The
Decrees of God
by Hugh Binning
Lecture 14 on Christian Doctrine
“Who worketh all things after the counsel of
his own will.” – Eph 1:11.
“He is in one mind, and who can turn him? and
what his soul desireth, even that he doeth."–Job 23:13
H |
aving spoken
something before of God, in his nature and being and properties, we come, in
the next place, to consider his glorious majesty, as he stands in some nearer
relation to his creatures, the work of his hands. For we must conceive the
first rise of all things in the world to be in this self-being; the first
conception of them to be in the womb of God’s everlasting purpose and decree;
which, in due time, according to his appointment, brings forth the child of the
creature to the light of actual existence and being. It is certain that his
majesty might have endured for ever, and possessed himself without any of these
things. If he had never resolved to create any thing without himself, he had
been blessed then, as now, because of his full and absolute self-sufficient
perfection. His purposing to make a world, and his doing of it, adds nothing to
his inward blessedness and contentment. This glorious and holy One encloses
within his own being all imaginable perfections, in an infinite and
transcendent manner; that if you remove all created ones, you diminish nothing;
if you add them all, you increase nothing. Therefore it was in the
superabundance of his perfection, that he resolved to show his glory thus in
the world. It is the creature’s indigence and limited condition which maketh it
needful to go without its own compass, for the happiness of its own being. Man
cannot be happy in loving himself. He is not satisfied with his own intrinsic
perfections, but he must diffuse himself by his affections and desires and
endeavours, and, as it were, walks abroad upon these legs, to fetch in some
supply from the creature or Creator. The creature is constrained out of some
necessity thus to go out of itself, which speaks much indigence and want within
itself. But it is not so with his majesty. His own glorious Being contents him;
his happiness is to know that, and delight in it, because it comprehends in
itself all that is at all possible, in the most excellent and perfect manner
that is conceivable, – nay, infinitely beyond what can be conceived by any but
himself. So he needs not go outside himself to seek love or delight, for it is
all within him, and it cannot be without his own Being, unless it flow from
within him. Therefore ye may find in Scripture what complacency God hath in
himself, and the Father in the Son, and the Son in the Father. We find, Prov.
8, how the wisdom of God, our Lord Jesus, was the Father’s delight from all
eternity, and the Father again his delight; for he rejoiced always before him,
ver. 30. And this was an all-sufficient possession that one had of another,
ver. 22. The love between the Father and the Son is holden out as the first
pattern of all loves and delights, John 17:23, 24. This then flows from the
infinite excess of perfection and exundation of self-being, that his majesty is
pleased to come without himself, to manifest his own glory in the works of his
hands, to decree and appoint other things beside himself, and to execute that
decree. We may consider in these words some particulars for our edification:
I. That the Lord hath from eternity purposed within
himself and decreed to manifest his own glory in the making and ruling of the
world; that there is a counsel and purpose of his will which reaches all
things, which have been, are now, or are to be after this. This is clear, for
he works all things “according to the counsel of his own will.”
II. That his mind and purpose is one mind, one
counsel. I mean not only one for ever, that is, perpetual and unchangeable, as
the words speak, – but also one for all, that is, with one simple act or
resolution of his holy will he hath determined all these several things, all
their times, their conditions, their circumstances.
III. That whatsoever he hath from all eternity
purposed, he in time practiseth it, and comes to execution and working; so that
there is an exact correspondence betwixt his will and his work, his mind and
his hand. He works according to the counsel of his will, and whatsoever his
soul desireth that he doeth.
IV. That his purpose and performance is infallible, –
irresistible by any created power. Himself will not change it, for ‘he is in
one mind;’ and none else can hinder it, for ‘who can turn him?’ He desireth and
he doeth it, as in the original. There is nothing intervenes between the desire
and the doing, that can hinder the meeting of these two.
The first is the
constant doctrine of the Holy Scriptures, of which ye should consider four
things: 1st, That his purpose and decree is most wise. Therefore Paul cries out
upon such a subject, ‘O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and
knowledge of God!’ Rom. 11:33. His will is always one with wisdom; therefore
you have the purpose of his will mentioned thus, ‘the counsel of his will;’ for
his will, as it were, takes counsel and advice of wisdom, and discerns
according to the depth and riches of his knowledge and understanding. We see
among men these are separated often, and there is nothing in the world so
disorderly, so unruly and uncomely, as when will is divided from wisdom. When men
follow their own will and lusts as a law, against their conscience, that is
monstrous. The understanding and reason are the eyes of the will; if these be
put out, or if a man leave them behind him, he cannot but fall into a pit. But
the purposes of God’s will are depths of wisdom, nay, his very will is a
sufficient rule and law; so that it may be well used of him, Stat pro ratione voluntas,[1]
Rom 9:11-18. If we consider the glorious fabric of the world, – the order
established in it, – the sweet harmony it keepeth in all its motions and
successions, – O it must be a wise mind and counsel that contrived it! Man now
having the idea of this world in his mind, might fancy and imagine many other
worlds bearing some proportion and resemblance to this. But if he had never
seen nor known this world, he could never have imagined the thousandth part of
this world; he could in nowise have formed an image in his mind of all those
different kinds of creatures. Creatures must have some example and copy to look
to; but what was his pattern? ‘Who hath been his counselor’ to teach him? Rom.
