The Christian Life Part 2 Volume 1, Part 2 · Chapter 6

The Christian Life Part 2 Volume 1 · Part 2 · Chapter 6

p. 417CHAP. VI. Of the necessity of having right Apprehensions of God, in order to our being truly Religious.

IT is a Noble and Celebrated passage of Epictetus, Ch. 38. foreign, i. e. Know that the main foundation of Piety is this, to have right apprehensions of the nature of God, and to be sensible p. 418that he is, and that he governs the World well and justly; and accordingly the Psalmist speaking of God, tells us, They that know thy name will put their trust in thee, Psalm 9.10. i. e. They who have made a true discovery of thy Nature, and by observing as I have done the glorious effects of thy Wisdom, and Power and Justice and Goodness, have formed in their minds right and genuine apprehensions concerning thee, will make no scruple to place their whole trust and confidence in thee; which is equally true of all other acts of Piety and Religion. For the true knowledg of God will as much influence our minds to love and adore him, to praise him and submit to him, as to put our trust in him; and hence St. Paul ascribes all the impiety and wickedness of the Gentiles to their not liking to retain God in their knowledg, i. e. to their wicked aversion to the true and genuin Notions of God, Rom. 1.28.

IN the prosecution of this Argument I shall endeavour these three things:

First, To shew in what respects right apprehensions of God are necessary to our being truly Religious.

p. 419Secondly, To lay down some Rules for the forming of right apprehensions of God in our minds.

Thirdly, To assign and remove the common causes of our misapprehensions concerning him.

SECT. I. In what respects right Apprehensions of God are necessary to our being truly Religious.

IN general, whatsoever is requisite to render Men truly religious must be derived from true apprehensions of God, who is the great Object of Religion. For Religion being the rule of divine Service must it self be regulated by the divine Nature, and without a right understanding of the nature of God, it is impossible we should regulate our religion by it. Now to the right conduct and due regulation of our Religion, it is requisite, first, that we should be rightly informed what services are pleasing to God; secondly, that we proceed upon a true Principle in serving him; p. 420thirdly, that we direct our Services to a right end; fourthly, that we be furnished with sufficient motives to engage us to serve him; the want of either of which will prove an irreparable flaw in the very foundation of our Religion, and render the whole not only infirm but defective in its very constitution. And in all these respects right Apprehensions of God are indispensably necessary.

First, They are necessary to inform us what Services are pleasing to God.

Secondly, They are necessary to inspire us with the true Principle upon which we must serve him.

Thirdly, They are necessary to direct us to the true end for whieh we must serve him.

Fourthly, They are necessary to furnish us with proper motives and encouragements to engage us to serve him.

I. A right apprehension of God is necessary to instruct us what services are pleasing to God. For to be sure nothing can be pleasing to him but what is agreeable to the perfections of his Nature, which are the Originals from whence the eternal Laws of Religion are transcribed; unless therefore we know what his perfections are, how is it possible we should know what p. 421services are agreeable to 'em? If you would serve a Prince gratefully and acceptably, you must inform your self beforehand what his nature and disposition is, that so you may accommodate your self thereunto, and compose your actions and behaviour accordingly; that you may furnish him with fresh pleasures if he be soft and voluptuous, or blow him up with flatteries, if he be proud and vainglorious; that if he be covetous and tyrannical, you may spunge and oppress his people and drein their wealth into his Coffers; if just and beneficent, you may assist and forward him in righting the injuries, correcting the miscarriages, and alleviating the burthens of his Subjects. And thus if you would serve the great King of the World in such ways as are pleasing and acceptable to him, you must study his Nature, and endeavour to enform your selves which way his infinite perfections do incline him, that so you may know how to comport your selves towards him and to render him such Services as are agreeable to his Nature. For there is no rule in the World but onelyonly that of his Nature, by which you can certainly conclude what will please him; and though he hath told you by express Revelation what services he expects and what p. 422will please him, yet without recurring to the rule of his Nature, you can never be secure either that what he told you is true, or that what he told you was pleasing to him then, is still pleasing to him now. For how can you be secure either that he told you truly what Services were pleasing to him, but only from the truth and veracity of his Nature, or that the Services which were pleasing to him then, are pleasing to him now, but from the stability and unchangeableness of his Nature. So that in our enquiries after what is pleasing to God, we cannot depend upon his Word without consulting his Nature, which is not only the Security but also the Test of his Word. For it's certain that that cannot be God's Word which contradicts his Nature, and what plausible pretence soever any Doctrine may make to divine Revelation, if it teach or command any thing that is apparently repugnant to the divine Perfections, we ought for that reason to conclude it an Imposture; it being much more possible that the most plausible pretence to Revelation should be false, than that God should reveal any Doctrine that is repugnant to his Nature. So that in all our Enquiries what is pleasing to God, our last appeal must be to his Nature, which p. 423is the great Standard of Good and Evil, by which we are to measure what is pleasing and displeasing to him.

WHILST therefore we are ignorant of God's Nature, or possessed with wrong and false apprehensions of it, we must necessarily wander in the dark, and neither know what to do nor how to behave our selves towards him. For how can we imagine what will please or displease a dark and unknown Nature, whose bent and inclinations we are utterly unacquainted with; but if we are under false apprehensions of his Nature, they must necessarily mislead us in our behaviour towards him, and put us upon false ways of serving and pleasing him. Thus if we apprehend him to be a froward and testy Being, that is apt to be pleased and displeased with Trifles, in conformity to our apprehension of his Nature, we shall offer him a trifling Service, a Service made up of Pageantry and Complement, of pompous shew and ceremonious respects and empty formalities; For such a trifling Worship is in it self most proper for such a humorous Divinity. So if we apprehend him to be of an imperious and tyrannical nature, that governs himself and the World by a blind and obstinate Will, without any regard to the eternal reasons of p. 424things, we shall worship him as the Indians do their arbitrary Devils, i. e. follow him with houlings and lamentations, with trembling hearts and frighted looks, and dismal tones, and by flattering him with praises and fauning upon him with slavish submissions and addresses endeavour to collogue with Heaven, and ingratiate our selves with its dreadful Majesty; for what can be more agreeable to such a tyrannical Divinity than such a forc'd and slavish Worship? In a word, if we apprehend him to be a fond and indulgent Being, that is governed by a foolish pity and blind commiseration, we shall not fail to render him a sutable Worship, i. e. to retire and grow melancholly, to whine and bemoan our selves; to deject our looks and disfigure our countenances, and teaze our Souls into fits of fruitless compunction, that so by the soft Rhetorick of a well-acted sorrow we may pierce his bowels and melt him into pity and compassion towards us; for what can be more prevalent with such a soft and indulgent Deity, than such a mournful and passionate Religion? Thus whilst we have wrongful apprehensions of God, they must necessarily mislead us into false ways of Worship, because we can no otherwise worship him than by rendering p. 425him such Services as are sutable to the apprehensions we have of his Nature; and therefore while we think any otherwise of his Nature than it is, we must necessarily think such Services sutable to it as are not.

BUT if we truly understand what God is, we cannot but apprehend what Worship is sutable to him, by that Eternal congruity and proportion that there is between things and things; which is as obvious to mens minds, as sounds and colours to their ears and eyes. If God be a Being endowed with such and such Perfections, every Mans mind will tell him that between such an Object and such actions and affections there is a natural congruity, and therefore so and so he ought to be treated and address'd to, with such and such actions and affections to be served and worship'd. So that if we apprehend God truly as he is, circled with all his natural glories and perfections, our apprehensions will produce in us such affections, and our affections such deportment and behaviour towards him as are sutable to the perfections of his Nature, and we shall worship him with such Services as will both please and become him; with admiring thoughts and dutiful wills and Godlike p. 426affections; with an ingenuous fear, a humble confidence and an obedient love; with chearful Praises and profound Adorations, with sober, wise and rational Devotions; such as will wing and employ our best affections and most noble faculties; For 'tis such a Worship only that can sute such Perfections and please such a Nature as Gods.

II. A right apprehension of God is also necessary to inspire us with the best Principle of serving him. For it's certain that there is no Principle in humane Nature that will so effectually engage us to the service of God, or render our service so acceptable to him, as that of Love; which will tune our wills into such an Harmony with Gods, that we shall no longer chuse and refuse according to our particular likings and dislikings, but what is most pleasing or displeasing to him will be so to us; and our wills being thus united and subjected to his, our obedience will extend to all his Commands, and admit no other bounds but his Will and Pleasure. Whereas if we do not obey him out of love, we shall indeavour to contract our obedience into as narrow a compass as may be, because we shall render it to him with a grudging mind, and consequently with a p. 427narrow and stingy hand; for we shall serve him no farther than we are driven by fear and the restless importunities of a clamorous conscience, and so consequently fall infinitely short of our duty, and take up in a partial and hypocritical obedience. For while we do not love him, it is impossible we should obey him with a ready will, which is the proper seat of his Empire; and while we obey him with a stubborn and rebellious will, we are only his slaves, but the Devils subjects. 'Till therefore we do obey him, at least in some measure, from a Principle of love, it is impossible our obedience should be either universal or sincere.

But to the inspiring our Souls with this Principle, there is nothing more necessary than right apprehensions of God, who in himself is doubtless the most amiable of beings, as having all those Perfections in infinite degrees that can beget or deserve a rational affection. So that we cannot think him to be any way otherwise than he is, without thinking him less lovely, and detracting more or less from the infinite beauty of his Nature; For since he cannot be more lovely than he is in himself, every false apprehension of him must needs represent him less lovely. p. 428But since of all his Perfections that of his Goodness is the most powerful motive and ingagement of Love, there is nothing more necessary to kindle our love to him than right apprehensions thereof. For being infinitely good, as he is, in his own Nature, it is impossible we should conceive him to be better than he is; and therefore every false notion we entertain of his goodness must necessarily detract from it, and so much as we detract from his goodness, so much we detract from the principal reason and motive of our loving him. And therefore in order to the ingaging of our love to him, it concerns us above all things not to entertain any Opinion of him that reflects a disparagement on his goodness. For too many such Opinions there are that have been imbibed among Christians as the fundamental Principles of their Orthodoxy; namely such as these, that Gods Sovereign Will is the sole rule of his actions, and that he doth things not because they are just and reasonable, but that they are just and reasonable because he doth 'em; as if he were merely an Omnipotent, blind Will that acts without Reason, and did run through the World like an irresistible Whirlwind, hurrying all things before him without any consideration of right or p. 429wrong; That his Decrees of Governing and disposing his creatures are wholly founded in his absolute and irresistible Will, that determins of the everlasting fate of Souls without any reason, or foresight, or condition; that by this his unaccountable Will he hath impaled the far greater part of 'em within an absolute Decree of Reprobation, for no other end but that Nimrod-like he might have game enough to sport and breath his vengeance for ever; and that having nailed 'em to this woful cross by this his dire Decree, he bids 'em save themselves and come down, as those cruel Mockers did our Saviour, and because they do not obey, torments and cruciates 'em for ever, though he knows they are not able to do it of themselves, and hath purposed never to enable 'em to do it. Which Opinions do represent God in such a formidable dress, circled with such a stern and gastly Majesty, as is more apt to inspire us with horror than love. For though by persuading our selves that we are of the small number of his elected Favourites, we may work our minds into some degree of love to him; yet when we consider how severely he hath treated the rest of our fellow Creatures, without any other reason but his own Will, this will intermingle such a p. 430grimness with his smiles, such a terrour with those Charms for which we love him, as must necessarily damp the fervours of our love, and ever and anon freez it into horror and astonishment, and so fear will be at least the predominant Principle of our Obedience; and while it is so, our Religion must needs languish under great imperfections and infirmities. For while our fear and dread of God is the governing Principle of our Religion, we shall but do penance in all our addresses to him, and every act of our Obedience will be a kind of Martyrdom, so that we shall never be able to entertain any chearful converse or friendly Society with him, and yet serve him we must, for fear our neglect of him should rouse his Vengeance against us; and between this necessity of coming to him, and this fearfulness of approaching him, what can there be begotten but a forced and constrain'd Devotion, which because we do not love we would willingly leave, did not our dread and horror of him drag us to his Altars. And as we shall serve him with a forc'd Obedience, so we shall obey him with a sordid and nigardly affection; and while we grudg him our Obedience, we shall be most backward to obey him in those instances of Duty that are of greatest p. 431moment and most pleasing to him, and most forward in those that are of least concern and most pleasing to our selves. Thus while our minds are ridden with sour and rigid apprehensions of God, they will inspire us with a slavish dread of him, and that will restrain and contract our Obedience to him. Thus Maximus Tyrius excellently represents the case, foreign, i. e. the truly religious Man is the friend of God, but the superstitious is his flatterer, and the former is happy but the latter miserable; for the one being encouraged by his own Vertue, approaches God without any slavish fear and dread, but the other being debased with the sense of his own wickedness approaches him with trembling and despair, dreading him as a cruel Tyrant, Dissert. 4.

