it; while they themſelves are waſted into nothing, but a bluſter of vanity, and the foam of their own ſhame, and at length hurried by the Whirlwind into utter darkneſs.
But let us weigh the objections of greateſt confidence againſt our affertion of Gods Primacy in Judgments.
Object. 1 The evils we call Judgments, are apparently carried in a courſe of Nature.
Anſw. 1 It cannot be denyed, but that Judgments are, and may be traced up to their natural cauſes; as Peſtilences to the corruption of Air, inequality of Seaſons; Famines to exceſſive either Moiſture or Drought, or other apparent reaſons; Wars to ambition of Princes, diſſoluteneſs of Governments, populouſneſs of Nations forced to tranſplant themſelves, with innumerable the like, which ſeem to obſcure God and his higheſt Ordination. But how far is this upon a ſerious debate from retrenching it in the leaſt? Are not natural cauſes ſet on work in the terribleſt executions among men? and yet no one is ſo ſenſeleſs as to queſtion whether they are puniſhments, or things did ſo conſpire? As well when a Ravailliac dyes in the Tormentors hand, may it be ſuppoſed there was no Juſtice intended, but Nature fell in upon him. Or how doth this leſſen God more then earthly Princes?
Nay indeed it exalts God, that he ſits in his Chair, and yet orders all things. Nature goes on in its own courſe, the wills of men move in their proper freedom, and contingencies hover up and down in their fluid air, and all bring about his juſteſt ends, and carry with them his righteous determinations againſt ſinners. Is not God much the greater, that things come to paſs ſtilly, and without noiſe of miracle, that he comes not in this ſenſe out of his place, viz. the ſetled ſtate of things, every time he puniſhes; and yet when he pleaſes to puniſh with a Divine grandeur, miracles of vengeance are alike eaſie to him?
Some things go ſlowly on, and at length come to thoſe points, where they determine in unhappineſs to man. Theſe finiſhing their courſe, and treading their circles within ſuch a time, or near it, are by obſervation deprehended in their motion, and expected, yea almoſt known like the ſtages of the heavenly bodies. As Contagions have been obſerved to make their return within ſuch a term; under no very unlike calculation have fallen the peace of Nations, the periods of Empires; though to ſome of theſe are allowed Ages for their revolution; as among the Stars there be ſome ſaid to claim no leſs; others ſtart ſuddenly out of the boſom of their hidden cauſes, and fall with an unſuſpected violence upon mankind; but both are alike under the cogniſance of God, and ſubject to his jurisdiction. Known to God are all his works from the foundation of the world, and the whole plot of things, with all their interferings, lye before him; even the planetary motions of mens wills are deſcryed of old.
The things that riſe up ſucceſſively to us, are one moment to him. It is no wonder then, that Judgments ſhould fall perpendicularly upon ſins, though they move never ſo punctually in Natures path. For the one (viz. ſin) ſuppoſe never ſo naked a permiſſion of it; yet it muſt be fore-ſeen, becauſe of that permiſſion: for all that God permits, he hath decreed from all Eternity to permit. The other (viz. his Judgments) are not only fore-ſeen, but ordered upon ſuch ſins fore-ſeen; how exact then may the placing of the one be with the other; and to him that calleth things that are not, as if they were, be a perfect act of Judgment? And to us who ſee things, not in the ſhell of thoſe elderly cauſes we now diſcourſe of, but take notice of them only as they are hatched into execution; they firſt appear as extemporary ſentences of Judgment upon the preſent occaſion: But obſerving more nearly, and being more ſagacious about them, we find the evils that preſs us have a ſetled progreſs, and were fixed upon ſome cauſes, that being further off to us, were not ſo ſoon eſpied; but that the evils we commit, are, after all our examination, found to be of a ſudden and accidental kind of birth and growth, of a much latter edition to the Judgments we thought ordered againſt them, which were on their way, though at a great diſtance before the ſins were committed: and therefore we conclude, they cannot be Judgments, ſeeing it is unreaſonable, puniſhments ſhould be preparing for an offence not yet done; but they only happened to meet together: for if ſuch ſins, as we ſuppoſed, they came to revenge, had never been committed; yet theſe effects being riſen already, and ſprung from their principles, would have come to their ends. But helped by a ſounder reaſon, inlightned by the Word of God, we find the ſins were as early in the foreſight of God, though his infinite purity can be no way the Author of them, as the progreſſes of Nature, which come directly out of his hand.
