Existence and Attributes of God, Discourse 2 (2 of 3)

Existence and Attributes of God · Discourse 2 (2 of 3)

p. 671. The rule of Satan is owned before the rule of God. The natural man would rather be under the guidance of Satan than the Yoke of his Creator. Adam choſe him to be his Governour in Paradice. No ſooner had Satan ſpoke of God in a way of deriſion, Gen. 3.1, 5. Yea, hath God ſaid, but man follows his Counſel and approves p. 68of the ſcoff; and the greateſt part of his poſterity, have not been wiſer by his fall, but would rather ramble in the Devils Wilderneſs, than to ſtay in Gods fold. Tis by the ſin of man that the Devil is become the God of the world, as if men were the Electors of him to the Government: Sin is an Election of him for a Lord, and a putting the Soul under his Government. Thoſe that live according to the courſe of the world, and are loath to diſpleaſe it, are under the Government of the Prince of it. The greateſt part of the works done in the world is to enlarge the Kingdom of Satan. For how many ages were the laws whereby the greateſt part of the world was governed in the affairs of Religion, the fruits of his uſurpation and policy? When Temples were erected to him, Prieſts conſecrated to his ſervice; The rites uſed in moſt of the Worſhip of the world were either of his own Coyning, or the miſapplying the Rites, God had ordained to himſelf, under the notion of a God: Whence the Apoſtle calls all Idolatrous Feaſts, the table of Devils, the cup of Devils, Sacrifice to Devils, fellowſhip with Devils, **1 Cor. 10.20.21.1 Cor 10:201 Cor 10:21Devils being the real object of the Pagan Worſhip, tho not formally intended by the Worſhipper; tho in ſome parts of the Indies, the direct and peculiar worſhip is to the Devil, that he might not hurt them. And tho the intention of others was to offer to God, and not the Devil, yet ſince the action was contrary to the Will of God, he regards it as a Sacrifice to Devils. It was not the intention of Jeroboam to eſtabliſh Prieſts to the Devil, when he Conſecrated them to the ſervice of his Calves, for Jehu afterwards calls them the Servants of the Lord, 2 King. 10.23. See if there be here none of the Servants of the Lord, to diſtinguiſh them from the Servants of Baal, ſignifying that the true God was Worſhipped under thoſe Images, and not Baal, nor any of the Gods of the Heathens; yet the Scripture couples the Calves and Devils together, and aſcribes the Worſhip given to one, to be given to the other.**2 Cron. 11.15. He ordained him Prieſts for the high places, and for the Devils, and for the Calves which he had made; ſo that they were Sacrifices to Devils, notwithſtanding the intention of Jeroboam and his Subjects that had ſet them up and worſhipped them, becauſe they were contrary to the mind of God and agreeable to the Doctrine and mind of Satan, tho the object of their worſhip in their own intention were not the Devil but ſome deified man or ſome Canonized Saint: The intention makes not a good action: If ſo, when men kill the beſt Servants of God with a deſign to do God ſervice, as our Saviour foretels,**Joh. 16.2.John 16:2 the action would not be Murder; yet who can call it otherwiſe, ſince God is wronged in the perſons of his ſervants? Since moſt of the worſhip of the world, which mens corrupt natures incline them to, is falſe and different from the revealed will of God, tis a practical acknowledgment of the Devil, as the Governour, by acknowleding and practiſing thoſe Doctrines, which have not the ſtamp of Divine Revelation upon them, but were minted by Satan to depreſs the Honour of God in the world: It doth concern men then to take good heed, that in their acts of worſhip they have a Divine rule; otherwiſe it is an owning the Devil as the rule; for there is no medium: Whatſoever is not from God, is from Satan.

But to bring this cloſer to us, and conſider that which is more common among us: Men that are in a natural condition and Wedded to their luſts, are under the paternal Government of Satan, Joh. 8.44. Ye are of your Father the Devil, and the luſts of your Father you will do. If we divide ſin into Spiritual and carnal, which diviſion comprehends all, the Devils authority is owned in both; In ſpiritual, we conform to his example, becauſe thoſe he commits: In carnal, we obey his will, becauſe thoſe he directs: He acts the one, and ſets us a Copy: He tempts to the other, and gives us a kind of a precept. Thus man by nature being a willing ſervant of ſin, is more deſirous to be bound in the Devils Iron Chain, than in Gods ſilken Cords.

What greater Atheiſm can there be, than to uſe God as if he were inferior to the Devil? to take the part of his greateſt Enemy, who drew all others into the faction againſt him? to pleaſure Satan by offending God, and gratifie our adverſary with the injury of our Creator? For a Subject to take arms againſt his Prince with the deadlieſt Enemy, both himſelf and Prince hath in the whole world, adds a greater blackneſs to the Rebellion.

2. The more viſible rule preferred before God in the World, is man. The opinion of the world is more our rule than the precept of God; and many mens abſtinence from ſin, is not from a ſenſe of the Divine Will, no, nor from a priciple of reaſon, p. 69but from an affection to ſome man on whom they depend, or fear of puniſhment from a ſuperior: The ſame principle with that in a ravenous beaſt, who abſtains from what he deſires for fear only of a ſtick or Club: Men will walk with the Herds, go in faſhion with the moſt, ſpeak and act as the moſt do: While we conform to the world, we cannot perform a reaſonable ſervice to God, nor prove, nor approve practically what the good and acceptable Will of God is: The Apoſtle puts them in oppoſition to one another.**Rom. 12.1, 2.Rom 12:1Rom 12:2

This appears,

1. In complying more with the dictates of men, than the Will of God. Men draw encouragement from Gods forbearance to ſin more freely againſt him; but the fear of puniſhment for breaking the Will of Man, lays a reſtraint upon them: The fear of man a is more powerful curb, to reſtrain men in their duty, than the fear of God: So we may pleaſe a Friend, a Maſter, a Governour, we are regardleſs whither we pleaſe God or no: Men pleaſers are more than God pleaſers: Man is more advanced as a rule, than God, when we ſubmit to human orders and ſtagger and diſpute againſt Divine. Would not a Prince think himſelf ſlighted in his authority, if any of his Servants ſhould decline his commands, by the order of one of his ſubjects? And will not God make the ſame account of us, when we deny or delay our obedience, for fear of one of his Creatures? In the fear of man, we as little acknowledge God for our Soveraign, as we do for our comforter: Iſa. 51.12, 13. I, even I am he, that comforteth you, who art thou, thou ſhouldſt be affraid of a man that ſhall die, &c. and forgetteſt the Lord thy maker, &c. We put a ſlight upon God, as if he were not able to bear us out in our duty to him; and uncapable to ballance the ſtrength of an arm of fleſh.

2. In obſerving that which is materially the Will of God, not becauſe tis his Will, but the injunctions of men. As the word of God may be received, yet not as his word, ſo the Will of God may be performed, yet not as his Will. Tis materially done, but not formally obeyed: An action, and obedience in that action are two things: as when man Commands the ceaſing from all works of the ordinary calling on the Sabbath, tis the ſame that God enjoyns; the Ceſſation, or attendance of his ſervants on the hearing the word, are conformable in the matter of it to the Will of God; but it is only conformable in the obediential part of the acts to the Will of man, when it is done only with reſpect to a human precept. As God hath a right to enact his laws without conſulting his Creature in the way of his government; So man is bound to obey thoſe Laws, without conſulting whither they be agreeable to mens laws or no: If we act the Will of God, becauſe the Will of our ſuperiors concurs with it, we obey not God in that, but man; a human Will being the rule of our obedience; and not the Divine: This is to vilifie God, and make him inferior to man in our eſteem, and a valuing the rule of man above that of our Creator.

Since God is the higheſt perfection and infinitely good, whatſoever rule he gives the Creature muſt be good, elſe it cannot proceed from God. A baſe thing cannot be the product of an infinite excellency; and an unreaſonable thing cannot be the product of an infinite wiſdom and goodneſs: Therefore as the reſpecting Gods Will before the Will of man is excellent and worthy of a Creature, and is an acknowledging the excellency, goodneſs and wiſdom of God; So the eying the Will of man before and above the Will of God, is, on the contrary, a denyal of all thoſe in a lump, and a preferring the wiſdom, goodneſs and power of man in his Law above all thoſe perfections of God in his. Whatſoever men do that looks like moral virtue or abſtinence from vices, not out of obedience to the rule God hath ſet, but becauſe of cuſtome, neceſſity, example or imitation, they may in the doing of it be rather ſaid to be Apes than Chriſtians.

3. In obeying the Will of man, when tis contrary to the Will of God. As the Iſraelites willingly walked after the Commandment; **Hoſ. 5.11.Hos 5:11Not of God, but of Jeroboam in the …aſe of the Calves: And made the Kings heart glad with their lies. **Hoſ. 7.3.Hos 7:3They cheered …im with their ready obedience to his Command for Idolatry (which was a lie in i…ſelf, and a lie in them) againſt the Commandment of God and the warnings of the Prophets; rather than cheer the heart of God with their obedience to his worſhip inſtituted by him: Nay, and when God offered them, to cure them their wound, p. 70their iniquity breaks out a freſh; they would neither have him as a Lord to rule them, nor a Phyſitian to cure them, Hoſ. 7.1. When I would have healed Iſrael, then the iniquity of Ephraim was diſcovered. The whole Perſian Nation ſhrunk at once from a duty due by the light of nature to the Deity, upon a decree that neither God or man ſhould be petitioned to for thirty days, but only their King. **Daniel 6.Dan 6One only Daniel excepted againſt it, who preferred his homage to God, above obedience to his Prince. An adulterous generation is many times made the rule of mens profeſſions, as is implyed in thoſe words of our Saviour, Mark 8.38. Whoſoever ſhall be aſhamed of me and my words in this Adulterous and ſinful Generation: Own him among his Diſciples, and be aſhamed of him among his enemies: Thus men are ſaid to deny God, Tit. 1.16. when they attend to Jewiſh fables and the precepts of men rather than the word of God: When the decrees or Canons of fallible men are valued at a higher rate, and preferred before the writings of the holy-ghoſt by his Apoſtles.

As Man naturally diſowns the rule God ſets him, and owns any other rule than that of Gods preſcribing, ſo

Thirdly, 3. He doth this in order to the ſetting himſelf up as his own rule. As tho our own Wills, and not Gods, were the true ſquare and meaſure of Goodneſs. We make an Idol of our own Wills: And as much as ſelf is exalted, God is depoſed: The more we eſteem our own Wills, the more we endeavour to annihilate the Will of God: Account nothing of him, the more we account of our ſelves: And endeavor to render our ſelves his ſuperiors by exalting our own Wills. No Prince but would look upon his Authority as invaded, his Royalty derided, if a Subject ſhould reſolve to be a Law to himſelf, in oppoſition to his known Will: True piety is to hate our ſelves, deny our ſelves, and cleave ſolely to the ſervice of God. To make our ſelves our own rule, and the object of our chiefeſt love is Atheiſm. If ſelf denyal be the greateſt part of Godlineſs, the great Letter in the Alphabet of Religion; Self love is the great Letter in the Alphabet of Practical Atheiſm. Self is the great Anti-Chriſt and Anti-God in the World, that ſets up it ſelf above all that is called God: Self love is the Captain of that black band, 2 Tim. 3.2. It ſits in the Temple of God and would be ador'd, as God: Self love begins; but denying the the power of Godlineſs, which is the ſame with denying the ruling power of God, ends the liſt: Tis ſo far from bending to the righteous Will of the Creator, that it would have the eternal Will of God ſtoop to the humor and unrighteous Will of a Creature: And this is the ground of the contention between the fleſh and Spirit in the heart of a renewed man; Fleſh Wars for the God-head of ſelf, and Spirit fights for the God-head of God: The one would ſettle the throne of the Creator, and the other maintain a Law of Covetoſneſs, Ambition, Envy, Luſt in the ſtead of God.

