Page images
PDF
EPUB

1

their light, and doing that which nature's light might have taught them, viz. to give God his own glory, in thought, word, and deed, as the only one God, eternal, omnipotent, omnifcient, juft, holy, and merciful; that, upon the contrary, they gave it unto creatures; and vainly reafoned away God's glory unto images of men, birds, and beafts: and therefore they can pretend no excufe. OBSERVE,

I. As nature's light, and that light which may be had from the works of creation, will teach folk that there is a God, fo will it teach folk alfo, that this God fhould be reverently and highly efteemed of; and that we should walk in reference to him, as only all-fufficient, eternal, only wife, juft, and merciful: this was the Heathens fin in not glorifying God after this manner.

tvere thankful; that is, they did not acknowledge his providence in ruling and difpofing all events; nor his bounty in bestowing good things, even his common mercies, upon them; but afcribed all but afcribed all things to chance and fortune. 3. They became vain in their imaginations; they ran out in imagining strange things of this God, and drew falfe conclufions and deductions from the principles, and fo imagined a multitude of gods, and many vain conceits. 4. Their foolish heart was darkned; they, reafoning after this foolish, vain manner, ran themselves blind, and bewildered themfelves that they knew not where they were; and fet up their idolatry, which even nature's light would have condemned, had they not put much of that out. 5. Profeffing themselves to be wife, they became fools; in following these inclinations, they imagined they were attaining to more perfection in knowledge, and fo gloried in themfelves, as if they were only wife in fo reafoning; yet in following their own darkned brains they became fools, in imagining a God according to their own fancies, and deluded minds. And, 6. They changed the glory of the incorruptible God, into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beafts, and creeping things, After they had taken up God in their own carnal and fenfual manner, and feigned him to be fuch a one as they imagined, they invented many reprefentations of God, and erected ftatues like men, birds, beafts, and creeping things, and gave that homage and worship that was due to God only, who is incorruptible and unchangeable, unto thofe creatures who are corruptible; and thus changed his glory.

We may look upon these verfes alfo, as holding forth a proof of that which the apostle had faid laft, viz. That their mouths were ftopped, and they had no excufe for themfelves: As if he had faid, They were fo far from walking up to

II. As it is a heinous and heathenifh iniquity to refufe to acknowledge God in his attributes, and to walk anfwerable thereunto; fo it is a violent imprisoning of the knowledge of God that nature's light will afford, and will be fufficient, tho' there were no more, to render men without excufe in the day of reckoning: for hereby he proveth, that these Gentiles detained the knowledge of God in unrighteoufnefs; they did not glorify God, even though they knew him.

III. Let men be at never fo much pains and trouble about worshipping of God, and invent never fo many ways, and fuch ways as are moft fpecious to carnal hearts, whereby to worship him; yet the Lord will not account that a glorifying of him, it not being according to his own way which he hath manifefted in his word, or written, tho' dimly in fmall characters, on the hearts of men and women by nature: for notwithstanding of all the pains thefe Heathens were at, in inventing and following feveral ways of worship, yet all was in vain, it was not a glorifying of God

as

as God; according to that manner which their natural knowledge, if well improven, would have taught them.

IV. The best way to improve the knowledge of God which we have, is to be laying out ourselves every way to the glory of God; to be carrying along with us reverend, high, humble, and holy apprehenfious of the almighty, eternal, moft juft, and gracious God, and walking under the lively apprehenfions of his divine Majefty, and to be worshipping him in fpirit and truth, according to his own appointment for thus fhould thefe Heathens have glorified God, and vented their knowledge of him.

V. Our knowledge of God, how great foever it be, will not avail us in the day of judgment, if it hath not had influence on our practice, but will tend to the aggravating of our guilt: for their knowing of God did not avail them, but tended rather to the stopping of their mouths, and making them without excufe, becaufe they did not glorify him aright, when they knew him.

VI. So bountiful and gracious is the Lord, the fountain and fpring of all goodness, and fo liberal, that of his goodness, good and bad, and all, are receiving, fo as all, even the worft, are drown'd in his debt for fo were thefe Heathens, as is intended, in that their guilt is faid to be ingratitude.

VII. It is a heinous guilt, and fuch a fin as the very light of nature will condemn, to be unthankful, in not acknowledging the most ordinary and common mercies which we receive, as coming from God, but from chance and fortune, or the like; in not feeing the hand of God in them, nor looking upon them as ftrong obligations to obedience: for thus were they guilty.

VIII. Idolatry and fuperftition are ordinarily attended with unthankfulness and ingratitude; for this fin of ingratitude is joined with idolatry, in not glorifying God

as God: Hof. ii. 5. For their mother bath played the barlot: he that conceived them hath done fhamefully for fhe faid, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink.

IX. It is neither fafe nor found for folks to trust to their corrupt hearis, and carnal fenfe, in diving in to the knowlege of God: their vain hearts led them to ftrange reafonings about God, and fo they erred, and became vain in their imaginations.

X. Superftition and idolatry are not the refult of the true and practical knowlege of God, but of folks giving way unto vain empty fpeculations, and imaginations, of a carnal, fenfual brain: for they worshipped not God aright; and how fo? They became (it is faid) vain in their imaginations.

