where we cannot fathom. (2). Think of the not esteem much of them. What are these soul's eternity. As God is eternal, so he sublunary things to eternity? they are quickly hath made us eternal. We are never-dying gone, they salute us, and take their farewell. creatures; we are shortly entering upon an But I am to enter upon an everlasting estate; eternal state, either of happiness or misery. I hope to live with him who is eternal,Have serious thoughts of this: say, O my what is the world to me? They who stand soul, which of these two eternities is like to upon the top of the Alps, the great cities of be thy portion? I must shortly depart hence, Campania seem as small things in their eyes; and whither then shall I go,-to which of so he who hath his thoughts fixed on his these eternities, either of glory or misery? eternal state after this life, all these things The serious meditation of the eternal state seem as nothing in his eye. What is the we are to pass into, would work strongly glory of this world? How poor and conwith us.-1. Thoughts of eternal torments temptible, compared with an eternal weight are a good antidote against sin; sin tempts of glory.-3. To conclude: The serious with its pleasure; but, when we think of thoughts of an eternal state, either of happieternity, it may cool the intemperate heat of ness or misery, should have a powerful inlust. Shall I, for the pleasure of sin for a fluence upon whatsoever we take in hand; season, endure eternal pain? Sin, like those every work we do, promotes either a blessed locusts, Rev. ix. 7, seems to have on its head or cursed eternity; every good action sets us a crown like gold, but it hath in it a tail like a step nearer to an eternity of happiness; a scorpion, v. 10, and a sting in its tail, and every bad action sets us a step nearer to an this sting can never be plucked out. Shall I eternity of misery. O what influence would venture eternal wrath? Is sin committed so the thoughts of eternity have upon our resweet, as lying in hell for ever is bitter? ligious duties! It would make us do them This would make us flee from sin, as Moses with all our might: a duty well performed, from the serpent.-2. The serious thoughts lifts a Christian higher towards heaven, and of eternal happiness would very much take sets a Christian a step nearer to a blessed us off from these worldly things; we should eternity.

GOD'S UNCHANGEABLENESS.

The pomp of

THE next attribute is God's unchangeable- their eclipses and convulsions: What is beness: Mal. iii. 6, "I am Jehovah, I change not." 1. God is unchangeable in his nature. 2. In his decree.

I. Unchangeable in his nature: 1. There is no eclipse of his brightness. 2. No period put to his being.

come of the glory of Athens ? Troy? Jam seges est ubi Troja fuit! Kingdoms, though they have a head of gold, yet feet of clay.-3. The heavens change, Ps. cii. 26, "As a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed." The matter of 1. No eclipse of his brightness: his es- the elements, as it is more pure, so more firm sence shines with a fixed lustre, James i. 17, and solid; the heavens are the most ancient "With whom is no variableness, neither records, where God hath written his glory shadow of turning;" Ps. cii. 27, "Thou art with a sunbeam, yet these shall change; the same." All created things are full of though I do not think they shall be destroyed vicissitudes: 1. Princes and emperors are as to their substance, yet they shall be subject to mutation. Sesostris, an Egyptian prince, having subdued divers kings in war, made them draw like horses in his chariot, as if he intended to turn them to eat grass, as God did king Nebuchadnezzar. The crown hath many successors.-2. Kingdoms have nor shadow of turning."-4. The best saints

changed as to their qualities; they shall melt with fervent heat, 2 Pet. iii. 12, and so be more refined and purified. Thus the heavens shall be changed, but not he who dwells in heaven: "With him there is no variableness,

have their eclipses and changes. Look upon a Christian in his spiritual estate, and he is full of variation. Though the seed of grace doth not die, yet the beauty and activity of it doth often wither. A Christian hath his aguish fits in religion; sometimes his faith is at a high tide, sometimes low ebb; sometimes his love flames, and at another time like fire in the embers, and he hath lost his first love. How strong was David's grace at one time, 2 Sam. xxii. 3, "The God of my rock, in him will I trust!" And at another time, "I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul." What Christian can say he doth not find a change in his graces; that the bow of his faith doth never unbend, the strings of his viol do never slacken? Sure we shall never meet with such Christians till we meet with them in heaven! But God is without any shadow of turning.-5. The angels were subject to change; they were created holy, but mutable, Jude 6, "The angels which kept not their first estate." These morning-stars of heaven were falling stars. But God's glory shines with a fixed brightness. In God there is nothing looks like a change,-no better or worse; no better in him, because then he were not perfect; nor worse in him, for then he should cease to be perfect. He is immutably holy, immutably good, there is no shadow of change in him.