The Evidence of this will appear in theſe propoſitions.

1. This is natural to man as he is corrupted. What was the venom of the ſin of Adam, is naturally derived with his nature to all his poſterity. It was not the eating a forbidden Apple, or the pleaſing his Palate that Adam aimed at, or was the chief object of his deſire; but to live independently on his Creator, and be a God to himſelf, Gen. 3.5. You ſhall be as Gods. That which was the matter of the Devils Temptation, was the incentive of mans rebellion: A likeneſs to God he aſpired to in the Judgment of God himſelf, an infallible interpreter of mans thoughts; Behold, man is become as one of us, to know good and evil, in regard of ſelf ſufficiency and being a rule to himſelf. The Jews underſtand the ambition of man to reach no further, than an equality with the Angelical nature: But Jehovah here underſtands it in another ſenſe: God had ordered man by this prohibition not to eat of the fruit of the Tree of knowledge of good and evil; not to attempt the knowledge of good and evil of himſelf, but to wait upon the dictates of God; not to truſt to his own Counſels, but to depend wholly upon him for direction and guidance. Certainly he that would not hold off his hand from ſo ſmall a thing as an Apple, when he had his choice of the fruit of the Garden, would not have denyed himſelf any thing his Appetite had deſired, when that principle had prevailed upon him: He would not have ſtuck at a greater matter to pleaſure himſelf with the diſpleaſing of God, when for ſo ſmall a thing he would incur the anger of his Creator.

Thus would he deifie his own underſtanding againſt the wiſdom of God, and his p. 71own appetite againſt the Will of God: This deſire of equality with God, a learned man thinks the Apoſtle intimates, Phil. 2.6. Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: The Sons being in the form of God,Dr. Jackson. and thinking it no robbery to be equal with God, implies that the robbery of ſacriledge committed by our firſt Parents, for which the Son of God humbled himſelf to the death of the Croſs, was an attempt to be equal with God, and depend no more upon Gods directions, but his own conduct, which could be no leſs than an invaſion of the throne of God, and endeavor to put himſelf into a poſture to be his Mate: Other ſins, Adultery and Theft, &c. could not be committed by him at that time, but he immediatly puts forth his hand to uſurp the power of his Maker: This Treaſon is the old Adam in every man. The firſt Adam contradicted the Will of God to ſet up himſelf: The ſecond Adam humbled himſelf, and did nothing but by the Command and Will of his Father. This principle wherein the venom of the Old Adam lies, muſt be Crucified to make way for the Throne of the humble and obedient principle of the New Adam or quickning Spirit. Indeed ſin in its owns nature is nothing elſe, but a willing according to ſelf, and contrary to the Will of God: Luſts are therefore called the Wills of the fleſh and of the mind.**Eph. 2.3.Eph 2:3 As the precepts of God are Gods Will: So the violations of theſe precepts is mans Will: And thus man uſurps a God-head to himſelf, by giving that Honour to his own Will which belongs to God; appropriating the right of rule to himſelf and denying it to his Creator. That Servant that acts according to his own Will, with a neglect of his Maſters, refuſeth the duty of a Servant, and invades the right of his Maſter: This Self-love and deſire of Independency on God has been the root of all ſin in the World: The great controverſy between God and man hath been, whether he or they ſhall be God; whether his Reaſon or theirs, his Will or theirs ſhall be the guiding principle: As Grace is the union of the Will of God and the Will of the Creature; ſo ſin is the oppoſition of the Will of ſelf to the Will of God. Leaning to our own underſtanding, is oppoſed as a natural, evil to truſting in the Lord, **Pro. 3.5.Prov 3:5a ſupernatural grace. Men commonly love what is their own, their own inventions, their own fancies; therefore the ways of a wicked man are called the ways of his own heart; **Eccl. 11.9.Eccl 11:9and the ways of a ſuperſtitious man his own devices, Jer. 18.11. We will walk after our own devices: We will be a law to our ſelves: And what the Pſalmiſt ſaith of the tongue, our tongues are our own, who ſhall controul us? is as truly the language of mens hearts, our Wills are our own, who ſhall check us?

2. This is eviden in the diſſatisfaction of men with their own Conſciences when they contradict the deſires of ſelf. Conſcience is nothing but an actuated or reflex knowledg of a ſuperior power and an equitable law; a law impreſt, and a power above it impreſſing it. Conſcience is not the law-giver, but the remembrancer to mind us of that law of nature imprinted upon our Souls, and actuate the conſiderations of the duty and penalty, to apply the rule to our acts, and paſs Judgment upon matter of fact: Tis to give the charge, urge the rule, enjoyn the practice of thoſe notions of Right, as part of our duty and obedience.

But man is much diſpleaſed with the directions of Conſcience, as he is out of love with the accuſations and condemning ſentence of this officer of God: We cannot naturally endure any quick and lively practical thoughts of God and his Will, and diſtaſt our own Conſciences for putting us in mind of it: They therefore like not to retain God in their knowledge, **Rom. 1.28.Rom 1:28that is, God in their own Conſciences; they would blow it out as it is the Candle of the Lord in them to direct them, and their acknowledgments of God, to ſecure themſelves againſt the practice of its principles: They would ſtop all the avenues to any beam of light, and would not ſuffer a ſparkle of Divine knowledge to flutter in their minds, in order to ſet up another directing rule ſuited to the fleſhly appetite: And when they cannot ſtop the light of it from glaring in their faces, they rebel againſt it, and cannot endure to abide in its paths:**Job. 24.13.Job 24:13 He ſpeaks not of thoſe which had the written word, or ſpecial Revelations; but only a natural light or traditional, handed from Adam: Hence are all the endeavors to ſtill it when it begins to ſpeak, by ſome carnal pleaſures; as Sauls evil Spirit with a fit of Muſick; or bribe it with ſome fits of a glavering devotion, when it holds the Law of God in its commanding Authority before the mind: They would wipe out all the impreſſions of it when it preſſes the advancement of God above ſelf, and entertain p. 72it with no better Complement, than Ahab did Elijah, haſt thou found me O my Enemy?

If we are like to God in any thing of our natural fabrick, tis in the ſuperior and more Spiritual part of our Souls: The reſiſtance of that which is moſt like to God, and inſtead of God in us, is a diſowning of the Soveraign repreſented by that Officer: He that would be without Conſcience, would be without God, whoſe Vicegerent it is, and make the ſenſitive part, which Conſcience oppoſes, his Law-giver. Thus a man out of reſpect to ſinful ſelf, quarrels with his natural ſelf; and cannot comport himſelf in a friendly behaviour to his internal implanted principles: He hates to come under the rebukes of them, as much as Adam hated to come into the preſence of God, after he turned Traytor againſt him: The bad entertainment Gods deputy hath in us, reflects upon that God whoſe cauſe it pleads: Tis upon no other account that men loath the upright Language of their own reaſons in thoſe matters, and wiſh the eternal ſilence of their own Conſciences, but as they maintain the rights of God, and would hinder the Idol of ſelf from uſurping his God-head, and prerogative. Tho this power be part of a mans ſelf, rooted in his nature, as eſſential to him and inſeparable from him, as the beſt part of his being; yet he quarrels with it as it is Gods Deputy, and ſtickling for the honour of God in his Soul, and quarrelling with that ſinful ſelf he would cheriſh above God: We are not diſpleaſed with this faculty barely as it exerciſeth a ſelf-reflection; but as it is Gods Vice-gerent and bears the mark of his Authority in it. In ſome caſes this ſelf-reflecting act meets with good Entertainment, when it acts not in contradiction to ſelf, but ſutable to natural affections: As ſuppoſe a man hath in his paſſion ſtruck his Child, and cauſed thereby ſome great miſcheif to him, the reflection of Conſcience will not be unwelcome to him; will work ſome tenderneſs in him, becauſe it takes the part of ſelf and of natural affection: But in the more Spiritual concerns of God, it will be rated as a buſy body.

3. Many, if not moſt actions, materially good in the world, are done more becauſe they are agreeable to ſelf, than as they are honourable to God. As the word of God may be heard not as his word, **1 Theſ 2.13.1 Thess 2:13but as there may be pleaſing Notions in it, or diſcourſes againſt an opinion or party we diſaffect: So the Will of God may be performed, not as his Will, but as it may gratifie ſome ſelfiſh conſideration, when we will pleaſe God ſo far as it may not diſpleaſe our ſelves, and ſerve him as our Maſter, ſo far as his Command may be a Servant to our humor; When we conſider not who it is that Commands, but how ſhort it comes of diſpleaſing that ſin which Rules in our heart, pick and chuſe what is leaſt burdenſom to the fleſh and diſtaſtful to our luſts.

He that doth the Will of God, not out of Conſcience of that Will, but becauſe it is agreeable to himſelf, caſts down the Will of God, and ſets his own Will in the place of it; takes the Crown from the head of God, and places it upon the head of ſelf: If things are done, not becauſe they are Commanded by God, but deſirable to us; tis a diſobedient obedience; a conformity to Gods Will in regard of the matter, a conformity to our own Will in regard of the motive; either as the things done are agreeable to natural and moral ſelf, or ſinful ſelf.

1. As they are agreeable to natural or moral ſelf. When men will practiſe ſome points of Religion, and walk in the track of ſome Divine precepts; not becauſe they are Divine, but becauſe they are agreeable to their humor or conſtitution of nature; from the ſway of a natural bravery, the Byas of a ſecular intereſt, not from an ingenuous ſenſe of Gods Authority, or a voluntary ſubmiſſion to his Will: As when a man will avoid exceſs in drinking, not becauſe it is diſhonourable to God, but as it is a blemiſh to his own reputation, or an impair of the health of his body: Doth this deſerve the name of an obſervance of the Divine injunction, or rather an obedience to our ſelves? Or when a man will be liberal in the diſtribution of his Charity, not with an eye to Gods precept, but in compliance with his own natural compaſſion, or to pleaſure the generoſity of his nature: The one is obedience to a mans own preſervation, the other an obedience to the intereſt or impulſe of a moral Vertue. Tis not reſpect to the rule of God, but the Authority of ſelf; and at the beſt, is but the performance of the material part of the Divine Rule, without any concurrence of a Spiritual motive or a Spiritual manner. That only is a maintaining p. 73the rights of God, when we pay an obſervance to his rule, without examining the agreeableneſs of it to our ſecular intereſt, or conſulting with the humour of fleſh and blood; when we will not decline his ſervice, though we find it croſs, and hath no affinity with the pleaſure of our own nature: Such an obedience as Abraham manifeſted in his readineſs to ſacrifice his Son: Such an obedience as our Saviour demands in cutting off the right hand. When we obſerve any thing of divine order upon the account of its ſuitableneſs to our natural Sentiments, we ſhall readily divide from him, when the intereſt of nature turns it's point againſt the intereſt of Gods honour; we ſhall fall off from him according to the change we find in our own humours: And can that be valued as a ſetting up the rule of God, which muſt be depos'd upon the mutable intereſt of an inconſtant mind? Eſau had no regard to God in delaying the execution of his reſolution to ſhorten his brothers dayes; though he was awed by the reverence of his Father to delay it; he conſidered perhaps, how juſtly he might lie under the imputation of haſtening crazy Iſaacs death, by depriving him of a beloved Son: But had the old mans head been laid, neither the contrary command of God, nor the nearneſs of a fraternal relation could have bound his hands from the act, no more than they did his heart from the reſolution, Gen. 27.41. Eſau hated Jacob becauſe of the bleſſing, wherewith his father bleſſed him; and Eſau ſaid in his heart the days of mourning for my father are at hand, then will I ſlay my brother.

