Part 2
earth, or the earth that travails with the plant, know what plant it produceth in such a soil, what temper it should be of, what fruit it should bear, and of what colour ? What plant knows its own medicinal qualities, its own beautiful flowers, and for what use they are ordained ? When it strikes up its head from the earth, doth it know what proportion of them there will be ? yet it produceth all these things in a state of ignorance. The sun warms the earth, concocts the humours, excites the virtue of it, and cherishes
* Amyraut, Moral. t Am/raid. Dissert. Theol., p. 111.
20 CHAKNOCK'S WORKS. [Eon. XVI. 27.
the seeds, which are cast into her lap, yet all unknown to the sun or the earth ; since therefore that nature, that is the immediate cause of those things, doth not understand its own quality, nor operation, nor the end of its action, that which thus directs them must be conceived to have an in finite wisdom. When things act by a rule they know not, and move for an
end they understand ~not, and yet work harmoniously together for one end, that all of them, we are sure, are ignorant of, it mounts up our minds to
acknowledge the wisdom of that supreme cause that hath ranged all these inferior causes in their order, and imprinted upon them the laws of their motions, according to the idea in his own mind, who orders the rule by which they act, and the end for which they act, and directs every motion according to their several natures, and therefore is possessed with infinite wisdom in his own nature.
Reas. 4. God is the fountain of all wisdom in the creatures, and therefore is infinitely wise himself. As he hath a fulness of being in himself, because the streams of being are derived to other things from him, so lie hath a ful ness of wisdom, because he is the spring of wisdom to angels and men. That being must be infinitely wise, from whence all other wisdom derives its original, for nothing can be in the effect which is not eminently in the cause ; the cause is alway more perfect than the effect. If therefore the creatures are wise, the Creator must be much more wise ; if the Creator were destitute of wisdom, the creature would be much more perfect than the Creator. If you consider the wisdom of the spider in her web, which is both her house and net ; the artifice of the bee in her comb, which is both her chamber and
granary ; the provision of the'pismire in her repositories for corn : the wis dom of the Creator is illustrated by them ; whatsoever excellency you see in any creature is an image of some excellency in God. The skill of the arti ficer is visible in the fruits of his art ; a workman transcribes his spirit in the work of his hands ; but the wisdom of rational creatures, as men, doth more illustrate it. All arts among men are the rays of divine wisdom shin ing upon them, and by a common gift of the Spirit enlightening their minds
to curious inventions, as Prov. viii. 12, * I, Wisdom, find out the knowledge of witty inventions ; ' that is, I give a faculty to men to find them out ; without my wisdom all things would be buried in darkness and ignorance. Whatsoever wisdom there is in the world, it is but a shadow of the wisdom of God, a small rivulet derived from him, a spark leaping out from un created wisdom : Isa. liv. 16, ' He created the smith that bloweth the coals
in the fire, and makes the instruments.' The skill to use those weapons in warlike enterprises is from him : ' I have created the waster to destroy.' It is not meant of creating their persons, but communicating to them their art ; he speaks it there to expel fear from the church of all warlike preparations against them. He had given men the skill to form and use weapons, and could as well strip them of it, and defeat their purposes. The art of hus bandry is a fruit of divine teaching, Isa. xxviii. 24, 25. If those lower kinds of knowledge, that are common to all nations, and easily learned by all, are discoveries of divine wisdom, much more the nobler sciences, intel
lectual and political wisdom: Dan. ii. 21, ' He gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding ; ' speaking of the more abstruse parts of knowledge, ' The inspiration of the Almighty gives under standing,' Job xxxii. 8. Hence the wisdom which Solomon expressed in the harlot's case, 1 Kings iii. 28, was, in the judgment of all Israel, the wisdom of God ; that is, a fruit of divine wisdom, a beam communicated to him
from God. Every man's soul is endowed more or less with those noble qualities. The soul of every man exceeds that of a brute ; if the streams be
BOM. XVI. 27.J GOD'S WISDOM. 21
so excellent, the fountain must be fuller and clearer. The first Spirit must infinitely more possess what other spirits derive from him by creation ; were the wisdom of all the angels in heaven, and men on earth, collected in one spirit, it must be infinitely less that that what is in the spring, for no crea ture can be equal to the Creator. As the highest creature already made, or that we can conceive may be made, by infinite power, would be infinitely be low God in the notion of a creature, so it would be infinitely below God in the notion of wise.
IV. The fourth thing is, wherein the wisdom of God appears. It appears, 1, in creation ; 2, in government ; 8, in redemption. 1. In creation. As in a musical instrument there is first the skill of the workman in the frame, then the skill of the musician in stringing it proper for such musical notes as he will express upon it, and after that the temper ing of the strings, by various stops, to a delightful harmony, so is the wisdom of God seen in framing the world, then in tuning it, and afterwards in the motion of the several creatures. The fabric of the world is called the wisdom
of God : 1 Cor. i. 21, ' After that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God,' i.e. by the creation the world knew not God ; the framing cause is there put for the effect and the work framed, because the divine wisdom stepped forth in the creatures to a public appearance, as if it had pre sented itself in a visible shape to man, giving instructions in and by the creatures, to know and adore him. What we translate, Gen. i. 1, 'In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth,' the Targum expresseth, ' In the wisdom God created the heaven and the earth ; ' both bear a stamp of this perfection on them.* And when the apostle tells the Komans, chap. i. 20, ' The invisible things of God were clearly understood by the things that are made,' the word he uses is, voiqpaai, not egyoig ; this signifies a work of labour, but To/»j/4a a work of skill, or a poem. The whole creation is a poem, every species a stanza, and every individual creature a verse in it. The creation presents us with a prospect of the wisdom of God, as a poem doth the reader with the wit and fancy of the composer : ' By wisdom he created the earth,' Prov. iii. 19 ; ' and stretched out the heavens by dis cretion,' Jer. x. 12. There is not anything so mean, so small, but glitters with a beam of divine skill ; and the consideration of them would justly make every man subscribe to that of the psalmist, ' 0 Lord, how manifold are thy works ! in wisdom hast thou made them all,' Ps. civ. 24 ; — all, the least as well as the greatest, and the meanest as well as the noblest, even those creatures which seem ugly and deformed to us, as toads, &c., because they fall short of those perfections which are the dowry of other animals. In these there is a footstep of divine wisdom, since they were not produced by him at random, but determined to some particular end, and designed to some usefulness, as parts of the world in their several natures and stations. God could never have had a satisfaction in the review of his works, and pronounced them good or comely, as he did, Gen. i. 81, had they not been agreeable to that eternal original copy in his own mind. It is said he was refreshed, viz. with that review, Exod. xxxi. 17, which could not have been if his piercing eye had found any defect in anything which had sprung out of his hand, or an unsuitableness to that end for which he created them. He seems to do as a man that hath made a curious and polite work, with exact care to peer about every part and line, if he could perceive any imperfection in it, to rectify the mistake ; but no defect was found by the infinitely wise
God upon his second examination.