IF therefore we would render him a chearful, free, and universal Obedience, we must endeavour to represent him fairly to our own minds, and to think of him as he is, and as he hath represented himself in p. 432the holy Scriptures, i. e. as a bountiful benefactor to all his Creation, and an universal lover of the Souls of men; that would have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth, and doth heartily and readily contribute to our eternal welfare; that leaves no art of love, no method of kindness unattempted to rescue us from eternal perdition, and when we have utterly baffled and defeated them all, doth most unwillingly abandon us to the woful fate we have chosen and prepared for our selves; that in punishing even the most incorrigible sinners doth not at all design to wreak and gratifie his own revenge, but to do good to the World, and warn others by their sufferings not to imitate their sins; And in a word, that importunately invites us back when we are gone astray, and upon our return graciously receives us, and when he hath received us is infinitely industrious to prepare us for happiness, and when he hath prepared us abundantly rewards us, and when he hath rewarded us everlastingly triumphs in our Glory and beatitude; these and such like thoughts are truly worthy of God, and befitting the infinite goodness of his Nature, and as such do earnestly recommend him to our affections, as the most amiable p. 433and indearing object in the World; and when by such recommendation they have captivated our affections, and kindled our hearts into an unfained love of him, they have inspired us with such a vigorous Principle of action, as will both animate and innoble our Religion, and render it truly worthy of God and our selves; For then we shall serve him with a free and dutiful will, a liberal affection, and a chearful heart, and consequently render him a full, and generous, and willing obedience. For so holy David tells us, Psal. 119.32. I will run the ways of thy Commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart, i. e. when thou shalt open and widen my heart with the love of thee (for so St. Paul expounds the Phrase, 2 Cor. 6.11.) I shall most readily and chearfully obey thee.

III. A right apprehension of God is also necessary to direct us to the end for which we are to serve him; without which it is impossible we should serve him acceptably. For as a good intention doth not justifie a bad action, so neither doth a good action a bad intention, and unless both are good, neither are acceptable. If I do an action that is materially good with respect to a bad end, I unhallow and vitiate it, and render it formally evil. If I fast for strife, p. 434or give Alms for vain-glory, or pray to give a colour to my Rapines and Oppressions; my very Devotion is a cheat, my Mortification a lie, and my Charity an imposture. So that in order to our serving of God acceptably, it's necessary we should direct those services we render him to their right and proper end; and what that is we cannot well understand unless we have a right apprehension of his nature; for to be sure God hath proposed that to us for the end of our Worship, which is most agreeable to his own perfection, and therefore unless we have a right Notion of his perfections, how can we rightly apprehend what end is most agreeable to them? As for instance, the right end of our serving him, is that we may glorifie him for ever in an everlasting participation of his perfection and happiness; and this we can be no otherwise certain of, than by a true survey and inspection of his nature, which will instruct us that being infinitely perfect as he is, he must be infinitely happy within himself, and so can design no self-end without himself, and consequently that the end for which he requires our service is not any advantage he expects to reap from it, or further addition to his own happiness, he being from all Eternity past as compleatly happy p. 435as he can be to all Eternity to come; and therefore what other end can he be supposed to aim at than our good and happiness? It is true indeed, he designs to glorifie himself in our happiness; but how? Not to render himself himself more glorious by it than he is in himself, for that is impossible; but to display and shew forth his own essential glory to all that are capable of admiring and imitating him, that thereby he might invite them to transcribe that goodness of his into their natures, of which his glory is the shine and lustre, and thereby to glorifie them selves; and what can more effectually display the glory of a Being who is infinitely wise and powerful and good, than to contrive and effect the happiness of his Creatures, and especially of his rational Creatures, who of all others have the most ample capacity of happiness? Doubtless, the highest glory of an infinite power, that is conducted by an infinite wisdom and goodness, is to contrive and execute the most effectual methods of doing the greatest good; and what greater good can such a power effect, than the eternal happiness of reasonable Creatures? So that Gods glory and our happiness are so inseparably conjoyned, that we cannot aim right at either, but we must hit both p. 436and whether we say that his end is his own glory or our happiness, it is the same thing; for his glory is our happiness, and our happiness is his glory, and when he hath perfected our Nature, and advanced it to the highest happiness it is capable of, it will shine back upon him, even as all other glorious effects do on their causes, and reflect everlasting honour on that infinite Power and Wisdom and Goodness from whence it was derived. Thus right apprehensions of the nature of God will naturally lead us to the great end which he proposes in all his transactions with us, and thereby direct us what end we are to propose in our transactions with him. For that which is Gods end ought to be ours, and therefore since his end is his own Glory, or, which is the same thing, our everlasting Happiness, it ought to be ours also.

But now while we misapprehend the nature of God we shall be apt to set up false and indirect ends of serving him; as for instance, whilst we look upon him as a selfish being, that centers wholly in himself, and separates his interest from the interest of his Creatures, doing every thing meerly for his own sake, we shall think our selves obliged in all our addresses p. 437to him to set aside our own interest and happiness, and to aim singly and separately at his honour and glory; and yet this is the great Fundamental of the whole Scheme of some mens Divinity, viz. That God aims wholly at himself, and regards the good of his Creatures no farther than it serves his own interest; that he made this World out of mere ostentation, to boast and magnifie his own power and greatness; and gives Laws to his Creatures, and exacts their obedience for no other reason but because 'tis for his honour to be served and worshipped; that he created Hell only to shew the power of his wrath, and prepare an everlasting Triumph for his vengeance; and erected Heaven for a Theater to shew himself on, that so having filled it with a vast Corona of Angelical and Saintly spectators, he might display the glory of his Majesty before them, and thereby provoke them to extol and praise and commend him for ever. And while we thus conceive of God, how can we hope that he will ever be pleased with us unless we aim at the same end that he doth, i. e. unless laying aside all regard to our selves and our own happiness both here and hereafter, we intirely direct all our worship and service to his glory and interest; which being impossible p. 438for us to do, whilst we have so much self-love and so much indigence together, will either render our Religion wholly unpracticable, or perplex us with eternal doubts of its truth and sincerity.

And supposing we could direct all our Religion to this end, this instead of rendering it more acceptable to God would only render it more unworthy of him; for then we should serve him under the notion of his Benefactors rather than of his Pensioners, with a design to enrich him rather than to be enriched by him: And what an unbeseeming presumption is it for such indigent Creatures as we, to entertain the least thought of contributing to God, or making any addition to his infinite store? He is above all want, being infinitely satisfied from the inexhaustible fountain of his own perfections; and for us to imagine that he needs our Services, and requires them to serve his own interest, is to blaspheme his Alsufficiency, and suppose him a poor and indigent being, that for want of a perfect satisfaction within himself, is forced to rome abroad and raise taxes upon his Creatures to enrich and supply himself. For if we serve him for any end at all, it must be either to do him good or our selves; if it be to do him good, we reproach p. 439and dishonour him by supposing that he hath need of us and our services, which can do him no good unless he hath some need of them. So that whatsoever some high-slown Enthusiasts may pretend, that it is sordid and mercenary to serve God for our own good, I am sure to serve him for his good is prophane and blasphemous; and therefore either we must serve him for no good, or serve him for our own; and since he is so infinitely sufficient to himself, that nothing we can do can benefit and advantage him, to what better purpose can we worship and serve him, than to receive benefit and advantage from him; which instead of being base and mercenary, is a purpose most becoming both God and our selves? For to serve him with an intent not to give to, but to receive from him, is to acknowledg his fulness and our own want, his Alsufficiency and our own Poverty; whereas by serving him to the contrary purpose, we do in effect set up our selves above him, it being much greater to give than it is to receive; and to make that the end of our worshipping God, which doth in effect suppose him to be our inferiour, is to make our selves Gods instead of Votaries. What the true end therefore is of our serving God, may p. 440be easily inferred from a right apprehension of his nature. For do but consider him as a Being that is above all want, that is infinitely satisfied in his own perfections, and an unbounded Ocean of happiness to himself, and then what other end can you propose in serving him, but to derive perfection and happiness from him, in the accomplishment of which he and you will be Glorified together?

IV. And lastly, A right apprehension of God is also necessary to furnish us with proper motives and incouragements to serve him. It is the nature of all reasonable Beings to be drawn forth into action by Motives and Arguments; and the most powerful Arguments to move us Godward, are drawn from the nature of God, from his Majesty and Holiness, his Truth and Justice, his Mercy and Goodness; none of which can have their just and full influence upon us, unless we have a right and genuine apprehension of them. The consideration of his Majesty is naturally apt to strike our minds into an awful reverence of his Authority; but if we look upon it under the notion of a mere Arbitrary greatness, that Governs not it self by Counsel and Reason, but by a blind, and absolute, and unaccountable p. 441Will, that always chuses and refuses pro imperio, without any regard to the eternal reasons of things, we may be astonish'd and confounded at it, but we can never truly reverence it. The consideration of his Holiness is naturally apt to deter us from approaching him with vicious and impure affections; but if we place his holiness in a mere formal affectation of external decency, respect, and reverence, and not in the immutable conformity of his Will with the eternal Rules of Righteousness, it may move us to be very ceremonious and respectful to him, as to the Place, and Garb, and Posture of our Worship, but it will never prevail with us to cleanse and rectifie our hearts and affections. Again, the consideration of his Justice is naturally apt to restrain us from affronting his Authority by perverse and wilful violations of his Laws; but while we look upon it as a stern and implacable Attribute, which nothing will appease and satisfie but bloud and revenge, it may overwhelm us with horrour and despair, but 'twill never persuade us to reform and amend. Once more, the consideration of his Mercy is naturally apt when we are gone astray to invite us to return, with the hopeful prospect it gives us of pardon and reconciliation; but while p. 442we look upon it under the notion of a blind pity, or effeminate easiness and tenderness of Nature, that will admit of no severity how wholsom soever or necessary to the ends of Government, instead of moving us to repentance, it will animate us in our rebellion. In fine, the consideration of his Goodness is naturally apt to work upon our Ingenuity, and to draw us Godwards with the cords of a man, and the bonds of love; but while we mistake it for a blind Partiality, that chuses its Favourites without reason, and rewards them without respect to their Qualifications, instead of captivating our love, 'twill provoke our disdain, and excite in us a secret contempt and aversation.