So many Children, that expect at the death of their Parents great Inheritances or Portions, may be obſervant of them, not in regard of the rule fixed by God, but to their own hopes, which they would not fruſtrate by a diſobligement: Whence is it that many men abſtain from groſs ſins, but in love to their reputation? Wickedneſs may be acted privately, which a mans one credit puts a bar to the open commiſſion of. The preſerving his own eſteem may divert him from entring into a brothell houſe, to which he hath ſet his mind before, againſt a known precept of his Creator. As Pharaoh parted with the Iſraelites, ſo do ſome men with their blemiſhing ſins; not out of a ſenſe of Gods rule, but the ſmart of preſent Judgments, or fear of a future wrath: Our ſecurity then, and reputation is ſet up in the place of God.

This alſo may be, and is in renewed men, who have the law written in their hearts, that is, an habitual diſpoſition to an agreement with the law of God; when what is done is with a reſpect to this habitual inclination, without eying the divine precept, which is appointed to be their rule; This alſo is to ſet up a creature, as renewed ſelf is, inſtead of the Creator, and that Law of his in his word, which ought to be the rule of our actions: Thus it is when men chuſe a moral life, not ſo much out of reſpect to the law of nature, as it is the law of God, but as it is a law become one with their ſouls and conſtitutions: There is more of ſelf in this, than conſideration of God; For if it were the latter, the revealed law of God would upon the ſame reaſon be received as well as his natural law: From this principle of ſelf, morality comes by ſome to be advanced above Evangelical dictates.

2. As they are agreeable to ſinful ſelf. Not that the commands of God are ſuited to bolſter up the corruptions of men, no more than the law can be ſaid to excite or revive ſin.**Rom. 7.8, 9.Rom 7:8Rom 7:9 But it is like a ſcandal taken, not given; an occaſion taken by the tumultuouſneſs of our depraved nature. The Phariſees were devout in long Prayers, not from a ſenſe of duty, or a care of Gods honour; but to ſatisfie their ambition, and rake together fuel for their covetuouſneſs; **Math. 23.14. You devour Widdows Houſes, and for a pretence makes long Prayers.Matt 23:14that they might have the greater eſteem and richer offerings, to free by their prayers the ſouls of deceaſed perſons from Purgatory; an opinion that ſome think the Jewiſh Synagogue had then entertain'd,**Gerrard in loc. ſince ſome of their Doctors have defended ſuch a notion. Men may obſerve ſome Precepts of God to have a better conveniency to break others. Jehu was ordered to cut off the houſe of Ahab: The ſervice he undertook was in it ſelf acceptable, but corrupt nature miſacted that which holineſs and righteouſneſs commanded: God appointed it to magnifie his Juſtice, and check the Idolatry that had been ſupported by that family: Jehu acted it to ſatisfie his revenge and ambition; he did it to fulfil his luſt, not the will of God who enjoyn'd him: Jehu applauds it as zeal, and God abhors it as murder, and therefore would avenge the blood of Jezreel on the houſe of Jehu, Hoſ. 1.4. Such kind of ſervices are not paid to God for his own ſake, but to our ſelves for our luſts ſake.

p. 744. This is evident in neglecting to take Gods direction upon emergent occaſions. This follows the Text, [none did ſeek God]. When we conſult not with him, but truſt more to our own Will and Counſel, we make our ſelves our own Governours and Lords, independent upon him: As though we could be our own Counſellors, and manage our Concerns without his leave and aſſiſtance; as though our works were in our own hands and not in the hands of God, **Eccleſ. 9.1.Eccl 9:1that we can by our own ſtrength and ſagacity direct them to a ſucceſsful end without him. If we muſt acquaint our ſelves with God before we decree a thing;**Job 22.28.Job 22:28 then to decree a thing without acquainting God with it, is to prefer our purblind wiſdom before the infinite Wiſdom of God; to reſolve without conſulting God, is to depoſe God, and deifie ſelf, our own wit and ſtrength. We would rather like Lot follow our own humor and ſtay in Sodom, than obſerve the Angels order to go out of it.

5. As we account the actions of others to be good or evil, as they ſuit with or ſpurn againſt our fancies and humours. Vertue is a crime, and vice a vertue, as it is contrary or concurrent with our humors: Little Reaſon have many men to blame the actions of others, but becauſe they are not agreeable, to what they affect and deſire: We would have all men take directions from us, and move according to our beck: Hence that common Speech in the world; ſuch an one is an honeſt friend, why? becauſe he is of their humour, and lackies according to their wills: Thus we make ſelf the meaſure and ſquare of good and evil in the reſt of mankind, and judge of it by our own fancies, and not by the will of God, the proper rule of Judgment.

Well then let us Conſider.

Is not this very common, are we not naturally more willing to diſpleaſe God than diſpleaſe our ſelves, when it comes to a point that we muſt do one or other? Is not our own Counſel of more value with us than Conformity to the will of the Creator? Do not our Judgments often run Counter to the Judgment of God? Have his Laws a greater reſpect from us, than our own humours. Do we ſcruple the ſtaining his honour when it comes in competition with our own? Are not the Lives of moſt men a pleaſing themſelves, without a repentance that ever they diſpleaſed God? Is not this to undeifie God, to deifie our ſelves, and diſown the propriety he hath in us by the right of Creation and Beneficence? We order our own ways by our own humours, as though we were the Authors of our own being, and had given our ſelves life and underſtanding. This is to deſtroy the order that God hath placed between our wills and his own, and a lifting up of the foot above the head; 'tis the deformity of the Creature: The honor of every rational Creature conſiſts in the ſervice of the firſt cauſe of his being; as the welfare of every Creature conſiſts in the orders and proportionable motion of its members, according to the Law of it's Creation.

He that moves and acts according to a law of his own, offers a manifeſt wrong to God, the higheſt wiſdom and chiefeſt good; diſturbs the order of the world; nulls the deſign of the righteouſneſs and holineſs of God: The Law of God is the rule of that order he would have obſerved in the world: He that makes another law his rule, thruſts out the order of the Creator, and eſtabliſhes the diſorder of the Creature.

But this will yet be more evident in the fourth thing.

4. Man would make himſelf the rule of God, and give Laws to his Creator. VVe are willing God ſhould be our benefactor, but not our ruler; we are content to admire his excellency and pay him a worſhip, provided he will walk by our rule.

**Decay of Chriſtian piety p. 169. ſomewhat changed.[This commits a riot upon his nature. To think him to be what we our ſelves would have him and wiſh him to be, Pſal. 50.21. VVe would amplifie his Mercy and contract his Juſtice: We would have his power enlarg'd to ſupply our wants, and ſtraightned when it goes about to revenge our crimes: VVe would have him wiſe to defeat our enemies, but not to diſappoint our unworthy projects: We would have him all eye to regard our indigence, and blind, not to diſcern our guilt: We would have him true to his promiſes, regardleſs of his precepts, and falſe to his threatnings. VVe would new mint the nature of God according to our models, and ſhape a God according to our fancies, as he made us at firſt according to his own Image:] Inſtead of obeying him, we would have him obey us: Inſtead of owning and admiring p. 75his perfections, we would have him ſtrip himſelf of his infinite excellency, and cloth himſelf with a nature agreeable to our own. This is not only to ſet up ſelf as the Law of God, but to make our own Imaginations the model of the nature of God.]

Corrupted man takes a pleaſure to accuſe or ſuſpect the actions of God: We would not have him act conveniently to his nature; but act what doth gratifie us, and abſtain from what diſtaſts us. Man is never well, but when he is impeaching one or other perfection of Gods Nature, and undermining his Glory; as if all his Attributes muſt ſtand Indicted at the bar of our purblind Reaſon: This Weed ſhoots up in the exerciſe of Grace: Peter intended the refuſal of our Saviours waſhing his feet, as an act of humility, but Chriſt underſtands it to be a preſcribing a law to himſelf, a correcting his love, John 13.8, 9.

This is evidenc'd.

1. In the ſtrivings againſt his Law. How many men imply by their Lives, that they would have God depos'd from his Government, and ſome unrighteous being, ſtep in to his Throne; as if God had or ſhould change his Laws of Holineſs into Laws of Licentiouſneſs; as if he ſhould abrogate his old Eternal Precepts and enact contrary ones in their ſtead? What is the Language of ſuch practices, but that they would be Gods Law-givers and not his Subjects? that he ſhould deal with them according to their own wills, and not according to his righteouſneſs? that they could make a more holy, wiſe and righteous Law than the Law of God? that their imaginations, and not Gods righteouſneſs, ſhould be the rule of his doing good to them? Jer. 9.31. They have forſaken my Law and walked after the imaginations of their own heart.

When an act is known to be a ſin, and the Law that forbids it acknowledg'd to be the Law of God, and after this a we perſiſt in that which is contrary to it, we tax his wiſdom as if he did not underſtand, what was convenient for us, we would teach God knowledge **Job. 21…Job 21; 'tis an implicite wiſh that God had laid aſide the holineſs of his nature, and framed a Law to pleaſure our luſts. When God calls for weeping and mourning and girding with ſackcloth upon approaching Judgments, then the corrupt heart is for joy and gladneſs, eating of Fleſh and drinking of Wine, becauſe to morrow they ſhould die **Iſa. … 13.Isa 13: As if God had miſtaken himſelf when he ordered them ſo much ſorrow, when their lives were ſo near an end; and had loſt his underſtanding when he ordered ſuch a precept: Diſobedience is therefore called contention, Rom. 2.8. Cententious and obey not the truth: Contention againſt God, whoſe truth it is that they diſobey; a diſpute with him, which hath more of wiſdom in it ſelf and conveniency for them, his truth or their imaginations. The more the love, goodneſs and holineſs of God appears in any command, the more are we naturally averſe from it, and caſt an imputation on him, as if he were fooliſh, unjuſt, cruel, and that we could have adviſed and directed him better. The goodneſs of God is eminent to us in appointing a day for his own worſhip, wherein we might converſe with him and he with us, and our ſouls be refreſht with ſpiritual Communications from him; and we rather uſe it for the eaſe of our bodies, than the advancement of our ſouls; as if God were miſtaken and injured his Creature, when he urg'd the ſpiritual part of duty. Every diſobedience to the Law is an implicite giving Law to him, and a charge againſt him that he might have provided better for his Creature.

