תמונות בעמוד
PDF
ePub
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

Eph. v. 6. For this cause cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.' Is it the passion or affection of anger in God, that Mr. Biddle talks of, that comes upon the children of disobedience? Or is it indeed the "effect, of his justice for this sin? Thus the day of judgment is called the day of wrath,' and of 'anger,' because it is the day of the ' revelation of the righteous judgment of God;' Rom. ii. 5. After thy hardiness, &c. In the place of Ezekiel, chap. v. 13. mentioned by Mr. B. the Lord tells them, he will cause his fury to rest upon men ;' and accomplish it upon them. I ask whether he intends this of any passion in him (and if so, how a passion in God can rest upon a man), or the judgments which for their iniquities he did inflict? We say then, anger is not properly ascribed to God, but metaphorically, denoting partly his vindictive justice whence all punishments flow, partly the effects of it in the punishments themselves, either threatened or inflicted, in their terror and bitterness, upon the account of what is analogous therein to our proceeding, under the power of that passion; and so is to be taken in all the places mentioned by Mr. Biddle. For,

3. Properly, in the sense by him pointed to, anger, wrath, &c. are not in God. Anger is defined by the philosopher to be, ὄρεξις μετὰ λύπης τιμωρίας φαινομένης, διὰ φαινομένην ὀλιγωplav, Desire joined with grief of that which appears to be revenge, for an appearing neglect or contempt.' To this "grief he tells you there is a kind of pleasure annexed, arising from the vehement fancy which an angry person hath of the revenge he apprehends as future; which, saith he, 'is 'like the fancy of them that dream;' and ascribes this passion mostly to weak impotent persons: ascribe this to God, and you leave him nothing else. There is not one property of his nature wherewith it is consistent. If he be properly and literally angry, and furious, and wrathful, he is moved, troubled, perplexed, desires revenge, and is neither blessed nor perfect; but of these things in our general reasons against the property of these attributions afterward.

4. Mr. Biddle hath given us a rule in his preface, that when any thing is ascribed to God in one place, which is

m 'H оpyn Toũ bεOυ, Divina ultio, Rom. i. 18. Col. iii. 6. Grotius in locum. » Η οὖν τότε ἐγγινομένη φαντασία ἡδον ὴν ποιεῖ, ὥσπερ ἡ τῶν ἐνυπνίων. Aristot. 1. 2. cap. 2. • Διὸ κάμνοντες, περόμενοι, ἐρῶντες, διψῶντες, ὅλως ἐπιθυμοῦντες, καὶ μὴ κατορθοῦντες, ὀργίλοι εἰσὶ. Id. ubi sup.

[ocr errors]

denied of him in another, then it is not properly ascribed to him. Now God says expressly, that fury or anger is not in him;' Isa. xxvii. 4. and therefore it is not properly ascribed to him.

5. Of all the places where mention is made of God's repentings or his repentance, there is the same reason. Exod. xxxii. 14. Gen. vi. 6, 7. Judg. x. 16. Deut. xxx. 9. are produced by Mr. B. That one place of the 1 Sam. xv. 29. where God affirms, that he 'knoweth no repentance,' casts all the rest under a necessity of an interpretation suitable unto it. Of all the affections or passions which we are obnoxious to, there is none that more eminently proclaims imperfection, weakness, and want in sundry kinds, than this of repentance. If not sins, mistakes, and miscarriages (as for the most part they are), yet disappointment, grief, and trouble, are always included in it. So is it in that expression, Gen. vi. 6. ‹ oIt repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at the heart.' What but his mistake and great disappointment, by a failing of wisdom, foresight, and power, can give propriety to these attributions unto God? The change God was going then to work in his providence on the earth, was such, or like that, which men do, when they repent of a thing, being grieved at the heart' for what they had formerly done. So are these things spoken of God, to denote the kind of the things which he doth, not the nature of God himself; otherwise such expressions as these would suit him, whose frame of spirit and heart is so described : 'Had I seen what would have been the issue of making man, I would never have done it. Would I had never been so overseen, as to have engaged in such a business. What have I now got by my rashness? nothing but sorrow and grief of heart redounds to me.' And do these become the infinitely blessed God?

6. Fear is added, from Deut. xxxii. 26, 27. Fear, saith the

P Theodoret upon on this place tells us, où nv, ws tivés paσiv, &c. Non autem ut fuerunt quidam (so that Mr. B. is not the first that held this opinion), ita quadam et penitentia ductus Deus hæc egit: ταυτα γὰς τοῦ ἀνθρώπινα πάθη ἡ δὲ θέια φύσις ἐλευ Sépa Tadav. And then he adds, Tí dnπOTE TOívny, &c. Quomodo ergo pœnitentia cadat in Deum? His answer is, oux oûv inì Deoũ metaμéλea, &c. Quare pænitentia Dei nihil aliud est, quam mutatio dispensationis ejus. Pœnitet me (inquit) quod constituerim Saul regem, pro eo quod est, statui illum deponere. Sic in hoc loco (Gen. vi.6.) pœnitet fecisse me hominem; hoc est, decrevi perdere humanum genus. Theod. in Gen. Quæst. 50. Tom. 1. p. 41, 42.

