_--- S E C T. VI. OfGodsWorktpatithir. Lion to God , that fowhat one is not emphaticalto declare, the other may do it. Thus we have handled the relationofSons, which is more then his workman- fhip; for an houfe is the Artificersworkmaníhip, but it is not his Childe, and thereforehe hath not fuchendeared affections to it. In other places they are called, TheWifeef Chriff to Phew their intimate conjun5 ion, That they are bone of hie bone, and flefhof hiefiefb; but in other places the Workmanfhip of God, under the inftance ofan houfe. As a man dwels in his houle, fo God doth not onlymakeus his people, but hedwels in us afterwards : Now how rich and gloriousmuft thatfoul be, who bath Chrift lodgingand reáing in it ? He that fits in.his Glory at the right handofGod,doth alto abide and dwell in thy heart. In other places, this workmanfhip is not only called an Houfe, but a Temple, a Car.;. and thatdenoteth morethen an Houfe, viz. a peculiar deftination and confecrationof'it toGod. Thus every godly man converted is made a Temple ofthe holy Ghoft. Its peculiarly dedicated to God ; fo that tufts and Satan have nothing todo there.Thus you fee whatkind of Workmanfhip weare,Gods Houfe, Gods Temple. Oh the marvellousdignity andpurity that ought ro be in every New Creature I How comes Owls andSatyrs, lulls ofdarkneffe to-he in the Temple of the Lord ! fometimes we are his , Workmanfhip of a Vine- yard, or a pleafant Garden, as the book of Canticles fignifìeth, planted as Eden was by God himfelf ? Now how come briars and brambles up in Gods Garden? So that the confideration of our being Gods Workmanfhip fhould make us take heed there;be nothing of fins, or the Devils workman- fhip inus. In the fourth place confider, whereinGods Workmanfhipas We are New Greet; 4 tares; furpa(feth that AdWe arecreatures; And herein we muff remove one falfe WhereinGoss difference that is aligned in Popery, which is this, Godindeed fa they) made nNip $ i Y Y) as we are New to Without ourfelves, thereWas not our Willor Confect required to it but he doth Creatures tur- ner newmakeus, or Golfe ses to be New Creatures without our will ; and they bring paffeth that as that old fayingof Auguffines, fecit tefine te, non juflifacabit te fine te. He weare cm', that madethee without thy own power, hewill not alfo convert thee without tutee thy ownpower. But the Scripturemakes us wholly paflive in that flat work of grace. Although it be alfo true, That in being made New Creatures, we are not without underftandingand a will atthat time,but there is no natural imbred power inus to turn our felves untoGod, as the very phrafe Workmanfhip and Createddo import; and truly this is theend of the Apoftle in this part of the Chapter, to excludeevery work of ours ; for if it be never fo little, we may boalt at leaft fo farte, but there is a va(t difference in the original and caufe of the one and the other. Firft, Godmade the World, andWith other creatures , man as the epitome of all, Iá out of his general love andgoodneffe. He did not create fromnatural neceffity, as Bees make their Hives and Honey, or as theSunne communicateth his light, but voluntarily andout of his meetlove, Ex indulgentiá, not indigentiâ. Bernard. Sothat it was Gods goodneffe to thee tomake thee a man, and not a toad, or a ferpent: But theoriginal of making no New Creatures is a fpecialand more peculiar love. As7acob loved ?ofeph with a fpecial love, andas a fign thereof, gave him a party- coloured Coat : So God with a fpecial favour is carried out to fuch whom he converts and beftoweth on them the choice Ornaments of Grace. Hence it's never called Gods Grace, that he made the world; we doe not attribute it to Gods Grace properly that we live and have a be- ing, but to his Love and Goodneffe. But the Scripture doth peculiarlyap- propriate it to the Grace of God, that he dellsus, juftifieth , fanlifieth and glorifieth us. A fecond Difference is, Inregard oftheafls andWorksof God in his adminifira; I h tion anddilenfation towards them; For God dealeth with man as a Creature in 287
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=