2. In diſapproving the methods of Gods government of the world. If the Counſels of Heaven roul not about according to their ſchemes, inſtead of adoring the unſearchable depths of his judgments, they call him to the bar, and accuſe him, becauſe they are not fitted to their narrow Veſſels; as if a Nut-ſhell could contain an Ocean. As corrupt reaſon eſteems the higheſt truths, fooliſhneſs; ſo it counts the moſt righteous ways, unequal: Thus we commence a ſuit againſt God, as though he had not acted righteouſly and wiſely, but muſt give an account of his proceedings at our tribunal. This is to make our ſelves Gods ſuperiors, and preſume to inſtruct him better in the government of the world; As though God hinder'd himſelf and the world, in not making us of his Privy Counſel, and not ordering his affairs according to the contrivances of our dim underſtandings.

Is not this manifeſt in our immoderate complaints of Gods dealings with his Church, as though there were a coldneſs in Gods affections to his Church, and a p. 76glowing heat toward… it only in us? Hence are thoſe importunate deſires for things which are not eſtabliſhed by any promiſe, as though we would over-rule and over-perſwade God to comply with our humour. We have an ambition to be Gods Tutors and direct him in his Counſels: Who hath been his Counſellor, ſaith the Apoſtle? **Rom. 11.34.Rom 11:34Who ought not to be his Counſellor, ſaith corrupt nature? Men will find fault with God in what he ſuffers to be done according to their own minds, when they feel the bitter fruit of it. When Cain had kill'd his brother, and his Conſcience rackt him, how ſawcily and diſcontedly doth he anſwer God, Gen. 4.9. Am I my brothers keeper? Since thou doſt own thy ſelf the Rector of the world, thou ſhouldſt have preſerved his perſon from my fury; ſince thou doſt accept his Sacrifice before my Offering, preſervation was due as well as acceptance. If this temper be found on earth, no wonder it is lodged in hell. That deplorable perſon under the ſenſible ſtroke of Gods Soveraign juſtice, would oppoſe his Nay, to Gods will, Luke 16.30. (And he ſaid, nay, Father Abraham, but if one went to them from the dead, they will repent): He would preſume to preſcribe more effectual means than Moſes and the Prophets, to inform men of the danger they incurr'd by their ſenſuality: David was diſpleas'd, it's ſaid, 2 Sam. 6.8. When the Lord had made a breach upon Ʋzzah; not with Ʋzzah, who was the object of his pity, but with God who was the inflicter of that puniſhment.

When any of our friends have been ſtruck with a Rod againſt our Sentiments and wiſhes, have not our hearts been apt to ſwell in complaints againſt God, as though he diſregarded the goodneſs of ſuch a perſon, did not ſee with our eyes, and meaſure him by our eſteem of him? As if he ſhould have ask'd our Counſel, before he had reſolved, and managed himſelf according to our will, rather than his own. If he be patient to the wicked, we are apt to tax his holineſs, and accuſe him as an enemy to his own Law. If he inflict ſeverity upon the righteous, we are ready to ſuſpect his goodneſs, and charge him to be an enemy to his affectionate Creature. If he ſpare the Nimrods of the World, we are ready to ask where is the God of Judgment? **Mal 2.17.Mal 2:17If he afflict the Pillars of the Earth, we are ready to queſtion where is the God of Mercy? 'Tis impoſſible, ſince the depraved nature of man, and the various intereſts and paſſions in the world, that infinite power and wiſdome can act righteouſly for the good of the Univerſe, but he will ſhake ſome corrupt intereſt or other upon the earth; ſo various are the inclinations of men, and ſuch a Weather-cock Judgment hath every man in himſelf, that the divine method he applauds this day, upon a change of his intereſt he will cavil at the next: 'Tis impoſſible for the juſt orders of God to pleaſe the ſame perſon many weeks, ſcarce many minutes together: God muſt ceaſe to be God or to be a holy, if he ſhould manage the concerns of the world according to the fancies of men.

How unreaſonable is it thus to impoſe Laws upon God? Muſt God revoke his own orders? Govern according to the dictates of his Creature? Muſt God, who hath only power and wiſdom to ſway the Scepter, become the obedient Subject of every mans humour, and manage every thing to ſerve the deſign of a ſimple Creature? This is not to be God, but to ſet the Creature in his Throne: Though this be not formally done, yet that it is interpretatively and practically done, is every hours experience.

3. In impatience in our particular concerns. 'Tis ordinary with man to charge God in his complaints in the time of affliction. Therefore 'tis the commendation the Holy Ghoſt gives to Job, Job. 1.22. That in all this, that is, in thoſe many waves that roll'd over him, he did not charge God fooliſhly, he never ſpake nor thought any thing unworthy of the Majeſty and righteouſneſs of God: Yet afterwards we find him warping; he nicknames the affliction to be Gods oppreſſion of him, and no act of his goodneſs, Job. 10.3. Is it good for thee, that thou ſhouldſt oppreſs? He ſeems to charge God with injuſtice, for puniſhing him when he was not wicked, for which he appeals to God; thou knoweſt that I am not wicked, v. 7. and that God acted not like a Creator, v. 8.

If our projects are diſappointed, what fretfulneſs againſt Gods management are our hearts rackt with? How do uncomely paſſions bubble upon us, interpretatively at leaſt wiſhing that the arms of his power had been bound, and the eye of his omniſcience been hoodwinkt, that we might have been left to our own liberty and deſigns? And this oftentimes when we have more reaſon to bleſs him, than repine at him: The p. 77Iſraelites murmured more againſt God in the Wilderneſs, with Manna in their mouths, than they did at Pharoah in the Brickilns, with their Garlike and Onyons between their Teeth. Tho we repine at Inſtruments in our afflictions, yet God counts it a reflection upon himſelf: The Iſraelites ſpeaking againſt Moſes, was in Gods interpretation a Rebellion againſt himſelf.**Numb. 16.41 compar'd with 17, 10.Num 16:41 And Rebellion is alwaies a deſire of impoſing Laws and Conditions upon thoſe againſt whom the Rebellion is raiſed. The ſottiſh dealings of the Vine-dreſſers in Franconia with the Statue of St. Ʋrban, the Protector of the Vines upon his own day, is an Emblem of our dealing with God: If it be a clear day and portend a proſperous Vintage, they honour the Statue and drink healths to it; if it be a rainy day, and preſage a ſcantineſs, they daub it with durt in indignation. We caſt out our mire and durt againſt God when he acts croſs to our wiſhes, and flatter him when the wind of his Providence joyns it ſelf to the tide of our intereſt.

Men ſet a high price upon themſelves, and are angry God values them not at the ſame rate; as if their Judgment concerning themſelves, were more piercing than his. This is to diſannul Gods Judgment, and condemn him and count our ſelves righteous, as tis Job. 40.8. This is the Epidemical diſeaſe of human nature; they think they deſerve Careſſes inſtead of Rods, and upon croſſes are more ready to tear out the heart of God, than reflect humbly upon their own hearts. When we accuſe God, we applaud our ſelves, and make our ſelves his ſuperiors, intimating that we have acted more righteouſly to him than he to us, which is the higheſt manner of impoſing Laws upon him; as that Emperor accuſed the Juſtice of God for ſnatching him out of the World too ſeen.**Caelum ſuſpiciens vitam, &c. Vita Titi, ca. 10. What an high piece of Practical Atheiſm is this, to deſire that that infinite wiſdom ſhould be guided by our folly, and aſperſe the righteouſneſs of God rather than blemiſh our own? Inſtead of ſilently ſubmitting to his Will and adoring his Wiſdom, we declaim againſt him, as an unwiſe and unjuſt Governour: We would invert his order, make him the Steward and our ſelves the proprietors of what we are and have: we deny our ſelves to be ſinners and our mercies to be forfeited.

4. Tis evidenced, in Envying the gifts and proſperities of others. Envy hath a deep tincture of practical Atheiſm, and is a cauſe of Atheiſm.**Becauſe wicked men flouriſh in the world, Solicitor nullos eſſe putare Deos. We are unwilling to leave God to be the proprietor and do what he will with his own, and as a Creator to do what he pleaſes with his Creatures: We aſſume a liberty to direct God what Portions, when and how he ſhould beſtow upon his Creatures: We would not let him chuſe his own favourites, and pitch upon his own inſtruments for his Glory: As if God ſhould have aſkt Counſel of us how he ſhould diſpoſe of his benefits. We are unwilling to leave to his wiſdom the management of his own Judgments to the wicked, and the diſpenſation of his own love to our ſelves. This temper is natural: Tis as ancient as the firſt age of the world: Adam envyed God a felicity by himſelf, and would not ſpare a Tree that he had reſerved as a mark of his Soveraignty: The paſſion that God had given Cain to employ againſt his ſin, he turns againſt his Creator: He was wroth with God**Gen. 4.5.Gen 4:5 and with Abel; but envy was at the root, becauſe his Brothers Sacrifice was accepted and his refuſed. How could he envy his accepted perſon, without reflecting upon the accepter of his offering? Good men have not been free from it. Job queſtions the goodneſs of God, that he ſhould ſhine upon the Counſel of the wicked, Job. 10.3. Jonah had too much of ſelf in fearing to be counted a falſe Prophet, when he came with abſolute denunciations of wrath.Jonah 4.2.Jonah 4:2 And when he could not bring a volley of deſtroying Judgments upon the Ninevites, he would ſhoot his fury againſt his Maſter, envying thoſe poor people the benefit, and God the honour of his mercy: And this after he had been ſent into the Whales belly to learn humiliation; which tho he exerciſed there, yet thoſe two great branches of ſelf-pride and envy were not lopt off from him in the belly of hell. And God was fain to take pains with him, and by a Gourd, ſcarce makes him aſhamed of his peeviſhneſs. Envy is not like to ceaſe, till all Atheiſm be Caſhiered, and that is in Heaven.

This ſin is an imitation of the Devil, whoſe firſt ſin upon Earth was Envy, as his firſt ſin in Heaven was Pride. Tis a wiſhing that to our ſelves, which the Devil aſſerted as his right, to give the Kingdoms of the World to whom he pleaſed: **Luke 4.6.Luke 4:6Tis an anger with God, becauſe he hath not given us a Patent for Government. It utters p. 78the ſame Language in diſparagement of God, as Abſolom did in reflection on his Father. If I were King in Iſrael, Juſtice ſhould be better managed: If I were Lord of the world, there ſhould be more Wiſdom to diſcern the merits of men, and more righteouſneſs in diſtributing to them their ſeveral portions. Thus we impoſe Laws upon God, and would have the righteouſneſs of his Will ſubmit to the corruptions of ours, and have him lower himſelf to gratifie our minds, rather than fulfill his own: We charge the Author of thoſe gifts with injuſtice, that he hath not dealt equally; or with ignorance, that he hath miſtook his mark. In the ſame breath that we cenſure him by our peeviſhneſs, we would Guide him by our Wills.

This is an unreaſonable part of Atheiſm. If all were in the ſame ſtate and condition, the order of the world would be impaired: Is God bound to have a care of thee, and neglect all the world beſides? Shall the Earth be forſaken for thee? **Job. 18.4.Job 18:4Joſeph had reaſon to be diſpleaſed with his Brothers, if they had muttered, becauſe he gave Benjamin a double portion, and the reſt a ſingle. It was unfit that they, who had deſerved no gift at all, ſhould preſcribe him rules how to diſpenſe his own doles; much more unworthy it is to deal ſo with God; yet this is too rife.

