The Incomparableness of God, Treatise · Chapter 15
CHAP. XV. God is incomparable in his Word: In its Purity, Mysteries, Propheſies.
2. GOd is incomparable in the matter of his ſpeech, as well as in his manner of ſpeaking: If you conſider the Purity, Myſteries or Predictions thereof.
1. The Purity of its Precepts: His Word is the moſt pure, perfect, exact Rule of Righteouſneſs that is imaginable: It commandeth good, nothing but good, and all good, at all times; It forbiddeth evil, all evil, and nothing but evil, and alwayes: The Commandment is holy, and the Law is holy, just, and good, Rom. 7.12. Holy, as it is a Copy of the Divine Will; Juſt, as it is correſpondent to the higheſt reaſon; Good, as it is moſt beneficial to the rational Creature. It is holy, as it relates our Duty to God; Just, as it reſpects our Duty to our Neighbours; Good, as it concerns our Duty towards our Selves. It is Holy, as conſecrated to the Service of God; Just, as a tranſcript of the pure Law of Nature; Good, as it is the meaſure and ſtandard of all goodneſs in the Creatures. It is Holy, in what it enjoyns us to do; Just, in what it forbids us to do, and good in both. What Laws in the World are in any degree comparable to the Laws of God? The Mahometan Laws which have gained ſo much credit in the greateſt part almoſt of the known World, are impure Laws, allowing Revenge, Poligamy, and commanding Slaughters, Oppreſſions, &c. for the Propagation of their Religion.
The Laws of the ſevereſt Heathen Lycurgus, &c. contained but the Carcaſs and Body of Purity, had nothing of the Soul and Life thereof. How many Sins againſt the very Law of Nature did that Lacedemonian Law-Giver allow of? and where he or any of the reſt did forbid Sin, it was in the outward actions, not in the inward affections: Their Laws did rather Command the covering of Sin, that it might not appear abroad, then the killing of Sin, that it might not be at all: Their Laws were defective as to perſons, ſome Men were uſually priviledged, and not bound to them; as to the parts of men, they gave the inward man liberty, though they reſtrained the outward, as to Puniſhments; the greateſt Penalty they could think of, or impoſe, was a Temporal Death; They never dreamed of an Hell in another World. But O how pure! how perfect is the Law of God! Thy Word is very pure, ſaith David, Pſal. 119. So pure, that there is not the leaſt mixture, falſhood or error in it: It commands all, and nothing but, conformity to the mind of the great Soveraign, and Lord of all things: The Law of the Lord is perfect, Pſal. 19.7. So perfect, that it is not deficient in any thing; It commandeth purity in the whole man, in every faculty of the Soul, in every member of the Body: It commandeth purity in this whole man, at all times, in all companies, in all conditions, in all relations, in all manner of converſation, 1 Pet. 1.15, 16. Pſal. 119.1, 2.
It's apparent to common ſenſe, that fallen man could never dream of ſuch ſtrict exact Precepts, no, he is ſo far from it, that he is wholly contrary thereunto, Rom. 8.7. And Angels could not imagine them, unleſs God had ſignified his mind to them. For all holineſs being a conformity to the Will of the moſt high God, they could not diſcern what was holy, what was unholy, any farther then they could diſcover the Will of this incomparable God.
2. The myſtery of its Doctrines: It containeth ſuch Depths, ſuch bottomleſs Profundities, that could not poſſibly have been imagin'd by Men or Angels, had not God reveal'd them. It acquainteth us with things far above the reach of created Reaſon, (though not contrary) yet being told us are ſo correſpondent, that there is no ground left for the queſtioning them. What the great Apoſtle ſaith upon occaſion of one myſtery, we may ſay upon the whole: O the Depth! O the Depth of the Wiſdom and Knowledge of God! Rom. 11.33. O the Depth of the holy Scriptures! There is a Depth in them, that none can fathome, becauſe a Depth in them that hath no bottom; Great is the mystery of the Bible: Who could think of a Womans coming into the World without a Woman, as Eve; of a mans coming into the World without a man, as the Son of man; nay, without man or woman, as Adam? who could think that the ſame Woman ſhould be a Mother & a Virgin? But theſe are ſmall myſteries; who could think that many thouſands, millions, living many Miles and Ages diſtant, ſhould be fellow members, and be truly one Body, ſympathiſing with, ſerviceable to, rejoycing in the welfare of each other; & all be united unto, receive influence from, and live wholly by one Head, as far from them as Heaven is from the Earth? Eph. 5.27, 28, 29, 30. Coloſſ. 2.19. Who could have thought that three really and perſonally diſtinct, ſhould be equal, and one in nature and eſſence? 1 John 5.7.