Further we might add, if this were not full, Sins are ſo always in motion, that it is no injuſtice preparations of puniſhment ſhould be ſo too; and how far Nature may be haſtned, or retarded to ſerve God, is very unknown to us, who are admitted at the moſt but to the Anti-rooms of Providence, but kept off from the preſence; and may look into the outer Ware-houſes of Nature, but are ſecluded from the Shop and retired Work-houſes, where things are ſet forward and backward without our privity.
Thoſe Judgments, the executions of which the wills of men are ſubordinated to, are of the ſame, and in this laſt particular of a clearer account. For whether they are thoſe that require a tract of time to accompliſh them, as the leiſurely diſſolution of States through daily degeneracy of manners, opening the way, and inviting forreign violences, or breeding inteſtine diſſentions, where the ſin and the puniſhment grow in wreaths and links one with another (for all wickedneſs carries weakneſs of counſel along with it, and is in tendency to ruine) or whether they are ſudden ſtorms, that through ſome unexpected accident roſe up; yet they that allot God the ſtraiteſt Government over the wills of men, and tye up his Prerogative cloſeſt, will allow him to call for a ravenous bird out of the Eaſt, and to hiſs for the flye beyond the River; that is, he can ſummon on the ſudden, or with more leiſure diſpoſe the minds of men to ſuch actions, that while their own projects are all they feel or know of, yet his juſt wrath upon thoſe againſt whom they come, lies ſecretly hid, and unknown to them paſſes on with them; and though they think themſelves excited only by themſelves, and the conſiderations about them; yet there is a ſpring out of their reach, and deeper then their fathom.
Anſw. 2 Though we acknowledge theſe things natural in this ſenſe, that they ariſe from the colliſions of Nature with it ſelf in its ordinary agencies, or the interpoſitions of one thing with another, ſo that the efficiencies of it are remitted, or intended to the detriment of ſome others, and which are to a conſiderable degree of ſatisfaction known to thoſe that induſtriouſly ſearch Nature: Yet in truth theſe evils we call natural, are rather the errours and defects, the cruelties and unkindneſſes of it, then the true intentions and juſt motions of it, if it be that univerſal mother and ſoft boſom of all things.
And therefore it is worthy inquiry, how it comes to be an adverſary to it ſelf; for it would have minded in all things the perfection of it ſelf, in the whole, and every particular, if there had not been a feud raiſed by the Author of it, in revenge of ſin, and enmity infuſed into one thing againſt another. It will be hard to give any account of theſe deſtructive acts of Nature, ſo eaſie to our thoughts as this of God diſpleaſed with ſins, and puniſhing tranſgreſſors by them.
That which may give ſome relief to the enemies of Providence herein, viz. That the good of the Univerſe is ſecured by the diſadvantage of particulars, on which occaſion we ſee in all things Nature yields ground from it ſelf, ſhall be conſidered in a diſtinct place.
Anſw. 3 To him that believes Scripture, it is undoubted, the Judgments of God have often ſet Nature into a higher Orbe of motion then its own, at other times ſtupified it, taken it off its wheels, and laid it lower then it ſelf. He hath turned, and even chaſed it hither and thither, out of its own path, and as it were amazed it with its unlikeneſs to it ſelf; and how often he doth ſo ſtill, though not in ſuch an eminency, we may without diſcredit to the knowingneſs of any Age, call in queſtion, whether there be ſo much either natural or political knowledge as is neceſſary to make a certain ſtate of the caſe; Famines and Peſtilences wholly out of the road of Nature, a Deluge of water, and ſtorm of Fire, that if it had been left to it ſelf, had been utterly unknown; Invaſions, Captivations, and Slaughters, that had not God animated, had lain ſtill to this day.
Theſe things are indeed preſerved in Sacred Records (as is moſt reaſonable) and the memory of them laid up in the Temple; yet the power that patrated them, is not without witneſs in common ſtory.