5. It is evidenced, in corrupt matter or ends of Prayer and praiſe. When we are importunate for thoſe things, that we know not whither the righteouſneſs, holineſs, and wiſdom of God can grant, becauſe he hath not diſcovered his Will in any promiſe to beſtow them; we would then impoſe ſuch conditions on God, which he never oblidged himſelf to grant; when we pray for things not ſo much to glorifie God, which ought to be the end of Prayer, as to gratifie our ſelves. We acknowledg indeed by the act of petitioning, that there is a God; but we would have him un-God himſelf to be at our beck, and debaſe himſelf to ſerve our turns. When we deſire thoſe things, which are repugnant to thoſe attributes, whereby he doth manage the Government of the world; When by ſome ſuperficial ſervices we think we have gained indulgence to ſins: Which ſeems to be the thought of the Strumpet in her paying her vows, to wallowmore freely in the mire of her ſenſual pleaſures;**Pro. 7.14.Prov 7:14 I have peace offerings with me, this day I have paid my vows, I have made my peace with God, and have entertainment for thee: Or when men deſire God to bleſs them in the Commiſſion of ſome ſin. As when Balack and Balaam offered Sacrifices, that they might proſper in the Curſing of the Iſraelites, Numb. 25.1. &c.

So for a Man to pray to God to ſave him while he neglects the means of Salvation appointed by God: Or to renew him when he ſlights the Word, the only Inſtrument to that purpoſe: This is to impoſe Laws upon God, contrary to the declared Will and wiſdom of God, and to deſire him to ſlight his own inſtitutions. When we come into the preſence of God with luſts reeking in our hearts, and leap from ſin to duty, we would impoſe the Law of our corruption on the holineſs of God. While we pray the Will of God may be done, ſelf-love wiſhes its own will may be performed, as tho God ſhould ſerve our humors, when we will not obey his precepts. And when we make vows under any affliction, what is it often but a ſecret conontrivance to bend and flatter him to our conditions? We will ſerve him if he will reſtore us; we think thereby to compound the buſineſs with him and bring him down to our terms.

6. Tis evidenced; In poſitive and bold interpretations of the Judgments of God in the world. To interpret the Judgments of God to the diſadvantage of the ſufferer; unleſs it be an unuſual Judgment, and have a remarkable hand of God in it, and the ſin be rendred plainly legible in the affliction; is a preſumption of this nature. When men will Judge the Galileans, whoſe blood Pilate mingled with the Sacrifices, greater ſinners than others, and themſelves righteous, becauſe no drops of it were daſht upon them. Or when Shimei, being of the Houſe of Saul, ſhall Judge according to his own intereſt and deſires Davids flight upon Abſoloms rebellion to be a puniſhment for invading the rights of Sauls Family, and depriving him of the ſucceſſion in the Kingdom,2 Sam. 16.5.2 Sam 16:5 as if he had been of Gods Privy Counſel when he decreed ſuch acts of Juſtice in the world.

Thus we would faſten our own Wills as a Law or motive upon God, and interpret his acts according to the Motions of ſelf. Is it not too ordinary when God ſends an affliction upon thoſe that bear ill will to us, to Judge it to be a righting of p. 79our cauſe, to be a fruit of Gods concern for us in revenging our wrongs, as if we had heard the ſecrets of God, or as Eliphaz ſaith, had turned over the records of heaven, Job 15.8. This is a judgment according to ſelf-love, not a divine rule; and impoſeth Laws upon Heaven, implying a ſecret wiſh, that God would take care only of them, make our concerns his own; not in ways of kindneſs and juſtice, but according to our fancies: And this is common in the prophane World in thoſe curſes they ſo readily ſpit out upon any affront; as if God were bound to draw his Arrowes and ſhoot them into the heart of all their offenders at their beck and pleaſure.

7. It is evidenc'd. In mixing rules for the worſhip of God, with thoſe which have been ordered by him. Since men are moſt prone to live by ſenſe; 'tis no wonder that a ſenſible worſhip, which affects their outward ſence, with ſome kind of amazement, is dear to them, and ſpiritual worſhip, moſt loathſome.

Pompous rites have been the great Engine wherewith the Devil hath deceived the ſouls of men, and wrought them to a nauſeating the ſimplicity of divine worſhip, as unworthy the Majeſty and excellency of God.**2 Cor. 11.3.2 Cor 11:3 Thus the Jews would not underſtand the glory of the ſecond Temple in the preſence of the Meſſiah, becauſe it had not the pompous grandeur of that of Solomons erecting.

Hence in all Ages men have been forward to disfigure Gods models, and dreſs up a brat of their own; as though God had been defective in providing for his own honour in his inſtitutions without the aſſiſtance of his Creature. This hath alwayes been in the world: the old World had their imaginations, and the new World hath continued them. The Iſraelites in the midſt of miracles, and under the memory of a famous deliverance would erect a Calf. The Phariſes, that ſate in Moſes Chair, would coyn new Traditions and enjoyn them to be as currant as the Law of God.**Mat. 13.6.Matt 13:6 Papiſts will be blending the Chriſtian appointments with Pagan Ceremonies, to pleaſe the carnal fancies of the common people. Altars have been multiplied, under the knowledge of the Law of God.**Hoſ. 8.12.Hos 8:12 Intereſt is made the ballance of the conveniency of Gods injunctions. Jeroboam fitted a worſhip to politick ends, and poſted up Calves to prevent his ſubjects revolting from his Scepter, which might be occaſioned by their reſort to Hieruſalem, and converſe with the body of the people from whom they were ſeparated.**1 Kings 12.27.1 Kgs 12:27 Men will be putting in their own dictates with Gods Laws, and are unwilling he ſhould be the ſole Governour of the World without their Counſel: They will not ſuffer him to be Lord of that which is purely and ſolely his concern. How often hath the practice of the Primitive Church, the Cuſtom wherein we are bred, the Sentiments of our Anceſtors been owned as a more authentick rule in matters of Worſhip, than the mind of God delivered in his word? 'Tis natural by Creation to worſhip God; and it is as natural by corruption for man to worſhip him in a humane way, and not in a divine. Is not this to impoſe Laws upon God? To eſteem our ſelves wiſer than he? To think him negligent of his own ſervice, and that our feeble brains can find out ways to accommodate his honour, better than himſelf hath done? Thus do men for the moſt part equal their own imaginations to Gods oracles: As Solomon built a high place to Moloch and Chemoch, upon the Mount of Olives, to face on the Eaſt part Hieruſalem and the Temple: **1 Kings 11.7▪1 Kgs 11:7This is not only to impoſe Laws on God, but alſo to make ſelf the Standard of them.

8. 'Tis evidenc'd, in ſuting interpretations of Scripture to their own minds and humors. Like the Lacedemonians, that dreſt the Images of their Gods according to the faſhion of their own Countrey: We would wring Scripture to ſ…rve our own deſigns; and Judge the Law of God by the law of ſin; and make the Serpentine ſeed in us to be the interpreter of Divine Oracles. This is like Belſhazar; to drink healths out of the ſacred Veſſels. As God is the Author of his Law and Word, ſo he is the beſt interpreter of it; the Scripture having an impreſs of divine Wiſdom, Holineſs, and Goodneſs, muſt be regarded according to that impreſs, with a ſubmiſſion and meekneſs of Spirit and Reverence of God in it. But when in our enquiries into the word, we enquire not of God, but conſult fleſh and blood, the temper of the times wherein we live, or the ſatisfaction of a party we ſide withal, and impoſe gloſſes upon it according to our own fancies; it is to put Laws upon God and make ſelf the rule of him. He that interprets the law, to bolſter up ſome eager appetite againſt the Will of the law-giver, aſcribes to himſelf as great an authority as he that enacted it.

p. 809. In falling off from God after ſome fair compliances, when his Will grateth upon us and croſſeth ours. They will walk with him as far as he pleaſeth them, and leave him upon the firſt diſtaſt, as tho God muſt obſerve their humors more than they his Will. Amos muſt be ſuſpended from Prophecying, becauſe the Land could not bear his words, and his diſcourſes condemned their unworthy practices againſt God.**Amos. 7.10. &c.Amos 7:10 The Young man came not to receive directions from our Saviour, but expected a Confirmation of his own rules, rather than an impoſition of new.**Mark 10.17, 22.Mark 10:17Mark 10:22 He rather cares for Commendations than inſtructions, and upon the diſappointment turns his back; He was ſad, that Chriſt would not ſuffer him to be rich and a Chriſtian together, and leaves him becauſe his Command was not ſuitable to the Law of his Covetouſneſs. Some truths that are at a further diſtance from us, we can hear gladly. But when the Conſcience begins to ſmart under others, if God will not obſerve our Wills, we will with Herod be a Law to our ſelves.**Mark 6.2….27.Mark 6:2Mark 6:27

More inſtances might be obſerved.

Ingratitude is a ſetting up ſelf, and an impoſing Laws on God. Tis as much as to ſay God did no more than he was obliged to do; as if the Mercies we have, were an Act of Duty in God and not of bounty. Inſatiable deſires after wealth. Hence are thoſe ſpeeches, Jam. 4.13. We will go into ſuch a City and buy and ſell, &c. to get gain. As tho they had the Command of God, and God muſt Lacquey after their Wills. VVhen our hearts are not contented with any ſupply of our wants, but are craving an overplus for our luſt: When we are unſatisfied in the midſt of plenty, and ſtill like the Grave, cry give, give.

Incorrigibleneſs under affliction, &c.

Secondly, 2. The ſecond main thing. As Man would be a Law to himſelf; So he would be his own end and happineſs in oppoſition to God.

Here four things ſhall be diſcourſed on.

1. Man would make himſelf his own End and Happineſs.

2. He would make any thing his End and Happineſs rather than God.

3. He would make himſelf the End of all Creatures.

4. He would make himſelf the End of God.

Firſt, 1. Man would make himſelf his own End and Happineſs. As God ought to be eſteem'd the firſt cauſe, in point of our dependance on him, ſo he ought to be our laſt end, in point of our enjoyment of him. When we therefore truſt in our ſelves, we refuſe him as the firſt cauſe; and when we act for our ſelves and expect a bleſſedneſs from our ſelves, we refuſe him as the Chiefeſt good, and laſt End, which is an undeniable piece of Atheiſm. For man is a Creature of a higher rank than others in the world; and was not made as Animals, Plants, and other works of the Divine power, materially to glorifie God; but a rational Creature, intentionally to Honour God by obedience to his Rule, dependance on his goodneſs and zeal for his glory. Tis therefore as much a ſlighting of God, for man, a Creature, to ſet himſelf up as his own End, as to regard himſelf as his own Law.

For the diſcovery of this, obſerve that there is a three-fold ſelf-love.