wise man, is a betraying of those succours which reason offereth :' nature's avoidance of an impendent evil. "Its contrivance to fly and prevent what it abhors, being in a probability of coming upon it: a turbulent weakness. This God forbids in us, upon the account of his being our God, Isa. xxxv. 4. Fear not, O worm Jacob,' &c. Every where he asserts fear to be unfit for them, who depend on him, and his help, who is able, in a moment to dissipate, scatter, and reduce to nothing, all the causes of their fear. And if there ought to be no fear, where such succour is ready at hand, sure there is none in him who gives it. Doubtless it were much better to exclude the providence of God out of the world, than to assert him afraid properly and directly of future events. The schools say truly 'Quod res sunt futuræ, a voluntate Dei est (effectiva vel permissiva).' How then can God be afraid of what he knows will, and purposeth shall come to pass? He doth, he will do things in some likeness to what we do, for the prevention of what we are afraid of. He will not scatter his people, that their adversaries may not have advantage to trample over them. When we so act as to prevent any thing, that (unless we did so act) would befall us, it is because we are afraid of the coming of that thing upon us: hence is the reason of that attribution unto God; that properly he should be afraid of what comes to pass, who knows from eternity what will so do, who can with the breath of his mouth destroy all the objects of his dislike, who is infinitely wise, blessed, all-sufficient, and the sovereign disposer of the lives, breath, and ways of all the sons of men, is fit for Mr. B. and no man else to affirm. All the nations are before him, as the drop of the bucket, and the dust of the balance, as vanity, as nothing; he upholds them by the word of his power, 'in him all men live, and move, and have their being,' and can neither live, nor act, nor be without him: their life and breath, and all their ways are in his hands; he brings them to destruction, and says, 'return ye children of men;' and must he needs be properly afraid of what they will do to him, and against him?

9 Εστω δὲ φόβος, λύπητις ἥ ταραχὴ ἐκ φαντασίας μέλλοντος κακοῦ ἤ φθαρτικοῦ, ἤ λυπηροῦ. Arist. Rhetor. lib. 2. cap. 6.

Acts xv. 18. 2 Sam. xxii. 16. Job iv. 9. Psal. xviii. 15. Rom. i. 21. Gen. xvii. 1. Rom. ix. 16-18, &c. xi. 34-36. Isa. xl. 15. Heb. i. 3. Psal. xxxiii. 9. Acts xvii. 25. 28. Psal. 1. 8. Dan. vi. 23. Psal. xc. 3. Job xxxiv. 19.

7. Of God's jealousy and hatred, mentioned from Psal. v. 4, 5. Exod. xx. 5. Deut. xxxii. 21. there is the same reason. Such effects as these things in us produce, shall they meet withal, who provoke him by their blasphemies and abominations. Of love, mercy, and grace, the condition is something otherwise; principally they denote God's essential goodness and kindness, which is eminent amongst his infinite perfections; and secondarily, the effects thereof, in and through Jesus Christ, are denoted by these expressions. To manifest that neither they nor any thing else, as they properly intend any affections or passions of the mind, any communions of will, are properly attributed to God, unto what hath been spoken already, these ensuing considerations may be subjoined.

1. Where no cause of stirring up affections or passions can have place, or be admitted, there no affections are to be admitted. For to what end should we suppose that, whereof there can be no use to eternity. If it be impossible any affection in God should be stirred up, or acted, is it not impossible any such should be in him? The causes stirring up all affections, are the access of some good desired; whence joy, hope, desire, &c. have their spring; or the approach of some evil to be avoided, which occasions fear, sorrow, anger, repentance, and the like. Now if no good can be added to God, whence should joy, and desire be stirred up in him? if no evil can befall him, in himself, or any of his concernments, whence should he have fear, sorrow, or repentance? 'Our goodness extends not to him; he hath no need of us or our sacrifices. Can a man be profitable to God, as he that is wise may be profitable to himself? Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous, or is it gain to him that thou makest thy ways perfect?'

2. The apostle tells us, that God is blessed for ever, Rom. ix. 5. 'He is the blessed and only potentate;' 1 Tim. vi. 15. God all-sufficient; Gen. xvii. 1. That which is inconsistent with absolute blessedness and all-sufficiency, is not to be ascribed to God; to do so casts him down from his excellency. But can he be blessed, is he all-sufficient, who is tossed up and down with hope, joy, fear, sorrow, repentance, anger, and the like? Doth not fear take off from absolute blessedness?

• Psal. xvi. 2. l. 8-10. Job xxxv. 6—8. xxii. 2, 3.

Grant that God's fear doth not long abide, yet whilst it doth so, he is less blessed than he was before, and than he is after his fear ceaseth. When he hopes, is he not short in happiness of that condition, which he attains in the enjoy-.. ment of what he hoped for? And is he not lower, when he is disappointed, and falls short of his expectation? Did ever the heathens speak with more contempt of what they worshipped? Formerly the pride of some men heightened them to fancy themselves to be like God, without passions or affections; being not able to abide in their attempt against their own sense and experience; it is now endeavoured to make God like to us, in having such passions and affections. My aim is brevity, having many heads to speak unto. Those who have written on the attributes of God, his self-sufficiency and blessedness, simplicity, immutability, &c. are ready to tender farther satisfaction to them who shall desire it.

CHAP. V.

Of God's prescience or foreknowledge.

His next attempt is to overthrow and remove the prescience or foreknowledge of God; with what success, the farther consideration of the way whereby he endeavours it, will manifest. His question (the engine whereby he works) is thus framed:

'As for our free actions, which are neither past, nor present, but may afterward either be or not be, what are the chief passages of Scripture from whence it is wont to be gathered, that God knoweth not such actions until they come to pass, yea that there are such actions?'

That we might have had a clearer acquaintance with the intendment of this interrogation, it is desirable Mr. B. had given us his sense on some particulars, which at first view... present themselves, to the trouble of every ordinary reader. As,

1. How we may reconcile the words of Scripture given in answer to his preceding query, with the design of this. There

t Psal. l. 21.

« הקודםהמשך »