Object. 2 It is obſerved, theſe calamities befalling Nations light ſo indifferently upon all times and places, that they ſeem not at all to chuſe them, or to have any conduct particularly to them; and therefore they are a meer chance that happeneth to all alike, or Nature turning it ſelf about in its own circle; elſe the worſt times and places would be ſingled out.
Anſw. 1 It hath been already noted, that the greateſt ruines and vaſtations have, by the obſervation of thoſe that have delivered over the memory of them to after-times, been aſſigned to the wickedneſs and impieties then raging; who have therefore concluded the Juſtice of God prepared thoſe deſtructions for them as ſo corrupted and guilty. But in Scripture it is ſo evident, that we never read of any Judgment foretold, or in the execution; but the ſins that demerited, are ſignified with it. In that progreſs or general viſitation Amos foretold, it is ſtill inſerted, For three tranſgreſſions and four.
Anſw. 2 Beſides the ſins that are in the way of every obſervation, in thoſe times or Nations upon which Judgments come; it is eaſily acknowledgable, that many ſins are of a more ſecret and retired nature, as being concealed in thoſe deep vaults that wickedneſs ſeeks for it ſelf: Achans wedge troubled that time, as well with the unknownneſs of the cauſe of ſuch an overthrow, as with the thing it ſelf. Theſe retirements of ſin all-ſeeing Juſtice eſpies.
Many that are not own'd for evil, through darkneſs and errour of conſcience, as the Heathen Idolatries, Perſecutions, the Jews Crucifixion of Chriſt; which he that underſtands his duplicate page duplicate page own Holineſs, Laws, and ſins committed againſt them ſo exactly, cannot paſs by. Laſtly, ſins that are out-dated to any but the Eternal Righteouſneſs, to which all things are preſent, and therefore it requires that which is paſt to us, and entails the puniſhment with the guilt of former times upon impenitent poſterity. The Famine in Davids time revenged the cruelties of Saul dead, and did not remove, till the ſin ſpread upon the whole by connivence, was gathered into his Family, and puniſhed there. By which we may underſtand, God ſees the ſecret veins of guilt, upon which his Righteouſneſs falls, which only he knows, before whom Hell is naked, and deſtruction hath no covering.
Anſw. 3 If any would in the general challenge God of injuſtice and male-adminiſtration, or no adminiſtration, becauſe he doth not always remark the worſt times, but transfers his Judgments out of thoſe in which the ſins were committed into others, which they think is to miſplace them: or laſtly, becauſe ſecret and particular ſins draw miſery on the Publick, which they conceive diſtant from that ſo even Righteouſneſs of God, who will not ſet the Childrens teeth on edge, becauſe the Fathers have eaten ſowre Grapes; nor ſtrike an innocent perſon, becauſe a guilty one (whoſe offence too he knows not) ſtands by him: let them conſider, There are no times, places, or perſons ſo innocent, as to make them an argument: For there are ſeveral ways by which ſins derive, and propagate themſelves, and ſo juſtifie the tranſlation of puniſhments (which ſuppoſed, as it muſt be) the Dominion the great Ruler of the world hath before him, vindicates him from imputations of wrong, even while he laughs at the tryal of the ſeeming or comparative innocent; or without any reaſon accountable to us, ſingles out this or that Age of a world always guilty and liable to his Juſtice, and makes it chronicular, and exemplary for the puniſhments of ſin upon it. Is it fit to ſay to a King, Thou art wicked? or to Princes, Ye are ungodly? how much leſs to him that accepteth not their perſons, though never ſo great; but ſtriketh them openly in the ſight of others.
