The Incomparableness of God, Treatise · Chapter 23
CHAP. XXIII. Labour for acquaintance with the Incomparable God: Motives to it. The knowledge of God is ſanctifying, ſatisfying, ſaving.
SEcondly, This Doctrine may be uſeful by way of Counſel.
1. Study the knowledge of this God, who is ſo incomparable. We are all ambitious to be acquainted with perſons that are eminent and excellent in place, or power, or parts, or piety, and judge it our intereſt, and an honour to us ſo to be. If we could hear of one as ſtrong as Sampſon, whom no cords could hold, who could ſlay hundreds with a Jaw-bone; or of one as old as Methuſelah, who could tell us what was done in many Centuries of years; or of one as wiſe as Solomon, who could ſpeak to the nature of all creatures, and anſwer the hardeſt Queſtions we could put to him; or of one as Holy as Adam in innocency, or the elect Angels, who never broke the law of their Maker, but were as pure and perfect as when they came immediately out of his hands: How ſhould we throng, and thruſt, and crowd to ſuch men? what pains ſhould we take? what coſt ſhould we be at to obtain the favour and honour of their acquaintance? Surely (we ſhould think) we could never view them enough, or value them enough, or know enough of them, or diſcourſe enough with them: But alas, what are ſuch men (if we could find them in the world) to the bleſſed God? what motes, what drops, what poor pitiful Nothings? what is a ſtrong Sampſon to the Almighty God, but as ſtraw, as chaff, as rotten wood, as all weakneſs? what is the Age of Methuſelah to the duration of the eternal God (to whoſe Age Millions of years add not a moment) but as a minute, as nothing? Pſal. 39.5. What is the wiſdom of Solomon to all the treaſures of wiſdom and knowledge, which are in the only wiſe God, but a curious web of folly? Coloſſ. 2.9. What is the holineſs of an Angel to the holineſs of God, but as a candle to the Sun, yea, as perfect night and darkneſs to the Noon-day? O therefore, how ſhouldſt thou labour to know this God? how induſtrious ſhouldſt thou be to be acquainted with him? When the Queen of Sheba had heard of the extraordinary knowledge and abilities of Solomon, ſhe came from the utmoſt parts of the earth to ſee his perſon, and to hear his wiſdome. But behold, Reader, a greater than Solomon is here. Solomon was an Ideot, an Innocent, to this object, which I requeſt thee to know. The underſtanding of God is infinite, Pſal. 147.5. There is no ſearching of his underſtanding, Iſa. 40.28. Indeed it is bottomleſs, and therefore can never be found out. His knowledge can never be known fully, no not by Angels themſelves. Do men beat their brains, and conſume their bodies, and waſte their eſtates, and deny themſelves the pleaſures of the fleſh (as many Heathen have done) for the knowledge of nature, of the heavenly bodies, and their motions, of the Sea and its ebbing and flowing, of the earth and the creatures thereon; when after all their ſearch, they were ſtill at a loſs; and for all the knowledge they attained, they proved but learned Dunces? what wouldſt thou then do for the knowledge of the God of nature, of the mighty poſſeſſor of Heaven and Earth, of him to whom all things are leſs than nothing, of him, the knowledge of whom will make thee wiſe to Salvation. O Friend, this is the only knowledge worth ſeeking, worth getting, worth prizing, worth glorying in, Jer. 9.23, 24. Thus ſaith the Lord, let not the wiſe man glory in his wiſdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, nor the rich man glory in his riches. Worldly knowledge, ſtrength, wealth, are not worth glorying in; what then is? The next verſe tells you, But let him that glorieth, glory in this (in what?) that he underſtandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord, &c. This is a jewel that a man may boaſt of, and glory in, that he knoweth me, that I am the Lord.