Thus though the nature of God be in it self a most fruitful Topick of Motives and Arguments to ingage us to serve and obey him, yet by the false representations that are sometimes made of it, it may be perverted into an inducement to wickedness, and made a plausible pretence to encourage and justifie us in our rebellions against him. Whilst we look upon God as he is in himself, shining with his own unstained and immaculate Glories, there is nothing more apt to influence all the springs of motion within us; p. 443to enflame our love, encourage our hope, and alarm our fear, and by these to set the Wheels of our Obedience agoing. For there is nothing in humane nature that is capable of being moved and affected by Reason, which hath not an answerable reason in the nature of God to move and affect it. And as in him there are all the reasons that can affect us, so there is all the force and efficacy of those reasons, every thing in him being perfect and infinite; in him there is an infinite beauty to attract our love, an infinite good to inflame our desire, an infinite kindness to affect our ingenuity, an infinite Justice armed with an infinite power to awaken our fear, an infinite mercy to invite our hope, and an infinite truth to confirm and support it. So that 'tis beyond the power of all humane imagination to frame or fancy an Object that is so every way fitted to affect humane nature, and influence all its Principles of action, as God in himself is. Whilst therefore we apprehend him truly, and as he is in himself, the consideration of him must needs be of wonderful force to oblige us to serve and obey him, and there is not one of all those glorious perfections in which his Nature is arrayed, but will suggest to us some powerful p. 444persuasive to Piety and Vertue, and either by our hope or our fear, our love or our gratitude, incline our hearts to keep his Commandments. So that if we are ignorant of his perfections, or do entertain false Notions concerning them, we shall either want those Motives to Piety which they naturally suggest, or draw Arguments from them to encourage and justifie us in our rebellions against him. And thus you see in all these instances how indispensably necessary right Notions of God are to ingage us to serve and obey him.

p. 445SECT. II. Rules for the forming right Apprehensions of God.

DIonysius the Areopagite, and from him all the Schoolmen, assign three ways by which we are to frame our apprehensions of the Nature of God, viz. Viam Causalitatis, viam Eminentiae, & viam Remotionis, i. e. the way of Causality, the way of Eminency, and the way of Remotion. The first consists in arguing from those perfections which God hath caused and produced in his Creatures to the perfections of his Nature. For whatsoever degrees of perfection there are in the Creature, they must either be uncreated, which is a contradiction, or flow from the Creator as from the immense Ocean of all perfection; but 'tis impossible they should flow from him, unless they were first in him. So that when we behold such and such perfections in the Creature, we may from them most certainly infer that the same are all in God, who is the cause and fountain of them; and though the divine Nature abounds with innumerable vertues and p. 446perfections, yet 'tis impossible for us by our own natural light to discover any other of them than those of which he himself hath imprinted some specimens upon created Beings; these being the only Scales by which our understanding can ascend to the reach and view of the divine perfections. But because all created perfections are not only short in their degrees, but also intermingled with defects in their very kind and nature; therefore in attributing them to God we ought carefully to abstract from them whatever is defective whether it be in kind or in degree. For God is the cause of perfection only, but not of defect, which so far forth as it is natural to created Beings hath no cause at all, but is merely a negation or non-entity. For every created thing was a negation or non-entity before ever it had a positive being, and it had only so much of its primitive negation taken away from it, as it had positive being conferred on it; and therefore so far forth as it is, its being is to be attributed to that soveraign cause that produced it, but so far forth as it is not, its not being is to be attributed to that Original Non-entity out of which it was produced. For that which was once nothing would still have been nothing had it not been for the cause p. 447that gave being to it; and therefore that it is so far nothing still, i. e. limited and defective, is only to be attributed to its own primitive nothingness. As for instance, if I give a poor man an hundred pounds; that he is worth so much money is wholly owing to me, but that he is not worth a hundred more is owing only to his own poverty; and just so, that I have such and such perfections of being is wholly owing to God who produced me out of nothing, but that I have such and such defects of being is only owing to that Non-entity out of which he produced me; and therefore since our perfections are derived from God, but not our defects, 'tis altogether as unreasonable to attribute the latter to to him, as it is reasonable to attribute the former.

Now the defects of created perfection which we are to remove and abstract from God in our conceptions of him, are of two sorts: First of the thing; Secondly, of the mode of thing. The defect of the thing is when the thing it self is such as that it wholly excludes something much better and more perfect; thus matter for instance is defective in the thing, because it excludes spiritual and immaterial substance, which is much more excellent than it self. The defect of the p. 448mode of the thing is when the thing is so excellent in it self as that it excludes nothing better, but yet is deficient in degrees of perfection. As for instance, Wisdom and Goodness, Reason and Vnderstanding are things so excellent in themselves as that they exclude nothing that is more excellent, but yet as residing in created Beings want a great many possible degrees of perfection. Now both these defects being natural are uncaused, and so cannot proceed from the Author of Nature, and not proceeding from him, they cannot be supposed to be in him, and therefore in our conceptions of him ought not to be attributed to him. In respect therefore of these twofold defects in created perfections, it is necessary we should conceive of God in the way of Remotion and Eminence as well as of Causality; otherwise we shall injuriously attribute to him the Defects of his Creatures, of which he is not the cause, as well as their perfections of which he is. If therefore we would do God right in our thoughts and conceptions of him, we must in the first place remove from him all defect in the thing, that is, all matter and material perfections; because they are defective in their very kind and nature, as excluding such substance and perfections p. 449as are incomparably more excellent than themselves; and this is to conceive of him in the way of Remotion, which consists in removing all kind of matter and material affections from our thoughts and apprehensions of God. And then in the second place we must abstract from him all defect in the mode of the thing, i. e, all the defect of degrees in those spiritual perfections of the Creature which we attribute to him, and raise and exalt them in our own minds to their utmost height and eminence; and this is to conceive of him in the way of Eminency, which consists in ascribing to God the short and limited perfections of his Creatures abstracted from all defect and limitation. These three ways therefore are all indispensably necessary to lead us to a true discovery of the Nature of God; as will yet farther appear by the following Rules I shall lay down for the forming a right Notion and Apprehension of him.

First, If we would think aright of God, we must attribute all possible perfection to him.

Secondly, in forming our Notions of his Perfections we must take our rise from the Perfections we behold in his Creatures.

p. 450Thirdly, In ascribing to him the perfections of his Creatures we must abstract from them every thing that is defective and imperfect.

Fourthly, In arguing from the perfections of the Creature to the perfections of God, we must distinguish between the state and relations of God and Creature.

Fifthly, Though in arguing from the perfections of the Creature to the perfections of God we are not to subject him to the Rules of a Creature, yet we are always to suppose his Will and his Power to be in perfect subjection to the perfections of his Nature.

Sixthly, In conceiving of his Perfections we must always suppose them to be exactly harmonious and consistent with each other.

I. To the forming a right apprehension of God it is necessary that we ascribe to him all possible perfection. For he being the first and supreme cause from whence all the perfections of Being are derived, must necessarily include all perfection in himself, and be all those perfections which he hath communicated to others; for how can he give that which he hath not? It is true indeed, free causes may give less to their effects than they have in themselves, but p. 451it is impossible they should give more; though they may withhold from their effects any perfection or degree of perfection which they have, they cannot derive to them any which they have not. Whatsoever therefore is a perfection of Being, must necessarily be essential to that supreme cause from whence all Being is derived; otherwise there would be more in his effects than there is in himself, and consequently more than he could give or be the cause of, which is a contradiction.

AND as all those perfections that are in created Beings must necessarily exist in the nature of God, so must all those too that are possible in themselves. For every perfection that is possible in it self must be possible to him who is the cause of all things; but no perfection can be possible to him that is not actually in him, for no cause can produce that perfection in another which it hath not in it self, and therefore if there be any perfection that is not in him 'tis impossible it should ever be produced by him, and that which is impossible to God must be impossible in its own nature, that which is not an object of omnipotent power is not an object of any power, and that which is not an Object p. 452of any power is in it self impossible. Since therefore every perfection that is possible in it self must be possible to God, and since no perfection that is not in him can be possible to him, it necessarily follows that all the perfections that are possible in themselves are actually existing in the Nature of God.

II. IN forming our Notions of Gods perfections we must take our rise from those perfections which we behold in his Creatures. For our understanding being too short-sighted to penetrate immediately into the substance and essence of things, hath no other way to know and apprehend them, but either by their causes, or by their effects; but now God being the first and supreme fountain of all causes cannot be known by his cause, because he hath none, and therefore is knowable only by his effects, that is, by the works of his Creation that lie before us, and are within the prospect of our understandings; in the which all that is excellent and good is an illustrious Comment and Paraphrase upon God.

NOW the effects of God are all reducible to these four generals, Substance or Essence, Life, Sense and Reason; all which are in man, who is the Epitome of the World, p. 453and a compleat Model of all the Works of God; and therefore not only all these, but all the proper excellencies and perfections of these must be supposed to be in God, from whom they are derived.

THE first effect of God is substance. Now the proper perfections of substance are Amplitude and Fulness of Being. By the Amplitude of substance I mean its greatness or largeness as to the diffusion or extent of it, in opposition to littleness, or, which is the same thing, to being defined to, or circumscribed within a small and inconsiderable space; by the Fulness of substance, I mean its having more of Essence or Being, by which it is more removed from not being, in opposition to things that have but little being in them, that are of so fleeting and transitory a nature as that they are next to nothing. Wherefore in conceiving of God we must ascribe to him these perfections of substance even to their utmost possibility, that is, we must conceive him to be a Being of infinite Amplitude, that is neither defined nor circumscribed within any certain space, but coexists with, and penetrates and passes through all things; and by thus conceiving of him we attribute to him Immensity, p. 452duplicate page p. 453duplicate page p. 454which consists in being unconfined by any bounds of space in the out-spreading of himself to all places that we can see or imagine, and infinitely beyond them. And then in conceiving of him we must also ascribe to him infinite Fulness of Being, by which he is so infinitely removed from not being, as that he cannot but be; and by thus conceiving of him we attribute to him necessary existence, which consists in being out of all Possibility of not being.