1. Natural, which is common to us by the Law of nature with other Creatures, Inanimate, as well as Animate; and ſo cloſely twiſted with the nature of every Creature, that it cannot be diſſolved, but with the diſſolution of nature it ſelf. It conſiſted not with the wiſdom and goodneſs of God to Create an unnatural nature, or to Command any thing unnatural: Nor doth he; for when he Commands us to Sacrifice out Selves, and deareſt lives for himſelf, tis not without a promiſe of a more noble ſtate and being, in exchange for what we loſe. This ſelf-love is not only commendable, but neceſſary, as a Rule to meaſure that duty we owe to our Neighbour, whom we cannot love as our ſelves, if we do not firſt love our ſelvs: God having planted this ſelf-love in our nature, makes this natural principle the meaſure of our affection to all Mankind of the ſame blood with our ſelves.

2. Carnal ſelf-love, when a man loves himſelf above God, in oppoſition to God, with a contempt of God; when our thoughts, affections, deſigns, Center only in our own fleſhly intereſt; and rifle God of his honour, to make a preſent of it to our ſelves: Thus the natural ſelf-love, in it ſelf good, becomes Criminal by the exceſs, when it would be ſuperior and not ſubordinate to God.

p. 813. A Gracious ſelf-love: VVhen we love our ſelves for higher ends than the nature of a Creature, as a Creature dictates, Viz. in ſubſerviency to the Glory of God. This is a reduction of the revolted Creature, to his true and happy order. A Chriſtian is therefore ſaid to be Created in Chriſt to good works. **Eph. 1, 10.Eph 1:10As all Creatures were Created, not only for themſelves, but for the honour of God; ſo the Grace of the new Creation carries a man to anſwer this end, and to order all his operations to the Honour of God, and his well pleaſing.

The firſt is from nature, the ſecond from ſin, the third from Grace. The firſt is implanted by Creation, the ſecond the fruit of Corruption, and the third is by the powerful operation of Grace.

This Carnal ſelf-love is ſet up in the ſtead of God as our laſt end; like the Sea, which all the little and great ſtreams of our actions run to, and reſt in.

And this is,

1. Natural. It ſticks as cloſe to us as our Souls; it is as natural as ſin; the foundation of all the evil in the world: As ſelf-abhorrency is the firſt ſtone that is laid in Converſion: So an inordinate ſelf-love was the firſt in let to all iniquity: As Grace is a riſing from ſelf to Center in God; ſo is ſin a ſhrinking from God, into the mire of a Carnal ſelfiſhneſs: Since every Creature is neareſt to it ſelf and next to God, it cannot fall from God, but muſt immediatly ſink into ſelf. M…r…, Dial. 2. § 17. pa. 274.And therefore all ſins are well ſaid to be branches, or modi…ations of this fundamental paſſion. What is wrath, but a defence and ſtrengthning ſelf, againſt the attempts of ſome real or imaginary evil? Whence ſprings envy, but from a ſelf love, grieved at its own wants in the midſt of anothers enjoyment, able to ſupply it? What is impatience, but a regret, that ſelf is not provided for at the rate of our wiſh, and that it hath met with a ſhock againſt ſuppoſed merit? What is pride, but a ſenſe of ſelfworth, a deſire to have ſelf of a higher Elevation than others? What is drunkenneſs, but a ſeeking a ſatisfaction for ſenſual ſelf in the ſpoils of reaſon? No ſin is committed as ſin, but as it pretends a ſelf-ſatisfaction. Sin indeed may well be term'd a mans ſelf, becauſe it is, ſince the loſs of original righteouſneſs, the form that overſpreads every part of our Souls. the underſtanding aſſents to nothing falſe, but under the Notion of true, and the Will embraceth nothing evil but under the Notion of good; but the rule whereby we meaſure the truth and goodneſs of propoſed objects, is not the unerring word, but the inclinations of ſelf, the gratifying of which is the aim of our whole lives.

Sin and ſelf are all one: What is called a living to ſin in one place,**Rom. 6.Rom 6 is called a living to ſelf in another:**1 Cor. 5.15.1 Cor 5:15 That they that live ſhould not live unto themſelves. And upon this account it is that both the Hebrew word, foreign and the Greek word, foreign, uſed in Scripture to expreſs ſin, properly ſignifie to miſs the mark, and ſwerve from that white to which all our actions ſhould be directed, viz. the glory of God. When we fell to loving our ſelves, we fell from loving God: And therefore when the Pſalmiſt ſaith, Pſal. 14.2. there were none that ſought God, viz. as the laſt end; he preſently adds, they are all gone aſide, viz. from their true mark, and therefore become filthy.

2. Since tis natural, Tis alſo univerſal. **Pſa. 14.1.Ps 14:1The not ſeeking God is as univerſal as our ignorance of him. No Man in a ſtate of nature, but hath it predominant; no renewed Man on this ſide Heaven, but hath it partially: The one hath it flouriſhing, the other hath it ſtrugling. If to aim at the glory of God as the chief end, and not to live to our ſelves, be the greateſt mark of the reſtauration of the Divine Image,**1 Cor. 5.15.1 Cor 5:15 and a conformity to Chriſt, who glorified not himſelf, **Heb. 1.5.Heb 1:5but the Father: **Joh. 17.4.John 17:4then every man wallowing in the mire of Corrupt nature, pays a homage to ſelf, as a renewed Man is byaſt by the honour of God.

The Holy-Ghoſt excepts none from this Crime, Phil. 2.21. All ſeek their own. Tis rare for them to look above or beyond themſelves: Whatſoever may be the immediate ſubject of their thoughts and enquiries, yet the utmoſt end and ſtage, is their profit, honour or pleaſure: Whatever it be, that immediatly poſſeſſes the Mind and VVill, ſelf ſits like a Queen, and ſways the Scepter, and orders things at that rate, that God is Excluded, and can find no room in all his thoughts, Pſa. 10.4. The wicked through the pride of his Countenance will not ſeek after God, God is not p. 82in all his thoughts. The whole little World of Man is ſo overflowed with a Deluge of ſelf, that the Dove, the Glory of the Creator, can find no Place where to ſet its Foot; and if ever it gain the favour of Admittance, 'tis to diſguiſe and be a Vaſſal to ſome carnal Project; as the Glory of God was a Mask for the murdering his Servants.

'Tis from the Power of this Principle, that the difficulty of Converſion ariſeth. As there is no greater pleaſure to a believing Soul, than the giving it ſelf up to God; and no ſtronger deſire in him, than to have a fixed and unchangeable Will to ſerve the deſigns of his Honour: So there is no greater torment to a wicked Man, than to part with his carnal Ends, and lay down the Dagon of ſelf at the feet of the Ark. Self-Love, and Self-Opinion in the Phariſees, way-layd all the entertainment of Truth, John 5.44. They ſought Honour one of another, and not the Honour which comes from God. 'Tis of ſo large an Extent, and ſo inſinuating Nature, that it winds it ſelf into the exerciſe of moral Virtues, mixeth with our Charity, Matt. 6.2. and finds nouriſhment in the Aſhes of Martyrdom, 1 Cor. 13.3.

This making our ſelves our End, will appear in a few things.

1. In frequent ſelf Applauſes, and inward overweening Reflections. Nothing more ordinary in the Natures of Men, than a dotage on their own Perfections, Acquiſitions, or Actions in the World: Moſt think of themſelves above what they ought to think, Rom. 12.3, 4. Few think of themſelves ſo meanly as they ought to think. This ſticks as cloſe to us as our Skin. And as Humility is the Beauty of Grace, this is the filthieſt Soyl of Nature: Our thoughts run more delightfully upon the track of our own Perfections, than the excellency of God. And when we find any thing of a ſeeming worth, that may make us glitter in the eyes of the World; how chearfully do we graſp and embrace our ſelves? When the groſſer Prophaneſſes of Men have been diſcarded, and the Flouds of them damm'd up; the Head of Corruption, whence they ſprang, will ſwell the higher within, in ſelf-applauding ſpeculations of their own Reformation, without acknowledgements of their own weakneſſes, and deſires of Divine Aſſiſtance to make a further Progreſs. I thank God I am not like this Publican. **Luke 18.11.Luke 18:11A ſelf-reflection, with a contempt rather than compaſſion to his Neighbor, is frequent in every Phariſee. The vapors of ſelf-affections, in our clouded underſtandings, like thoſe in the Air in miſty mornings, alter the appearance of things, and make them look bigger than they are. This is thought by ſome to be the Sin of the fallen Angels, who reflecting upon their own natural Excellency ſuperior to other Creatures, would find a Bleſſedneſs in their own Nature, as God did in his; and make themſelves the laſt end of their Actions. 'Tis from this Principle we are naturally ſo ready to compare our ſelves, rather with thoſe that are below us, than with thoſe that are above us; and often think thoſe that are above us, inferior to us, and ſecretly glory that we are become none of the meaneſt and loweſt in natural or moral Excellencies.

How far were the gracious Pen-men of the Scripture from this, who when poſſeſſed and directed by the Spirit of God, and filled with a Sence of him; inſtead of applauding themſelves, publiſh upon Record their own faults to all the Eyes of the World? And if Peter, as ſome think, dictated the Goſpel which Mark wrote as his Amanuenſis; 'tis obſervable, that his Crime in denying his Maſter, is aggravated in that Goſpel in ſome Circumſtances, and leſs ſpoken of his Repentance, than in the other Evangeliſts: When he thought thereon, he wept. **Mark 14.72.Mark 14:72But in the other, He went out and wept bitterly.**Matt. 26 75.Matt 26:75

**Luke 22.62.Luke 22:62This is one part of Atheiſm and Self-Idolatry, to magnifie our ſelves with the Forgetfulneſs, and to the injury of our Creator.

2. In aſcribing the glory of what we do or have, to our ſelves, to our own Wiſdom, Power, Vertue, &c. How flaunting is Nebuchadnezzar, at the Proſpect of Babilon, which he had exalted to be the Head of ſo great an Empire, Dan. 4.30? Is not this great Babilon that I have built? For, &c. He ſtruts upon the Battlements of his Palace, as if there were no God but himſelf in the World, while his eye could not but ſee the Heavens above him to be none of his own framing; attributing his Acquiſitions to his own Arm, and referring them to his own Honour, for his own delight; not for the Honour of God, as a Creature ought; nor for the advantage of his Subjects, as the Duty of a Prince: He regards Babilon as his p. 83Heaven, and himſelf as his Idol, as if he were all, and God nothing. An Example of this we have in the preſent Age. But it is often obſerved, that God vindicates his own Honour, brings the moſt heroical men to contempt and unfortunate ends, as a puniſhment of their Pride, as he did here, Dan. 4.31. While the Word was in the Kings Mouth, there fell a Voice from Heaven, &c.**Sanderſons Sermons. This was Herods Crime, to ſuffer others to do it: He had diſcovered his Eloquence actively, and made himſelf his own end paſſively, in approving the flatteries of the people; and offered not with one hand to God the glory, he received from his people with the other.Acts 12.22, 23.Acts 12:22Acts 12:23 Samoſatenus is reported to put down the Hymnes which were ſung for the glory of God and Chriſt, and cauſed Songs to be ſung in the Temple for his own Honour.