divine nature in its immutability: this is the glory of the Godhead. Mutableness denotes weakness; it is not so in God, he is "the same, yesterday, and to-day, and for ever," Heb. xiii. 8. Men are fickle and mutable, like Reuben, "unstable as water," Gen. xlix. 4. They go in changeable colours.

1. They are changeable in their principles, sometimes protestant, sometimes papist; if their faces altered as fast as their opinions, we should not know them.

2. Changeable in their resolutions; as the wind that blows in the east, presently turns about to the west. They resolve to be virtuous, but quickly repent of their resolutions; their minds are like a sick man's pulse, alter every half hour; these the apostle compares to waves of the sea,' and 'wandering stars,' Jude 13; they are not pillars in God's temple, but reeds.

3. Others are changeable in their friendship,-quickly love, and quickly hate; sometimes will put you in their bosom, then excommunicate you out of their favour; thus they change as the cameleon into several colours. But God is immutable.

Use 2. See the vanity of the creature; there are changes in every thing but in God; Ps. lxii. 9, "Men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie." We look for more from the creature than God hath put

OBJ. Christ, who is God, assumed the into it. The world brings changes; the creahuman nature, here was a change.

ANS. If indeed the divine nature had been converted into the human,-or the human into the divine,-here had been a change, but not so. The human nature was distinct from the divine, therefore there was no change. As suppose a cloud over the sun, this makes no change in the body of the sun; so, though the divine nature be covered with the human, this makes no change in the divine nature.

II. There is no period put to his being: 1 Tim. vi. 16, “Who only hath immortality." The Godhead cannot die: 1. An infinite essence cannot be changed into finite; but God is infinite. 2. He is eternal, ergo he is not mortal; to be eternal, and mortal, is a contradiction.

ture hath two evils in it,-it promiseth more than we find,—and it fails us when we most need it; there is a failure in omni. A man desires to have his corn grinded, the water fails, and then his mill cannot go; the mariner is for a voyage, the wind either doth not blow, or it is contrary, and he cannot sail; one depends upon another for the payment of a promise, and he fails, and is like a foot out of joint. Who would look for a fixed stability in the vain creature! As if one should build houses on the sand, where the sea comes in and overflows. The creature is true to nothing but deceit, and is constant only in its disappointments. It is no more wonder to see changes fall out here below, than to see the moon dressing itself in a new shape and figure; look to meet with changes

Use 1. See here the excellency of the in every thing but God.

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may leave us,-but, saith God, 'I'll not leave thee; my power shall support thee; my Spirit shall sanctify thee; my mercy shall save thee: I will never leave thee.' O trust in this unchangeable God! God is jealous of two things, of our love, and of our trust: He is jealous of our love, lest we love the creature more than him, therefore he makes it prove bitter; and of our trust, lest we should place more confidence in it than in him, therefore he makes it prove unfaithful. Outward comforts are given us as baits by the way to refresh us, but not as crutches to lean on; if we make the creature an idol, what we make our trust God makes our shame. O trust in the immortal God! We, like Noah's dove, have no footing for our souls, till we get into the ark of God's unchangeableness, Ps. cxxv. 1, "They that trust in the Lord, shall be as mount Sion, which cannot be removed."— God is unchangeable in his decree; what he hath decreed from eternity is unalterable, Isa. xlvi. 10, My counsel shall stand." Argument, That God's eternal counsel or decree is immutable: if God changed his decree, it must be from some defect of wisdom or foresight in God, for that is the reason why men