XI. When the knowledge of God which we have, is not practical, and leading us to glorify him aright; ordinarily we truft to our own brains, and fall upon diverfe and finful fpeculations, and empty imaginations, and run out on foolish ratiocinations, difcovering the emptinefs and vanity of our understandings: thofe Gentiles did not glorify Gad as God; and what came of it? They became vain in their own imaginations.

XII. However carnal fenfual wits may applaud the elves in their profound reafonings about God and his attributes, and imagine fome felicity and fatisfac tion to themselves in that courfe (tho their knowledge be not practical); yet in the end their courfes fhall prove vain, and all their profit and advantage fhall be meer vanity for it is faid, They became vain in their imaginations.

XIII. However men may think them. felves able enough, by their own carnal and vain wit, to find out and accquire the right and acceptable way of worshipping and glorifying of God, befide the right and only rule; yet in the end they prove

themfelves

[blocks in formation]

for, in profeffing themselves wife, after fuch a manner, they became fools.

XVII. It is the fruit of abufed light, and of a darkned understanding, to have carnal apprehenfions of the great God, and to take him up, in our fancies and imaginations, under any fimilitude and bo

Heathens blindfolded themselves, and then took up God, in a carnal manner, under this or that notion or fimilitude of man or beast.

XIV. The more pains men take, and the farther they go on, in following their own carnal, foolish, and vain hearts and imaginations, mifkening the right rule whereby to attain unto the right know-dily reprefentation whatfoever; for thefe ledge, and the right manner of worlhiping and glorifying God, the more they lofe their labour, and blindfold and infnare themfelves; the more we pry into this mystery in an unlawful way, the more we put out our own eyes, and the more blind and ignorant we are. They left God's way in fearching him out, and the way of his worship, and took themselves to their vain, fantastical, brain-fick imaginations; they put out the little dim knowledge they had, and their foolish hearts were darkned; they obfcured their very natural reafon.

XV. It is ordinary to fee fuch who, leaving the allowed way of acquiring the knowledge of God, and following the dictates of their own foolish imaginations, and vain hearts, think to acquire fome knowledge of God, become proud and conceity: And whatever knowledge we have, if it work not kindly upon our practice, and have fome influence there, it will ordinarily puff up, and make us think much of ourfelves; for the knowledge of God that thefe Heathens attained to was not practical, and what they hunted for was by unlawful means; and fo they pro•feffed themselves to be wife; they grew proud and conceity, and gave out themfelves to be the only wife folks, and made great oftentation of their reafonings.

XVI. Whoever followeth an untroden path in finding cur the lawful and acceptable way of worfhiping of God, and ufeth their own fancies and foolish imaginations, out of an intention to acquire fome vain glory and applaufe, are fo far from true glory, that they bewray their folly, and fo thoot fhort of their defign;

XVIII. However foolish man imagine that it is a fetting forth of God's glory the more, to worship him under the fimilitude of images, and after that manner; yet God looketh upon fuch a way of worship as a robbing him of his glory and majefty, in giving what is his due unto thefe, or fuch like, bafe creatures; as here we fee, they changed the glory of God into an image made like unto man, by imagining God to be like fuch or fuch a thing, and fo worshiping that which did (as they thought) reprefent God, or God under it.

XIX. When men once give way to themselves, and loofe the reins, and follow their own fancies and deluded underftandings, they will run on, ere they rest, to abominable courfes, as mad-men; for fo they here ran from ill to worfe, until at length they came to this, to worship creatures, or God under the fimilitude of the bafeft creatures, that is, of fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

XX. Let men imagine and take up God under what notions and reprefentations of what corruptible things they please, in following the wild, fantaftic conceits of their foolish, darkned hearts and brains, he remains ftill the fame unchangeable God, for when they have thought all they can, he is the fame incorruptible God, without alteration, or fhadow of change, being the fame yeflerday, to-day, and for ever.

XXI. A right confideration of God, and his nature and majefty, and of the

bafenefs

bafenefs and naughtiness of the creature, as it will difcover the folly and madness of fuch as, from any fuperftitious fancy, or corrupt principle, afcribe and perform that unto the creature, or to that which is but a fimilitude of the creature, which is proper and peculiar to the only everbleffed God; fo will it aggravate their guilt, and ferve to demonstrate the justice

working that which is unfeemly, and receiving in themfelves that recompence of their error which was meet.

And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them ever to a reprobate mind, to do thofe things which are not convenient.

apoftle began to speak of a fecond arN the 18th verfe (as we fhewed) the gument, whereby he would prove, that we are not juftified by works before God, which he hath profecuted at large hitherto, and forward; and this argument had two branches,. the firft whereof, viz. That the Gentiles are not juflified by works, he hath been fpeaking unto, and

of God fo much the more, in taking courfe with fuch abominations: for fo we find it here recorded of them as their great fin, and evidence of folly, and as that which cleared God's juftice in that fore ftroke that followeth, that they changed the glory of God, who was incorruptible, into an image, and an image of one who was but corruptible, and to four-farther profecuteth until the 17th verfe. footed beats, &c.

