of their State by Creation, 1) is, pertunt, they p~rilh. T he like in lfai,,h 1'· ''· and l 4-t2 -and 4D:2j.~He 6ringeth theJ tulges to 11otbmg.And further, as tftheCreaturcs had by mflmct Chap. 3· &common fenfc of their Nothingnefs, if God do but chalhfe them , prefemly~ we cry out to God, B ri11gme ttol to _Nothi11g_; fo affraid arc they of becomming Nothing: Yea, and m extrem~ttes of dt(!refs, are apt to wt!h they were nothing, nor had ever been, And m ti11S Language the Prophet J eremtah utters hisfears , Jer. 1 o. 24- Corret'l me not m tbme .Anger , tejl thou tum me to 110 thmg : If we are but touch't, we apprehend that we are in danger of becoming Nothing. All mifcries are fmaller vacillations or rcelings of the Creature towards their lirft Nothing; we are like thofe Dight fmall green flies that croep upon leaves in Summer; we Men cannottouch themfo gently but they dye. The whole Creation is built upon a Qgagmire of Nothing; and is continually ready to link into it , and to be [wallowed up by it; which maketh the whole, or any part of it, to quake, and quiver, when God is Angry; as 'J eremiah there did. The Foundation of the Creatures changeability to fin ( when as at firft made near to Holy) is by our Divines put upon this, That we being made out of Nothing,are apt to verge, and link into Nothing, and fo fall towards it infinning: And truly fin is a great leap, or fall rather, and tottering towards it; and we may view our own Nothingnefs moll: by it : And did not God , in the juft act of our reeling towards finning , put a fiop , and up· hold our beings , we fhould fall to Nothing: But , then he fhould want an · objed,or a Subject to punifh for fin,or to be fenfible of fin. Humble your felves therefore in the apprehenfion of this; and look , as in point of Sandification, although God giveth fo great a meafure of it to his Children, and maketh them very holy; yet in the point ol jufiifying them , he would have them for ever to look upon themfelves as ungodly , becaufe once they were fuch; as Rom, 4· 5· And P attl, whilft he did never fo much, faith, yet I am nqthing. Thus here; though he bath given us a being and Ex– iftence, yet becaufe we once were Nothing, and that was the ftate ( if a ftate) he found us in, ~e would ever have us account our felves as Nothing ; ~i10ugh now by his Grace, having AIJ Things, as the Apoftle fays. 3: This made Being of ours, when it is made and termed Being ( as it is in 'At'ls '7. 2.'6, In him we live , alld move, and have our Beittg : ) Yet that Be– ing is not only derived purely from him , and his efficiency, but farther it is but equivocally, and falfely called Being ; as the Apoftle fpeaks of the know– ledge theGnoflicks boa!l:ed of, Science, jat[et1 fo catted. It bath but the Name of Being; but in reality is but the fhadow of Being: Even as the 1ha, dow, or pidure of a Man is fallely and equivocally termed a Man : All of a Pidure is but a iliadow of the Man. 4· God a~d ChriO: ~nly have the Name of Subftance ; as Prov. 8. 2.r. Being both Name and Thing is proper only unto God ; who is:;;,, as the Septu· agint ftill renders the Name .'1ehovah: or as Plato from thence, 71 ~•• in truth is {aid of God alone : For which here the Pfalmift, Pjat, 8j. r8. That Men may know that thou, whofo Name alone is Jehovah ,_art the mojl high over a/J the Earth. And what otheri~ the Scripture Language of Man, and the greateO: of !'4en l All of Man , and about Man, are therein compared to a fhadow ; htsactions, andcourfes, afhadow, Pfat. j9· g. J'urelytveryMan walketh in a vai11 jhew, (or Image, as in the Hebrew;) Leads an imaginary life, rather than life it felf; fo Ainf..uorth : And as his ways, Co is himfelf; andthatin hisbeftandmoftflourifhing Eftate :'Thus in thq. Verfo of that P{atm, Verity, every M 1111 (both in his Perfon, his Being, the Circumftan• -£es of his life) take him at tll.e bell:, every way , he, and his bell: Eftate, is al~ogether 'llattit~ ; a/JVanity : Which Vanity is all one in account with No– thmg, or no Bemg : As m the fame Verfe, My worldly time ts as 11othJ11g · o£{ore thee : [My Jithj/mtce] fo the J'eptttagint renders it : [ My Body ]as the ~atde~: As Nothing, not. only as compared with God, but a~ore_ God , and m hts Judgment and valuatwn of him : And that he fays it of hiS ume m thts World, that his days ar~nothi11g , it imports that hii Exiftcnce , and himfd f are
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=