Ignorant people afford a blindfold compaſſion to all they find in the hand of humane Juſtice; and thoſe that appear wiſer, are touched with the ſame weakneſs, if their crimes are not as plain as they would have them, not conſidering thoſe reaſons Juſtice and Government together inforce upon the powers that have ſo adjudged them; and are therefore bold to reproach them with want of righteouſneſs and mercy: greater folly and preſumption do they betray, who impeach him whoſe goodneſs and mercy being equal with his ſtrength and Soveraignty, are all infinite; yet not to be meaſured by Rules proper to finity, even as his Eternity can be comprehended by no ſtandards of time, to whom a thouſand years, of ſo great account with us, are but as one day; and laſtly, that light he dwells in ſo inacceſſible, that ſearching all things it oppreſſes audacious inquiries into it ſelf. From whence we may much rather, in all caſes of doubt, conclude …dneſs in our ſelves, then no Providence or Juſtice in God; yet let us with reverence and godly fear ſee how far the deſignation of Judgment upon ſome particular Age, that can ſay, Our Fathers have ſinned, and are not, and we bear their iniquities, may be ſet right to our thoughts by the weights and beam of a humane Juſtice applyed to them: And when we conſider all puniſhments in this world are commenſurate to the continuance of it in ſuch a ſtate as we ſee it ſet, we ſhall find a neceſſity, that the infliction ſhould fall upon ſome parts of time, and not on others, leſt the whole become like Hell and eternal puniſhment; inſtead of which, God is now pleaſed to uſe a kind of decimation as men do, where an execution upon all is not to be practiſed. Nor is it unequal to that Age upon which the blow falls, ſeeing latter times make one body with thoſe that went before; Monarchies with the Progenitors and Poſterity are united in their conſideration, as the parts with the whole: why then ſhould it be ſtrange, that God ſhould order the guilt and puniſhment of elder Ages to glide down upon the deſcendents of them, as well as thoſe advantages of wealth and greatneſs, purchaſed at that very rate by their Anceſtors, that the inheritance of all ſhould be conveyed together? Nor is it hard, when the meaſure of a Nations ſin is as one common veſſel, which they that go before, with them that come after, have filled together, and it grows full, that the unhappy generation that crowns it, ſhould receive the Antiſtoichon or countermeaſure of Judgments; which Doom yet is by a juſt interpretation placed upon the whole, and in ordinary diſcourſe referred to it; for who ſeeing poſterity miſerable, doth not call to mind the ſins of Forefathers, ſo far as they know them, & acknowledge them puniſhed in their Childrens ruine? And if the proceeding were not in this manner, there muſt be a quite different ſtate of the world. All which will be clearer, when we come to the variety God uſes in adminiſtring Judgments.
Object. 3 In thoſe times and places which have been the reſort of theſe evils, they have fallen promiſcuouſly and adventurouſly upon all, or have miſſed the worſt men, lighting upon the leſs nocent; or at leaſt have been apparently ruled by the courſe of Nature, or contingency. Men who exceed others, as much in licentiouſneſs of evil, as they do in condition and greatneſs, are generally moſt ſecure. Good men fall with the multitude, without diſtinction of their virtue. All which little comports with ſo wiſe and a holy a Government, as we eſtabliſh by calling the diſpoſe of evils, Judgments.
Anſw. Beſides what we have already ſaid to clear this, and ſhall hereafter be ſpoken; the replication we chuſe at this time, ſhall conſiſt in theſe following Particulars.
1. The terrour that ſpreads it ſelf univerſally, while Judgments are executing, is no inconſiderable degree of a Judgment, even upon thoſe that are not yet ſtruck. For if every death makes ſome impreſſion upon the ſpectators, though in health, becauſe they carry the ſame mortality about them; much more when deaths are linked, and danger flies every way, like chain-ſhot, cutting off many together. They that are conſcious to themſelves of the ſame capacities of evil, tremble every moment, and their life hangs in doubt before them; which God himſelf ranks among the ſoreſt of afflictions upon men.
Thus God communicates his wrath, and ſtrikes more then thoſe upon whom his hand comes: The very report and ſound of their ſtroke and fall, being a vexation and puniſhment upon others. The paſſing of the grounded ſtaff raiſes a general out-cry and lamentation: For though ſome are ſo ſecure, as to be touched only in themſelves, for whom ſome worſe thing is provided; yet doth not their more then uſual obduracy take off from the force of this conſideration, any more then particular exceptions invalidate a general Rule. The Thunderbolt that falls but in one place, aſtoniſhes and ſhakes round about with the terrour, violent motion, and roar of it; from whence they that in ſuch evils ſeem moſt ſecure, are but upon their parol, and daily compounding for their ſafety, put upon often flights and continual fears; which are at leaſt great drops of that ſhower, which comes indeed in more abundance upon ſome, but leſſens every ones impunity.
