king, sound in his body, prosperous in his crown, and successful in
his conquests, settled in all his royal conveniences, groan under the
wrathful touch of a greater King than himself (Ps. vi. xxxviii., and
his other penitential Psalms), not being able to give himself a writ
of ease by all the delights of his palace and kingdom! “If the wrath of
a king be as the roaring of a lion” (Prov. xix. 10) to a poor subject,
how great is the wrath of the King of kings, that cannot be set forth
by the terror of all the amazing volleys of thunder that have been
since the creation, if the noise of all were gathered into one single
crack! As there is an inconceivable ground of joy in the special favor
of so mighty a King, so is there of terror in his severe displeasure:
he is “terrible to the kings of the earth; with God is terrible
majesty” (Ps. lxxvi. 12). What a folly is it, then, to rebel against
so mighty a Sovereign!
_Use III._ Of comfort. The throne of God drops honey and sweetness, as
well as dread and terror; all his other attributes afford little relief
without this of his dominion and universal command. When, therefore,
he speaks of his being the God of his people, he doth often preface it
with “the Lord thy God;” his sovereignty, as a Lord, being the ground
of all the comfort we can take in his federal relation as our God;
thy God, but superior to thee; thy God, not as thy cattle and goods
are thine, in a way of sole propriety, but a Lord too, in a way of
sovereignty, not only over thee, but over all things else for thee. As
the end of God’s settling earthly governments was for the good of the
communities over which the governors preside, so God exerciseth his
government for the good of the world, and more particularly for the
good of the church, over which he is a peculiar Governor.
1. His love to his people is as great as his sovereignty over them.
He stands not upon his dominion with his people so much as upon his
affection to them; he would not be called “Baali, my Lord,” _i. e._
he would not be known only by the name of sovereignty, but “Ishi, my
husband,” a name of authority and sweetness together (Hos. ii. 16,
19, &c.): he signifies that he is not only the Lord of our spirits and
bodies, but a husband by a marriage knot, admitting us to a nearness to
him, and communion of goods with him. Though he majestically sits upon
a high throne, yet it is a throne “encircled with a rainbow” (Ezek. i.
28), to show that his government of his people is not only in a way of
absolute dominion, but also in a way of federal relation; he seems to
own himself their subject rather than their Sovereign, when he gives
them a charter to command him in the affairs of his church (Isa. xlv.
11); “Ask of me things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the
work of my hands command you me.” Some read it by way of question, as
a corrective of a sauciness: Do you ask me of things to come, and seem
to command me concerning the works of my hands, as if you were more
careful of my interest among my people than I am, who have formed them?
But if this were the sense, it would seem to discourage an importunity
of prayer for public deliverance; and therefore, to take it according
to our translation, it is an exhortation to prayer, and a mighty
encouragement in the management and exercise of it. Urge {b450} me
with my promise, in a way of humble importunity, and you shall find
me as willing to perform my word, and gratify your desires, as if I
were rather under your authority, than you under mine: as much as to
say, If I be not as good as my word, to satisfy those desires that
are according to my promise, implead me at my own throne, and, if
I be failing in it, I will give judgment against myself: almost like
princes’ charters, and gracious grants, “We grant such a thing against
us and our heirs,” giving the subject power to implead them if they
be not punctually observed by them. How is the love of God seen in
his condescension below the majesty of earthy governors! He that might
command, by the absoluteness of his authority, doth not only do that,
but entreats, in the quality of a subject, as if he had not a fulness
to supply us, but needed something from us for a supply of himself
(2 Cor. v. 20): “As though God did beseech you by us.” And when he may
challenge, as a due by the right of his propriety, what we bestow upon
his poor, which are his subjects as well as ours, he reckons it as a
loan to him, as if what we had were more our own than his (Prov. xix.
17). He stands not upon his dominion so much with us, when he finds us
conscientious in paying the duty we owe to him; he rules as a Father,
by love as well as by authority; he enters into a peculiar communion
with poor earthly worms, plants his gracious tabernacle among the
troops of sinners, instructs us by his word, invites us by his benefits,
admits us into his presence, is more desirous to bestow his smiles than
we to receive them, and acts in such a manner as if he were willing to
resign his sceptre into the hands of any that were possessed with more
love and kindness to us than himself: this is the comfort of believers.