* Omne opus naturae est opus intelligentiae.
22 CHAENOCK'S WORKS. [Ron. XVI. 27.
This wisdom of the creation appears, (1.) In the variety, (2.) in the beauty, (3.) the fitness of every creature for its use, (4.) the subordination of one creature to another, and the joint
concurrence of all to one common end.
(1.) In the variety. Ps. civ. 24, ' 0 Lord, how manifold are thy works ! ' How great a variety is there of animals and plants, with a great variety of forms, shapes, figurations, colours, various smells, virtues, and qualities ! And this variety is produced from one and the same matter, as beasts and plants from the earth : Gen. i. 11, 24, ' Let the earth bring forth living creatures. And the earth brought forth grass, and the herb yielding seed
after his kind.' Such diversity of fowl and fish from the water: Gen. i. 20, ' Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath
life, and fowl that may fly.1 Such a beautiful and active variety from so dull a matter as the earth ; so solid a variety from so fluid a matter as the water ; so noble a piece as the body of man, with such a variety of members, fit to entertain a more excellent soul as a guest, from so mean a matter as the dust of the ground, Gen. ii. 7 : this extraction of such variety of forms out of one single and dull matter is the chemistry of divine wisdom. It is a greater skill to frame noble bodies of vile matter, as varieties of precious vessels of clay and earth, than of a noble matter, as gold and silver.
Again, all those varieties propagate their kind in every particular and quality of their nature, and uniformly bring forth exact copies, according to the first pattern God made of the kind, Gen. i. 11, 12, 24. Consider also
how the same piece of ground is garnished with plants and flowers of several virtues, fruits, colours, scents, without our being able to perceive any variety in the earth that breeds them, and not so great a difference in the roots that bear them. Add to this the diversities of birds, of different colours, shapes, notes ; consisting of various parts, wings, like oars, to cut the air, and tails,
as the rudder of a ship, to guide their motion.
How various also are the endowments of the creatures ! Some have vege tation and the power of growth, others have the addition of sense, and others the excellency of reason ; something wherein all agree, and something wherein all differ ; variety in unity, and unity in variety. The wisdom of the workman had not been so conspicuous had there been only one degree of goodness. The greatest skill is seen in the greatest variety.
The comeliness of the body is visible in the variety of members, and their usefulness to one another. What an inform thing had man been had he been all ear or all eye ! If God had made all the stars to be suns, it would have been a demonstration of his power, but perhaps less of his wisdom. No creatures, with the natures they now have, could have continued in being under so much heat. There was no less wisdom went to the frame
of the least than to the greatest creature. It speaks more art in a limner to paint a landscape exactly than to draw the sun, though the sun be a more glorious body.
I might instance also in the different characters and features imprinted upon the countenances of men and women, the differences of voices and
statures, whereby they are distinguished from one another. These are the foundations of order, and of human society, and administration of justice. What confusion would have been if a grown-up son could not be known from his father, the magistrate from the subject, the creditor from the
debtor, the innocent from the criminal. The laws God hath given to man kind could not have been put in execution. This variety speaks the wis dom of God. , (2.) The wisdom of the creation appears in the beauty, and order, and
ROMV XYI. 27.] GOD'S WISDOM. 28
situation of the several creatures. Eccles. iii. 11, 'He hath "made every thing beautiful in his time.' As their being was a fruit of divine power, so their order is a fruit of divine wisdom. All creatures are as members in the great body of the world, proportioned to one another, and contributing to
the beauty of the whole,* so that if the particular forms of everything, the union of all for the composition of the world, and the laws which are estab lished in the order of nature for its conservation, be considered, it would ravish us with an admiration of God. All the creatures are as so many
pictures or statues, exactly framed by line : Ps. xix. 4, ' Their line is gone through all the earth.' Their line, a measuring line, or a carpenter's rule, whereby he proportions several pieces to be exactly linked and coupled to gether. Their line, that is, their harmonious proportion, and the instruction from it, is gone forth through all the earth. Upon the account of this har mony, some of the ancient heathens framed the images of their gods with musical instruments in their hands, signifying that God wrought all things in a due proportion.!
The heavens speak this wisdom in their order. The revolutions of the sun and moon determine the seasons of the year, and make day and night in an orderly succession. The stars beautify the heavens, and influence the earth, and keep their courses, Judges v. 20. They keep their stations without interfering with one another ; and though they have rolled about for so many ages, they observe their distinct laws, and
in the variety of their motions have not disturbed one another's functions. The sun is set, as the heart, in the midst of this great body, to afford warmth to all.J Had it been set lower, it had long since turned the earth into flame and ashes ; had it been placed higher, the earth would have wanted the nourishment and refreshment necessary for it. Too much near ness had ruined the earth by parching heat, and too great a distance had destroyed the earth by starving it with cold.
The sun hath also its appointed motion ; had it been fixed without motion, half of the earth had been unprofitable, there had been perpetual darkness in a moiety of it, nothing had been produced for nourishment, and so it had been rendered uninhabitable ; but now, by this motion, it visits all the climates of the world, runs its circuit, so that ' nothing is hid from the heat thereof,' Ps. xix. 6. It imparts its virtue to every corner of the world in its daily and yearly visits. Had it been fixed, the fruits of the earth under it had been parched and destroyed before their maturity ; but all those incon veniences are provided against by the perpetual motion of the sun.
This motion is orderly. § It makes its daily course from east to west, its yearly motion from north to south. It goes to the north, till it comes to the point God hath set it, and then turns back to the south, and gains some point every day. It never riseth nor sets in the same place one day where it did the day before. The world is never without its light ; some see it rising the same moment we see it setting.
The earth also speaks the divine wisdom, It is the pavement of the world, as the heaven is the ceiling of fretwork. || It is placed lowermost, as being the heaviest body, and fit to receive the weightiest matter, and pro vided as an habitation proper for those creatures which derive the matter of
* Amyraut, Moral., Vol. I. p. 257. f Montag. against Selden, p. 281. Plutarch calls God ao^ov/x^ xal /tooff/xJf ; he saith, Nothing was made -without music.
J Charlton, Light of Nature, p. 57. S Daille, mel. part i. p. 483.
| Amyraut, Predestin. p. 9.