When any thing ſucceeds well, we are ready to attribute it to our own Prudence, and Induſtry: If we meet with a Croſs, we fret againſt the Stars and Fortune, and ſecond Cauſes, and ſometimes againſt God; as they curſe God as well as their King, Eſa. 8.21. not acknowledging any defect in themſelves. The Pſalmiſt by his Repetition of Not unto us, not unto us, but to thy Name give Glory, Pſal. 115.1. implies the naturality of this temper, and the difficulty to cleanſe our Hearts from thoſe Self-reflections. If it be Angelical to refuſe an undue Glory ſtollen from Gods Throne, Revela. 22.8, 9. 'tis Diabolical to accept and cheriſh it. To ſeek our own Glory is not Glory, Pro. 25.27. 'Tis vile, and the diſhonour of a Creature, who by the Law of his Creation is referred to another end. So much as we ſacrifice to our own credit, to the dexterity of our hands, or the ſagacity of our wit, we detract from God.

3. In deſires to have ſelf-pleaſing Doctrines. When we cannot endure to hear any thing that croſſes the Fleſh; though the wiſe man tells us, 'tis better to hear the Rebuke of the Wiſe, than the Song of Fools, Eccles. 7.5. If Hanani the Seer reprove King Aſa for not relying on the Lord; his paſſion ſhall be armed for ſelf againſt the Prophet, and arreſt him a Priſoner, 2 Cron. 16.10. If Micaiah declare to Ahab the Evil that ſhall befall him, Amon the Governour ſhall receive Orders to clap him up in a Dungeon. Fire doth not ſooner ſeize upon combuſtible matter, than Fury will be kindled, if ſelf be but pincht. This intereſt of luſtful ſelf barr'd the heart of Herodias againſt the entertainment of the Truth, and cauſed her ſavagely to dip her hands in the blood of the Baptiſt, to make him a Sacrifice to that inward Idol Mark 6.18, 19, 28.Mark 6:18Mark 6:19Mark 6:28.

4. In being highly concerned for Injuries done to our ſelves, and little or not at all concerned for Injuries done to God. How will the blood riſe in us, when our Honour and Reputation is invaded, and ſcarce reflect upon the Diſhonour God ſuffers in our ſight and hearing. Violent Paſſions will transform us into Bonarges in the one Caſe, and our unconcernedneſs render us Gallios in the other. We ſhall extenuate that which concerns God, and aggravate that which concerns our ſelves. Nothing but the Death of Jonathan, a firſt born and a generous Son, will ſatisfie his Father Saul, when the Authority of his Edict was broken by his taſting of Hony; though he had recompenſed his Crime committed in Ignorance, by the Purchaſe of a Gallant Victory. But when the Authority of God was violated in ſaving the Amalekites Cattel, againſt the Command of a greater Soveraign than himſelf; he can daub the buſines, and excuſe it with a Deſign of ſacrificing. He was not ſo earneſt in hindring the people from the breach of Gods Command, as he was in vindicating the Honour of his own: 1 Sam. 15.21.1 Sam 15:21He could hardly admit of an excuſe to ſalve his own Honour; but in the Concerns of Gods Honour, pretend Piety, to cloak his Avarice.

And it is often ſeen, when the violation of Gods Authority, and the ſtain of our own Reputation are coupled together; we are more troubled for what diſgraces us, than for what diſhonours God: When Saul had thus tranſgreſt, he is deſirous that Samuel would turn again to preſerve his own honour before the Elders, rather than grieved that he had broken the Command of God, v. 30.

5. In truſting in our ſelves. When we conſult with our own Wit and Wiſdom, more than inquire of God, and ask leave of him: As the Aſſyrian, Iſa. 10.13. By the Strength of my hands I have done it, and by my Wiſdom, for I am prudent. When we attempt things in the ſtrengh of our own heads and parts, and truſt in our own Induſtry, without application to God, for Direction, Bleſſing and Succeſs, we affect the priviledge of the Deity, and make Gods of our ſelves. The ſame language in reality with Ajax in Sophocles: Others think to overcome with the aſſiſtance of the Gods, p. 84but I hope to gain Honour without them. Dependence and Truſt is an act due from the Creature only to God. Hence God aggravates the crime of the Jews in truſting in Egypt, Iſa. 31.3. the Egyptians are men and not Gods. Confidence in our ſelves is a defection from God, Jer. 17.5. And when we depart from and caſt off God to depend upon our ſelves, which is but an arm of fleſh, we chuſe the arm of fleſh for our God; We rob God of that confidence, we ought to place in him, and that adoration which is due to him, and build it upon another foundation: Not that we are to neglect the reaſon and parts God hath given us, or ſpend more time in prayer than in conſulting about our own affairs; but to mix our own intentions in buſineſs, with Ejaculations to heaven, and take God a long with us in every motion: But certainly it is an Idolizing of ſelf, when we are more diligent in our attendance on our own wit, than fervent in our recourſes to God.

6. The power of ſinful ſelf, above the efficacy of the notion of God, is evident in our workings for carnal ſelf againſt the light of our own Conſciences. When men of ſublime reaſon, and clear natural wiſdom, are voluntary ſlaves to their own luſts, row againſt the ſtream of their own Conſciences, ſerve carnal ſelf with a diſgraceful and diſturbing drudgery, making it their God, ſacrificing natural ſelf, all Sentiments of virtue, and the quiet of their lives, to the pleaſure, honour, and ſatisfaction of carnal ſelf: This is a proſtituting God in his Deputy Conſcience, to carnal affections, when their eyes are ſhut againſt the inlightnings of it, and their ears deaf to its voice, but open to the leaſt breath and whiſper of ſelf: A debt that the Creature owes Supremely to God.

Much more might be ſaid, but let us ſee what Atheiſm lurks in this, and how it intrencheth upon God.

1. 'Tis a uſurping God's prerogative. 'Tis Gods prerogative to be his own end, and act for his own glory; becauſe there is nothing Superior to him in Excellency and Goodneſs to act for: He had not his Being from any thing without himſelf, whereby he ſhould be obliged to act for any thing but himſelf. To make our ſelves then our laſt End, is to corrival God in his being, the Supreme Good, and Bleſſedneſs to himſelf: As if we were our own Principle, the Author of our own Being, and were not obliged to a higher Power than our ſelves, for what we are and have. To direct the Lines of all our Motions to our ſelves, is to imply that they firſt iſſued only from our ſelves. When we are Rivals to God in his chief end, we own or deſire to be Rivals to him in the principle of his being: This is to ſet our ſelves in the place of God. All things have ſomething without them, and above them as their end: All inferior Creatures act for ſome Superior order in the rank of Creation; the leſſer animals are deſign'd for the greater, and all for man: Man therefore for ſomething nobler than himſelf. To make our ſelves therefore our own end, is to deny any Superior, to whom we are to direct our actions. God alone being the Supreme being, can be his own ultimate end: For if there were any thing higher and better than God, the purity and righteouſneſs of his own Nature would cauſe him to act for and toward that as his chiefeſt mark: This is the higheſt Sacriledge, to alienate the proper good and rights of God, and employ them for our own uſe; to ſteal from him his own honour, and put it into our own Cabinets; like thoſe birds that raviſht the Sacrifice from the Altar and carried it to their own neſts**Sabunde tit. 140.: When we love only our ſelves, and act for no other end but our ſelves, we inveſt our ſelves with the Dominion which is the right of God, and take the Crown from his head: For as the Crown belongs to the King; ſo to love his own Will, to Will by his own Will and for himſelf, is the property of God; becauſe he hath no other Will, no other End above him to be the rule and ſcope of his actions.

When therefore vve are by ſelf-love transformed vvholly into our ſelves, vve make our ſelves our ovvn foundation, vvithout God and againſt God; vvhen vve mind our ovvn glory and praiſe, vve would have a Royal State equal vvith God, who Created all things for himſelf. **Pro. 16.4.Prov 16:4What can man do more for God than he naturally doth for himſelf, ſince he doth all thoſe things for himſelf vvhichwhich he ſhould do for God? We ovvn our ſelves to be our own Creators and Benefactors, and fling off all Sentiments of gratitude to him.

2. It is a vilifying of God. When vve make our ſelves our End, 'tis plain language that God is not our happineſs: We poſt-pone God to our ſelves, as if he vvere p. 85not an object ſo excellent and fit for our love as our ſelves are: (for it is irrational to make that our end, which is not God, and not the chiefeſt good) Tis to deny him to be better than we, to make him not to be ſo good as our ſelves, and ſo fit to be our chiefeſt good as our ſelves are; that he hath not deſerved any ſuch acknowledgment at our hands by all that he hath done for us: We aſſert our ſelves his ſuperiors by ſuch kind of acting, tho we are infinitely more inferior to God than any Creature can be to us. Man cannot diſhonour God more than by referring that to his own glory, which God made for his own praiſe, upon account whereof he only hath a right to glory and praiſe and none elſe. He thus changeth the glory of the incorruptible God into a Corruptible Image; **Rom. 1.23.Rom 1:23a periſhing fame and reputation, which extends but little beyond the limits of his own habitation; or if it doth, ſurvives but a few years, and periſhes at laſt with the age wherein he lived.

3. Tis as much as in us lies a deſtroying of God. By this temper we deſtroy that God that made us, becauſe we deſtroy his intention and his honour. God cannot outlive his Will and his Glory: Becauſe he cannot have any other Rule but his own Will, or any other end but his own Honour. The ſetting up ſelf as our end, puts a nullity upon the true Deity; by paying to our ſelves that reſpect and honour which is due to God, we make the true God as no God. VVhoſoever makes himſelf a King of his Princes rights and Territories, manifeſts an intent to throw him out of his Government: To chuſe our ſelves as our end is to undeifie God, ſince to be the laſt end of a rational Creature is a right inſeparable from the nature of the Deity; and therefore not to ſet God, but ſelf always before us, is to acknowledge no being but our ſelves to be God.

Secondly, 2. The ſecond thing, Man would make any thing his End and happineſs rather than God. An end is ſo neceſſary in all our actions, that he deſerves not the name of a rational Creature, that propoſeth not one to himſelf. This is the diſtinction between rational Creatures and others; they act with a formal intention, whereas other Creatures are directed to their end by a natural inſtinct, and moved by nature to what the others ſhould be moved by reaſon: When a Man therefore Acts for that end, which was not intended him by the Law of his Creation, nor is ſuited to the noble faculties of his Soul; He acts contrary to God, overturns his order, and merits no better a title than that of an Atheiſt.

A Man may be ſaid two ways to make a thing his laſt end and chief good.

1. Formally. When he actually Judges this or that thing to be his chiefeſt good, and orders all things to it. So Man doth not formally Judge ſin to be good, or any object which is the incentive of ſin to be his laſt end: This cannot be while he hath the exerciſe of his rational faculties.

2. Vertually and implicitely. When he loves any thing againſt the Command of God, and preferrs in the ſtream of his actions the enjoyment of that, before the fruition of God; and lays out more ſtrength and expends more time in the gaining that, than anſwering the true end of his Creation: VVhen he acts ſo as if ſomething below God could make him happy without God, or that God could not make him happy without the addition of ſomething elſe. Thus the Glutton makes a God of his dainties; the ambitious Man of his Honour; the incontinent Man of his luſt; and the Covetous Man of his wealth; and Conſequently eſteems them as his chiefeſt good, and the moſt noble end, to which he directs his thoughts: Thus he vilifies and leſſens the true God, which can make him happy, in a multitude of falſe Gods, that can only render him miſerable. He that loves pleaſure more than God, ſays in his heart there is no God but his pleaſure. He that loves his belly more than God, ſays in his heart there is no God but his belly: Their happineſs is not accounted to lie in that God that made the World, but in the pleaſure or profit they make their God.