2. In his being Sovereign, his pardons carry in them a full security.
He that hath the keys of hell and death, pardons the crime, and wipes
off the guilt. Who can repeal the act of the chief Governor? what
tribunal can null the decrees of an absolute throne? (Isa. xliii. 25),
“I, even I, am he that blots out thy transgressions, for my name’s
sake.” His sovereign dominion renders his mercy comfortable. The
clemency of a subject, though never so great, cannot pardon; people may
pity a criminal, while the executioner tortures him, and strips him of
his life; but the clemency of the Supreme Prince establisheth a pardon.
Since we are under the dominion of God, if he pardons, who can reverse
it? if he doth not, what will the pardons of men profit us in regard of
an eternal state? If God be a King forever, then he whom God forgives,
he in whom God reigns, shall live forever; else he would want subjects
on earth, and have none of his lower creatures, which he formed upon
the earth, to reign over after the dissolution of the world; if his
pardons did not stand secure, he would, after this life, have no
voluntary subjects that had formerly a being upon the earth; he would
be a King only over the damned creatures.
3. Corruptions will certainly be subdued in his voluntary subjects.
The covenant, “I will be your God,” implies protection, government,
and relief, which are all grounded upon sovereignty; that, therefore,
which is our greatest burden, will be removed by his sovereign power
(Mic. vii. 19): “He will subdue our iniquities.” If the {b451} outward
enemies of the church shall not bear up against his dominion, and
perpetuate their rebellions unpunished, those within, his people, shall
as little bear up against his throne, without being destroyed by him;
the billows of our own hearts, and the raging waves within us, are
as much at his beck as those without us; and his sovereignty is more
eminent in quelling the corruptions of the heart, than the commotions
of the world in reigning over men’s spirits, by changing them, or
curbing them, more than over men’s bodies, by pinching and punishing
them. The remainders of Satan’s empire will moulder away before him,
since He that is in us is a greater Sovereign “than he that is in the
world” (1 John iv. 4). His enemies will be laid at his feet, and so
never shall prevail against him, when his kingdom shall come. He could
not be Lord of any man, as a happy creature, if he did not, by his
power, make them happy; and he could not make them happy, unless, by
his grace, he made them holy: he could not be praised, as a Lord of
glory, if he did not make some creatures glorious to praise him; and
an earthly creature could not praise him perfectly, unless he had every
grain of enmity to his glory taken out of his heart. Since God is the
only Sovereign, he only can still the commotions in our spirits, and
pull down all the ensigns of the devil’s royalty; he can waste him by
the powerful word of his lips.
4. Hence is a strong encouragement for prayer. “My King,” was the
strong compellation David used in prayer, as an argument of comfort
and confidence, as well as that of “my God” (Ps. v. 2): “Hearken to the
voice of my cry, my King and my God.” To be a king is to have an office
of government and protection: he gives us liberty to approach to him
as the “Judge of all” (Heb. xii. 23), _i. e._ as the Governor of the
world; we pray to one that hath the whole globe of heaven and earth in
his hand, and can do whatsoever he will: though he be higher than the
cherubims, and transcendently above all in majesty, yet we may soar
up to him with the wings of our soul, faith and love, and lay open our
cause, and find him as gracious as if he were the meanest subject on
earth, rather than the most sovereign God in heaven. He hath as much
of tenderness as he hath of authority, and is pleased with prayer,
which is an acknowledgment of his dominion, an honoring of that which
he delights to honor; for prayer, in the notion of it, imports thus
much――that God is the Rector of the world, that he takes notice of
human affairs, that he is a careful, just, wise Governor, a storehouse
of blessing, a fountain of goodness to the indigent, and a relief
to the oppressed. What have we reason to fear when the Sovereign of
the world gives us liberty to approach to him and lay open our case?
that God, who is King of the whole earth, not only of a few villages
or cities in the earth, but the whole earth; and not only King of
this dreggy place of our dross, but of heaven, having prepared, or
established, his throne in the most glorious place of the creation.
