of their State byCreation, As to my prefeotly Scope, it is not to inlarge upon the defcription of a 6ro- r-....AJ\ km heart or of Gods affecting, and delighting therein to dwell, or his Grace Chap.1. ll1ewn the'reby : But my prefent defign is to inlarge upon the height and di- ~ fiance which God bears above us, and his whole Creation, confidered as we are Creatures: Nor is my Scope finiply to fer forth, what God i1 in himfelf, but as here he is fer out Comparatively with his Creatures; limiting my Difcourfc hereinalfoonly unto what defcription he makes of himfclf here in the Text: And theVft I ll1all put it to, will be to humble us as Creatures, even in our befi Efiate, and not as finners only. This comparative dillance of this height above us, is fet forth in thefe P ARTICVLARS. I. I tht maker mJd Preferver: And thrfe things were made and do exill by me. Firll, THE MAKER 1 So in both places: In l(ai. 66; .All thefe have my hands made ; The very tenour of this fpeech is a ilighting thgm as Creatures, and beiug they a;e 6ut m11de thi11,gs, andwi!J ye compare thtm to me? It is, as if an Artificer Jhould {peak of his works made by him, that are different from himfelf. Thefe are the Clay, and My Pots, and I am the Potter. He (peaks of them as a Potter would do of his Pot-Jheards fo difiant from himfelf, The Maker: Or he fpeaks thus of them, with difference from his own inter– nal acts of his mind within himfelf, whereas thefe are utterly External , and out of h•mfelf. Thefe have my hmzds made; as an artificer would fpeak of his • mm•ifa&ures and works without him, And then in Ifai. 57· the other Scrip– ture, Vtr{, 16, The Souls( the Subjects ofthis my Grace) which I ha'T.Ie made: In both, he fptaks of them as made by him; and the Souls made altogether, i.e. the whole of their Being; asPjal: n· I)- for Creation is produ&io totiuS entis: .lltfs I1·'-5•Hegiveth toattltje, a11d all things: And Vtr[.1.8, Be– ing it felf, in himwtlive, and havt our being: And Ram. u, ult. Of him are all things; and therefore notfo much as a firll Matter was exilling to his hands: But alt the(e have my hands made. Secondly; THE PRESERVER,] as giving and continuing. To give them exiftel)ce ; as thofe words inChap. 66. '-· Andall the[e things have 6un; faith the Lord, Pijcator renders, per eHm exiflunt omnia; to which, that of .AC!s '7· 28. correfponds; In him we live, and move, and have our 6ti11g : ;, e. as the Original, fo the Continuance of them: He gives life, Verf. 2). and then Prc(erves it : In him we continue to have it; thus both Paut and Jfaiah, · II. INHABITING RTERNTTT;] which hefpeaks, Firfi,'with exclufion of all things made, as tbings that have not , de Jatfo, been from Eternity ; and notes out , an eminent diftinction put thereby between them and him. P[al, go. 2 . Before the Mo1mtains were brought fortp, or ever than hadfl formed the Earth and the WorM, from everla{li11g to everlafling thoH art God. And whereas feme Creatures, as Angels and Mens Souls, have an E– ternity of Exillence to come, yet that is but derived : 'Tis he is faid only to have Immortality; 1 ~li'm, 6. and therefore he is called the !aft as well as the firft : That though they be Eternal for time to come, yet he is after them all : Which could not have been faid, but in refpect that Creatures their Eternity cloth depend on him; and fo he is the !all, though they continue with him for ever. God hath Eternity both pall and to come; and this is proper to him. Secondly, the Phrafe here [ INH4BITING J etmzity, is unufual, and fignificant of far more, than fimply that God is Eternal in both refpeCl:s afqre– faid, It imports over and befides, '• That he hath dwelt alone , and jha/1 dwell alone for ever apart, by and in himfelf; whether afore any Creature were or fince, it is all one as to this; For himfelf is that Eternity which he dwelt in, and Jhall dwellia, I Sam. I). '-9· The Eltrnityof l(rael will not lie, fo 'tis varied in the margent : And ftnce the Creatures was;he is his own proper Man. fion-houfe, even as he was before ; c :l· That
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=