There is an excellency in all knowledge. Knowledge is the eye of the Soul, to direct it in its motions; it is the lamp, the light of the Soul ſet up by God himſelf to guide it in its actions. The underſtanding of man is the candle of the Lord, Prov. 20.27. Without knowledge the Soul is but a Dungeon of darkneſs, and blackneſs, full of confuſion and terror: But there is an incomparable excellency in the knowledge of this incomparable God. The object doth elevate and heighten the act. There is a vaſt difference between the knowledg of earthly things, and heavenly things; between the knowledge of wiſe, ſtrong, faithful, merciful, juſt, holy men, and the only wiſe, omnipotent, unchangeable, righteous, moſt holy God. Only before I proceed to the urging this Uſe, I would deſire thee Reader to take notice, what knowledge of God it is which I am preſſing thee to labour for; it is not a meer notional ſpeculative knowledge (though a knowledge of apprehenſion is a duty, & neceſſary, Eph. 5.17. Pſal. 143.8. Heb. 8.9, 10. but an experimental knowledge: Thou haſt made me to know wiſdom in my ſecret parts, Pſal. 51.6. (The heart is called the ſecret part, becauſe known only to God, 1 Kings 8.39.) ſuch a knowledge as affecteth the heart (with love to him, and fear of him, and hatred of what is contrary to him; true knowledge takes the heart as well as takes the head, Pſal. 1.6. 1 Kings 8.38. Phil. 3.10.) and influenceth the life, 1 Joh. 2.4. He that ſaith, I know him, and keepeth not his Commandments, is a lyar, and the truth is not in him. Coloſſ. 1.9, 10. John 10.4, 5. Right knowledge, though it begin at the head, doth not end there, but falls down upon the heart to affect that, and floweth out in the life to order and regulate that, Coloſſ. 1.10. We pray for you, that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will, in all wiſdom, and ſpiritual underſtanding (for what end, and to what purpoſe) that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleaſing, being fruitful in every good work.
To enforce this Uſe, I ſhall give thee two or three Motives, and as many means.
To encourage thee to ſtudy the knowledge of this God, conſider theſe three properties of it.
1. The true knowledge of this God will be a ſanctifying knowledge. If thou haſt any thing of a man, I mean of Reaſon in thee, holineſs (which was thy primitive perfection, which is the Image of the incomparable God, and will fit thee for his ſpecial love and eternal embraces) will be a ſtrong and cogent argument with thee. Now this knowledge of God will conform thee to God, render thee like unto him, who is the pattern and ſtandard of all excellency. As I ſaid before, knowledge is the eye by which we ſee God, and the viſion of God cauſeth an aſſimulation to him. But we all with open face beholding as in a Glaſs the glory of the Lord, are changed into the ſame image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of our God, 2 Cor. 3.18. The Blackamore that often look'd on beautiful pictures, brought forth a beautiful Son. We are often changed into the poſtures and faſhions, yea and diſpoſitions of thoſe whom we much converſe with on earth: ſurely then acquaintance with the gracious and Holy God, will make us in ſome meaſure to reſemble him.
Other knowledge pollutes and defiles the ſoul: Oftentimes, the more men pick the lock of Natures Cabinet, and look into her riches, and treaſury, her ſecrets and myſteries; the more Atheiſtical they are, and forgetful of the God of Nature. Hence Religio Medici is irreligion; they ſee ſo much of the operations of nature, that they aſcribe the principal efficiency to the inſtrument. And hence the wiſdom of the Philoſophers (counted the wiſeſt men in the world) is folly, 1 Cor. 3.19. And though they profeſſed themſelves to be wiſe, yet they became fools, and were guilty of all manner of wickedneſs, Rom. 1.22. to the end. And what was the reaſon, but this, they knew not God, with all their knowledge, 1 Cor. 1.21. Ignorant heads are ever accompanied with irreligious hearts, and both are attended with Atheiſtical lives, Eph. 4.18. The Apoſtle tells us of the Heathen, that they were eſtranged from the life of God (an holy life) through the ignorance that was in them, becauſe of the blindneſs of their hearts. So Hoſ. 4.1, 2, 3, 4. But the knowledg of God purifieth the ſoul. As the Sun conveyeth heat along with its light, ſo grace is multiplied through the knowledge of God, 2 Pet. 1.2. When Moſes had convers'd with God in the Mount, his feet ſhone, that the Jews could not behold him. When a Soul hath once acquainted himſelf with the bleſſed God, his life will ſhine with holineſs; therefore David counſelleth his Son Solomon, to know the God of his Fathers, and to ſerve him with a perfect heart, and willing mind; firſt, to know him; then to ſerve him, 1 Chron. 28.9.