2. 'Tis incredible how great the circulation of Judgments is; thoſe which begin at the feet, or meaner parts of a Nation, inſenſibly climb up to the head; there being unknown Sympathies in the civil, as well as natural body. God therefore threatens a whole Nation with thoſe evils that fall eſpecially upon ſome parts; when he wounds in the head, it is generally fatal to the whole; when he looſes the girdle of Princes, and takes away Counſellors, Jeruſalem is ruined; when he ſtrikes in the lower parts, yet it is reciprocated by Principalities and Powers, as David felt the ſtroke of that deſtroying Angel that directed it ſelf upon the people: God therefore uſes a viciſſitude, ſometimes taking one, ſometimes another, when yet he minds the affliction of all; for he that can diſperſe his puniſhments by making one the fountain of them to the reſt, is not at all liable to ſuſpitions of partiality, any more then that Juſtice accuſed as lame, that paſſes upon one member of a man, and yet intends the whole man.
3. Very often the Judgments of God are ſweeping, and in the Prophets phraſe, cut off root and branch, and ſo deprive of all poſſible ſcruple; of which there are ſo many dreadful monuments, as to make this a very feeble cavil of thoſe who mind not ſo much the ſatisfaction of their reaſon, as they delight in a ſlavery to their own Hypotheſis. But as God ſometimes reſolved to take away the uſe of ſome prophane Proverbs, and ſcandalous to his truth or goodneſs, by the ſeverity and preſentaneouſneſs of his Judgments; ſo doth he often by the ſame means ſilence many of the objections made againſt his ſupreme hand in them: yet a fuller anſwer of this turning to every ſide of it, is ſtill intended.
Object. 4 Many of thoſe Fatalities we call Judgments, are but neceſſary methods for the continuation of the world in that ſucceſſion, wherein it is now ſetled. It muſt be ſo, one generation goeth, that another may come; it is no more then the ſowing of the ſeed, that firſt dyes, that it may riſe in the greater flouriſh: And at ſome times more haſte muſt be made, then by the leiſure of ordinary dying, that ſupernumeraries may be disburdened, who would elſe increaſe too great a charge upon the Earth.
Anſw. If we take it for granted, that daily mortality (which we enter not into the account of Judgments) will not take off the too great burden of mankinds increaſe, and make that room in the world ſo neceſſary for ſucceſſion; and that therefore none of the vital blood and ſpirits of a Nation are let out in great mortalities and ſlaughters, to weaken and impair it; but that they give advantage to the ſurviving part: yet it will not come home to the objectors purpoſe. For whatever we ſet in the throne of things, Nature, or but Chance, that it ſhould do ſo much well, and either not have contrived a ſweeter tranſlation of things, or as luckily, as in other things, have happened upon it, is enough to give an overthrow to this whole ſuppoſition. But to us that acknowledge and humbly adore God, it cannot be thought that he ſhould govern, and bring to paſs ends with the grief and unhappineſs of his innocent Creatures, who could with the ſame eaſe to his Divine power and wiſdom, and more agreeable to that goodneſs, have adminiſtred them with all the mildneſs and clemency in which that richeſt Being delights it ſelf. But things carried ſo different hereunto, argue as high as may be, the ſenſe of a Judgment: That God ſhould make room in the world by the hurries of men out of it, which might have been as well by a gentler tranſplantation: that he ſhould change ſeaſons by the miniſteries of ſtorms and tempeſts, and ſhew the wonderful events of his Providence by flaſhes of Lightning, and Blazing-ſtars, which would have been as clearly underſtood by the kinder beams of his goodneſs, aſſures us he is neceſſitated by his righteouſneſs and juſtice to tranſact by ways ſtrange to him, and in which he hath no pleaſure; and therefore puts them into ſuch a frame, that they may at once diſcover his Attributes and Counſels with that wrath and ſeverity that have their only diſplay upon the ſins of men. Thus the iniquity of the Amorites fall moved God by ſo dreadful a diſplacing of them to give the inheritance to Iſrael, wherein his Bounty to one fell in with his Juſtice upon the other; the former of which, infinite underſtanding could have carried in another Channel, had there not been righteous reaſons for the latter alſo. The Jews infidelity introduced the Adoption of the Gentiles upon their own rejection; which yet was ſo little neceſſary otherwiſe, that their reconciliation will be as life from the dead.