Use 3. Comfort to the godly: 1. In case of losses; if an estate be almost boiled away to nothing, if you lose dear friends by death, -here is a double eclipse; but this is the comfort, God is unchangeable; I may lose these things, but I cannot lose my God, he never dies. When the fig-tree, and olive-tree failed, yet God did not fail, Hab. iii. 18, “I will joy in the God of my salvation." The flowers in the garden die, but a man's portion remains; so outward things die and change, but, Ps. lxxiii. 26, "God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever."-2. In case of sadness of spirit, when God seems to cast off the soul in desertion, Cant. v. 6, "My Beloved had withdrawn himself;" yet God is unchangeable. He is immutable in his love; he may change his countenance, but not his heart, Jer. xxxi. 3, "I have loved thee with an everlasting love,”-in Hebrew, gnolam, 'a love of eternity.' If once God's electing love riseth upon the soul, it never sets: Isa. liv. 10, "The mountains shall be removed, but my loving-kindness shall not depart from thee, neither the covenant of my peace be removed." God's love stands faster than the mountains; God's love to Christ is unchangeable, and he will no more cease loving be-do change their purposes; through a want of lievers, than he will cease loving Christ.

Use 4. Of exhortation. Get an interest in this unchangeable God, then thou art as a rock in the sea, immovable in midst of all changes.

QUEST. How shall I get a part in this unchangeable God?

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foresight, they see something after, which they did not see before; but this cannot be the cause why God should alter his decree, because his knowledge is perfect, he sees all things in one entire prospect before him.

OBJ. But is not God said to repent? There seems to be a change in his decree, Jonah iii. 10, "The Lord repented of the evil that he said he would do unto them.”

ANS. By having a change wrought in thee: 1 Cor. vi. 11, "But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified." Whence we are changed, a ANS. Repentance is attributed to God tenebris ad lucem,-so changed, as if an- figuratively and improperly: Num. xxiii. 19, other soul did live in the same body; by this He is not "a man that he should repent." change we are interested in the unchange- There may be a change in God's work, but able God. Trust to this God only, who is un-not in his will; God may will a change, but changeable, Isa. ii. 22, "Cease ye from men;" not change his will; "God may change his leave trusting to the reed, but trust to the sentence, but not his decree." As suppose a Rock of ages.' He that is by faith engar-king shall cause a sentence to be passed upon risoned in God, is safe in all changes; he is a malefactor whom he intends to save: notlike a boat that is tied to an immovable rock. He that trusts in God, trusts in that which cannot fail him; he is unchangeable, Heb. xiii. 5, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." Health may leave us,-riches, friends

withstanding this sentence, the king doth not alter his decree, so God threatened destruction to Nineveh, Jonah iii. 4, but the people of Nineveh repenting, God spared them. Here God changed his sentence, but not his de

cree; it was what had lain in the womb of God's providence towards his church. We his purpose from eternity. are ready to quarrel with providence if every Овл. But if God's decree be unchange-thing doth not jump with our desire: rememable, and cannot be reversed, then to what ber God's work goes on, and nothing falls purpose should we use the means? Our en-out but what he hath decreed from eternity.— deavours towards salvation cannot alter his 2. God hath decreed troubles for the church's decree. good; the troubling of God's church is like the angel's troubling the water, John v. 4, which made way for healing his people. He hath decreed troubles in the church: "whose

