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 discern, nor will to choose. It is therefore to be
observed, that whilst Christ 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 come to
such a maturity as to be capable of a rational instruction. But there
was a necessity for some command for the government of man; since God
had made him a rational creature, it was not agreeable 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 without 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 wheresoever 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 any thing 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 prevailing 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 {a527} any command but what he had ability
to observe: and since we want not power to forbear an apple in our
corrupted and impotent 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.
(2.) 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 men 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 honor and excellency of that nation (Deut. i. 8); “What nation
is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous?”
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 characters of a particular wisdom; but now an universal
wisdom appears, in accommodating his law, not only to this or that
particular society or corporation 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 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 neighbor, the honor
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 lion‑like and
wolfish disposition, into reason and sweetness. And because the whole
law is summed up in love, it obligeth us to endeavor the preservation
of one another’s beings, the favoring of one another’s interests, and
increasing 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 shown by a cessation from action, but signifies an ardor, 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 {a528} 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 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 operation worthy of him, and
beneficial to the world.
(3.) The wisdom of God is seen in suiting his laws to the consciences
as well as the interests 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 indelible 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
best governed 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 excellency by so mean a resemblance; with the
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 is some stated time
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 honor 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 consciences of men is further evidenced by those furious
reflections, and strong alarms of conscience, upon a transgression
of it, {a529} 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 laws 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.
(4.) His wisdom is seen in the encouragements he gives for the
studying and observing his will (Ps. xix. 11); “In keeping thy
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 revealed will of God. There is a strain of reason
to satisfy the rational; of eloquence, 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 peremptory, 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 humors 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.[784] 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, or an instinct to ascend from light and
airy substances; God serves himself of the inclination of our natures
to happiness, to enjender 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 {a530} longing
our natures have for happiness, to receive the impression of holiness
into our souls. And, besides, he doth proportion rewards according the
degrees of men’s industry, labor, and zeal for him; and weighs out a
recompense, 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 honor 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 recompenses 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.
(5.) The wisdom of God is seen in fitting the revelations of his will
to aftertimes, 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, connexion, 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’ being the Messiah (Luke xxiv. 14). 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
Ptolomy, king of Egypt, some hundreds of years before the coming of
Christ) into the Greek language, the tongue then 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 predictions so long before made, they might more readily
receive the accomplishment 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 (Matt. 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 Rome 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 communicants 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 {a531} of
the “blessed Virgin” (Luke i. 27), there is nothing of her holiness
mentioned, 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 disciples, 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 dishonor as well as of
honor! 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 livelihood, the rich depend upon the poor for their
conveniences. 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 labor for the
rich, as the earth sends vapors into the vaster and fuller air; and the
rich return advantages again to the poor, as the clouds {a532} do the
vapors in rain upon the earth. As meat would not afford a nourishing
juice without bread, and bread without other food would immoderately
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 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.
2dly. 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. lxxvi. 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 {a533} “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 floodgates 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 purposed! 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 xxxii.)
2. God’s wisdom is seen in the bringing glory to himself out of sin.
(1.) Out of sin itself. God erects the trophies of honor 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 incarnation 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 manifested;
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 abundance 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 permitted 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 uphold 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 incurable 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 destitute of an object wherein to discover itself. Again,
wisdom, in ordering a rebellious head‑strong world to its own ends, is
greater than the ordering an {a534} innocent world, exactly observant
of his precepts, 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 honor of this wisdom, while man ruined the
integrity of his nature; and made use of the creature’s breach of his
divine law, to establish the honor of it in a more signal and stable
manner, by the active and passive 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.