A Discourse of the Judgments of God, Chapter 5
CHAP. V. The diſcuſſion of this Scruple, How can it ſtand with the Author of Nature to diſorder it?
BEcauſe the wrath of God in his Judiciary Acts, is, as we have obſerved, ſo often diſcovered in the irregular moves of Nature, which is guided by an intelligence extern to it ſelf, and ſo can commit no offence; and this intelligence is no lower then that which created it; ſo that no errour can be charged upon Creatures, with which nothing was ſupremely intruſted, but muſt be aſcribed to God originally: It may add much to the clearneſs of what hath been ſo earneſtly aſſerted of his hand in all the evils that are in the world, to diſcourſe the reaſonableneſs of his adminiſtration, when he unravels in diſpleaſure that order of the Creation he hath with ſo wiſe and skilfull a hand compoſed, and interrupts the chain of things himſelf hath interwoven, upon occaſion of the ſins of men, leſt it ſhould ſeem diſhonourable to his goodneſs and unchangeable counſel, if he chuſes ſo; or derogatory to his wiſdom & power, if he is ſo neceſſitated. For whenever ſinful diſorders provoke him to diſanul or confuſe thoſe things wherein he hath ſhewed himſelf ſo wiſe, ſomething ſuitable befals his works, to that Solomon complains of as one of the greateſt grievances of humane Nature in its acqueſts, and that made him go about to deſpair of all his labour, viz. That a fooliſh Son ariſes and diſſipates that ſtate of things the wiſdom of his Father tranſmitted to him with beauty and ſplendour. To the reſolution of this, will be moſt conducing the looſing of the doubts that ariſe from the conſtant weakneſs, debility, and incompleteneſs of things to their ends, their frequent aberrations, and miſcarriages from them; which advantagiouſly ſolved, will contribute much light to this caſe of Judgments.
Let us then ſearch the original order of the world, and ſee how fairly the diſorder of it, either general, or more extraordinary in time of Judgments, agrees with the goodneſs and providence of God, and is reconciled with the glory of the firſt Creation.
1. When things were in their primordial ſtate, ſet into ſuch a poſture, that at the ſame time they expreſſed the bounty and wiſdom of the Creator, and their amity one with another; man ſtood at the head of them, in whoſe happineſs they conſpired, and paid him their ſeveral tributes, as to a native Prince: They rejoyced in his Glory and Grandeur, receiving from him the honour of a near alliance, and bowed to him with humbleſt obedience, as fit to command them, through the excellency of a high-born ſpirit. They all in their ſeveral degrees of Being were diſpoſed, as one common ear, to take the ſound of mans contentment, which rebounded from Heaven to Earth; and the Eccho ſo conveyed, that it took hold of both ends of the Creation at once. The Heavens hearing the Earth, the Earth the Corn and Wine, and all, Man. The Heavens ſend him down their ſweeteſt and kindeſt influences; The Earth breathed nothing upon him but innocent; The Clouds moſt liberal of their fruitfulleſt diſtillations, and the Earth an open boſom of its own riches to this lower Angel, who being a Spirit placed in a body, hath the opportunity of taſting the pleaſures ariſing from them. Thus all things were created with an aſpect upon man, and for his ſake ordered into their ſeveral claſſes, and prepared to their various motions; wherein we cannot indeed but cry out, What is man that thou art mindful of him? But who could challenge God for it, whoſe counſels and influences are all his own, and all the whole imaginary ſpace out of him, Nothing? What then could implead God out of its nothing, for doing what he pleaſes with his own? Man being thus the center wherein the Sovereign goodneſs of God, and the ſervice of all things met (for in him their ſeries and happy order ended) his obedience to God was made the ſecurity of his condition, wherein was intruſted his own welfare and the bleſſing of the whole Creation. For while all things were ſo fixed, that they could chuſe no other ſtate then their own, man having the ſum of freewill in himſelf, to uſe it for the good of himſelf and all the Creatures under him, by continuing in his duty to God (the knot wherein all was infolded) what wonder is it, if when he by tranſgreſſion loſt his own ſtation, for whoſe advantage all things ſtood in their firſt and moſt beautiful order; they alſo run out of their ranks, and joyn in the confuſion he is to be puniſhed by? For they run not with ſuch an exorbitancy, but that they pay as great an honour to the wiſdom of God, united with his Juſtice, as they firſt did to the ſame wiſdom in conjunction with goodneſs, and that ſervice to his indignation, that they had done to his bounty. For which reaſon the effect of this alſo points juſt upon man. For what Creature hath ſo quick a ſenſe of, and pain in the diſorder as he? or upon whom doth the malignancy fall equally as upon him, to whoſe ruine the world it ſelf, had without further patience run, had not the Grace of God, intending a reſtauration to that fallen Nature, ſtaid the precipitation? Hence things are kept ſo near the rule and tune to which they were at firſt ſet, that there remain fair prints of their former exactneſs in themſelves, and humble amicableneſs to man, together with the admonitions of his lapſed ſtate; which are ſo intermingled, that they give luſter to each other: but ſo ſtill, that they are at a minutes warning, and in a moment take a Divine Allarm to riſe up againſt ſinful man, with the executions of his wrath, in what degrees he pleaſes (even to the turning themſelves into a general flame at laſt, to which they are reſerved by him) and whereunto they were at firſt upon ſuppoſition of ſin equally prepared.