ANS. This decree of God doth not take off my endeavour; for he that hath decreed my salvation, hath decreed it in the use of means: and if I neglect the means, I go about to re-fire is in Sion, and his furnace in Jerusalem," probate myself. No man argues thus: "God Isa. xxxi. 9. The wheels in a watch move hath decreed how long I shall live, therefore cross one to another, but they all carry on I will not use means to preserve my life, not the motion of the watch: so the wheels of eat and drink." God hath decreed the time providence often move cross to our desires, of my life in the use of means; so God hath but still they carry on God's unchangeable decreed my salvation in the use of word, decree, Dan. xii. 10, "Many shall be made prayer, sacraments; and as a man that re- white." God lets the waters of affliction be fuseth his food murders himself, so he that poured on his people, he doth but lay them a refuseth to work out his salvation doth de- whitening. Therefore murmur not at God's stroy himself. The vessels of mercy are said dealings; his work goes on, nothing falls out to be 'prepared unto glory,' Rom. ix. 23. but what he hath wisely decreed from eterHow are they prepared but by being sancti-nity; every thing shall promote God's design, fied? And that cannot be but in the use of and fulfil his decree.-2. Comfort to the godly means; therefore let not God's decree take in regard of their salvation, 2 Tim. ii. 19, thee off from holy endeavours. A good say"The foundation of God standeth sure, having of Dr Preston, "Hast thou an heart to ing this seal, the Lord knoweth them that pray to God? it is a sign no decree of wrath are his." God's counsel of election is unhath passed against thee." changeable: once elected, and for ever electUse 1. If God's decree be eternal and ed, Rev. iii. 5, "I will not blot his name out unchangeable, then God doth not elect our of the book of life." The book of God's defaith foreseen, as the Arminians, Rom. ix. cree hath no errata in it,—no blottings out,— 11-13, “The children being not yet born, once justified never unjustified, Hos. xiii. 14, that the purpose of God according to election" Repentance shall be hid from mine eyes." might stand, it was said, Jacob have I loved, God never repents of his electing love, John Esau have I hated." We are not elected xiii. 1, "He loved them to the end." Therefor holiness, but to holiness, Eph. i. 4. If fore, if thou art a believer, comfort thyself we are not justified for our faith, much less with this, the immutability of God's decree. elected for our faith; but we are not justified for it; we are said to be justified through faith | ed, who march furiously against God and his as an instrument, Eph. ii. 8, but not for faith as a cause; and, if not justified for faith, then much less elected. God's decree of election is eternal and unchangeable, therefore depends not upon faith foreseen, Acts xiii. 48, "As many as were ordained to eternal life, believed." They were not elected because they believed, but they believed because they were elected.

Use 2. If God's decree be unchangeable, it is comfort in two cases: 1. Concerning

Use 3. To conclude: a word to the wick

people-Let them know, God's decree is unchangeable; God will not alter it, nor can they break it; and while they resist God's will, they fulfil it. There is a twofold will of God, voluntas præcepti et decreti,—the will of God's precept, and of his decree. While the wicked resist the will of God's precept, they fulfil the will of his permissive decree. Judas betrays Christ,-Pilate condemns him,

the soldiers crucify him,-while they resisted the will of God's precepts, they ful

filled the will of his permissive decree, Acts broken, not the iron: God's commands are

the silken net. While men break the silken net of God's command, they are taken in the iron net of his decree; while they sit back. ward to God's precepts, they row forward to his decree; his decree to permit their sin,

iv. 28. Such as are wicked, God commands one thing, they do the quite contrary; to keep the sabbath, they profane it; while they disobey his command, they fulfil his permissive decree. If a man sets up two nets, one of silk, the other of iron, the silken net may be and to punish them for their sin permitted.

OF THE WISDOM OF GOD.

THE next attribute is God's wisdom; which | dom. None but a wise God could so curiis one of the brightest beams of the Godhead, ously contrive the world. Behold the earth Job ix. 4, "He is wise in heart." The heart is the seat of wisdom; Cor in Hebræo sumitur pro judicio, PINEDA. Among the Hebrews, the heart is put for wisdom, Job xxxiv. 34, "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 solely and wholly possess all wisdom; therefore he is called, "the only wise God," 1 Tim. i. 17. All the treasures of wisdom are locked 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. v. 48. God's wisdom appears in two things: 1st, His infinite intelligence. 2dly, His exact working.

1st. His infinite intelligence. He knows the most profound, abstruse secrets, Dan. ii. 28. He knows the thoughts, which are the most intricate subtle things, Amos iv. 13, “He declareth to man what is his thought." Let sin be contrived ever so politically, God will pull off all masks and disguises, and make a heart-anatomy. He knows all future contingencies, et ante intuita, all things are before him in one clear prospect.

2d. 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 wis

decked with variety of flowers which are both for beauty and fragrancy,—the heaven bespangled with lights; we may see the glori ous wisdom of God blazing in the sun, twink. ling 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 warmed us with its beams. God's wisdom is seen in appointing the seasons of the year, Ps. lxxiv. 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 killed us. The wisdom of God is seen in chequering 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 frost 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, Ps. civ. 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 politic, 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 help