Caryl - Houston-Packer Collection BS1415 .C37 v7

818 Chap. z6. An Expo%etion upon the looh,of J.0 3. Verf. 14. Via dci ilih, and reveales himfelfe to us. As that is a mans way wherein or opera rant & whereby he is knowne, fo in whatfoever God r:aíiifefieth or agendi maketh himfelfe known to us, that is the wayof God 1 a: quíbutadnos (r illevenire,dici- 8. ) My thoughts are not your thoughts; neither are your wayes txr quia in lei, mywayes;faith the I:ord.That is, my wayes of mercy are as farm prods: ad nos e: above your wayes ofmercy, as your dutyes are below mywayes progrediendo re of holineffe;yea what are your wayes offinfulncffe in doing evil, ra.:gis rrra4115 to my wayes of gracioufnes inpardoning the evils which ye have noffris eclat. us done?Manbath a waft and a large heart in finning, but the waft. accormnadat. Coca nefs & largenefs ofmans heart in finning, is bue fcantnefs & rar- rownefs to the largenefs & vaftnefs ofGods heart in pardoning. We may underhand the Lord (peaking in either of or in both thefefences; Maly n'ayesare not as your wayes. And in general ; the way ofGod is that wherein he arieth or revealeth himfelf to- wards us, whether it be in mercy or inJudgement,in love or ter- rour.God bath forewayes which we maycall foul and trouble- fome wayes, loch are his wayes ofjudgment:he.bath other ways, which we may call faire and delightfomewayes, Inch are all his wayes ofmercy.And as God cores to us continually in one or other of thefe wayes ofprovidence.fo he carne forth ofold in the way ofcreation (Prov: 8. 22.) The Lord p,fe_(fedme in the fe ginning ofbis way before his trorAes ofold. When God firft carne forth, and appeared in making the world, be pilled f me (faith Wifedome) that is, from everlasting, Away is, that wherein we goe out, and (Lev our felves openly or abroad. Ard hence it is elegantly laid, that Creation was the beginningofGods way, for thenGod did as it were goe out from hirnfelf into his works, and in his workes he mewed himfelfe openly, who was before hidden inhimfelfe from Eternity. God had infinite immanent or internal] as in himfelfe before, or rather God was one infi- nite eternal immanent Ad before. But the firh external tran- fient a&ofGod, or the fir( expreflion of himfelfe(who can ne- ver beexpreffed, to the life, as he is) was by the work ofcreati- on; and therefore that was the beginningofhis way. And ofthis- way,the wayofcreation,as anof thofeof providence fob (pea. keth when he faith, lo, thefe are partsof bis wage,,. 'Atcommodar And hence the Scripture called) forms and rempefis,thunder, ad fubjeifam and lightning, in which Godappeareth fo terrible, the wayes of materiarn via God (Nab: a. 3.) The Lordieß w to anger, andgreat inpower del dicipefunt and

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