A Body of Practical Divinity, Sermon 9
Of the Wisdom of GOD.
THE next Attribute is Gods' Wisdom, which is one of the brightest Beams of the Godhead, Iob 9.4. He is wise in heart. Kacham lavau: The Heart is the Seat of Wisdom; Cor in Hebraeo sumitur pro Iudicio, Pineda. Among the Hebrews the Heart is put for Wisdom. Iob 34.32. Let Men of Understanding tell me: In the Hebrew,—Let Men of Heart tell me. God is wise in heart, that is, he is most wise. 1. God is only wise; he doth monopolize and ingross all Wisdom; Ergo, he is called foreign, the only wise God, 1 Tim. 1.17. All the Treasures of Wisdom are lock'd up in him, and no Creature can have any Wisdom, but as God is pleased to give it out of his Treasury. 2. God is perfectly wise; there is no defect in his Wisdom. Men may be wise in some things, but in other things may betray imprudence and weakness. But God is the Exemplar and Pattern of Wisdom, and the Pattern must be perfect, Matth. 5.48. God's Wisdom appears in two things: 1. His Infinite Intelligence, 2. His Exact Working.
1. His Infinite Intelligence. He knows the most profound, obstruse Secrets, Dan. 2.28. He knows the Thoughts, which are the most intricate subtil things. Amos 4.13. He declareth to Man what is his thought. Let Sin be contrived never so politickly, God will pull off all Masks and Disguises, and make an Heart-Anatomy. He knows all future Contingencies, & ante intuitu, all things are before him in one clear Prospect.
2. His exact curious Working. He is wise in heart; his wisdom lies in his works. These Works of God are bound up in three great Volumes, where we may read his Wisdom.
1. The Work of Creation. The Creation, as it is a Monument of God's Power, so a Looking-glass in which we may see his Wisdom. None but a wise God could so curiously contrive the World. Behold the Earth deck'd with variety of Flowers, which are both for Beauty and Fragrancy; the Heaven bespangled with Lights, we may see the glorious Wisdom of God blazing in the Sun, twinkling in the Stars. His Wisdom is seen in the marshalling and ordering every thing in its proper Place and Sphere. If the Sun had been set lower, it would have burnt us; if higher, it would not have warm'd us with its Beams. God's Wisdom is seen in appointing the Seasons of the Year; Psal. 74.17. Thou hast made Summer and Winter. If it had been all Summer, the Heat would have scorched us; if all Winter, the Cold would have kill'd us. The Wisdom of God is seen in chekoring the Dark and the Light. If it had been all Night, there had been no Labour; if all Day, there had been no Rest. Wisdom is seen in mixing the Elements, the Earth with the Sea. If it had been all Sea, then we had wanted Bread; if it had been all Earth, then we had wanted Water. The Wisdom of God is seen in preparing and ripening the Fruits of the Earth: the Wind and Frosts prepare the Fruits, the Sun and Rain ripen the Fruits. God's Wisdom is seen in setting Bounds to the Sea, and so wisely contriving it, that though the Sea be higher than the Earth, yet it should not overflow the Earth: so that we may cry out with the Psalmist, Psal. 104.24. O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: there is nothing to be seen but Miracles of Wisdom. God's Wisdom is seen in ordering things in the Body Politick, that one shall have need of another: the Poor need the Rich Man's Money, and the Rich need the Poor Man's Labour. God makes one Trade depend upon another, that one may be helpful to another, and that mutual Love may be preserved.
2. The second Work wherein God's Wisdom shines forth, is the Work of Redemption. 1. Here was the Master-piece of Divine Wisdom, to contrive a way to Happiness between the Sin of Man, and the Justice of God. We may cry out with the Apostle, Rom. 11.33. foreign, O the depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God! This posed Men and Angels. If God had put us to find out a way of Salvation when we were lost, we could neither have had an Head to devise, nor an Heart to desire what God's infinite Wisdom hath found out for us. Mercy had a mind to save Sinners, yet loath that the Justice of God should be wronged: 'Tis pity, saith Mercy, that such a noble Creature as Man should be made to be undone, and yet no reason that God's Justice should be a loser. What way then shall be found out? Angels cannot satisfie for the wrong done to God's Justice; nor is it fit that one Nature should sin, and another Nature suffer. What then, shall Man be for ever lost? Now, while Mercy was thus debating with it self what to do for the recovery of fall'n Man, here the Wisdom of God step'd in, and thus the Oracle spake; Let God become Man, let the second Person in the Trinity be Incarnate, and Suffer, and so for fitness he shall be Man, and for ability he shall be God. Thus Justice may be satisfied, and Man saved. O the depth of the riches of the wisdom of God, thus to make Justice and Mercy to kiss each other! Great is this Mystey, God manifest in the flesh, 1 Tim. 3.16. What wisdom was this, that Christ should be made sin, yet know no sin; that God should condemn the sin, yet save the sinner. Here was wisdom to find out the way of Salvation. 2. The means by which Salvation is applied sets forth God's wisdom. That Salvation should be by Faith, not by Works. Faith is an humble Grace, it gives all to Christ, 'tis an adorer of Free-grace; and Free-grace being advanced here, God hath his glory, and it is his highest wisdom to exalt his own glory. 3. The way of working Faith declares God's wisdom; 'tis wrought by the Word preached, Rom. 10.17. Faith comes by hearing. What is the weak Breath of a Man to convert a Soul? 'tis like whispering in the Ears of a dead Man; this is foolishness in the eye of the world: but the Lord loves to shew his wisdom by that which seems folly, 1 Cor. 1.27. He hath chosen the foolish things of the World to confound the wise. Why so? Verse 29. That no flesh should glory in his presence. Should God convert by the Ministry of Angels, then we should have been ready to have gloried in Angels, and have given that honour to them which is due to God. But when God works by weak Tools, makes use of Men who are of like Passions with our selves, and by them Converts, now the Power is plainly seen to be of God: 2 Cor. 4.7. We have this Treasure in earthen Vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. Herein is God's wisdom seen, that no flesh may glory in his presence.