Now in all this, there is as auguſt a preſence of wiſdom, and as great an underſtanding in the diſplays of it ſelf, though ſevere to man in his diſobedience; as great a beauty and order of Juſtice, as there was of Mercy. The night hath its Graces, though in black ſhades, and the glories that inlighten it. There is an order in ſtorms, and a rule in the bloody battles; a declaration of God in Judgments, as well as in acts of bounty.
Nor is it any change in God, but an even counſel, that in his favour is life and peace; but rebellion againſt him is purſued with diſappointment and miſery: And what can be more natural then that Nature it ſelf ſhould leave its own place, to ſerve the Creator that fixed it there, or turn out of its way, when the more primitive paths of it lead not to his ends? Or what more unnatural, then that the Lord of all ſhould be diſſerved? Or what more orderly way of puniſhment, then that thoſe Creatures ſhould riſe up againſt man, that were made for his ſervice, when he ſinned againſt the common Soveraign of him and themſelves? and that ſinning, he ſhould find his unhappineſs juſt in that place, where his contentment in his obedience reſted?
2. This outward world or ſtate of things was tuned to an inward, more excellent and immaterial world, conſtituted of Holineſs and Righteouſneſs, ſtanding in communion with God, and conformity to him: The perfection and higheſt glory of it was indeed in Heaven, and the center of it Eternity, where God and bleſſed Spirits under him inhabite. But it pleaſed infinite goodneſs to give an example of it alſo in a viſible and material world, and to ſet it floating in time, that after an experiment made, he might again unite it to himſelf in Eternity.
The great exactneſs, curious frame, and order of the outward world, was a tranſparency for that unſpotted purity from above to ſhine through. The eye prepared to read the Laws, and behold the Divine Beauty, and in whom the intellectual image it ſelf reſided, was man; who therefore is created ſimilar to it; a Soul inriched with knowledg, righteouſneſs, and true holineſs, ſparkling through an innocent, inoffenſive, and unſpotted body, that while with his mind he adores that ſupreme and original goodneſs, and conforms to it with greateſt pleaſure; he may withal delightfully contemplate that wiſdom and righteouſneſs as it were incarnate in the ſeveral Creatures, and viſible in their beauty, order, and peace, wherein they ſtand united one to another.
This Divine likeneſs in which man himſelf was made, was the life, and all below him a beautiful ſhadow, which received its continuance and livelineſs from the purity, and flouriſh of that heavenly life preſerved in him. By ſin he quenches this Divine ſpark, ſinks below himſelf, and betrays the whole excellency of the Creation depending upon him. Thus great perſonages held up by the grace of the Prince, ſhining upon their loyalty, ſpread their beams, not only upon their real dependents, but give honour to their effigies: But falling by treaſon, all the marks of honour they derived, are defaced, and their very repreſentations, though inſenſible, partake their guilt and degradation. Man depoſed from that excellency of Gods image, a cloud covers all about him; the order and peace are diſſolved, and flye in pieces, and the whole becomes a black ſhade, in which his ſin and fall are drawn: That Soul that firſt ſhone through, is now impriſoned in its own body, and looking out at the grates, ſees the dreadful likeneſs of its impurity: The body (and Soul by it) feels thoſe pains and diſorders that ariſe firſt through the jars and violences of things intumult and conflict with themſelves, and ruſhing upon it; then through the want of that ſupply and ſervice, cauſed by the interruption and diſcontinuance of the line of things that run up to man. Theſe are alſo daily brought within, in thoſe ſtrifes that fall out among the humours, the continual trepidations of a healthful ſtate, conſtant propenſities, and at laſt putrefaction in death. All which are a ſenſible hiſtory of ſin and Apoſtacy from God, unlikeneſs to him, and diſintereſt in him; as the former was of holineſs and a ſtate of favour. Thus falls the glory of the outward world in the ruine of this inward, that was the Spirit and Soul of it. In all which there is nothing unbecoming the ſtability or fore-ſight of that Counſel, that firſt contrived things. For when the integrity and perfection of the image of God in man was broken, and all other beauty, but an enſample of it, as it ſtood in him; why ſhould the tranſcription be kept fair, as an honour to him, who had unworthily betrayed the Original? But even according to the firſt deſign, the deformity ruſhing in with the firſt treaſon, was to be drawn upon the very ſame tables that were thus embelliſhed in reſemblance of, and as a dignity to humane Nature; or ſeeing the glory of the Creation was a reflection from the Eternal light, that firſt deſcending upon man with ſtrongeſt rays, was from him with a fainter ſplendour to rebound upon the lower region of the Creatures; when theſe rays were ſo withdrawn, that his day was turned into night, it muſt needs be dark with them alſo. Laſtly, how could the puniſhment of man be more equally laid, then in the confuſing thoſe things, the order of which was prepared for his glory, and as an act of Grace to him, and wherein his pleaſure and fruition, as a Creature of this world, conſiſted; when he himſelf was ſo unlovely, and inſtead of a delight, grown an object of repentance to God?