This knowledge muſt needs be a ſanctifying knowledge, becauſe it renders ſin abominable, the world contemptible, God honourable, and the ſoul the more humble.
The knowledge of God will render ſin moſt abominable to the Soul, it renders ſin to be exceeding ſinful. The miſeries that befall us in our eſtates, names, bodies, ſouls, nay, all the curſes of the Law, and torments of the damned, do not diſcover the ugly loathſome features, and monſtrous deformed nature of ſin, like the knowledge of this incomparable God. Job confeſſeth his ſin, Job 42.2. I uttered things that I underſtood not; nay, he abhorreth himſelf for his ſin, v. 5. But whence came he who ſometime juſtifyed himſelf too much, now to abhor himſelf? He gives us the reaſon or cauſe of it, I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, (I had ſome knowledge of thee before) but now mine eyes ſee thee (I now have a clearer and fuller knowledge of thee) wherefore I abhor my ſelf, and repent in duſt and aſhes. The more we know the greateſt good, the more we ſhall hate the greateſt evil.
The knowledge of God will render the world contemptible to a Chriſtian. None undervalue the Creature, but thoſe who have had a ſight of the Creator; neither can any trample on the riches, honours, and pleaſures of this world, but thoſe who know him who is the riches, and honours, and pleaſures of the other world. They who never ſaw the Sun, wonder at a Candle: and they who never knew the bleſſed God, wonder at, and are fond of poor low things, mean, ſmall, pitiful things on earth: But the whole world, with all its Crowns, and Scepters, and Diadems, and Delights, is but a dunghill to him that hath ſeen the incomparable God. Moſes could refuſe the honour of being the adopted Child of a Kings Heir, reject the pleaſures of Pharaoh's Court, and prefer the reproaches of Chriſt before all the Treaſures of Egypt, when he had once got a ſight of the Incomparable God, Heb. 11.25, 26, 27. For he ſaw him that was inviſible.
The knowledge of God will render God more honourable in our eſteems. The more we know of many things and perſons, the more we ſleight and deſpiſe them. The more we know ſin, the more we loath it; the more we know our ſelves, the more we abhor our ſelves; but the more we know God, the more we love him, and the more we admire him. The reaſon of all the contempt and affronts which we offer to God, is our ignorance of him. The whole world lyeth in wickedneſs, as a beaſt in its dung, or vermine in their ſlime, 1 Joh. 5.19. but the reaſon is what Chriſt ſpeaks, Joh. 17.25. Father the world hath not known thee; for the Apoſtle ſaith, had they known, they would never have Crucified the Lord of Glory, 1 Cor. 2.8. They who know God, cannot but ſee infinite reaſon why they ſhould love, and fear, and honour, and pleaſe him all their dayes. Why do you think is God ſo much wondred at, and worſhipped in his Church, more than in other parts of the world? Why doth he inhabit their higheſt praiſes, Pſal. 22.3. and greateſt bleſſings and thankſgivings, but becauſe he is known more there than in other parts of the world. In Judah is God known (therefore) his name is great (his name alone is excellent) in Iſrael, Pſal. 76.1.
The knowledge of God makes us humble. We never are ſo low in our own eyes, as when we ſee the moſt high God. The more we know of men that are more vain, and fooliſh, and wicked than our ſelves, the more we are exalted and puffed up; but the more we know of God, of the great God, the incomparable God, the moſt holy God, to whom we are as nothing, leſs than nothing, worſe than nothing; the more we abaſe our ſelves.