5. Here is comfort in affliction. As a sovereign, he is the author
of afflictions; as a sovereign, he can be the remover of them; he can
command the waters of affliction to go so far and no farther. If he
speaks the word, a disease shall depart as soon as a servant shall
{b452} from your presence with a nod; if we are banished from one place,
he can command a shelter for us in another; if he orders Moab, a nation
that had no great kindness for his people, to let “his outcasts dwell
with them,” they shall entertain them, and afford them sanctuary (Isa.
xvi. 4). Again, God chasteneth as a “Sovereign,” but teacheth as a
“Father” (Ps. xcix. 12); the exercise of his authority is not without
an exercise of his goodness; he doth not correct for his own pleasure,
or the creature’s torment, but for the creature’s instruction; though
the rod be in the hand of a sovereign, yet it is tinctured with the
kindness of Divine bowels: he can order them as a sovereign to mortify
our flesh, and try our faith. In the severest tempest, the Lord that
raised the wind against us, which shattered the ship, and tore its
rigging, can change that contrary wind for a more happy one, to drive
us into the port.
6. It is a comfort against the projects of the church’s adversaries in
times of public commotions. The consideration of the Divine sovereignty
may arm us against the threatenings of mighty ones, and the menaces
of persecutors. God hath authority above the crowns of men, and a
wisdom superior to the cabals of men; none can have a step without
him; he hath a negative voice upon their counsels, a negative hand upon
their motions; their politic resolves must stop at the point he hath
prescribed them; their formidable strength cannot exceed the limits he
hath set them; their overreaching wisdom expires at the breath of God:
“There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord”
(Prov. xxi. 30); not a bullet can be discharged, nor a sword drawn,
a wall battered, nor a person despatched out of the world, without the
leave of God, by the mightiest in the world. The instruments of Satan
are no more free from his sovereign restraint than their inspirer; they
cannot pull the hook out of their nostrils, nor cast the bridle out
of their mouths; this Sovereign can shake the earth, rend the heavens,
overthrow mountains, the most mountainous opposers of his interest.
Though the nations rush in against his people like the rushing of many
waters, “God shall rebuke them, they shall be chased as the chaff of
the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the
whirlwind” (Isa. xvii. 13); so doth he often burst in pieces the most
mischievous designs, and conducts the oppressed to a happy port: he
often turns the severest tempests into a calm, as well as the most
peaceful calm into a horrible storm. How often hath a well‑rigged ship,
that seemed to spurn the sea under her feet, and beat the waves before
her to a foam, been swallowed up into the bowels of that element,
over whose back she rode a little before! God never comes to deliver
his church as a governor, but in a wrathful posture (Ezek. xx. 33):
“Surely, saith the Lord, with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched
arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you;” not with fury
poured out upon the church, but fury poured out upon her enemies, as
the words following evidence: the church he would bring out from the
countries where she was scattered, and bring the people into the bond
of the covenant. He sometimes “cuts off the spirits of princes” (Ps.
lxxvi. 12), _i. e._ cuts off their designs as men do the pipes of a
water‑course. The hearts of all are as open to him {b453} as the riches
of heaven, where he resides; he can slip an inclination into the heart
of the mighty, which they dreamed not of before; and if he doth not
change their projects, he can make them abortive, and waylay them in
their attempts. Laban marched with fury, but God put a padlock on his
passion against Jacob (Gen. xxxi. 24, 29); the devils, which ravage
men’s minds, must be still when he gives out his sovereign orders.