BUT then secondly, another of those works of God from which we are to take our rise in conceiving of his Perfections, is Life. For he is the cause and fountain of all that life that is in the world, and therefore must not only have life in himself, but the utmost perfection of it also that is possible. Now the Perfections of life are Activity and Duration; by Activity I mean a vigorous power and ability to act, in opposition to weakness and impotence, which must needs be a great perfection of life, which is the spring and principle of Action; by Duration I mean a long continuance of life in opposition to that which is short and momentary; for the more lasting the life is, the more perfect it is, and the more there is of it. Wherefore in conceiving p. 455of God we must ascribe to him the utmost perfection of life that is possible; that is, we must conceive him to be infinitely active and powerful, that doth what he pleases in Heaven and on Earth, and can effect whatsoever is possible in it self, and not repugnant to the other perfections of his Nature; and in thus conceiving of him we attribute Omnipotence to him, which consists in an ability to do every thing that doth not imply a contradiction either to the nature of the things themselves, or to the nature and perfections of the doer; and then in conceiving of him we must also ascribe to him an infinite duration of life, that is, a life that is not bounded either by a beginning or an end, but is from everlasting to everlasting, and coexists and runs Parallel with all Duration past, and present, and to come; and by thus conceiving of him we attribute Eternity to him, which consists in a boundless duration of life without any term of beginning or end.

BUT then thirdly, another of these effects of God from which we are to take our rise in conceiving of the Perfections of God, is Sense; by which I do not understand carnal or material sense only, which consists in perceiving the strokes p. 456and impressions of material Objects on our sensories, but sense in the general, whether it be of material or spiritual Beings. For that spiritual Beings have as exquisite a sense of spiritual Objects, as corporal of corporeal ones there is no doubt to be made; because otherwise we must suppose them insensible both of pleasure and pain. Now the perfection of sense is Quickness and Sagacity of Perception, whether it be of painful or of pleasant, grateful or ungrateful Objects; and this is to be found not only in Beasts and Men, but also in separated spirits, in Angels, and in God himself. For though none of these have any corporeal sense to feel and perceive the impressions of corporeal Objects, yet that both Angels and separated Spirits have a spiritual sense of spiritual impressions, by which they are subjected to pain and pleasure, cannot be denied; and though God by the infinite perfection of his Nature is exempt from all sense of pain, yet it cannot be supposed that he who is the fountain from whence all sense is derived should himself be insensible; and if he be not, we ought to suppose him as sensible of all that is truly pleasant and good as it is possible to be; and where there is an infinite good, as there p. 457is in the nature of God, it is possible to be infinitely sensible of it; and in thus conceiving, we attribute to him infinite Happiness. For what else is an infinite sense of good but infinite pleasure and happiness; and this is the happiness of God, that he is infinitely perfect in himself, and infinitely sensible of his own perfections and therein infinitely pleased and delighted.

FOURTHLY and lastly, Another of those Works of God from whence we are to take our rise in conceiving of his perfections, is Reason. For all that light of reason which shineth in humane and Angelical minds being rayed forth, and derived from him, he must be supposed not only to have reason in himself, but to have it in its utmost possible perfection. Now the perfection of reason consists in Knowledg and Wisdom in the Vnderstanding, and Rectitude or Righteousness in the Will. By Knowledg I mean considering and understanding things absolutely as they are in their own Natures, in their Powers and Properties, Differences and Circumstances; by Wisdom I understand a through consideration of things as they are related to one another under the Notion of means and ends, and of their fitness or unfitness p. 458to the ends and purposes they are designed for. Wherefore in conceiving of God we must ascribe to him all possible Knowledg and Wisdom, that is, a perfect comprehension of all things that either are, or have been, or shall be, or can be; in short, a knowledg infinitely extensive, as comprehending all knowable Objects, and infinitely intensive, as seeing every single Object in all its relations, dependances, and circumstances with a most perfect and infallible view; and in thus conceiving of him we attribute to him Omniscience and infinite Wisdom. By Rectitude or Righteousness in the Will, which is the other perfection of Reason, I mean a conformity of the Will, and consequently of the affections and actions, to all that right reason dictates and prescribes; For the proper office of reason is to conduct the Will, and and to give bounds and measures to our principles of action; and in following right reason, and chusing and refusing by its eternal prescriptions, consists the Rectitude of the Will, and in that all Moral perfection. In conceiving of God therefore we must attribute to him all those moral perfections which consist in the intire compliance of his Will with the Dictates of his infallible Reason, in chusing every thing which right p. 459reason approves, and refusing every thing which it disallows, and this with the most perfect freedom and exactness; and in thus conceiving of him we attribute to him infinite Goodness, infinite Justice, and infinite Truth. For as for the first, viz, infinite Goodness, which consists in the invariable inclination of his Will to do good to, and procure the happiness of his Creatures, by which he is infinitely removed from Envy and Malice, right reason dictates to him that being infinitely happy in himself, the best and most becoming thing he can do is to propagate his own likeness and resemblance by doing good to, and procuring the happiness of others; and that Envy and Malice, which are the properties of poor and indigent Beings, are infinitely unbeseeming him who is a self-sufficient nature; and accordingly his Will which always follows his Reason is infinitely propense to the one, and averse to the other. And as for the second, which is infinite Justice, which consists in dealing with his Creatures according to their several deserts, by which he is infinitely removed from all partiality and injustice, right reason dictates to him, that since there is an immutable good and evil in the actions of free and reasonable Agents, it is p. 460fit that those who do good should receive good from him, who is the supreme Judge and Moderator, and those who do evil, evil, in proportion to the good and evil of their doings; and that to reward evil actions, and to punish good ones, or to reward those that are less good beyond those that are more, or punish those that are more evil beneath those that are less, is to go cross to the natures and reasons of things; and by these Dictates of Reason his Will is invariably regulated in all its transactions with his Creatures. Lastly, as for infinite Truth, which consists in a perfect agreement of his declarations with his intentions, especially in matters of Promise, whereby he is infinitely removed from all deceit and falshood, right reason dictates to him, that to speak truth is the only natural end of speaking, that to promise is to give a right, and to intend to perform strict justice; that on the contrary lying perverts the use of Speech, and betrays a baseness and meanness of spirit, that to deceive is to injure, and to falsifie promise is to commit a Robbery; and accordingly his Will which is ever guided by his reason, imbraces truth, and rejects falshood with infinite abhorrence.

p. 461AND thus from the various perfections of Gods Works which are before us, we may fairly argue to all the perfections of God himself. For whatsoever perfection he hath given, he must have, and whatsoever perfection he hath he must have so far as it is possible; for if it be possible, it must be within his power, and if it be within his power to be sure 'tis included in his nature; otherwise he must chuse to be less perfect when it is in his power to be more. And by thus taking our rise to God from the perfections of the Creature, we discover him to be an immense self-existing substance, that is omnipotent, eternal, infinitely knowing and wise, just and good, faithful and happy. But to render our discovery yet more compleat

III. IT is necessary that in ascribing to him the perfections of the Creature we abstract from them every thing that is defective and imperfect. For to be sure there is nothing can be defective or imperfect in the Cause and Author of all perfection. So that whereas all other Beings have some defect or other intermingled with their perfections, and do either want some kind of perfection, or some degree of those kinds wherewith they are adorned, God hath all kinds p. 462and all degrees of all kinds of perfection; and so we must conceive of him, if we would do him right when we attribute to him the above-named perfections. As for instance, when we attribute to him the perfections of substance, we must abstract from them the defect of Corporeity or material extension, which compared with spirituality is a mighty defect and imperfection of substance both as to its Amplitude and Fulness of Essence. For no Corporeal substance can be at the same time in the same place where another corporeal substance is; because it consists of such parts as cannot penetrate each other; so that every body must be limited in presence, because it cannot be where another body is; whereas a Spirit being penetrable it self, can penetrate or pass through all things, and consequently be present at the same time, and in the same place where not only other bodies are, but other Spirits too. So that by attributing body or matter to God, we must necessarily confine and limit the Amplitude of his substance, which if it be bodily must necessarily be excluded from all those places where other bodily substances are, and consequently have but a finite and limited presence, which utterly destroys the p. 463infinite Amplitude or Omnipresence of his substance. And then bodily substances being all compounded of divisible parts, and consequently liable to be divided and corrupted, cannot have that fulness of Being in them which Spirits have, which are simple and uncompounded substances, and consequently void of all principles of corruption; so that by attributing body or matter to God, we substract from the infinite fulness of his Being, and instead of ascribing to him necessary existence, which puts him beyond all possibility of not being, degrade him into a divisible and corruptible nature. Wherefore in attributing to God the perfections of substance, we must abstract from them all matter and material affections, and conceive of him as a most pure and simple spirit.

AGAIN, when we attribute to him the perfections of life, viz. Power or Activity and Duration, we must wholly abstract from them all those imperfections with which they are commixt in the Creature. As for instance, activity in the Creature is attended with labour and pains; the not abstracting of which from the Activity of God made Epicurus suppose him to be a restive Being, that withdrew p. 464himself from action for fear of disturbing his own happiness by it; whereas labour and pains are the imperfections of activity, and so ought not to be admitted into our conception of God's, which being infinite, there is nothing can be difficult or uneasie to him. For it is because of imperfection that labour and trouble do attend any Beings in their operations; could they do what they do perfectly, it would be no labour at all to them. God therefore having an infinite power to effect what he pleases, whatsoever he doth he doth it most perfectly, and consequently without any toil or labour; and since all things were derived from him, and are dependent upon him, they must all be perfectly subject to his power; and where there is perfect subjection there can be no resistance, and where there is no resistance there can be no labour. And then as for Duration, which is the other perfection of life, in the Creature it is attended with dependence. For there is no life but depends upon God, to be shortened or prolonged according to his pleasure; the lives of all Beings are maintained and supplied by his all-enlivening power and influence, which if he withdraw from them but one moment, they presently expire; so that the p. 465duration of all created life is dependent and precarious, and even those Beings that shall live for ever have no other tenure of life but Gods Will and pleasure, who with the breath of his Nostrils can blow them out when he pleases. But the duration of Gods life is altogether independent; for he subsists of himself, from that infinite fulness of Being that is in him, and hath done so from all Eternity past when there was no other cause but himself in being, and therefore can do so to all Eternity to come without the support or assistance of any other cause. So that he is not at all beholding for his duration to the good will and pleasure of any other Being, but derives from an inexhaustible spring of life within himself, whence he also derives life to all other Beings.