3. The Wisdom of God wonderfully appears in the Works of his Providence. Every Providence hath either a mercy or a wonder wrap'd up in it. The wisdom of God in his Works of Providence, appears 1. By effecting great things by small contemptible Means. He cured the stung Israelite by a brazen Serpent. If some Soveraign Antidote had been used, if the Balm of Gilead had been brought, there had been some likelyhood that this should have healed: But what was there in a brazen Serpent? it was a meer Image, and not applied to him that was wounded, only he was to look upon it; yet this wrought a Cure. The less probability in the Instrument, the more is God's wisdom seen. 2. The wisdom of God is seen in doing his work by that which to the Eye of Flesh seems quite contrary. God intended to advance Ioseph, and make all his Brethrens sheaves bow to his sheaf. Now, what way doth he take? First Ioseph is thrown into the Pit, then sold into Egypt, then after that put in Prison, Gen. 39.20. and by his Imprisonment God made way for his Advancement. For God to save in an ordinary way, wisdom would not be so much taken notice of; but when he goes strangely to work, and saves in that very way in which we think he will destroy, now his wisdom shines forth in a most glorious conspicuous manner. God would make Israel victorious, and what way doth he go in? He lessens Gideon's Army, Iudg. 7.2. The people that are with thee are too many: he reduceth the Army of two and thirty thousand to three hundred, and by taking away the means of Victory, makes Israel victorious. God had a design to bring his People out of Egypt, and a strange course he takes to effect it: he stirred up the Hearts of the Egyptians to hate them, Psal. 105.25. He turned their heart to hate his people. The more they hated and oppressed Israel, the more God plagued the Egyptians, and the gladder they were to let Israel go, Exod. 12.33. The Egyptians were urgent upon Israel that they might send them out of the Land in haste, God had a mind to save Ionah when he was cast into the Sea, and he lets the Fish swallow him up, and so bring him to the shore. God would save Paul, and all that were in the Ship with him, and there was no way to save them but the Ship must break, and they all came safe to Land upon the broken pieces of the Ship, Acts 27.44. In reference to the Church God oft goes by contrary means, makes the Enemy do his work; he can strike a strait stroak by crooked sticks. God hath oft made his Church grow and flourish by persecution. The showrs of Blood have made her more fruitful, Iulian. Exod. 1.10. Come let us deal wisely with them, least they multiply. And that way they took to suppress them, made them multiply, Vers. 12. The more the afflicted them, the more they multiplied: Like Ground, the more it is harrowed, it bears the better Crop. The Apostles were scattered by reason of Persecution▪ and their scattering was like the scattering of Seed, they went up and down and preached the Gospel, and brought in daily Converts. Paul was put in Prison, and his Bonds were a Means to enlarge the Gospel, Phil. 1.12.
3. The wisdom of God is seen in making the most desperate Evils turn to the good of his Children. As several poisonful Ingredients, wisely tempered by the skill of the Artist make a Soveraign Medicine, so God makes the most deadly Afflictions co-operate for the good of his Children. He purifies them, and prepares them for Heaven, 2 Cor. 4.17. These hard Frosts hasten the Spring-flowers of Glory. The wise God, by a Divine Chymistry, turns Afflictions into Cordials. God makes his People gainers by losses, and turns their Crosses into Blessings.
4. The wisdom of God is seen in this, that the sins of Men shall carry on God's work, yet that he should have no hand in their sins. The Lord permits sin, but doth not approve it. He hath an Hand in the Action in which sin is, but not in the sin of the Action. As in the crucifying of Christ, so far as it was a Natural Action, God did concur; if he had not given the Jews Life and Breath, they could not have done it: but as it was a sinful Action, so God abhorred it. A Musitian plays upon a Viol out of tune, the Musitian is the Cause of the sound, but the jarring and discord is from the Viol it se…f; so Men's natural Motion is from God, but their sinful Motion is from themselves. A Man that rides on a lame Horse, his riding is the Cause why the Horse goes, but the lameness is from the Horse it self. Herein is God's wisdom, the sins of Men shall carry on his Work, yet he hath no hand in them.