But everlaſting brightneſs that dawned upon man in a Mediator, ere it ſet in a total privation, continued much of the primaeve glory to all things as to their fundamental ſtate; yet the cloudy condition of mankind between his own fall and recovery by Chriſt, is exemplified by the waving motion of all the creatures about him, while the conſtant pravity of his Nature is counterparted by as ſetled a vanity and vexation of ſpirit; and the more prodigious diſtortions of common Nature, are the characters and deſcriptions of greater violations of theſe Laws of righteouſneſs anew inſtamped upon man.
For God having a greater regard to this inward world, the world ſpiritual, whereof we eſpecially ſpeak; he accounts the things we are amazed at, little, in compariſon of thoſe more monſtrous, our ſins, which are hideouſeſt convulſions, more portentous then Comets and Earthquakes. If then one Iota or tittle of the Law be of a more awful eſtabliſhment then Heaven and Earth, what ſtrange thing is it, if in its revenge we ſee Nature looſe it ſelf, if we hear of Nations and Kingdoms torn up, and diſperſed? For all order of Nature and peace of Nations, being but a caſe of theſe more material things; it is no wonder they are made nothing of, when what they are ſervants to is periſhed and loſt. But that God intends all viſible and ſenſible compoſure of things ſhould wait upon the condition of the ſpiritual and inviſible, is yet more evident, in that the final reſolution of all things produces the perfection of the leſs by the greater; when righteouſneſs advanced to the height ſhall dwell in new Heavens and a new Earth, prepared for it, and the ſpirits of juſt men made perfect inhabit incorruptible and immortal bodies, made like his glorious body: Then wickedneſs having finiſhed it ſelf, ſhall be ſealed up into a lake of unmixed miſery, which is ſo great a remove from God, that as ſin, it was never created by him, or of primitive intention, but a ſecondary ordination againſt ſin that intruded it ſelf upon the works of God.
From all this that hath been ſaid, appears the uniformity of the ways of God with themſelves, whenever he moſt reverſes thoſe natural ſanctions. For if without any derogation from them, he ſo early admitted upon the firſt conſtitution ſuch an allay of the excellency of it, and ſo many croſs lines of motion to the truly native ſettlement, and into ſuch a fixedneſs, that they are now grown natural, from whence death and affliction are compartners with life and comfort, ballancing and poiſing one another; it is leſs of wonder, that upon greater rebellions and perſiſtencies in ſin, God concedes his Juſtice and wrath a larger ſcope upon this ſecond ſtate, in which he hath at the leaſt ſhared things between proſperity and adverſity.
When men tranſgreſs the Laws, change Ordinances, break the Everlaſting Covenant, we may well expect this more fluctuating and precarious ſtate of Nature ſhould with greater freedom be rolled up and down, and removed from it ſelf. And if at laſt that Covenant of day and night, and thoſe Ordinances of Heaven will reſign themſelves, waiting till thoſe greater then they be vindicated, and reſtored to their full authority by an univerſal Judgment; and if all the Creatures are willing to be paſſed through that fire that is to purge evil wholly down into its own draught, they will now undoubtedly even ſurrender themſelves to be made uſe of to the ſooner purpoſes of vengeance upon wicked men, as the Creator pleaſes; whereby they have a prefatory redemption from that vanity and corruption wherein they are infolded, not willingly: for they earneſtly expect the time of a full deliverance, and proportionably now they even lift up their heads to that vindication they find in a partial Judgment.