AGAIN, when we attribute to him the perfection of sense, viz. quickness and exquisiteness of perception, we must wholly abstract from it all that imperfection with which it is attended in the Creatures; for in them it is attended with sundry affections which argue imperfection in their nature and happiness; such as Fear, Sorrow, Repentance, Desperation, and the like; all which argue a defect of Power or Wisdom, and proceed from a quick sense of evil p. 466past, or present, or to come, which is inconsistent with perfect happiness. When therefore we attribute to God this perfection of sense, we must abstract from it all those affections which proceed from the sense of evil or pain. For he is so infinitely perfect both in nature and happiness, that no evil can approach him to vex or disturb him, or make any painful impressions on his nature; and being so, it is impossible that in propriety of speech he should either fear, or grieve, or repent, or despair. All these affections indeed are in Scripture attributed to him, but then it is in an improper and Metaphorical sense; not as if he did at any time feel these passions within himself, but because he demeans himself towards us as if he did; not as if the affections themselves had any place in his nature, but because the natural effects of them appear in his actions and behaviour. And though there is no doubt but he resents all those evils which good men suffer, and bad men commit, yet it is not from any painful impression that they make upon his nature; for he neither feels the miseries he pities and relieves, nor is vext at the sins he detests and abhors, but all the resentment he hath both of the evil of our sufferings and sins is p. 467perfectly calm to himself, and devoid of all passion and disturbance. 'Tis true, his Will being perfectly reasonable must be differently affected towards different Objects, and contrarily affected towards contrary Objects, because they propose to it different and contrary Reasons; and therefore as it must be affected with complacency towards good Objects, so it must be affected with abhorrence towards bad; but this abhorrence arises not either from any sense of hurt they do him, or fear of hurt they can do him, his Nature being wholly impassible, but from the repugnancy they bear to his own infallible reason; and his abhorrence being wholly founded in his Reason, and not in any sense or feeling he hath of the evils he detests, must upon this account be stript of all grief and vexation. Wherefore in attributing to God the perfection of sense, we must take care to abstract from it all those affections which spring out of the imperfection either of our nature, or our happiness.

BUT then in the last place, when we attribute to him the perfections of Reason, viz. Knowledge and Rectitude of Will, we must also abstract from them all those imperfections with which they are at tended in the Creatures; As for instance, p. 468Knowledge in the Creature is attended with reasoning and discoursing, that is, inferring one thing from another, arguing Consequents from Principles, and Effects from Causes, which is a great imperfection of Knowledge, and a plain indication that it is narrow and confined in it self, and not to be improved without labour and study. For that we are fain to infer one thing out of another is an evident token that we know but in part, because in this way our knowledge must be successive, and we must know one thing before we can know another; we must know the Principles before we can know the Consequents, and the Causes before the Effects; else how can we deduce the one from the other? And this deducing or inferring requires a great deal of study and labour. Wherefore in attributing Knowledg to God we must abstract from it this imperfection of reasoning and discourse; for his Knowledg being infinite or unconfined by the utmost extention and duration of things, doth at one Intuition or simple view behold all things past, and present, and to come, yea, whensoever, wheresoever, or howsoever possible; and beholding as he doth all Consequents in their Principles, all Effects in their Causes, he doth p. 469not know one thing after another, but comprehends them all together in his infinite mind, without any succession or improvement. So that from all Eternity past he knew as much as he doth now, and as much as he will do to all Eternity to come; for his Knowledg was always infinite, and what is infinite admits not either of more or less. And then for that other perfection of reason which consists in Rectitude of Will, in the Creature it is acquired, even as that Knowledg and Wisdom is by which it is measured and regulated. For Rectitude of Will consisting in chusing and refusing as right Reason directs, must needs be acquired in the Creature, because that Right Reason is so, by which it chuses and refuses; so that there is the same defect and imperfection in the Rectitude of our Wills as there is in our Reason and Knowledg, that is, that it is not altogether, but acquired by degrees, and so it may be is infinitely successive and improvable. Wherefore in attributing to God Rectitude of Will, which, as I shewed before, consists in Goodness, and Justice, and Truth, we are wholly to abstract from it this imperfection of being acquired. For it is essential to his Will to follow the Dictates of his Understanding and Reason, and essential p. 470to his Understanding to dictate to his Will all the parts and degrees of Goodness, Justice, and Truth; so that the rectitude of his Will is infinite both as to the extent and degrees of it, there being no good, no degree of good that an infinite reason can propose, but what his Will doth most readily imbrace, and perfectly comply with; so that the Rectitude of his Will is such as could not be acquired part after part, degree after degree, because it is essentially infinite; and from everlasting he was as good, and as just, and as faithful as now, and to everlasting he cannot be better, or juster, or faithfuller than he is, because what is essentially infinite admits no improvement either of parts or degrees. And thus you see how in all these respects it is absolutely necessary to the framing a right Apprehension of God, that in ascribing to him the perfections of the Creature, we abstract all those defects and imperfections with which they are intermixt.

IV. IT is necessary that in arguing from the perfections of the Creature to the perfections of God, we distinguish between the state and relations of God and Creature. For there are many things which are perfections in the Creature considering their state which would be imperfections in God considering his; and so on p. 471the contrary. As for instance, to be dependent and humble, resigned and submissive; to be grateful and devout are perfections in the Creature, because there is a Being infinitely above them in all degrees of all sorts of perfection, in Knowledg and Wisdom, in Power and Goodness, in Justice and Truth; a Being to whom they owe themselves, and all the good things they possess, and upon whom they depend for all that they are, or enjoy, or hope for; and therefore it infinitely becomes them to abase themselves before him, to trust to, and depend on him, and resign themselves to him; to supplicate him for all they want, and thank him for all they enjoy; but for God to be humble, who is infinitely perfect above all, for God to depend, who is the upholder of all, for him to submit who is Lord over all, or to be devout and grateful, who is the supreme Fountain and Proprietor of all, would be to sneak and condescend far beneath the infinite dignity of his Nature. As on the contrary, to love himself above all, to set up his Will above all other Wills, and to expect and require that they should do homage to it; to exact Adoration and Worship from all, and to appropriate it to himself from all other Beings, are excellencies and p. 472perfections in God, because he is infinitely amiable above all other Beings, and therefore ought in reason to love himself above all, infinitely exalted above all other Beings, and therefore ought in reason to expect that all other Beings should be subject to him; in a word, because he, and he alone is God, and hath all divine perfections appropriate to himself, and therefore ought in reason to expect that all capable Beings should acknowledg his Divinity by sutable actions, and restrain their acknowledgment of it wholly to himself; but for a Creature, that is infinitely less lovely than God, and infinitely inferiour to him, to love it self, and set up its own Will above him, and invade his Throne and Divinity, and arrogate to it self his Honour and Worship, is not only unreasonable, but impious. In this case therefore we must carefully distinguish between the states of God and Creature, and not attribute to him those perfections of the Creature which are proper to it, under the notion of Creature, because in so doing we shall infinitely degrade him; but whatsoever is in it self a perfection, precisely considered from all respects to the state and relations of a Creature, that we ought to ascribe to God in its utmost extent and degree.

p. 473AND yet even here it will in many cases be necessary for us to keep this distinction of God and Creature in our minds; for though whatsoever is absolutely and in it self a perfection in the Creature is also a perfection in God, yet considering the state of God, that may be an exercise of absolute perfection in him which would be imperfection in a Creature. As for instance, Wisdom, and Goodness, and Justice are absolute perfections in a Creature, and therefore ought to be attributed to God, but it doth not thence follow that that is no exercise of these perfections in God which is not so in Creatures. It is an act of Wisdom in a Creature to pursue his ends by the most probable means, but it doth not therefore follow that it is an act of folly in God to effect his ends by contrary means, because he being not only all wise, but all-powerful, which no Creature is, can make the most contrary means as subservient to his ends as the most probable, and therefore sometimes to display the greatness of his Power, and to excite our attention and reverence he chuses to operate by contrary means, and when he doth so he chuseth most wisely. Again, it is an act of Goodness in us to succour the unfortunate, and rescue p. 474oppressed innocence from undeserved calamities; and not to do so, when we can with ease, and without any prejudice to our selves, is a high degree of malice and ill nature. But it doth not therefore follow that it is an act of malice in God to permit innocence to suffer, when with ease, and without the least damage to himself he can relieve it, because being infinitely wise and powerful, which no Creature is, he can infallibly bring good out of evil, and advance us to happiness by suffering; and therefore sometimes he permits the innocent to suffer evil, thereby to procure them some great and lasting good; and when he doth so it is an act of great Goodness in him. Once more, it is Justice in the Creature not to kill or hurt the Innocent, not to deprive them of any good they are rightfully possess'd of, and to act contrary is great injustice, because we have no right to another mans Life, or Limbs, or Goods, unless he forfeits them to us by some unjust attempt to deprive us of ours; but it doth not therefore follow, that it would be unjust in God to do so, who being the supreme Proprietor of our Lives, and Limbs, and Goods, which no Creature is of any other Creatures, can justly resume them when he pleases, be we never p. 475so innocent, because they are his own; whatever he gave us he can take away from us, without any injury, because he rather lent it than gave it us, reserving the absolute propriety in himself; and his right being supreme, absolute, and independent, and ours but subordinate and conditional, whatsoever we can justly do he can justly do, and abundantly more; so that though we may argue this or that is just in the Creature, therefore it is just in God, yet we cannot argue è contra, this or that is just in God, therefore it is just in the Creature, because his right in all things is infinitely Paramount to our right in any thing; and therefore though he cannot without our own fault and forfeiture reduce us to a worse state than that of not being wherein he found us, because to do so would be equivalent to the taking away from us more than he gave us, and consequently more than he hath a right to, yet Gods right being infinitely more absolute and extensive than ours, he can justly take away from us infinitely more than we can justly take away from one another. And therefore to correct the iniquities of wicked Nations and Parents, God sometimes lays his hand upon good Kings, p. 476and innocent Children, and either deprives them of their comforts, and pursues them with constant infelicities, or puts an untimely period to their lives; and when he doth so, he hath an absolute right to do it, which no other Being can pretend to. Wherefore in attributing to God the perfections of the Creature we are carefully to distinguish between the state of God and Creatures, and neither to ascribe to him any of those perfections which belong to a Creature, as a Creature, nor to bound the exercise of those absolute perfections we ascribe to him by the Rules and Limitations of the Creature.