When David is acquainted with the excellency of God, O Lord, my Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth, and thy glory is above the Heavens! Pſal. 8.1. What low, little, diminutive thoughts, hath he of himſelf and others? v. 4. What is man? or, what is the Son of man? What a poor, pitiful, contemptible thing is man? What a vain, empty, inſignificant nothing is the Son of man? We are aſhamed of our ruſh Candles, or Glow-worms, & hide our heads in the preſence of the Sun. The holieſt man abhors himſelf for his unholineſs before the moſt Holy God. So Job 25.2. Dominion and fear are with him, v. 3. There is no number of his Armies, v. 5. Behold even to the Moon, and it ſhineth not, and the Stars are not pure in his ſight: How much leſs man that is a worm, and the Son of man that is a worm? v. 6. A worm is the moſt deſpicable contemptible creature, every beaſt trampleth on it; ſuch a creature is man in his own apprehenſions, when he once underſtandeth the incomparable God.
When Iſaiah had ſeen the Lord of Hoſts, though he were an Holy man, he cryeth out, I am undone, I am a man of unclean lips, for mine eyes have ſeen the Lord of Hoſts, Iſa. 6.3, 4. He never ſaw ſo much of his own uncleanneſs, as when he ſaw him in whoſe preſence the Heavens are unclean. Other knowledge, like wind in a bladder, puffeth up, 1 Cor. 8.2. but the knowledge of God, as fire nigh the bladder, ſhrinks and ſhrivels it up to nothing.
2. The knowledge of God is a ſatisfying knowledge. A man may know much of Creatures; and the more he knoweth, the more unquiet and reſtleſs he is; his knowledge, as wind to the ſtomack, may fill, and pain, and trouble him, but cannot ſatisfie him: for, Creatures are not that ſavory meat which the heaven-born ſpiritual immortal Soul of man would have, and muſt have, if ever it be contented. The greateſt Students, who have wearied and tired out their brains, and bodies, in the ſearch of Natures ſecrets, have found by experience, that they ſpent their ſtrength for what is not bread, and their labour for what will not ſatisfie; and they have known the truth of the Wiſe mans ſaying, He that increaſeth knowledge, increaſeth ſorrow, Eccleſ. 1.18.
That knowledge which ſatisfieth, muſt be of an object that is ſuitable, in its ſpirituality, to the nature of the Soul; in its all-ſufficiency, to the manifold neceſſities of the Soul; and in its immortality, to the duration of the Soul; if either of theſe be wanting in it, the Soul cannot receive ſatisfaction by it, becauſe without all theſe the Soul cannot be perfectly happy; and till it find that which can make it perfectly happy, it will be reſtleſs. If it meet with an object that is ſuitable to its nature, yet if it be not anſwerable to all its wants, it will ſtill be complaining (wherein it is unſupplyed) and ſo unquiet? If it meet with an object that is ſuitable to its nature, and anſwerable to all its wants, yet if it be not eternal, it muſt needs be full of fears and troubles in the fore-thoughts of its amiſſion of ſo great a good, which would imbitter the preſent poſſeſſion of it; For the ſoul being incorruptible and immortal it ſelf, cannot but deſire that good which will run parallel with its own life; and if it deſire it, nothing will fully ſatisfie it, till it obtain ſuch a good. Now nothing in this world is ſuitable to the Souls nature (the Soul is ſpiritual, the things of this world are carnal) nor anſwerable to the various indigencies of the Soul (the Souls wants are many, and in a manner infinite; beſides, they are ſpiritual, as, pardon of Sin, peace with God, peace of Conſcience, &c. when the good things of this life are particular, finite, and bodily) nor equal to the Souls duration (the Soul will abide and continue after millions of ages and generations, for ever and ever; but this world paſſeth away, and all the good things thereof.) But this God, whom I am perſwading thee, Reader, to know and acquaint thy ſelf with, is in all theſe reſpects perfect, and ſo will ſatisfie thy ſoul. God is a ſpiritual good, a Spirit, Joh. 4.23. the Father of Spirits, and ſo ſuitable to the nature of thy ſoul. He is an univerſal good, all good, and ſo anſwerable to the many wants of thy Soul. He is an eternal good, a good that never dieth, never fadeth, a good that only hath immortality, and ſo is equal to thy ſouls duration; therefore the Diſciple cryeth out to Chriſt, ſhew us the Father, and it ſufficeth, Joh. 10.8. and David tells us, that he is fully pleaſed in having God for his portion, Pſal. 14.5, 6.