24 CHAENOCK'S WOBKS. [RoM. XYI. 27.
their bodies from it, and partake of its earthy nature ; and garnished with other creatures for the profit and pleasure of man.
The sea also speaks the same divine wisdom. He ' strengthened the fountains of the deep: and gave the sea a decree, that it should not pass
his command,' Prov. viii. 28, 29. He hath given it certain bounds that it should not overflow the earth, Job xxviii. 11. It contains itself in the situation wherein God hath placed it, and doth not transgress its bounds. What if some part of a country, a little spot, hath been overflowed by it, and groaned under its waves, yet for the main, it retains the same channels wherein it was at first lodged.
All creatures are clothed with an outward beauty, and endowed with an inward harmony. There is an agreement in all parts of this great body ;
every one is beautiful and orderly ; but the beauty of the world results from
all of them disposed and linked together.
(3.) This wisdom is seen in the fitness of everything for its end, and the usefulness of it. Divine wisdom is more illustrious in the fitness and use
fulness of this great variety than in the composure of their distinct parts,
as the artificer's skill is more eminent in fitting the wheels, and setting them in order for then: due motion, than in the external fabric of the mate rials which compose the clock.
After the most diligent inspection, there can be found nothing in the creation unprofitable ; nothing but is capable of some service, either for the support of our bodies, recreation of our senses, or moral instruction of our minds. Not the least creature but is formed, and shaped, and furnished with members and parts in a due proportion for its end and service in the world ; nothing is superfluous, nothing defective.
The earth is fitted in its parts.* The valleys are appointed for granaries, the mountains to shadow them from the scorching heat of the sun ; the rivers, like veins, carry refreshment to every member of this body ; plants and trees thrive on the face of the earth, and metals are engendered in the bowels of it for materials for building and other uses for the service of man. There ' he causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man, that he may bring forth food out of the earth,' Ps. civ. 14. The sea is fitted for use ; it is a fish pond for the nourishment of man, a boundary for the dividing of lands and several dominions ; it joins together nations far distant ; a great vessel for commerce : Ps. civ. 26, ' There go the ships.' It affords vapours to the clouds, wherewith to water the earth, which the sun draws up, separating the finer from the salter parts, that the earth may be fruitful, without being burthened with barrenness by the salt. The sea hath also its salt, its ebbs and floods ; the one as brine, the other as motion, to preserve it from purification, that it may not be contagious to the rest of the world.
Showers are appointed to refresh the bodies of living creatures, to open the womb of the earth, and water the ground to make it fruitful, Ps. civ. 8. The clouds, therefore, are called the ' chariots of God ;' he rides in them in the manifestation of his goodness and wisdom.
Winds are fitted to purify the air,f to preserve it from putrefaction, to carry the clouds to several parts to refresh the parched earth and assist her fruits, and also to serve for the commerce of one nation with another by navigation. God in his wisdom and goodness ' walks upon the wings of the wind,' Ps. civ. 3.
Elvers are appointed to bathe the ground, J and render it fresh and lively ;
* Amyraut, sur diverses text, p. 127. t Lessius. t Daille, Melan., part ii. p. 472, 473.
ROM. XVI. 27.] GOD'S WISDOM. 25
they fortify cities, are the limits of countries, serve for commerce ; they are the watering-pots of the earth, and the vessels for drink for the living creatures that dwell upon the earth. God cut those channels for the wild asses, the beasts of the desert, which are his creatures as well as the rest, Ps. civ. 10, 12, 13.
Trees are appointed for the habitation of birds, shadows for the earth, nourishment for the creatures, materials for building, and fuel for the relief of man against cold.
The seasons of the year have their use. The winter makes the juice retire into the earth, fortifies plants, and fixes their roots. It moistens the earth that was dried before by the heat of the summer, and cleanseth and prepares it for a new fruitfulness ; the spring calls out the sap in new leaves and fruit ; the summer consumes the superfluous moisture, and produceth nourishment for the inhabitants of the world.
The day and night have also their usefulness.* The day gives life to labour, and is a guide to motion and action : Ps. civ. 23, ' The sun ariseth, man goeth forth to his labour until the evening.' It warms the air, and quickens nature. Without day, the world would be a chaos, an unseen beauty. The night, indeed, casts a veil upon the bravery of the earth, but it draws the curtains from that of heaven ; though it darkens below, it makes
us see the beauty of the world above, and discovers to us a glorious part of the creation of God, the tapestry of heaven, and the motion of the stars, hid from us by the eminent light of the day. It procures a truce from labour, and refresheth the bodies of creatures, by recruiting the spirits which are scattered by watching. It prevents the ruin of life, by a reparation of what was wasted in the day. It takes from us the sight of flowers and plants, but it washeth their face with dews for a new appearance next morning. The length of the day and night is not without a mark of wisdom : were they of a greater length, as the length of a week or month, the one would too much dry, and the other too much moisten, and for want of action the members would be stupefied. The perpetual succession of day and night is an evidence of the divine wisdom, in tempering the travel and
rest of creatures. Hence the psalmist tells us, Ps. Ixxiv. 16, 17, ' The day is thine, and the night is thine ; thou hast prepared the light of the sun,
and made summer and winter;' i.e. they are of God's framing, not without a wise counsel and end.
Hence let us ascend to the bodies of living creatures, and we shall find every member fitted for use. What a curiosity is there in every member ! Every one fitted to a particular use in their situation, form, temper, and mutual agreement for the good of the whole ; the eye to direct, the ear to receive directions from others, the hands to act, the feet to move. Every creature hath members fitted for that element wherein it resides. And in the body, some parts are appointed to change the food into blood, others to refine it, and others to distribute and convey it to several parts for the maintenance of the whole ; the heart to mint vital spirits for preserving life, and the brain to coin animal spirits for life and motion ; the lungs to serve for the cooling the heart, which else would be parched as the ground in summer. The motion of the members of the body by one act of the will, and also without the will, by a natural instinct, is an admirable evidence of divine skill in the structure of the body, so that well might the psalmist
cry out, Ps. cxxxix. 14, ' I am fearfully and wonderfully made.' But how much more of this divine perfection is seen in the soul ! A nature furnished with a faculty of understanding to judge of things, to gather
* Daille, Melang., part i. p. 477, &c.