In this, tho a Created object be the immediate and ſubordinate term to which we turn, yet principally and ultimately, the affection to it terminates in ſelf: Nothing is naturally entertained by us, but as it affects our ſenſe or mingles with ſome promiſe of advantage to us.

This is ſeen,

1. In the fewer thoughts we have of God than of any thing elſe. Did we apprehend God to be our chiefeſt good and higheſt end, ſhould we grudge him the pains of a few days thoughts upon him? Men in their Travells are frequently p. 86thinking upon their intended ſtage: But our thoughts run upon new acquiſitions to increaſe our wealth, rear up our Families, Revenge our injuries and ſupport our reputation: Trifles poſſeſs us; but God is not in all our thoughts, **Pſa. 10.4.Ps 10:4ſeldom the ſole object of them. VVe have durable thoughts of tranſitory things, and flitting thoughts of a durable and Eternal good. The Covenant of grace engageth the whole heart to God, and bars any thing elſe from ingroſſing it: But what ſtrangers are God and the Souls of moſt men? Though we have the knowledge of him by Creation, yet he is for the moſt part an unknown God in the Relations wherein he ſtands to us, becauſe a God undelighted in: Hence it is, as one obeſerves,**Jackſon vol. book 1. cap. 14. pa. 48. that becauſe we obſerve not the ways of Gods wiſdom, conceive not of him in his vaſt perfections, nor are ſtricken with an admiration of his goodneſs, that we have fewer good ſacred Poems, than of any other kind. The wits of Men hang the wing when they come to exerciſe their reaſons and fancies about God. Parts and ſtrength are given us, as well as Corn and Wine to the Iſralites for the ſervice of God; but thoſe are Conſecrated to ſome Curſed Baal. **Hoſ. 2.8.Hos 2:8Like Venus in the Poet, we forſake Heaven to follow ſome Adonis.

2. In the greedy purſuit of the World. **Quod quiſ que prae caeteris petit, ſummum judicat bonum. B…et. lib. 3. pa. 24.When we purſue worldly wealth or worldly reputation with more vehemency than the riches of grace, or the favour of God. VVhen we have a fooliſh imagination, that our happineſs conſiſts in them, we prefer Earth before Heaven, broken Ciſterns which can hold no water, before an ever Springing Fountain of glory and bliſs: And, as tho there were a defect in God, cannot be content with him as our portion, without an addition of ſomething inferior to him: VVhen we make it our hopes and ſay to the wedge thou art my Confidence; and rejoyce more becauſe it is great, and becauſe our hand hath gotten much, than in the priviledge of Communion with God and the promiſe of an everlaſting fruition of him.**Job. 31.24.25.Job 31:24Job 31:25 This is ſo groſs, that Job joyns it with the Idolatry of the Sun and Moon, which he purgeth himſelf of, ver. 26. And the Apoſtle when he mentions Covetouſneſs or Covetous men, paſſes it not over without the title of Idolatry to the vice, and Idolater to the perſon:**Col. 3.5. Eph. 5.5.Col 3:5Eph 5:5 In that it is a preferring Clay and Dirt as an end more deſirable than the original of all goodneſs, in regard of affection and dependence.

3. In a ſtrong addictedneſs to ſenſual pleaſures, Phil. 3.19. VVho make their belly their God; ſubjecting the truths of God to the maintenance of their Luxury. In debaſing the higher faculties to project for the ſatisfaction of the ſenſitive appetite as their chief happineſs, whereby many render themſelves no better than a rout of ſublimated brutes among men, and groſs Atheiſts to God. VVhen mens thoughts run alſo upon inventing new methods to ſatisfie their beſtial appetite, forſaking the pleaſures which are to be had in God, which are the delights of Angels for the ſatisfaction of brutes: This is an open and unqueſtionable refuſal of God for our end, when our reſt is in them, as if they were the chief good, and not God.

4. In paying a ſervice upon any ſucceſs in the World, to Inſtruments more than to God the Soveraign Author. VVhen they Sacrifice to their Net, and burn incenſe to their Drag. **Hab. 1.16.Hab 1:16Not that the Aſſyrian did offer a Sacrifice to his arms, but aſcrib'd to them, what was due only to God, and appropriated the Victory to his forces and arms. The Prophet alludes to thoſe that worſhipped their VVarlike Inſtruments, whereby they had attained great Victories; and thoſe Artificers who worſhipped the Tools by which they had purchaſed great wealth, in the ſtead of God; preferring them as the cauſes of their happineſs before God who governs the world.

And are not our affections, upon the receiving of good things, more cloſely fixed to the Inſtruments of Conveyance, than to the chief benefactor, from whoſe Coffers they are taken? Do we not more delight in them and hug them, with a greater indearedneſs; as if all our happineſs depended on them, and God were no more than a bare ſpectator? Juſt as if when a Man were warmed by a beam, he ſhould adore that and not admire the Sun, that darts it out upon him.

5. In paying a reſpect to Man more than God. VVhen in a publick attendance on his ſervice, we will not laugh, or be gariſh, becauſe Men ſee us: But our hearts ſhall be in a ridiculous poſture, playing with Feathers and trifling fancies, tho God ſee us; p. 87as tho our happineſs conſiſted in the pleaſing of Men, and our miſery in a reſpect to God: There is no fool that ſaith in his heart there is no God; but he ſets up ſomething in his heart as a God.

This is.

1. A debaſing of God. 1. In ſetting up a Creature. It ſpeaks God leſs amiable than the Creature, ſhort of thoſe perfections, which ſome ſilly ſordid thing which hath engroſſed their affections, is poſſeſſed with: As if the cauſe of all being could be tranſcended by his Creature, and a vile luſt could equal, yea, ſurmount the Lovelineſs of God: Tis to ſay to God as the rich to the poor, James 2.3. Stand thou there or ſit here under my foot-ſtool: Tis to ſink him below the mire of the world, to order him to come down from his glorious throne, and take his place below a contemptible Creature, which in regard of its infinite diſtance is not to be compared with him. It ſtrips God of the love that is due to him by the right of his nature and the greatneſs of his Dignity; and of the truſt that is due to him, as the firſt cauſe and the chiefeſt good, as tho he were too feeble and mean to be our bleſſedneſs. This is intolerable, to make that which is Gods foot-ſtool, the Earth, to climb up into his throne; to ſet that in our heart which God hath made even below our ſelves and put under our feet; to make that which we trample upon, to diſpoſe of the right God hath to our hearts;**Neremberg de adorat. p. 30. Tis worſe than if a Queen ſhould fall in love with the little Image of the Prince in the Palace, and ſlight the beauty of his perſon; and as if people ſhould adore the foot-ſteps of a King in the dirt, and turn their backs upon his preſence.

2. It doth more debaſe him to ſet up a ſin, a luſt, a carnal affection, as our chief end. To ſteal away the Honour due to God, and appropriate it to that which is no work of his hands, to that which is loathſome in his ſight, hath diſturbed his reſt, and wrung out his juſt breath to kindle a Hell for its Eternal lodging, a God diſhonouring and a Soul Murdering luſt, is worſe than to prefer Barabbas before Chriſt. The baſer the thing, the worſe is the injury to him with whom we would aſſociate it. If it were ſome generous principle, a thing uſeful to the world, that we place in an equality with, or a ſuperiority above him; tho it were a vile uſage, yet it were not altogether ſo Criminal: But to gratifie ſome unworthy appetite, with the diſpleaſure of the Creator, ſomething below the rational nature of Man, much more infinitely below the excellent Majeſty of God, is a more unworthy uſage of him. To advance one of the moſt vertuous Nobles in a Kingdom as a mark of our ſervice and ſubjection, is not ſo diſhonourable to a deſpiſed Prince, as to take a Scabby Begger, or a rotten Carcaſs to place in his throne. Creeping things, abominable beaſts, the Egyptian Idols, Cats and Crocodiles, were greater abominations, and a greater deſpite done to God, than the Image of Jealouſy at the gate of the Altar.**Ezek. 8.5, 6, 10.Ezek 8:5Ezek 8:6Ezek 8:10

And let not any excuſe themſelves, that tis but one luſt or one Creature which is preferred as the end: Is not he an Idolater that worſhips the Sun or Moon, one Idol, as well as he that worſhips the whole hoſt of Heaven?

The inordinacy of the heart to one luſt may imply a ſtronger contempt of him, than if a Legion of luſts did poſſeſs the heart. It argues a greater diſeſteem, when he ſhall be ſlighted for a ſingle vanity. The depth of Eſaus prophaneneſs in contemning his birth right, and God in it, is aggravated by his ſelling it for one morſel of meat, **Heb. 12.16.Heb 12:16and that none of the daintieſt, none of the coſtlieſt, a meſs of pottage; implying, had he parted with it at a greater rate, it had been more tolerable, and his prophaneſs more excuſable. And it is reckoned as a high aggravation of the Corruption of the Iſraelite Judges, Amos 2.6. That they ſold the poor for a pair of ſhoos; That is, that they would betray the cauſe of the poor for a bribe of no greater value, than might purchaſe them a pair of ſhoos. To place any one thing as our chief end, tho never ſo light, doth not excuſe: He that will not ſtick to break with God for a trifle, a ſmall pleaſure, will leap the hedge upon a greater temptation.

Nay, and if wealth, riches, friends, and the beſt thing in the world, our own lives be preferred before God, as our chief happineſs and end but one moment, tis an infinite wrong; becauſe the infinite goodneſs and excellency of God is denyed: As tho the Creature or luſt we love, or our own life which we prefer in that ſhort moment before him, had a goodneſs in it ſelf, ſuperior to, and more deſirable than p. 88the Bleſſedneſs in God: And though it ſhould be but one Minute, and a Man in all the Periods of his days both before and after that Failure, ſhould actually and intentionally prefer God before all other things; yet he doth him an infinite wrong, becauſe God in every moment is infinitely good, and abſolutely deſirable, and can never ceaſe to be good, and cannot have the leaſt ſhadow or change in him and his Perfections.

2. 'Tis a denying of God.

Job. 31.26, 27, 28. If I beheld the Sun when it ſhined, and the Moon walking in its Brightneſs, and my Heart hath been ſecretly enticed, or my Mouth hath kiſt my Hand; this alſo were Iniquity to be puniſhed by the Judge; for I ſhould have denyed the Lord above. This Denial of God is not only the act of an open Idolater, but the conſequent of a ſecret confidence, and immoderate joy in worldly Goods: This Denial of God is to be referred to v. 24.25. When a man ſaith to Gold, thou art my confidence, and rejoyces becauſe his wealth is great; he denies that God which is Superior to all thoſe, and the proper Object of Truſt: Both Idolatries are coupled here together; that which hath Wealth, and that which hath thoſe glorious Creatures in Heaven for its Object: And though ſome may think it a light Sin, yet the Crime being of deeper guilt, a denial of God, deſerves a ſeverer puniſhment, and falls under the Sentence of the juſt Judge of all the Earth; under that Notion; which Job intimates in thoſe words; this alſo were an Iniquity to be puniſhed by the Judge.