5. The wisdom of God is seen in helping in the desperate Cases. God loves to shew his wisdom when Humane Help and Wit fail. Exquisite Lawyers love to wrestle with Nicities and Difficulties in the Law, to shew their skil the more. God's wisdom is never at a loss, but when Providences are darkest, now appears the Morninst-star of Deliverance, Psal. 136.23. Who remembred us in our low condition. Sometimes God melts away the Spirits of his Enemies, Iosh. 2.24. Sometimes he finds them other work to do, and sounds a Retreat to them, as he did to Saul when he was pursuing David, The Philistines are in the Land. In the Mount will God be seen. When the Church seems to be upon the Altar, her Peace and Liberty ready to be Sacrificed, now comes the Angel.
6. God's wisdom is seen in befooling wise men, and making their wisdom a means of their overthrow. Achitophel had deep Policy, 2 Sam. 16.23. The counsel of Achitophel which he counselled, was as if a man had enquired at the Oracle of God: but he consulted his own shame, The Lord turned his counsel into foolishness, 2 Sam. 17.23. Job 5.13. God taketh the wise in their own craftiness; that is, when they think to deal wisely, he not only disappoints them, but insnares them. The Snares they lay for others catch themselves. Psal. 9.16. In the Net which they hid is their own foot taken. God loves to counter-plot Politicians; he makes use of their own Wit to undo them, and hangs Haman upon his own Gallows.
Use 1. Adore the wisdom of God, it is an infinite Deep, the Angels cannot search into: Rom. 11.33. His ways are past finding out. And as we should Adore, so we should Rest in the wisdom of God: God sees what Condition is best for us. Did we believe the wisdom of God, it would keep us from murmuring. Rest in God's wisdom, in several Cases: 1. In want of Spiritual Comfort: God is wise, he sees it good sometimes we should be without Comfort. Perhaps we should be lifted up with Spiritual Enlargements, as Paul with his Revelations, 2 Cor. 12.7. 'Tis hard to have the Heart low when Comfort is high. God sees Humility is better for us then Ioy. 'Tis better to want Comfort and be humble, then to have it and be proud. 2. In want of bodily strength rest in God's wisdom; he sees what is best. Perhaps the less Health the more Grace. Weaker in Body, the stronger we are in Faith, 2 Cor. 4.16. Though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. At Rome there were two Laurel Trees, when the one withered the other flourished. The inward Man is renewed. When God shakes the Tree of the Body, he is now gathering the Fruits of Righteousness, Hebr. 12.11. Sickness is God's Launce to let out the Impostbume of sin, Isa. 27.9. 3. In case of God's Providences to his Church: we wonder what God is doing with us, and are ready to kill our selves with Care; Rest in God's wisdom, he knows best what he hath to do, Psal. 77.19. His footsteps are not known. Trust him where you cannot trace him. God is most in his way, when we think he is most out of the way. When we think God's Church is as it were in the Grave, and there is a Tombstone laid upon her, God's wisdom can rowl away the Stone from the Sepulchre. Christ cometh leaping over Mountains, Cant. 2.8. Either his power can remove the Mountain, or his wisdom knows how to leap over it. 4. In case we are low in the World, or have but little Oil in our Cruise, Rest in God's wisdom, he sees it best; it is to cure Pride and Wantonness. God knew, if thy Estate had not been lost, thy Soul had been lost. God he saw Riches would be a Snare to thee, 1 Tim. 6.9. Art thou troubled that God hath prevented a Snare? God will make thee rich in Faith; what thou lackest in Temporals, shall be made up in Spirituals; God will give thee more of his love. Thou art weak in Estate, yet God will make thee strong in Assurance. O rest in God's wisdom! he will Carve the best piece for thee. 5. In case of the loss of dear Friends, a Wife, or Child, or Husband, rest satisfied in God's Wisdom. God hath taken away these, because he would have more of your Love. He breaks these Crutches, that we may live more upon him by Faith. God would have us learn to go without Crutches.
Use 2. If God be infinitely wise, then let us go to him for Wisdom; as Solomon ▪ 1 Kings 3.9. Give thy servant an understanding heart, and the speech pleased the Lord; and there is encouragement for us. If any one lack wisdom, let him ask of God who giveth liberally and upbraideth not, Jam. 1.5. Wisdom is in God, tanquam in fonte, as in the Fountain; his wisdom is imparted, not impaired; his Stock is not spent by giving. Go then to God, Lord do thou light my Lamp; in thy Light 'I shall see Light; give me wisdom to know the fallacies of my heart, the subtilties of the old Serpent, to walk jealously towards my self, religiously towards thee, prudently towards others; guide me by thy Counsel, and afterwards receive me to Glory.