V. ALTHOUGH in arguing from the perfections of the Creature to the perfections of God we are not to subject him to the Rules of a Creature, yet we ought always to suppose his Will and Power to be intirely subject to the Moral perfections of his own nature. For God who is infinitely exalted above all other Beings can be subject to no other Law but that of his own Essential Wisdom, and Justice, and Goodness; and since every thing hath a right to exercise its own faculties so far forth as it is just and lawful, God who is subject to no other Law but only that of his own perfections hath an essential right p. 477to will and do whatever that Law allows and approves of. Now the perfections of God which give Law to his Will and Power, are those which, for distinction sake, we call Moral, because their Office is the same in him with that of moral Vertues in the Creature, viz. to conduct and regulate his Will and Powers of action; and these Moral perfections are his Wisdom, and Goodness, Justice, and Truth, which being all essential to him are as much a Law to his Will and Power, as Moral Laws are to ours; And to suppose his Will and Power not to be perfectly subject to them, is to suppose him a very defective and imperfect Being, a lawless Will and Power being the greatest defect in Nature. Wherefore to secure our minds against all injurious apprehensions of God, this is a most necessary Rule, that we conceive him to be such a Being as can neither Will nor Act any thing but what his own Essential Wisdom, and Goodness, and Justice do approve; that in all his Decrees, Purposes, Choices, and Actions consults his Moral perfections, and perfectly regulates himself by them, and doth neither chuse nor refuse, elect nor reprobate, save nor damn without their full consent and approbation. For to affirm that he is not p. 478obliged to regulate himself by Wisdom, and Justice and Goodness, or that he can do otherwise, is to attribute to him a Power to Will and Act foolishly, maliciously, and unjustly, which indeed is not so properly Power as Impotence; and to suppose that he can thus Will and Act, is to deny that he is infinitely Wise, and Just, and Good, which utterly excludes all possibility of being otherwise in any respect or degree. For to be infinitely Wise and Just is to be infinitely removed from folly and injustice, which nothing can be that hath the least degree of possibility to act unwisely or unjustly. Wherefore in conceiving of God it is always to be supposed that his Will and Power are so immutably subject to the Moral perfections of his Nature, as that it is impossible for him to Will or Act against them. For all that liberty of Will that is determinable to good or evil, just or unjust, is a flaw and imperfection in the reasonable nature, because it speaks the Will to be defective in that which is the utmost possibility of Goodness and Justice, i. e. in being immutably determined thereunto; and therefore to attribute such a liberty to God, is to scandalize his Nature, and reproach it with imperfection. For all that Power which is not conducted by Justice and Goodness is only p. 479power to do mischief, to Tyrannize over other Beings, and to sport and play with their miseries; which is so far from being a perfection of Power that it proceeds from the most wretched weakness and impotence. So that by attributing such a power to God, we foully asperse and blaspheme him, and instead of a God imagine a worse Devil, and more qualified to do mischief than any that are now in Hell, who though they are powerful enough to do mischief, are none of them Omnipotently mischievous; it is to imagine a God without a Deity, that is, without that Essential Rectitude of Will wherein all his Moral perfections do consist, which are the Crown and Glory of his Nature. For to be good and just are the brightest Rays of the Deity, the Rays that illustrate and glorifie all his other perfections, and without which infinite Knowledg and infinite Power would be nothing but infinite Craft and Mischief; so that to imagine that he hath any Will or Power that is not Essentially subject to his Moral perfections, is to deface the very beauty of his Nature, and represent him the most horrid thing in the World. Wherefore in conceiving of God we ought to fix this as the main and fundamental Rule of our thoughts, that he hath no Will to Chuse, p. 480or Power to Act but what are in perfect subjection to infinite Wisdom, and Justice, and Goodness; and this will secure our minds from all those rigid and sour apprehensions of him which by reflecting on his Moral perfections do him the greatest dishonour, and represent him the most disadvantageously to mankind.

VI. AND lastly, It is also necessary that in conceiving of the perfections of God we always suppose them exactly harmonious and consistent with each other. For all perfections of Being, so far forth as they are perfections, are consistent with each other, and like strait lines drawn from the same Center run Parallel together without any crossing or interfering. For there is nothing contrary to perfection but imperfection, and there is no disagreement but what arises from contrariety. When therefore we conceive of the perfections of God, we must so conceive of them, as that there may be no manner of inconsistency or disagreement between them, otherwise we must admit into our conceptions of them something or other that is defective or imperfect. As for instance, in God there is infinite Wisdom, and infinite Justice, infinite Goodness, and infinite Mercy, wherefore if we would conceive p. 481aright of these his glorious perfections we must take care not to admit any Notion of any one of them that renders it repugnant to any other, but so to conceive of them altogether as that they may mutually accord and agree with each other. For while we apprehend his Goodness to be such as that it will not accord with his Wisdom, we must either suppose his Wisdom to be Craft, or his Goodness to be Folly; and whilst we apprehend his Mercy to be such as that it will not agree with his Justice, we must either suppose his Justice to be Cruelty, or his Mercy to be blind Pity and Fondness; and it is certain that that goodness cannot be a perfection which exceeds the measures of Wisdom, nor that Mercy neither which transgresses the bounds of Justice, and so on the contrary. For if either Gods goodness excludes his wisdom, or his wisdom his goodness; if either his Mercy swallow up his Justice, or his Justice his Mercy, there is an apparent repugnance and contrariety between them, and where there is a contrariety there must be imperfection in one or t'other, or both.

WHEREFORE if we would apprehend them altogether, as they truly are in God, that is, under the notion of perfections, p. 482we must so conceive of them as that in all respects they may be perfectly consistent and harmonious; as that his Wisdom may not clash with his Goodness, nor his Goodness with his Wisdom; as that his Mercy may not justle with his Justice, nor his Justice with his Mercy; that is, we must conceive him to be as wise as he can be with infinite goodness, as good as he can be with infinite wisdom, as just as he can be with infinite mercy, and as merciful as he can be with infinite justice, which is to be wise, and good, and just, and merciful, so far as it is a perfection to be so. For to be wise beyond what is good, is Craft, to be good beyond what is wise, is Dotage, to be just beyond what is merciful, is Rigour, to be merciful beyond what is just, is Easiness, that is, they are all imperfection, so far as they are beyond what is perfect. Wherefore we ought to be very careful not to represent these his Moral perfections as running a tilt at one another, but to conceive of them all together as one intire perfection, which though like the Center of a Circle it hath many Lines drawn from it round about, and so is looked upon sometimes as the term of this Line, and sometimes of that, yet is but one common and undivided term to them p. 483all; or, to speak more plainly, though it exerts it self in different ways and actions, and operates diversly according to the diversities of its Objects, and accordingly admits of divers Names, such as Wisdom, Goodness, Justice, and Mercy, yet is in it self but one simple and indivisible principle of action, all whose operations how diverse soever are such as perfectly accord with each other, whose acts of Wisdom are all infinitely good, whose acts of goodness are all infinitely wise, whose acts of justice are infinitely merciful, and whose acts of mercy are infinitely just; so that in this, as well as in their extension and degrees they are all most perfect, viz. that they always operate with mutual consent, and in perfect harmony. And while we thus conceive of the divine perfections, our minds will be mightily secured against all those false apprehensions of God which lead to superstition and presumption; for we shall so apprehend his wisdom and justice as not to be superstitiously afraid, and so apprehend his goodness and mercy as not to be presumptuously secure; and as on the one hand his Justice will protect his Mercy from being abused by our wanton security, so on the other hand his goodness will protect his wisdom from being p. 484misrepresented by our anxious suspition. For while we consider his mercy thus tempered with his justice, and his wisdom with his goodness, we can neither expect impunity from the one if we continue wicked, nor yet suspect any ill design against us in the other if we return from our evil ways, and persevere in well doing.

SECT. III. Of the causes of our mis-apprehensions of God.

I Now proceed to the last thing I proposed, which was to assign and remove the causes of mens misapprehensions of God; many of which are so secret and obscure, so peculiar to the frame and temper of mens brains, so interwoven with the infinite varieties of humane Constitutions, that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to trace them, so as to make an exact enumeration of them all; and therefore I shall only assign the most common and visible causes by which the generality of men are mislead in their Apprehensions p. 465of the divine Nature, whinh are reducible to these six Heads:

First, Ignorance of what is the true perfection of our own Nature.

Secondly, Framing our Notions of God according to the model of our own humour and temper.

Thirdly. Obstinate partiality to our own sinful lusts and affections.

Fourthly, Measuring Gods Nature by particular Providences.

Fifthly, Taking up our Notions of God from obscure and particular passages, and not from the plain and general current of Scripture.

Sixthly, Indevotion.

I. ONE great cause of our misapprehensions of God is Ignorance of what is the true perfection of our own Natures. For, as I shewed before, in conceiving of the perfections of God we must take our rise from those perfections we behold in his Creatures, and particularly in our own Natures, wherein there is a composition of all created perfections; so that while we are ignorant of what is the true perfection of our own Natures, our thoughts can have no rule or aim whereby to judg of God's. That he hath all those perfections in himself which he hath derived to p. 486us, is the Fundamental Maxim upon which we are to erect our Notions of him; and therefore unless we know what those perfections are which he hath derived to us, and wherein they consist, our mind hath no footing or foundation whereon to raise any certain Idea of him. For since we have no other way to conceive of his perfections but by our own, how is it possible that while we are ignorant of our own we should ever conceive aright of his? This therefore is one great reason why men do so grosly misconceive of God, because they have no true Notion of their own perfection, by which they are to form their conceptions of his.

FOR whereas the true perfection of humane nature consists In Moral goodness, or an universal compliance of its Will, Affections, and Actions with those everlasting Laws of righteousness which right reason prescribes, how many are there that look upon this as a very mean and carnal accomplishment, and place all their perfection in things of a quite different nature, viz. in the Ebbs and Flows of their sensitive passion, and the extraordinary Fermentations of their bloud and spirits, that is to say, in unaccountable dejections and exaltations of mind, in vehement p. 487impressions of fancy and Mechanical movements of affection, in Raptures and Ecstacies and Hypocondriacal incomes and manifestations, that have nothing of substantial Vertue or Piety in them, nor commonly any other effect but to cause men to renounce that Righteousness which they never had, and rely upon that which they have no Title to, and to sooth and tickle their fancies, and blow them up into glorious opinions of themselves, and Triumphant assurances of their being the Darlings and Favourites of God, whilst poor Moral men, that make conscience of regulating their affections and actions by the eternal Laws of Righteousness are look'd upon by them with a scornful compassion, and placed in the lowermost form of sinners, at the greatest distance from the Kingdom of God. Now when men take such false measures of their own perfection, how is it possible they should conceive aright of the perfections of God, which they have no other way to conceive of but only by arguing from their own? Wherefore in order to the forming our Ideas of Gods perfections, it is necessary we should first fix the true Notion of our own; which is no hard matter for us to do. For our Nature being reasonable, to be sure its p. 488perfection must consist in willing, affecting and acting reasonably, or which is the same thing, in Governing it self in all its relations and circumstances by those immutable Laws of goodness which right reason prescribes, and which are exemplified to us in the holy Scripture; and when we have fixt in our minds this Notion of our own perfection, it will naturally conduct our thoughts to God's, and let us see that his perfection consists not in a lawless and boundless Will, that decrees without foresight, resolves without reason, and Wills because it will, and then executes its own blind and unaccountable purposes by dint of irresistible power without any regard to right or wrong. For if we rightly understand our own perfection, we cannot but discern that such a Will as this is one of the most monstrous deformities in nature, because it is the most Diametrically opposite to the true Idea of our own Perfection, which while we attentively fix our eyes on, we cannot but infer from it that the true perfection of God consists in the unvariable determination of his Will by the all-comprehending reason of his Mind, or in chusing and refusing, decreeing and executing upon such reasons as best becomes a God to will and act on, i. e. upon p. 489such as are infinitely wise, and good, and just, and merciful. For if to Will and Act upon such reasons as these be the perfection of our nature, we cannot but conclude that it is the perfection of Gods too; but if we are ignorant of our own perfection, we must necessarily think of God at Rovers, without any certain aim or rule to square and direct our apprehensions.