26 CHARNOCK'g WORKS. [ROM. XVI. 27.
in things that are distant, and to reason and draw conclusions from one thing to another, with a memory to treasure up things that are past, with a will to apply itself so readily to what the mind judges fit and comely, and fly so speedily from what it judges ill and hurtful. The whole world is a stage ; every creature in it hath a part to act, and a nature suited to that part and end it is designed for ; and all concur in a joint language to publish the glory of divine wisdom, they have a voice to proclaim the glory of God,
Ps. xix. 1, 3. And it is not the least part of God's skill, in framing the creatures so, that, upon man's obedience, they are the channels of his good ness ; and upon man's disobedience, they can in their natures be the minis ters of his justice for the punishing of offending creatures.
(4.) Fourthly, The wisdom is apparent, in the linking all these useful parts together, so that one is subordinate to the other for a common end. All parts are exactly suited to one another, and every part to the whole ; though they are of different natures, as lines distant in themselves, yet they meet in one common centre, the good and the preservation of the universe. They are all jointed together, as the word translated framed signifies, Heb. xi. 3; knit by fit bands and ligaments, to contribute mutual beauty, strength, and assistance to one another, like so many links of a chain coupled together, that though there be a distance in place, there is a unity in regard of con nection and end, there is a consent in the whole : Hosea ii. 21, 22, ' The heavens hear the earth, and the earth hears the corn, and the wine, and the
oil.' The heavens communicate their qualities to the earth, and the earth conveys them to the fruits she bears ; the air distributes light, wind, and rain to the earth,* the earth and the sea render to the air exhalations and vapours, and all together charitably give to the plants and animals that
which is necessary for their nourishment and refreshment. The influences of the heavens animate the earth, and the earth affords matter in part for the influences it receives from the regions above. Living creatures are maintained by nourishment, nourishment is conveyed to them by the fruits of the earth, the fruits of the earth are produced by means of rain and heat, matter for rain and dew is raised by the heat of the sun, and the sun .by its motion distributes heat and quickening virtue to all parts of the earth. So colours are made for the pleasure of the eye, sounds for the delight of the ear ; light is formed, whereby the eye may see the one, and air to convey the species of colours to the eye and sound to the ear. All things are like the wheels of a watch compacted ; and though many of the creatures be endowed with contrary qualities, yet they are joined in a marriage knot for the public security, and subserviency to the preservation and order of the universe, as the variety of strings upon an instrument, sending forth various and distinct sounds, are tempered together, for the framing excellent and delightful airs. In this universal conspiring of the creatures together to one end, is the wisdom of the Creator apparent, in tuning so many contraries
as the elements are, and preserving them in their order, which, if once broken, the whole frame of nature would crack, and fall in pieces. All are BO interwoven and inlaid together by the divine workmanship, as to make up one entire beauty in the whole fabric ; as every part in the body of man hath a distinct comeliness, yet there is, besides, the beauty of the whole, that results from the union of diverse parts exactly fashioned to one another, and linked together.
By the way,
Use. How much may we see of the perfection of God in every thing that presents itself to our eyes ! And how should we be convinced of our un-
* Daille, Serm. xv. p. 170.
ROM. XVI. 27.] GOD'S WISDOM. 27
worthy neglect of ascending to him with reverent and admiring thoughts, upon the prospect of the creatures ! What dull scholars are we, when every creature is our teacher, every part of the creature a lively instruction ! Those things that we tread under our feet, if used by us according to the full design of their creation, would afford rich matter, not only for our heads, but our hearts. As grace doth not destroy nature, but elevate it, so neither should the fresher and fuller discoveries of divine wisdom in redemption, deface our thoughts of his wisdom in creation. Though the greater light of the sun obscures the lesser sparkling of the stars, yet it gives way in the night to the discovery of them, that God may be seen, known, and con sidered in all his works of wonder and miracles of nature. No part of Scripture is more spiritual than the psalms ; none filled with clearer dis coveries of Christ in the Old Testament ; yet how often do the penmen consider the creation of God, and find their meditations on him to be sweet,
as considered in his works ! Ps. civ. 84, ' My meditation of him shall be sweet.' When ? Why, after a short history of the goodness and wisdom of God in the frame of the world, and the species of the creatures.
2. The wisdom of God appears in his government of his creatures. The regular motion of the creatures speaks for his perfection, as well as the exact composition of them. If the exquisiteness of the frame conducts us to the skill^of the contriver, the exactness of their order, according to his will and law, speaks no less the wisdom of the governor. It cannot be thought that a rash and irrational power presides over a world so well disposed. The disposition of things hath no less characters of skill, than the creation of them. No man can hear an excellent lesson upon a lute, but must presently reflect upon the art of the person that touches it. The prudence of man ap pears in wrapping up the concerns of a kingdom in his mind, for the well ordering of it ; and shall not the wisdom of God shine forth, as he is the director of the world ?
I shall omit his government of inanimate creatures, and confine the dis course to his government of man, as rational, as sinful, as restored.
(1.) In his government of man as a rational creature, f l.j In the law he gives to man. Wisdom framed it, though will enacted it. The will of God is the rule of righteousness to us, but the wisdom of God is the foundation of that rule of righteousness which he prescribes us. The composure of a musician is the rule of singing to his scholars ;* yet the consent and harmony in that composure, derives not itself from his will, but from his understanding ; he would not be a musician, if his composures were contrary to the rules of true harmony. So the laws of men are com posed by wisdom, though they are enforced by will and authority.
The moral law, which was the law of nature, the law imprinted upon Adam, is so framed, as to secure the rights of God as supreme, and the rights of men in their distinctions of superiority and equality. It is there fore called holy and good, Rom. vii. 12 : holy, as it prescribes our duty to God in his worship ; good, as it regulates the offices of human life, and pre serves the common interest of mankind.
First, It is suited to the nature of man. As God hath given a law of nature, a fixed order to inanimate creatures, so he hath given a law of reason to rational creatures. Other creatures are not capable of a law differencing
good and evil, because they are destitute of faculties and capacities to make distinction between them. It had not been agreeable to the wisdom of God to propose any moral law to them, who had neither understanding to dis
cern, nor will to choose. It is therefore to be observed, that whilst Christ
* Castellio, Dialog. 1. iv. p. 46.
28 CHARNOCK'S WOEKS. [Ron. XVI. 27.
exhorted others to the embracing his doctrine, yet he exhorted not little children, though he took them in his arms, because though they had faculties, yet they were not conie to such a maturity, as to be capable of a rational instruction. But there was a necessity for some command for the govern ment of man ; since God had made him a rational creature, it was not agree able to his wisdom to govern him as a brute, but as a rational creature, capable of knowing his precepts, and voluntarily walking in them ; and with out a law, he had not been capable of any exercise of his reason in services respecting God.