This Sovereign can make his people find favor in the eyes of the cruel
Egyptians, which had so long oppressed them (Exod. xi. 3); and speak a
good word in the heart of Nebuchadnezzar for the prophet Jeremiah, that
he should order his captain to take him into his special protection,
when he took Zedekiah away prisoner in chains, and “put out his eyes”
(Jer. xxxix. 11). His people cannot want deliverance from Him who hath
all the world at his command, when he is pleased to bestow it; he hath
as many instruments of deliverance as he hath creatures at his beck in
heaven or earth, from the meanest to the highest. As he is the Lord of
hosts, the church hath not only an interest in the strength he himself
is possessed with, but in the strength of all the creatures that are
under his command, in the elements below, and angels above. In those
armies of heaven, and in the inhabitants of the earth, he doth “what
he will” (Dan. iv. 35); they are all in order and array at his command.
There are angels to employ in a fatal stroke, lice and frogs to quell
the stubborn hearts of his enemies; he can range his thunders and
lightnings, the cannon and granadoes of heaven, and the worms of the
earth in his service; he can muzzle lions, calm the fury of the fire,
turn his enemies’ swords into their own bowels, and their artillery
on their own breasts; set the wind in their teeth, and make their
chariot‑wheels languish; make the sea enter a quarrel with them, and
wrap them in its waves till it hath stifled them in its lap. The angels
have storms, and tempests, and wars in their hands, but at the disposal
of God; when they shall cast them out against the empire of antichrist
(Rev. vii. 1, 2), then shall Satan be discharged from his throne, and
no more seduce the nations; the everlasting gospel shall be preached,
and God shall reign gloriously in Sion. Let us, therefore, shelter
ourselves in the Divine sovereignty, regard God as the most high in our
dangers and in our petitions. This was David’s resolution (Ps. lvii. 1,
2): “I will cry unto God most high;” this dominion of God is the true
“tower of David, wherein there are a thousand shields” for defence and
encouragement (Cant. iv. 4).
_Use IV._ If God hath an extensive dominion over the whole world,
this ought to be often meditated on, and acknowledged by us. This is
the universal duty of mankind. If he be the Sovereign of all, we should
frequently think of our great Prince, and acknowledge ourselves his
subjects, and him our Lord. God will be acknowledged the Lord of the
whole earth; the neglect of this is the cause of the judgments which
are sent upon the world. All the prodigies were to this end, that they
might know, or acknowledge, that “God was the Lord” (Exod. x. 2); as
God was proprietor, he demanded the first‑born of every Jew, and the
first‑born of every beast; the one was to be redeemed, and the other
sacrificed; this was the quit rent they were to pay to him for their
fruitful land. The first‑fruits of {b454} the earth were ordered to
be paid to him, as a homage due to the landlord, and an acknowledgment
they held all in chief of him. The practice of offering first‑fruits
for an acknowledgment of God’s sovereignty, was among many of the
heathens, and very ancient; hence they dedicated some of the chief of
their spoils, owning thereby the dominion and goodness of God, whereby
they had gained the victory; Cain owned this in offering the fruits
of the earth, and it was his sin he owned no more, _viz._, his being
a sinner, and meriting the justice of God, as his brother Abel did
in his bloody sacrifice. God was a sovereign Proprietor and Governor
while man was in a state of innocence; but when man proved a rebel, the
sovereignty of God bore another relation towards him, that of a Judge,
added to the other. The first‑fruits might have been offered to God in
a state of innocence, as a homage to him as Lord of the manor of the
world; the design of them was to own God’s propriety in all things, and
men’s dependence on him for the influences of heaven in producing the
fruits of the earth, which he had ordered for their use. The design
of sacrifices, and placing beasts instead of the criminal, was to
acknowledge their own guilt, and God as a sovereign Judge; Cain owned
the first, but not the second; he acknowledged his dependence on God
as a Proprietor, but not his obnoxiousness to God as a Judge; which may
be probably gathered from his own speech, when God came to examine him,
and ask him for his brother (Gen. iv. 9): “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
Why do you ask me? though I own thee as the Lord of my land and goods,
yet I do not think myself accountable to thee for all my actions. This
sovereignty of God ought to be acknowledged in all the parts of it, in
all the manifestations of it to the creature; we should bear a sense
of this always upon our spirits, and be often in the thoughts of it in
our retirements; we should fancy that we saw God upon his throne in his
royal garb, and great attendants about him, and take a view of it, to