II. ANOTHER cause of our misapprehension of God, is our framing our Notions of him according to the Model of our own particular humour and temper. For self-love being the most vehement affection of Humane Nature, and that upon which all its other affections are founded, there is no one Vice to which we are more universally obnoxious than that of excessive fondness and partiality to our selves, which makes us too often dote upon the deformities, and even Idolize the Vices of our own temper. So that whether our nature be stern, sour, and imperious, or fond, easie and indulgent, we are apt to admire it as a great perfection merely because it is Ours, without measuring it by those eternal reasons which are the Rules of Good and Evil, Perfection and Imperfection; and then whatever we look p. 494upon as a perfection in our selves we naturally attribute to God, who is the cause and fountain of all perfection. And hence it comes to pass that mens minds have been always tinctured with such false and repugnant opinions of God, because they frame their judgments of him not so much by their reason as by their temper and humour; and so their different humours being not only unreasonable in themselves, but repugnant and contrary to one another, produce in them not only false and unreasonable, but contrary and repugnant opinions of God. Thus for instance, the Epicureans who were a soft and voluptuous Sect, intirely addicted to ease and pleasure, fancied God to be such a one as themselves, a Being that was wholly sequestred from action, and confined to an Extra-mundane Paradise, where he lived in perfect ease, and was entertained with infinite Luxuries, without ever concerning his thoughts with any thing abroad; for this they thought was the top of all perfection, and therefore thus they would have chosen to live had they been Gods themselves. Thus the Stoicks, who were a sort of very morose and inflexible people, copied their Notions of God from their own complexion, supposing him to be an p. 495inflexible Being that was utterly incapable of being moved and affected by the reasons of things, but was wholly governed by a stern and inexorable Fate. And accordingly the Scythians and Thracians, the Gaules and Carthaginians, who were a people of a bloudy and Barbarous nature, Pictured their Gods from their own temper, imagining them to be of a bloud-thirsty nature, that delighted to feed their hungry Nostrils with the Nidorous reeks and steams of humane gore. Whereas, on the contrary, the Platonists, who were generally of a very soft and amorous nature, took their measure of God thereby, and so framed an Idea of him that was as soft and amorous as their own complexion, composed altogether of loves, and smiles, and indearments, without the least intermixture of vengeance and severity, how just soever in it self, or necessary to the well-government of the World. Thus as the Ethiopians pictured their Gods black because they were black themselves, so generally men have been always prone to represent God in the colour of their own complexions; which is the cause that they many times represent him so utterly unlike to himself, because out of an unreasonable partiality to themselves they first p. 492mistake the deformities of their own natures for perfections, and then Deifie them them into Divine Attributes. Thou thoughtest, saith God, that I was altogether such a one as thy self, Psal. 50.21. that is, thou didst frame thy conceptions of me according to the Pattern of thy own ill-nature, and so thoughtest basely and unworthily of me. And hence I doubt not spring most of those misapprehensions of God which have been received among Christians. For how is it possible for any man that is not of a fierce and cruel nature himself, to believe it consistent with the nature of God to snatch poor Infants from their Mothers Womb, that never actually offended him, and hurl them into the flames of Hell? And considering the stern and inflexible temper of the famous Author of the Horrible Decree, though otherwise a rare and admirable person, there is too much reason to suspect that he transcribed his own nature into his Doctrine, and modelled his Divinity by his Temper. And so on the contrary, who but a man of excessive fondness and partiality, that loves beyond all reason, and invincibly doats upon the deformities of his own darlings, could ever imagine it consistent with the wisdom and holiness of God to chuse p. 493his favourites without reason, and, when he hath chosen them, not only to overlook all their faults, but to hide them from his own eyes with the Mantle of anothers Righteousness, that so how ill soever they behave themselves, he may never see cause to be displeased with them? From these and other instances it is evident that one great cause of our misapprehensions of God, is our measuring his nature by our own. For first, our partiality to our selves makes us magnifie our own faults into perfections, and then whatsoever we reckon a perfection in our selves we naturally attribute to God, and so many times it comes to pass that our Notions of God are nothing but the Images of our selves, which Narcissus-like we fall in love with for no other reason but because they reflect our own sweet likeness. As therefore we would not wrong God in our own thoughts, we must take care not to attribute to him any thing of our own, but what is a perfection in the judgment of the most impartial reason; and because our self-love is apt to bribe our own reason into a favourable opinion of whatever is our own, we ought to admit nothing of our own into our Notion of God but what is voted a perfection by the common reason of Mankind.

p. 491III. ANOTHER cause of our misapprehensions of God is our obstinate partiality to our own sinful lusts and affections. For while men are vehemently addicted to any sinful courses, the true Notion of God must needs sit very uneasily on their minds, because it will be always quarrelling with them, suggesting arguments against them, and alarming them with dreadful thoughts and dire abodeings of a vengeance to come. For there is no true conception of Gods nature but what is pregnant with some powerful argument against disobedience to his Will; so that while we obstinately persist in disobedience to him, our reason cannot truly conceive of him without waging War against our Lusts, and while a man is thus at variance with himself, and one end of his Soul is at War with the other, so that he cannot gratifie his affection without affronting his reason, nor comply with his reason without doing violence to his affection, he can never be at ease within, till either he hath forced his affection to submit to his reason, or his reason to submit to his affection; but while a mans reason hath the true Notion of God and his perfections before it, 'twill be impossible for him to reconcile it to his sinful affections, p. 490against which, whenever he coolly reflects, it must necessarily dictate bitter Invectives and denounce horrible Sentences. So that if he be obstinately resolved to side with his sinful affections, he must either be content patiently to endure the clamour and fury of his own reason, which is one of the most uneasie Penances in the World, or endeavour to corrupt and sophisticate his Notions of God with such opinions as countenance his Lusts. And this, considering the mighty influence which mens affections have on their reason, is no hard matter to do; for the least shew of probability, backt with a strong affection for an opinion, is of greater force with corrupt minds than the clearest demonstration against it. So that if the Opinion be but serviceable to the interest of a mans lust, that will engage his affection on its side, and then the opinion having once retained those powerful Orators in its cause, it is secure of a very favourable trial at the Tribunal of reason, where in all probability only one side of the Question will be weighed, and Judgment will be given upon hearing the Arguments for it, without admitting any evidence against it.

p. 496THUS when men are hunted and pursued through their wicked courses by the true Notions of God, it is expedient for them if they resolve to go on to take sanctuary in false ones, where their Conscience and Will, their reason and affections may dwell quietly together, and they may be as wicked as they please without any disturbance. And abundance of such false Notions there are prepared to their hands, which mens wicked minds have invented in the defence of their lusts. For thus some, to ease their Consciences, have persuaded themselves, that God is so wholly taken up with his own happiness as that he is not at leisure to concern himself about humane actions, and under this persuasion they sin on with full security that he will never punish them. Others on the contrary, to reconcile their lusts, persuade themselves that God is wonderfully concerned about small things; about trifling opinions and indifferent actions, and the Rites, and Modes, and Appendages of his Worship, and under this persuasion they hope to attone him for all the immoralities of their lives by the forms and outsides of Religion, by uncommanded severities and affected singularities, by contending for Opinions,, and stickling p. 497for Parties, and being pragmatically zealous about the borders and fringes of Religion. Others there are that to quiet their anxious minds persuade themselves that God, in Christ at least, is all Mercy and Goodness, without the least allay of Righteous Severity, or vindictive Justice; and being thus persuaded, they sin on securely, and under the Wing of his Mercy affront his Authority, without any disturbance. Others again, that to stifle the sense of their own guilt persuade themselves that God hath irrevocably determined the everlasting Fate of men without any respect to their doings, and that those whom he will save he will save irresistibly without any concurrence of theirs, whereas those whom he will not save he hath utterly abandoned to a dire necessity of perishing for ever; from whence they conclude, that if they are of the number of those that shall be saved, it is needless for them to endeavour after it, and if in the List of those that shall perish, it is in vain for them to endeavour to prevent it; and that therefore their wisest course is to sin on, and expect the Event. All which are only the Artifices of wickedness to reconcile mens Consciences to their Lusts, and compromise the quarrel between God and p. 498their wicked lives, that so they may sin on for the future without check or remorse.

WHEREFORE if we would form a right Notion of God in our minds, and preserve it pure and unsophisticated, we must above all things beware not to let our Lusts intermingle with our Reasonings about him, or to bribe us to assent to any opinion concerning him. For this is an eternal Maxim, that there is nothing can be true of the most holy God, that gives the least countenance or protection to sin; and therefore when ever it makes for the interest of our Lusts to believe any opinion of him, for that reason we ought to reject it; for nothing can be true of God that is not perfectly consistent with his infinite Holiness, and nothing can be consistent with his infinite holiness that is any way serviceable to the interest of sin; so that while we suffer our sinful interests to dictate to us our opinions of God, we make falshood our Oracle, and the very foundation of our Faith is a Lie.

IV. ANOTHER great cause of our misapprehensins of God is our measuring his Nature by particular Providences. The tree is known by its fruit is the common Rule p. 499by which men judg of God as well as of one another, and it is most certain that every free Agent is as it doth, that the ordinary course of its Actions is an infallible Index of the inward dispositions and inclinations of its mind; but as for the actions of God, they are not to be judged of singly and apart from one another, because they have all one general drift and tendency, and so are mutually dependent upon one another, and closely linked together even from the first to the second, and so on to the last in one continued Chain and Series; so that of all those innumerable actions whereof his general Providence consists there is no one loose or independent Link, but every one is connected unto all the rest, and all the rest to every one throughout that mighty Chain. Wherefore unless we had an intire Prospect of the whole Series of Gods actions, and of the mutual respects and relations which they bear to one another, it is impossible for us, without a divine Revelation, to make any certain judgment of Particulars. For though this or that particular action or providence of God, considered separately from all the rest, may have a very pernicious and malevolent Aspect, yet it is to be considered that no action of God p. 500is what it would be if it were apart by it self, but what it is in conjunction with all the rest of his actions, and that that which by it self might prove very pernicious, may by being contempered with others of a different nature become exceeding beneficial to the World. For so in the Heavens there are sundry Stars of a very malignant aspect apart by themselves, which yet in conjunction with other Stars of a different temper do many times derive a most benign influence upon us. And if men can give no certain judgment of any single Act or Scene of Gods Providence without comprehending at once the whole Drama, how is it possible they should take true measures of his Nature by any particular event that befalls them? For for all they know those very Events which singly considered are most noxious to the World, may be most beneficial as they are intermingled and contempered with other Providences; so that while they measure God by single Events they will many times deduce sour and rigid opinions of him from those very Providences which are the highest instances of his benignity and goodness. Thus, for instance, should Joseph have framed his judgment of Gods Nature by his being thrown into p. 501the Pit, sold into Aegypt, and there cast into Prison for his integrity and innocence, what could he have thought of him but that he was a very envious and malicious Being, that took delight in afflicting innocence, and sported himself with the miseries of his Creatures? And yet considering what followed upon these sad Providences, and how these were all of them but so many steps to his advancement, it is plain, that had he thought thus, he had thought very injuriously; those very Providences from which he must have inferred Gods malice to him, being in conjunction with what followed most illustrious instances of his Goodness towards him.