Who could have imagin'd, that God ſhould become Man, infinite become finite, the Creator a Creature; the Father of Spirits become Fleſh, and the Lord of Life be put to Death? Who could conceive, that he who made all things of nothing, ſhould be made himſelf of a Woman, made by him: That he whom the Heavens, and Heaven of Heavens cannot contain, ſhould be contained in the narrow Womb of a Woman: That the onelyonly Bread of Life ſhould be hungry, the onelyonly Water of Life be thirſty; the onelyonly Reſt be weary, the onelyonly Eaſe be pained, and the onelyonly Joy and Conſolation be ſorrowful, exceeding ſorrowful unto Death?
Who could have imagin'd, that one, yea millions ſhould be rich by anothers poverty, filled by anothers emptineſs, be exalted by anothers diſgrace, healed by anothers wounds, eaſed by anothers Pains, be abſolved by anothers Condemnation, and live eternally by anothers temporal Death? Who could have imagin'd, that infinite Juſtice and infinite Mercy ſhould be made faſt Friends, and fully ſatisfied by one and the ſame action; that the greateſt fury and the greateſt favor, the greateſt hatred and the greateſt love ſhould concur in, and be manifeſted by one and the ſame thing? Could Men or Angels ſpeak ſuch Myſterles? ſurely No. Several Myſteries in the Scriptures were hid from whole Ages and Generations of Men; Which in former Ages was not made known to the Children of Men, Eph. 3.5. No nor to Angels neither, Verſe 10. To the intent that now unto Principalities and Powers, might be made by the Church the manifold Wiſdom of God.
3. The Propheſies and Predictions of the Word: Neither Men nor Angels can fore-tell thoſe things which depend not on natural Cauſes, or which may not be deduced from moral or political Grounds, and even in ſuch things as theſe are, they may be, and have been deceived. Therefore it was the ſubtilty of the old Serpent to deliver his Oracles often in ambiguous words, and in deceitful Speeches, that whatſoever happened, his Credit might be ſalved, as his Aio te Aeacida Romanos vincere poſſe, & Ibis redibis nunquam per bellae peribis, &c. But God fore-tels what hath no print of any footing in Nature, what neither moral nor political Principles can direct unto, and never fails in his Predictions. He fore-tells the Birth of Cyrus, 100 years before he was born, Iſa. 48.28. The Birth of Joſiah, 200 years, 1 Kings 13.2. The Converſion of the Gentiles and falling off of the Jews, above 2000 years before it came to paſs, Gen. 9.27. Iſa. 49.6. Iſa. 54.9, 10. He fore-tells the Birth of Chirſt, near 4000 years before he came into the World, Gen. 3.15. And it is very obſervable, how punctual and particular he is herein, (as knowing how much the well-fare of the World did depend upon the Knowledge of the true Meſſiah,) he tells you long before-hand, of what Tribe he ſhould come, of Judah; of what Family, Davids; of what Perſon, a Virgin; where he ſhould be born, in Bethlehem; whence he muſt be called, out of Egypt; what his condition ſhould be; in general, full of Sorrows and Griefs; in particular, that he ſhould be diſgraced and reviled, tempted, betrayed, apprehended, deſerted by his Father and Brethren; that he ſhould die, be pierced, not have a Bone broken; be buried, make his Grave with the Rich and the Wicked, and riſe again from the Dead, and reap the fruit of all his Paſſion, to his full ſatisfaction.
He hath fore-told the ſtate of the World, and the Church, in the Revelations; from the Primitive times, to the diſſolution of the World, though it's written in ſhort-hand and in dark Characters.
And can any Men or Angels fore-tell ſuch things? God challengeth all the gods to do this; Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods, Iſa. 41.21, 22, 23. The certain Prediction of future Contingents, is ſuch an inſeparable Prerogative of the Deity, and ſuch a ſpecial Priviledge of the Original of all things, that he ingageth to own their Supremacy, and acknowledge their Sovereignty, who can do it. It's ſuch a Jewel in his Crown, that none ever ſhared in it: I have declared the former things from the beginning: I did them ſuddenly, and they came to paſs: I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to paſs, I ſhewed it to thee, Iſa. 48.3, & 5. It's peculiar to him, who worketh all in all, to fore-know and fore-tell whatſoever ſhall come to paſs, Acts 15.18. Known to God are all his Works, from the beginning of the World; yea, from all eternity. For he ſtood on the high Mountain of eternity, and thence had a full view of all that his will would produce, and whatſoever ſhould come to paſs.