XXII. Man at his beft, and in his prime and flower, is but corruptible fading nothing, carrying a body about with him that is daily pofting to corruption.

XXIII. In whatever refpects man is to be preferred to brutes and creeping things, yet in respect of fharing of any thing which is God's due, he is to be put in the fame category and rank with the bafeft creeping things; for no more fhould they have changed the glory of God into an image made like corruptible man, than of beats, or creeping things.

VERSES 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. Wherefore God alfo gave them up to uncleanness, thro' the lusts of their own hearts, to difhonour their own bodies between themfelves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and ferved the creature more than the Creator, who is bleffed for ever. Amen.

For this caufe God gave them up unto vile affections: For even their women did change the natural ufe into that which is against nature:

And likewife alfo the men, leaving the natural ufe of the women, burned in their lut one toward another, men with men,

of chapter fecond. Now, when we began to fpeak of this part of the argument,. we fhewed it lay thus: If fo be the wrath of God be revealed from heaven against the Gentiles for their fins, then they cannot be juftified by their works: But the former is true; Ergo, &c. Now, in confirming the fecond propofition there was two things to do; First, It was to be cleared, that they were finful: And, fecondly, That because of these their fins God's wrath was revealed from heaven against them. And thefe two he fully cleareth in this chapter.. And in the verfes preceding this 24th verfe, he hath cleared what their fin was: and in the verfes following the 28th he doth the fame. And here he fheweth how the wrath of God came upon them, and what way it was that God did manifeft his difpleafure against their ungodlinefs; and withal to clear the equity of God's procedure, and his wifdom in punishing them fo and fo, he rehearseth fome of their fountainevils and heinous tranfgreffions, and fheweth how in punishing them the Lord did them no wrong, but gave them a just meeting and recompence, and fent fuch judgments on them, as had their fins engraven upon them in legible characters.

The

The apoftle in fumming up thefe fpiritual plagues wherewith he punished the Heathens, he parcels them in three parts, or heads, and cleareth God's equity in each of them, by fhewing how they were the juft defert of their abominations. And the firft is, verfe 24th; which hath reference to the verfes preceding, where their fin is laid open. Their fin was grofs idolatry, in setting up images of creatures, and giving unto thefe that which was God's due now the punishment that came upon them because of this grofs iniquity was this; God did, as a juft Judge, judicially deliver them up to the fwing of their own carnal and filthy hearts; to be acted and led away by the lufts of their vile hearts, that as they had no regard to the honour and glory of God, fo they fhould have no refpect unto the honour of their own bodies, but might bafely prostitute them, and rob them of that honour which was their due. The second is, verses 26th and 27th, which hath reference to verfe 25th, where their fin is fet down; which was this: They afcribed the attributes of God, which are his peculiarly, and do belong to him truly, unto an image, which is a mere lying thing; and not only fo, but gave that homage unto thofe creatures of their own making, which is due only to the ever-bleffed God, who only fhould be acknowledged to be fuch, and will be fuch for ever, as all chriftian hearts fhould wish that he may be bleffed for ever. Now, for this caufe the Lord did judicially deliver them up unto their vile affections, as their tormentor, and his executioner. And what followed? They became brutishly vile, and committed fuch lewdness as very beafts would abhor; and all fexes among them became horribly guilty of Sodomy, and fuch filthinefs as very nature would account abominable and unfeemly and thus the Lord did pay them home in their own bofom, and gave them a juft recompence of their er

ror, which was meet; that feeing they ran mad on fpiritual fornication and filthinefs, they thould be judicially punished, by being given up to bodily filthinefs. The third is, verfe 28th; where alfo their fin is fet down, to clear the equity and fuitableness of the ftroke: They liked not to retain God in their knowledge; they laid afide all thought of God, and the fmall portion of knowledge which they had, they trampled upon, and wilfully fhot out their own light, and therefore God gave them their will, and their fill of blindness; for he gave them up to a darkned judgment, and a mind void of all underftanding; even in matters touching their neighbours, they were fo judicially blinded, that they faw not the very principles of equity, which fhould have directed them in their duties one towards another.

OBSERVE,

L. As it is blafphemy, upon the one hand, to fay that God is the author of fin, fo it is impious, and derogateth from his power and wifdom, who is the fupreme and abfolute Governor and Ruler of heaven and earth, to run to the other extreme, and fay, that God ufeth a bare permiffion, and connivance anent the existing

of fin in the world; as if fin fell out beyond his decree and will, feeing he willeth and decreeth that fin fhall exist and have a being; he permitting it, tho' not effecting it: for here we fee there must be a positive act of his will anent the exifting of it, feeing it is a judicial act of his juft fovereign power, as righteous Judge, to deliver finners up unto uncleannefs, to debafe their own bodies, and to vile affections, and to a reprobate mind, or blinded understanding.

II. Tho' God doth decree and purpose, for wife and holy ends, that fin fhall be committed by wicked men, he permitting and wifely ordering the fame; yet he is not to be looked on as the culpable caufe; but the foul fpring, and finful rife of

thefe

« PreviousContinue »