He therefore gives him a law with a covenant annexed to it, whereby man is obliged to obedience, and secured of a reward This was enforced with severe penalties, — death, with all the horrors attending it, — to deter him from transgression, Gen. ii. 17, wherein is implied a promise of continuance of life and all its felicities, to allure him to a mindfulness of his obligation. So perfect a hedge did divine wisdom set about him, to keep him within the bounds of that obedience, which was both his debt and security, that where
soever he looked, he saw either something to invite him, or something to drive him to the payment of his duty, and perseverance in it. Thus the law was exactly framed to the nature of man ; man had twisted in him a desire of happiness ; the promise was suited to cherish this natural desire. He had also the passion of fear ; the proper object of this was anything destructive to his being, nature, and felicity ; this the threatening met with. In the whole it was accommodated to man as rational. Precepts to the law
in his mind, promises to the natural appetite ; threatenings to the most pre vailing affection, and to the implanted desires of preserving both his being and happiness in that being. These were rational motives fitted to the nature of Adam, which was above the life God had given plants, and the sense he had given animals.
The command given man in innocence, was suited to his strength and power ; God gave him not any command, but what he had ability to observe ; and since we want not power to forbear an apple in our corrupted and im potent state, he wanted not strength in his state of integrity. The wisdom of God commanded nothing, but what was very easy to be observed by him, and inferior to his natural ability. It had been both unjust and unwise to have commanded him to fly up to the sun, when he had not wings ; or stop the course of the sea, when he had not strength.
Secondly, It is suited to the happiness and benefit of man. God's laws are not an act of mere authority respecting his own glory, but of wisdom
and goodness respecting man's benefit. They are perfective of man's nature, conferring a wisdom upon him, ' rejoicing his heart, enlightening his eyes,' Ps. xix. 7, 8, affording him both a knowledge of God and of himself. To be without a law, is for man to be as beasts, without justice and without religion. Other things are for the good of the body, but the laws of God for the good of the soul ; the more perfect the law, the greater the benefit. The laws given to the Jews were the honour and excellency of that nation : Deut. i. 8,
' What nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so right eous ?' They were made statesmen in the judicial law, ecclesiastics in the ceremonial, honest men in the second table, and divine in the first. All his laws are suited to the true satisfaction of man, and the good of human society. Had God framed a law only for one nation, there would have been the cha racters of a particular wisdom ; but now an universal wisdom appears, in
accommodating his law, not only to this or that particular society or corpo ration of men, but to the benefit of all mankind, in the variety of climates and countries wherein they live. Everything that is disturbing to human
EOM. XVI. 27.] GOD'S WISDOM. 29
society is provided against ; nothing is enjoined but what is sweet, rational, and useful. It orders us not to attempt anything against the life of our neighbour, the honour of his bed, propriety in his goods, and the clearness of his reputation ; and if well observed, would alter the face of the world, and make it look with another hue. The world would be altered from a brutish to a human world. It would change lions and wolves, men of lionlike and wolfish disposition, into reason and sweetness. And because the whole law is summed up in love, it obligeth us to endeavour the preservation
of one another's beings, the favouring of one another's interests, and increas ing the goods, as much as justice will permit, and keeping up one another's credits ; because love, which is the soul of the law, is not shewn by a cessa tion from action, but signifies an order, upon all occasions, in doing good. I say, were this law well observed, the world would be another thing than it is. It would become a religious fraternity ; the voice of enmity, and the noise of groans and cursings, would not be heard in our streets ; peace would be in all borders, plenty of charity in the midst of cities and countries, joy
and singing would sound in all habitations. Man's advantage was designed in God's laws, and doth naturally result from the observance of them. God so ordered them by his wisdom, that the obedience of man should draw forth his goodness, and prevent those smarting judgments which were necessary to reduce the creature to order, that would not voluntarily continue in the
order God had appointed. The laws of men are often unjust, oppressive, cruel, sometimes against the law of nature ; but an universal wisdom and righteousness glitters in the divine law. There is nothing in it, but what is worthy of God and useful for the creature ; so that we may well say with
Job, ' Who teaches like God ? ' Job xxxvi. 22, or as some render it, ' Who
is a lawgiver like God ? ' who can say to him, Thou hast wrought iniquity, or folly, among men ? His precepts were framed for the preservation of man in that rectitude wherein he was created, in that likeness to God wherein he was first made, that there might be a correspondence between the integrity of the creature and the goodness of his Creator, by the obedience of man, that man might exercise his faculties in operations worthy of him, and bene ficial to the world.
Thirdly, The wisdom of God is seen in suiting his laws to the consciences,
as well as the interest of all mankind. Rom. ii. 14, ' The Gentiles do by nature the things contained in the law,' so great an affinity there is between the wise law and the reason of man.
There is a natural beauty emerging from them, and darting upon the reasons and consciences of men, which dictates to them that this law is worthy to be observed in itself. The two main principles of the law, the love and worship of God, and doing as we would be done by, have an inde lible impression in the consciences of all men in regard of the principle, though they are not suitably expressed in the practice. Were there no law
outwardly published, yet every man's conscience would dictate to him that God was to be acknowledged, worshipped, loved, as naturally as his reason would acquaint him that there was such a being as God. This suitableness of them to the consciences of men is manifest, in that the laws of the bestgoverned nations among the heathen have had an agreement with them. Nothing can be more exactly composed, according to the rules of right and exact reason, than this ; no man but approves of something in it, yea, of the whole, when he exerciseth that dim reason which he hath. Suppose any man, not an absolute atheist, he cannot but acknowledge the reasonableness of worshipping God. Grant him to be a Spirit, and it will presently appear absurd to represent him by any corporeal image, and derogate from his ex-
30 CHAKNOCK'S WOKKS. [Ron. XVI. 27.
cellency by so mean a resemblance. With tbe same easiness he will grant a reverence due to the name of God, that we must not serve our turn of him by calling him to witness to a lie in a solemn oath ; that as worship is due to him, so some stated time is a circumstance necessary to the performance of that worship. And as to the second table, will any man in his right reason quarrel with that command that engageth his inferiors to honour him, that secures his being from a violent murder, and his goods from unjust rapine ? And though, by the fury of his lusts, he break the laws of wedlock himself, yet he cannot but approve of that law, as it prohibits every man from doing him the like injury and disgrace. The suitableness of the law to the con sciences of men, is further evidenced by those furious reflections and strong alarms of conscience upon a transgression of it, and that in all parts of the world, more or less in all men ; so exactly hath divine wisdom fitted the law to the reason and consciences of men, as one tally to another. Indeed,
without such an agreement, no man's conscience could have any ground for a hue and cry, nor need any man be startled with the records of it. This manifests the wisdom of God in framing his law so, that the reasons and consciences of all men do one time or other subscribe to it. What governor in the world is able to make any law, distinct from this revealed by God, that shall reach all places, all persons, all hearts ?