imprint an awe upon our spirits. The meditation of this would,
1. Fix us on him as an object of trust. It is upon his sovereign
dominion as much as upon anything, that safe and secure confidence
is built; for if he had any superior above him to control him in
his designs and promises, his veracity and power would be of little
efficacy to form our souls to a close adherency to him. It were not fit
to make him the object of our trust that can be gainsayed by a higher
than himself, and had not a full authority to answer our expectations;
if we were possessed with this notion fully and believingly, that God
were high above all, that “his kingdom rules over all,” we should not
catch at every broken reed, and stand gaping for comforts from a pebble
stone. He that understands the authority of a king, would not waive
a reliance on his promise to depend upon the breath of a changeling
favorite. None but an ignorant man would change the security he may
have upon the height of a rock, to expect it from the dwarfishness of
a molehill. To put confidence in any inferior lord more than in the
prince, is a folly in civil converse, but a rebellion in divine; God
only being above all, can only rule all; can command things to help us,
and check other things which we depend on, and make them fall short of
our expectations. {b455} The due consideration of this doctrine would
make us pierce through second causes to the first, and look further
than to the smaller sort of sailors, that climb the ropes, and dress
the sails, to the pilot that sits at the helm, the master, that, by
an indisputable authority, orders all their notions. We should not
depend upon second causes for our support, but look beyond them to the
authority of the Deity, and the dominion he hath over all the works
of his hands (Zech. x. 1): “Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the
latter rain;” when the seasons of the year conspire for the producing
such an effect, when the usual time of rain is wheeled about in the
year, stop not your thoughts at the point of the heavens whence you
expect it, but pierce the heavens, and solicit God, who must give order
for it before it comes. The due meditation of all things depending on
the Divine dominion would strike off our hands from all other holds, so
that no creature would engross the dependence and trust which is due to
the First Cause; as we do not thank the heavens when they pour out rain,
so we are not to depend upon them when we want it; God is to be sought
to when the womb of second causes is opened to relieve us, as well
as when the womb of second causes is barren, and brings not forth its
wonted progeny.
2. It would make us diligent in worship. The consideration of God, as
the Supreme Lord, is the foundation of all religion: “Our Father, which
art in heaven,” prefaceth the Lord’s prayer; “Father” is a name of
authority; “in heaven,” the place where he hath fixed his throne, notes
his government; not “my Father,” but “our Father,” notes the extent of
this authority. In all worship we acknowledge the object of our worship
our Lord, and ourselves his vassals; if we bear a sense that he is our
Sovereign King, it would draw us to him in every exigence, and keep us
with him in a reverential posture, in every address; when we come, we
should be careful not to violate his right, but render him the homage
due to his royalty. We should not appear before him with empty souls,
but filled with holy thoughts: we should bring him the best of our
flock, and present him with the prime of our strength; were we sensible
we hold all of him, we should not withhold anything from him which
is more worthy than another. Our hearts would be framed into an awful
regard of him, when we consider that glorious and “fearful name, the
Lord our God” (Deut. xxviii. 58). We should look to our feet when
we enter into his house; if we considered him in heaven upon his
throne, and ourselves on earth at his footstool (Eccles. v. 2), lower
before him than a worm before an angel, it would hinder garnishness
and lightness. The Jews, saith Capel, on 1 Tim. i. 17, repeat this
expression, מלך העולם, King of worlds, or Eternal King; probably the
first original of it might be to stake them down from wandering. When
we consider the majesty of God, clothed with a robe of light, sitting
upon his high throne, adorned with his royal ensigns, we should not
enter into the presence of so great a Majesty with the sacrifice of
fools, with light motions and foolish thoughts, as if he were one of
our companions to be drolled with. We should not hear his word as if it
were the voice of some ordinary peasant. The consideration of majesty
would engender reverence in our service; {b456} it would also make us
speak of God with honor and respect, as of a great and glorious king,
and not use defaming expressions of him, as if he were an infamous
being. And were he considered as a terrible majesty, he would not be
frequently solicited by some to pronounce a damnation upon them upon
every occasion.