AND yet how commonly do we see men pass judgment on Gods Nature from such particular Providences? They see a world of deplorable Accidents, such as Famines, Butcheries, Plagues, and Devastations, in which themselves are many times involved, from whence they are ready to conclude, that certainly God would never inflict or suffer these things if he were not of a very froward, cruel, and implacable nature; whereas did they but see these sad accidents as they lie interwoven with all the rest of his Providences, they would p. 502doubtless see infinite reason to conclude the quite contrary. Sometimes again they behold Wickedness prosper in this World, and Vertue and Innocence depressed and trampled on, from whence they are ready to conclude, either that that which we call Vice and Vertue are things indifferent to God, or that he is unjust in the distribution of Rewards and Punishments; whereas had they an intire comprehension of the whole train and series of his Providence, they would soon be convinced that even in these cross distributions he doth most equally and most effectually punish the Wicked, and reward the Good, by rendring the ones Prosperity his Bane, and the others Adversity his Restorative. Sometimes again they are denied those blessings and deliverances which they have a long while sought with most importunate cries and supplications, from whence they are ready to conclude that God is of a stern and inexorable nature, not to be moved or prevailed with by prayers and intreaties; whereas could they but see through the whole drift of his Providence, they would easily be satisfied that the goods they pray for are many times pregnant with evils, and the evils they deprecate with goods which are much greater p. 503than themselves, and that that is the reason why God was deaf to their intreaties, because he could not grant them what they asked without doing them some great unkindness, and that therefore these denials are so far from arguing him stern and inexorable, that, on the contrary, they are signal instances of his tender mercy and compassion towards us. If therefore we would conceive aright of God, we must not take our measures of his Nature by particular Providences, which many times import quite contrary to what they seem and appear, but having formed our Notions of his Nature out of those perfections we behold in his Creatures, by them we are to measure all his particular Providences, which though they are sometimes very dark and obscure, and seemingly repugnant to our common Notions of him, yet because we see not the ends and reasons of them, we ought to conclude them good, because they proceed from a good God.

V. ANOTHER main cause of our misapprehensions of God, is the taking up our Notions of him from dark, and obscure, and single passages, and not from the plain and general current of Scripture. There is no doubt but that whatsoever God hath p. 304revealed of himself in Scripture, is true, because truth and veracity, being a great perfection in it self, must needs be included in his nature which is the Center of all perfection; but yet since there are some things in Scripture hard to be understood in themselves, and other things difficult to us, who are not throughly acquainted with the Customs and Controversies they refer to, or with the Phrase and Language of the Age they were written in, it is impossible for us many times to comprehend its meaning by the mere clink and sound of its words, without expounding its obscure passages by its plain ones, and its particular propositions by its general current; and to found any Doctrine or Opinion upon obscure and particular Phrases, that seemingly contradicts the plain and general drift, and then to expound the plain into the seeming sense of the obscure, and the general current into the seeming sense of the particular Phrase, is a most egregious prevarication on the holy Scripture. And yet this unreasonable practice hath occasioned many false apprehensions of God in mens minds. For there is nothing more evident than that all along through the general current of Scripture God is represented to us as a most benevolent p. 505Being, that knows no bounds of good-will, but stretches out his arms unto all his Creation, and receives his whole Off-spring, excepting only those Prodigals that run away from him, with free and impartial imbraces; as one that would have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth, and readily contributes to them all those aids and assistances that are necessary to the effecting of these blessed ends; that reprobates none from his kindness and favour but only such as despise and reject it, and never abandons any to wretchedness and misery till they have first baffled and defeated all his arts of saving them. Such is the representation of God which the plain and general scope of Scripture gives us; so that had men kept themselves to this rule of expounding obscure Texts by plain ones, and particular Phrases by the general scope, when they seemingly clash one with another, they had done right to God, and secured their own minds against sundry very wrongful apprehensions of him. For that God hath destined the greatest part of mankind to endless calamity, without any respect to their doings; that he hath two Wills, viz. a secret and a revealed one; that his revealed Will is that he would p. 506have all men to be saved, and his secret one, that he would have the greatest part of them perish; that he hath imposed a Law upon men which without his irresistible grace they cannot obey, and notwithstanding he hath decreed to withhold this grace from the greatest part of them, is resolved to persecute all that do not obey it with everlasting flames of vengeance; These, I say, are all of them such opinions as reflect very dishonourably upon God, and have no other foundation but a few, particular Phrases and obscure passages in Scripture, not only abundance of plain Texts, but the general drift and scope of it being of a quite contrary sense. So that had but this necessary Rule been observed, of interpreting dark passages by plain, and particular ones by the general scope, such dishonourable opinions of God could never have found shelter under Scripture Authority. For I would fain know whether those Texts which declare God to be an universal lover of the Souls of men, be not far more numerous and plain, than those which seemingly restrain his affection to a small select number, and reprobate all the rest of mankind; and if it be so, as I think no modest man can deny, how can this Doctrine de deduced from Scripture p. 507without forcing the far greater number of Texts to subscribe to the smaller, and the plainer to the obscurer, which is contrary to the most necessary Rules of Interpretation, and which, if pursued, will open a wide door to the grossest and most fulsome errours in Religion, Wherefore to secure our minds from false apprehensions of God, it is necessary that in consulting the Scripture concerning him, we should follow the plain and general drift of it, and not entertain any opinion of him upon the credit of a few, or of obscure Texts, which more or plainer ones seemingly contradict. For it is certain, that that opinion is either false, or of little moment, that hath but one or two Texts to countenance it, and that very dubious, which hath none but obscure Texts to relie on; but when there are more and much plainer against it than for it, it must be false, or there is no relying upon Scripture, the sense whereof, as to all particular opinions, must be supposed to be that which the most and plainest Texts do countenance. So that he who imbraces any opinion that hath more and plainer Texts against it than for it, imbraces it for its own sake, and not for the Scriptures.

p. 508VI. AND lastly, Another cause of our misapprehensions of God is the great dissimilitude and contrariety of our natures to his. For when men have nothing of God in them, nothing of those amiable graces which are the glory and lustre of his nature, it is impossible they should have any experience of him, any inward taste or relish of his perfections; so that they can only know him by the hearing of the Ear, by Books, and dry discourse and reasoning, which compared with experimental knowledge is very uncertain and defective. For between the notional and the experimental knowledg of God, there is the same difference as between the knowledge of a Geographer and a Traveller; the one hath only a faint and rude figure of foreign Countries in his head, copied from the Globe or Geographical descriptions; whereas the other having travelled through them, and beheld their Situations, and Cities, and Rivers, and conversed with their People, and tasted their Fruits, retains a clear and lively Idea of them, of the exactness whereof he hath as firm a certainty as of the truth of his own senses. Thus he who knows God only by Books and Discourse, can have but a faint and imperfect Idea of him; he may believe p. 509him to be infinite in all kinds and degrees of perfection, in Goodness, and Mercy, and Justice, and Truth, and be able to demonstrate it upon dry principles of reason; but having no experience of these perfections in himself, no sense or relish of their beauty and excellency, his apprehensions of them are but slight and obscure, like a deaf mans notions of sounds, or a blind mans of colours, which for want of the evidence of sense cannot be so clear, and certain, and distinct as theirs are who see and hear. Whereas he who partakes of the perfections of God, and is in any degree pure as he is pure, and holy as he is holy, hath as it were travelled into his very Nature, and seen all his perfections by the light of an infallible experience; he knows what God is, not so much by reasoning and discourse, as by a quick and lively sense of the divine perfections, which he hath copied and transcribed into his own temper, and which, like the beams of the Sun, light up his thoughts to that Fountain of light from whence they were derived. And he who hath Gods Picture in his own breast, and can see his perfections in the Graces and Vertues of his own mind, knows him by his Sense as well as by his Reason; he sees and feels God in the Godlike temper of his p. 510own Soul, the Graces whereof are so many living Images of God, and sensible Comments on his nature, which render the mans Notions of him not only as clear and distinct, but also as certain and indubitable as any demonstration in Geometry. For there is no evidence will give us so full a certainty of things as that of our own senses; it was by sensible evidence that our Saviour demonstrated himself to be the Messias, and confuted the Infidelity of his Apostle St. Thomas; and it is certain that our bodily senses are not more infallible than is the purified sense of our minds. When therefore we are transformed into the likeness of God, and made partakers of his Nature, we shall have a vital sense and feeling of his perfections within us, by which the true Notions of him will be more confirmed and ascertained to us than by all the reasons and demonstrations in the World. For now we shall behold the beauties of Gods Nature in the God-like dispositions of our own, and beholding his Face in the Glass of our natures, whensoever we reflect on it, his perfections will be as intimate and familiar to us as the Graces of our own minds; which will not only awaken our thoughts into frequent meditations of him, but also heighten and p. 511improve our Meditations into the most glorious Ideas of him. For, when all is done, there is no man can think so well of God as he who hath a Godlike nature, because the resemblance he bears to him will not only frequently raise up his thoughts to God, but also shape them into a conformity with his nature; whereas whilst we are unlike to God, we are not only devoid of all that evidence of his perfections which the purified sense of our nature would give us, and consequently our Notions of him, for want of that evidence, will be only superficial and uncertain, but through our partiality to our own ungodlike dispositions we shall be apt to entertain such Notions of him as are as unlike him as our selves. For either out of fondness to our selves we shall look upon our ill dispositions as perfections, and so attribute them to God, or out of fondness to those ill dispositions we shall be tempted to admit such opinions of God as will license and indulge them.

WHEREFORE if we would secure our minds against all false apprehensions of God, we must above all things endeavour to purifie our hearts from those evil dispositions which render us unlike him; from sensuality and injustice, from pride p. 512and discontent, from envy, hatred, and all uncharitableness, which are the great corrupters of our minds, the bosom Hereticks that seduce and pervert us, and, as much as in us lies, to conform our selves to the nature of God, by practising the contrary Vertues; and when once by imitating the perfections of his nature we have transcribed them into our own, we shall see and feel him in our selves, and our Sense of him will conduct our Reason, our Experience of him wil correct our Knowledg, and our Vision of him consummate our Faith; and we shall be more enlightened in our knowledg of him by beholding his face in the sanctity of our own minds, than by a thousand Volumes of curious Speculations.

And now, having seen what the true causes of all our misapprehensions of God are, let us from henceforth beware of them, and, so far as in us lies, labour to avoid them; and considering of what vast advantage to our Religion right and true Notions of God are, let us diligently apply our selves to the above-named Rules for the regulating our apprehensions concerning him; that so having throughly purged our thoughts of all erroneous opinions, we may see God truly as he is, arrayed in all p. 513the genuine perfections of his nature. And then we shall find our lives and affections under the Influence of the most powerful reasons in the World. For every thing of God is full of persuasion, all his perfections have a constraining Rhetorick in them that by a kind of Moral violence conquers all that attend to it, and seises and captivates their Wills in despight of all the reluctances of their natures. So that when once our minds are throughly instructed with the true Notions of God, we shall not need to seek abroad for Motives and Arguments, for we shall have a Fountain of divine Oratory within our own Bosoms, from whence our Wills and Affections will be continually watered with the most fruitful inducements to Piety and Vertue; insomuch that which way soever we turn our selves we shall see our selves surrounded with such invincible reasons to trust in God and to fear him, to admire and love him, to obey and worship him, as will animate our faculties, wing and inspire our drooping indeavours, and carry us on with unspeakable Chearfulness and Alacrity through all the weary stages of Religion; and we shall no longer look upon Religion as the burthen and oppression of our nature, but readily embrace it as our Ornament p. 514and Crown, our Glory and Happiness, as being fully convinced that in serving of God we serve not only the greatest, but the best Master in the World.

FINIS.

End of the text · John Scott, The Christian Life Part 2 Volume 1 (1685)