We may add to this, the extent of his commands in ordering goodness at the root, not only in action but affection, not only in the motion of the members, but the disposition of the soul, which, suiting a law to the inward frame of man, is quite out of the compass of the wisdom of any creature.
Fourthly. His wisdom is seen in the encouragements he gives for the
studying and observing his will : Ps. xix. 11, 'In keeping the commandments there is great reward.' The variety of them : there is not any particular genius in man, but may find something suitable to win upon him in the re vealed will of God. There is a strain of reason to suit the rational, of elo quence to gratify the fanciful, of interest to allure the selfish, of terror to startle the obstinate. As a skilful angler stores himself with baits, according to the appetites of the sorts of fish he intends to catch, so in the word of God there are varieties of baits, according to the varieties of the inclinations of men : threatenings, to work upon fear ; promises, to work upon love ; examples of holy men set out for imitation, and those plainly ; neither his threatenings nor his promises are dark, as the heathen oracles, but peremp tory, as becomes a sovereign lawgiver, and plain, as was necessary for the understanding of a creature. As he deals graciously with men, in exhorting and encouraging them, so he deals wisely herein, by taking away all excuse from them, if they ruin the interest of their souls by denying obedience to their sovereign.
Again, the rewards God proposeth are accommodated, not to the brutish parts of man, his carnal sense and fleshly appetite, but to the capacity of a spiritual soul, which admits only of spiritual gratifications, and cannot, in its own nature, without a sordid subjection to the humours of the body, be moved by sensual proposals. God backs his precepts with that which the nature of man longed for, and with spiritual delights, which can only satisfy a rational appetite ; and thereby did as well gratify the noblest desires in man, as oblige him to the noblest service and work.* Indeed, virtue and holiness, being perfectly amiable, ought chiefly to affect our understandings, and by them draw our wills to the esteem and pursuit of them. But since the desire of happiness is inseparable from the nature of man, as impossible to be disjoined, as an inclination to descend to be severed from heavy bodies, * Amyraut.
ROM. XVI. 27.] GOD'S WISDOM. 31
or an instinct to ascend from light and airy substances, God serves himself of the inclination of our natures to happiness, to engender in us an esteem and affection to the holiness he doth require. He proposeth the enjoyment of a supernatural good and everlasting glory, as a bait to that insatiable longing our natures have for happiness, to receive the impression of holiness into our souls. And besides, he doth proportion rewards according to the
degrees of men's industry, labour, and zeal for him ; and weighs out a recompence, not only suited to, but above the service. He that improves five talents* is to be ruler over five cities, that is, a greater proportion of honour and glory than another, Luke xix. 17, 18. As a wise father excites the affection of his children to things worthy of praise, by varieties of recompences according to their several actions. And it was the wisdom of the steward, in the judgment of our Saviour, to give every one the portion that belonged to him, Luke xii. 42. There is no part of the word wherein we meet not with the will and wisdom of God, varieties of duties, and varieties of encouragement mingled together.
Fifthly, The wisdom of God is seen in fitting the revelations of his will to after times, and for the preventing of the foreseen corruptions of men. The whole revelation of the mind of God is stored with wisdom, in the words, connection, sense ; it looks backwards to past, and forwards to ages to come. A hidden wisdom lies in the bowels of it, like gold in a mine.
The Old Testament was so composed as to fortify the New, when God should bring it to light. The foundations of the gospel were laid in the law. The predictions of the prophets, and figures of the law, were so wisely framed and laid down in such clear expressions, as to be proofs of the authority of the New Testament, and convictions of Jesus his being the Messiah, Luke xxiv. 27. Things concerning Christ were written in Moses, the prophets, and Psalms, and do to this day stare the Jews so in the face, that they are fain to invent absurd and nonsensical interpretations to excuse their unbelief, and continue themselves in their obstinate blindness. And in pursuance of the efficacy of those predictions, it was a part of the wisdom of God to bring forth the translation of the Old Testament (by the means of Ptolemy, king of Egypt, some hundreds of years before the coming of Christ) into the Greek language, the tongue the most known in the world ; and why ?
To prepare the Gentiles, by the reading of it, for that gracious call he intended them, and for the entertainment of the gospel, which some few years after was to be published among them ; that by reading the predic tions so long before made, they might more readily receive the accomplish ment of them in their due time.
The Scripture is written in such a manner as to obviate errors foreseen by God to enter into the church. It may be wondered why the universal particle should be inserted by Christ, in the giving the cup in the supper, which was not in the distributing the bread: Mat. xxvi. 27, ' Drink ye all of it ; ' not at the distributing the bread, eat you all of it. And Mark in his relation tells us, ' They all drank of it,' Mark xi. 23. The Church of Eome hath been the occasion of discovering to us the wisdom of our Saviour in inserting that particle all, since they were so bold to exclude the com municants from the cup by a trick of concomitancy. Christ foresaw the error, and therefore put in a little word to obviate a great invasion. And the Spirit of God hath particularly left upon record that particle, as we may reasonably suppose, to such a purpose. And so in the description of the
blessed virgin, Luke i. 27. There is nothing of her holiness mentioned,
* There seems to be here a confusion of the parable in Luke xix. with that in Mat. xxv. — ED.
82 CHABNOCK'S WOEKS. [Ron. XVI. 27.
•which is with much diligence recorded of Elizabeth : ver. 6, « Righteous, walking in all the commandments of God blameless ; ' probably to prevent the superstition which God foresaw would arise in the world. And we do not find more undervaluing speeches uttered by Christ to any of his dis ciples in the exercise of his office than to her, except to Peter. As when she acquainted him with the want of wine at the marriage in Cana, she
receives a slighting answer: 'Woman, what have I to do with thee?' John ii. 4. And when one was admiring the blessedness of her that bare him, he turns the discourse another way, to pronounce a blessedness rather belonging to them that hear the word of God, and keep it, Luke xi. 27, 28, in a mighty wisdom to antidote his people against any conceit of the prevalency of the virgin over him in heaven, in the exercise of his mediatory office.