Give any man both that which he would have, and that which he ſhould have, and he is contented. If indeed you give a man what he would have, ſuppoſing it be that which he ſhould not have, his deſires being depraved and vitiated, he cannot be contented when he hath what he deſired, becauſe luſts are unſatiable, and ſinful deſires never ſatisfied: (thence the Heathen Emperours had their Inventors of new pleaſures; and poſſibly that may be the meaning of that place, Rom. 1.28. The Heathen wearied with common, invented, unnatural delights) But give a man what he would have, ſuppoſe it be what he ſhould have (his deſires being rectified) and he is then at eaſe and reſt.
He who knoweth God aright, is fully ſatisfied in him; when he once drinketh of the Fountain of living waters, he thirſteth no more after other objects, Joh. 4.14. Though the Soul ſtil deſireth to know more of God, till it come to that place where it ſhall know as it is known, as David, though ſatisfied with his portion, Pſal. 16.4, 5. yet thirſted after more of it, Pſal. 63.1, 2. yet it is quiet and contented in God. And indeed the ſweetneſs which it taſteth in acquaintance with the incomparable God, makes it long after nearer and fuller acquaintance with him. When Moſes was once acquainted with God, he begs that he might ſee and know more of his glory; and the reaſon is, becauſe while God is the object, there can be no ſatiety, he being the God of all joy and conſolation; neither can there be ſuch a full acquaintance as to ceaſe deſires after farther acquaintance, he being an object ſtill too great for the faculties to comprehend. The deſires of the glorified are without anxiety, becauſe they are ſatisfied in the object of their deſires; and their ſatisfaction or enjoyment is without ſatiety or loathing, becauſe they ſee ſtill infinite cauſe to deſire him.
When the Soul once comes to know God (as the needle touch'd with the Loadſtone, when it turns to the North) it is then quiet, though before, like the Dove, it hover'd up and down over the waters of this world, and could find no reſt. This knowledge, if right, diffuſeth into the Soul a ſweet tranquillity, ſilent peace, ſecret ſetled calmneſs, beſides a raviſhing praeviſion, and bleſſed fore-fruition of its fuller acquaintance in the other life.
3. The knowledge of God is a ſaving knowledge. Many periſh for all their great knowledge of Creatures; their knowledge may light them to the more diſmal Chambers of death, of blackneſs of darkneſs for ever, Joh. 15.24. And indeed their knowledge (like many Pigs of Silver in a Veſſel ſinking) preſſeth them the deeper into Hell: but the knowledge of God is ſaving; God will know him in the other world, who knows him in this; He will be ſo far from knowing them hereafter who are ignorant of him here, that he will come in flaming fire to render vengeance on them that know not God, 2 Theſſ. 1.7, 8. But he will own them, and take acquaintance with them then, that own him and are acquainted with him now, Pſal. 91.14. I will ſet him on high, becauſe he hath known my name. God will ſet him as high as Heaven, who knoweth his name on earth. Reader, it's as much worth as Heaven to thee to know this incomparable God. This is life eternal, to know thee the onelyonly true God, and Jeſus Chriſt whom thou haſt ſent, Joh. 17.3. It is the morning, though not the Meridian of Heaven; it is the Bud, though not the ripe fruit of glory; it is the ſeed, though not the harveſt of the Inheritance above; to know the true God, and Jeſus Chriſt. This knowledge is of the ſame nature, though not of the ſame meaſure, with that in the other world, Eph. 4.13. Now the Chriſtian knoweth as a Child, then he ſhall know as a man; now he ſeeth God as it were at a diſtance through the proſpective glaſs of faith, but then he ſhall ſee God face to face; Now we ſee through a glaſs darkly, but then face to face; now we know in part, but then we ſhall know as we are known, 1 Cor. 13.12.