[2.] As his wisdom appears in his government by his laws, so it appears in the various inclinations and conditions of men. As there is a distinction
of several creatures, and several qualities in them, for the common good of the world, so among men there are several inclinations and several abilities, as donatives from God, for the common advantage of human society ; as several channels cut out from the same river run several ways, and refresh several soils ; one man is qualified for one employment, another marked out by God for a different work, yet all of them fruitful to bring in a revenue of glory to God, and a harvest of profit to the rest of mankind. How unuseful would the body be, if it had but one member ! 1 Cor. xii. 19. How unprovided would a house be, if it had not vessels of dishonour as well as of honour ! The corporation of mankind would be as much a chaos, as the matter of the heavens and the earth was before it was distinguished by several forms breathed into it at the creation. Some are inspired with a particular genius for one art, some for another ; every man hath a distinct talent. If all were husbandmen, where would be the instruments to plough and reap ? If all were artificers, where would they have corn to nourish themselves ? All men are like vessels, and parts in the body, designed for distinct offices and functions for the good of the whole, and mutually return an advantage to one another.
As the variety of gifts in the church is a fruit of the wisdom of God, for the preservation and increase of the church, so the variety of inclinations and employments in the world is a fruit of the wisdom of God, for the preservation and subsistence of the world by mutual commerce. What the apostle largely discourseth of the former, in 1 Cor. xii., may be applied to the other.
The various conditions of men is also a fruit of divine wisdom. Some
are rich, and some poor ; the rich have as much need of the poor as the poor have of the rich. If the poor depend upon the rich for their liveli hood, the rich depend upon the poor for their conveniencies. Many arts would not be learned by men if poverty did not oblige them to it, and many would faint in the learning of them if they were not thereunto encouraged by the rich.
The poor labour for the rich, as the earth sends vapours into the vaster and fuller air, and the rich return advantages again to the poor, as the clouds do the vapours in rain upon the earth. As meat would not afford a nourishing juice without bread, and bread without other food would immo derately fill the stomach, and not be well digested, so the rich would be unprofitable in the commonwealth without the poor, and the poor would be burdensome to a commonwealth without the rich. The poor could not be easily governed without the rich, nor the rich sufficiently and conveniently
* XYI. 27.] GOD'S WISDOM. 33
provided for without the poor. If all were rich, there would be no objects for the exercise of a noble part of charity ; if all were poor, there were no matter for the exercise of it. Thus the divine wisdom planted various inclinations, and diversified the conditions of men for the public advantages of the world.
(2.) God's wisdom appears in the government of men as fallen and sinful, or in the government of sin. After the law of God was broke, and sin invaded and conquered the world, divine wisdom had another scene to act in, and other methods of government were necessary. The wisdom of God is then seen in ordering those jarring discords, drawing good out of evil, and honour to himself out of that which in its own nature tended to the supplanting of his glory. God being a sovereign good would not suffer so great an evil to enter, but to serve himself of it for some greater end ; for all his thoughts are full of goodness and wisdom.
Now though the permission of sin be an act of his sovereignty, and the punishment of sin be an act of his justice, yet the ordination of sin to good is an act of his wisdom, whereby he doth dispose the evil, overrules the malice, and orders the events of it to his own purposes. Sin in itself is a disorder, and therefore God doth not permit sin for itself ; for in its own nature it hath nothing of amiableness, but he wills it for some righteous end, which belongs to the manifestation of his glory, which is his aim in all the acts of his will ; he wills it not as sin, but as his wisdom can order it to some greater good than was before in the world, and make it contribute to the beauty of the order he intends. As a dark shadow is not delightful and pleasant in itself, nor is drawn by a painter for any amiableness there is in the shadow itself, but as it serves to set forth that beauty which is the main design of his art, so the glorious effects which arise from the entrance of
sin into the world are not from the creatures' evil, but the depths of divine wisdom.
Particularly,
[1.] God's wisdom is seen in the bounding of sin. As it is said of ' the wrath of man, it shall praise him, and the remainder of wrath God doth
restrain,' Ps. Ixxvi. 10. He sets limits to the boiling corruption of the heart, as he doth to the boisterous waves of the sea : ' Hitherto shalt thou go, and no further.' As God is the rector of the world, he doth so restrain sin, so temper and direct it, as that human society is preserved, which else would be overflown with a deluge of wickedness, and ruin would be brought upon all communities. The world would be a shambles, a brothel-house, if God by his wisdom and goodness did not set bars to that wickedness which is in the hearts of men. The whole earth would be as bad as hell. Since the heart
of man is a hell of corruption, by that the souls of all men would be excited to
the acting the worst villanies ; since ' every thought of the heart of man is only evil, and that continually,' Gen. vi. 5; if the wisdom of God did not stop these flood-gates of evil in the hearts of men, it would overflow the world, and frustrate all the gracious designs he carries on among the sons of men. Were it not for this wisdom, every house would be filled with violence, as well as every nature is with sin. What harm would not strong and furious beasts do, did not the skill of man tame and bridle them ? How often hath divine wisdom restrained the viciousness of human nature, and let it run, not to that point they designed, but to the end he proposed 1
Laban's fury, and Esau's enmity against Jacob were pent in within bounds for Jacob's safety, and their hearts overruled from an intended destruction of the good man to a perfect amity, Gen. xxxi. 29, and Gen. xxxii.
[2.] God's wisdom is seen in the bringing glory to himself out of sin. VOL. n. c
-84 CHAENOCK'S WORKS. [KoM. XVI. 27.
First, Out of sin itself. God erects the trophies of honour upon that, which is a natural means to hinder and deface it. His glorious attributes are drawn out to our view upon the occasion of sin, which otherwise had lain hid in his own being. Sin is altogether black and abominable ; but by the admirable wisdom of God, he hath drawn out of the dreadful darkness
of sin, the saving beams of his mercy, and displayed his grace in the incarna tion and passion of his Son for the atonement of sin. Thus he permitted
Adam's fall, and wisely ordered it, for a fuller discovery of his own nature, and a higher elevation of man's good, that ' as sin reigned to death, so might grace reign through righteousness to eternal life, by Jesus Christ,' Rom. v. 21. The unbounded goodness of God could not have appeared without it. His goodness in rewarding innocent obedience would have been mani fested, but not his mercy in pardoning rebellious crimes. An innocent creature is the object of the rewards of grace, as the standing angels are under the beams of grace ; but not under the beams of mercy, because they were never sinful, and consequently never miserable. Without sin the creature had not been miserable. Had man remained innocent, he had not
been the subject of punishment ; and without the creature's misery, God's mercy in sending his Son to save his enemies could not have appeared.
The abundance of sin is a passive occasion for God to manifest the abun dance of his grace.
The power of God in the changing the heart of a rebellious creature had not appeared, had not sin infected our nature. We had not clearly known the vindictive justice of God had no crime been committed, for that is the proper object of divine wrath. The goodness of God could never have per mitted justice to exercise itself upon an innocent creature, that was not
guilty either personally or by imputation : Ps. xi. 7, ' The righteous Lord loveth righteousness ; his countenance doth behold the upright.' Wisdom is illustrious hereby. God suffered man to fall into a mortal disease, to shew the virtue of his own restoratives to cure sin, which in itself is incur able by the art of any creature ; and otherwise this perfection, whereby God draws good out of evil, had been utterly useless, and would have been desti tute of an object wherein to discover itself.
Again, wisdom, in ordering a rebellious headstrong world to its own ends, is greater than the ordering an innocent world, exactly observant of his pre cepts, and complying with the end of the creation. Now, without the entrance of sin, this wisdom had wanted a stage to act upon. Thus God raised the honour of his wisdom, while man ruined the integrity of his
nature ; and made use of the creature's breach of his divine law, to establish the honour of it in a more signal and stable manner, by the active and pas sive obedience of the Son of his bosom. Nothing serves God so much as an occasion of glorifying himself, as the entrance of sin into the world ; by this occasion God communicates to us the knowledge of those perfections of his nature, which had else been folded up from us in an eternal night : his justice had lain in the dark, as having nothing to punish ; his mercy had
been obscure, as having none to pardon ; a great part of his wisdom had been silent, as having no such object to order.
Secondly, His wisdom appears in making use of sinful instruments. He uses the malice and enmity of the devil to bring about his own purposes, and makes the sworn enemy of his honour contribute to the illustrating of
it against his will. This great crafts-master he took in his own net, and
defeated the devil by the devil's malice, by turning the contrivances he had hatched and accomplished against man, against himself. He used him as a tempter, to grapple with our Saviour in the wilderness, whereby to make him
ROM. XVI. 27.] GOD'S WISDOM. 35
fit to succour us ; and as the God of this world, to inspire the wicked Jews to crucify him, whereby to render him actually the Redeemer of the world, and so made him an ignorant instrument of that divine glory he designed to ruin.
It is more skill to make a curious piece of workmanship with ill-condi tioned tools, than with instruments naturally fitted for the work. It is no such great wonder for a limner to draw an exact piece with a fit pencil and suitable colours, as to begin and perfect a beautiful work with a straw and
water, things improper for such a design.* This wisdom of God is more admirable and astonishing, than if a man were able to rear a vast palace by fire, whose nature is to consume combustible matter, not to erect a building.
To make things serviceable, contrary to their own nature, is a wisdom
peculiar to the Creator of nature. God's making use of devils, for the glory of his name, and the good of his people, is a more amazing piece of wisdom than his goodness in employing the blessed angels in his work. To promise
that ' the world' (which includes the God of the world), and ' death,' and
' things present,' let them be as evil as they will, should be ' ours,' that is, for our good, and for his glory, is an act of goodness ; but to make them serviceable to the honour of Christ, and the good of his people, is a wisdom that may well raise our highest admirations, 1 Cor. iii. 22. They are for believers, as they are for the glory of Christ, and as Christ is for the glory of God.
To chain up Satan wholly, and frustrate his wiles, would be an argument of divine goodness ; but to suffer him to run his risk, and then improve all his contrivances for his own glorious and gracious ends and purposes, mani fests, besides his power and goodness, his wisdom also. He uses the sins of evil instruments for the glory of his justice, Isa. x. 5—7. Thus he served himself of the ambition and covetousness of the Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Romans, for the correction of his people and punishment of his rebels ; just as the Roman magistrates used the fury of lions and other wild beasts, in their theatres, for the punishment of criminals. The lions acted their natu ral temper in tearing those that were exposed to them for a prey ; but the intent of the magistrates was to punish their crimes. The magistrate inspired not the lions with their rage, that they had from their natures ; but served themselves of that natural rage to execute justice.
Thirdly, God's wisdom is seen in bringing good to the creature out of sin. He hath ordered sin to such an end as man never dreamt of, the devil never imagined, and sin in its own nature could never attain. Sin in its own nature tends to no good, but that of punishment, whereby the creature is
brought into order. It hath no relation to the creature's good in itself, but to the creature's mischief; but God, by an infinite act of wisdom, brings good out of it to the creature, as well as glory to his name, contrary to the nature of the crime, the intention of the criminal, and the design of the tempter.
God willed sin, that is, he willed to permit it, that he might communicate himself to the creature in the most excellent manner. He willed the per mission of sin, as an occasion to bring forth the mystery of the incarnation
and passion of our Saviour ; as he permitted the sin of Joseph's brethren, that he might use their evil to a good end. He never, because of his holi
ness, wills sin as an end ; but, in regard of his wisdom, he wills to permit
it as a means and occasion. And thus to draw good out of those things which are in their own nature most contrary to good, is the highest pitch of wisdom.
* Mouliu's Serm. Decad. x. p. 231, 232.
86 CHAENOCK'S WORKS. [ROM. XVI. 27.
First, The redemption of man in so excellent a way was drawn from the occasion of sin. The greatest blessing that ever the world was blessed with, was ushered in by contrarieties, by the lust and irregular affection of man ; the first promise of the Redeemer by the fall of Adam, Gen. iii. 15, and the bruising the heel of that promised seed, by the blackest tragedy acted by wicked rebels, the treachery of Judas, and the rage of the Jews ; the highest good hath been brought forth by the greatest wickedness. As
G-od out of the chaos of rude and indigested matter framed the first crea tion, so from the sins of men, and malice of Satan, he hath erected the everlasting scheme of honour in a new creation of all things by Jesus Christ.
The devil inspired man to content his own fury in the death of Christ, and God ordered it to accomplish his own design of redemption in the passion of the Redeemer. The devil had his diabolical ends, and God overpowers his action to serve his own divine ends. The person that betrayed him was admitted to be a spectator of the most private actions of our Saviour, that his innocence might be justified ; to shew that he was not afraid to have his enemies judges of his most retired privacies. While they
all thought to do their own wills, divine wisdom orders them to do God's will : Acts ii. 23, ' Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and Blain.' And wherein the crucifiers of Christ sinned, in shedding the richest blood, upon their repentance they found the expiation of their crimes, and the discovery of a superabundant mercy. Nothing but blood was aimed at by them ; the best blood was shed by them, but infinite wisdom makes
the cross the scene of his own righteousness, and the womb of man's recovery.
By the occasion of man's lapsed state there was a way open to raise man to a more excellent condition than that whereinto he was put by creation. And the depriving man of the happiness of an earthly paradise, in the way of justice, was an occasion of advancing him to a heavenly felicity, in a way of grace. The violation of the old covenant occasionally introduced a better ; the loss of the first integrity ushered in a more stable righteousness,