11:34. Who gave him the first rudiments or principles of that art? Surely none.
He had no pattern given him, – not the least idea of any of these things
furnished him, – but it is absolutely and solely his own wise contrivance. –
2d, This purpose of God is most free and absolute; there is no cause, no
reason, why he hath thus disposed all things, and not otherwise, as he might
have done, but his own good will and pleasure. If it be so in a matter of
deepest concernment, (Rom 9:18,) it must be so also in all other things. We may
find, indeed, many inferior causes, – many peculiar reasons for such and such a
way of administration, – many ends and uses for which they serve, – for there
is nothing that his majesty hath appointed but it is for some use and reason, –
yet we must rise above all these, and ascend into the tower of his most high
will and pleasure, which is founded on a depth of wisdom; and from thence we
shall behold all the order, administration, and use of the creatures to depend.
And herein is a great difference between his majesty’s purpose and ours. You
know there is still something presented under the notion of good and
convenient, that moves our will, and inclines us for its own goodness to seek
after it, and so to fall upon the means to compass it. Therefore, the end which
we propose to ourselves hath its influence upon our purposes, and pleasures
them; so that from it the motion seems to proceed first, and not so much from within;
but there is no created thing can thus determine his majesty. Himself, his own
glory, is the great end which he loves for itself, and for which he loves other
things. But among other things, though there be many of them ordained one for
another’s use, yet his will and pleasure is the original of that order. He doth
not find it, but makes it. You see all the creatures below are appointed for man, as
their immediate and next end, for his use and service. But was it man’s
goodness and perfection which did move and incline his majesty to this
appointment? No, indeed! But of his own good will he makes such things serve
man, that all of them together may be for his own glory. – 3d, The Lord’s
decree is the original source of all things that are, or have been, or are to
come. This is the first original of them all, to which they must be reduced as
their spring and fountain. All of you may understand that there are many things
possible, which yet actually will never be. The Lord’s power and omnipotency is
of a further extent than his decree and purpose. His power is natural and
essential to his being; his decree is of choice, and voluntary. The Father
could have sent a legion of angels to have delivered his Son; the Son could
have asked them, but neither of them would do it, Matt. 26:53. The Lord could
have raised up children to Abraham out of stones, but he would not, Matt. 3:9.
His power then comprehends within its reach all possible things which do not in
their own nature and proper conception imply a contradiction; so that infinite
worlds of creatures more perfect than this, – numbers of angels and men above
these, – and creatures in glory surpassing them again, – are within the compass
of the boundless power and omnipotency of God. But yet for all this it might
have fallen out that nothing should actually and really have been, unless his
majesty had of his own free will decreed what is, or hath been, or is to be.
His will determines his power, and, as it were, puts it in the nearest capacity
to act and exercise itself. Here, then, we must look for the first beginning of
all things that are. They are conceived in the womb of the Lord’s everlasting
purpose, as he speaks, Zeph. 2:2. The decree is, as it were, with child of
beings, Isa. 44:7. It is God’s royal prerogative to appoint things to come, and
none can share with him in it. From whence is it, I pray you, that of so many
worlds which his power could have framed, this one is brought to light? Is it
not because this one was formed, as it were, in the belly of his eternal
counsel and will? From whence is it that so many men are, and no more – that
our Lord Jesus was slain, when the power of God might have kept him alive, –
that those men, Judas, &c. were the doers of it, when others might have
done it? From whence are all those actions, good or evil, under the sun, which
he might have prevented, but from his good will and pleasure, from his
determinate counsel? Acts 4:28. Can you find the original of these in the
creature, why it is thus, and why not otherwise? Can you conceive why, of all
the infinite numbers of possible beings these are, and no other? And, what hath
translated that number of creatures, which is, from the state of pure
possibility to futurition or actual being, but the decisive vote of God’s everlasting
purpose and counsel? Therefore we should always conceive, that the creatures,
and all their actions, which have, or will have any being in the world, have
first had a being in the womb of God’s eternal counsel, and that his will and
pleasure hath passed upon all things that are and are not. His counsel has
concluded of things that have been, or will be, that thus they shall be; and
his counsel determined of all other things which are also possible, that they
shall never come forth into the light of the world, but remain in the dark
bowels of omnipotency, that so we may give him the glory of all things that are
not, and that are at all. – Then, 4th. We should consider the extent of his
decree and counsel; it is passed upon all things; it is universal, reaching
every being or action of the universe. This is the strain of the whole
Scripture. He did not, as some dream, once create the creatures in a good
state, and put them in capacity henceforth to preserve them selves, or exercise
their own virtue and power, without dependence on Him, as an artificer makes an
horologe, and orders it in all things, that it may do its business without him.
He is not only a general original of action and motion, as if he would command
a river to flow by his appointed
channels; as if he did only work, and rule the world by attorneys and
ambassadors. That is the weakness and infirmity of earthly kings, that they
must substitute deputies for themselves. But this King appoints all
immediately, and disposes upon all the particular actions of his creatures,
good or evil; and so he is universal absolute Lord of the creature, of its
being and doing. It were a long work to rehearse what the Scripture speaks of
this kind; but O! that ye would read them oftener, and ponder them better, how
there is nothing in this world, – which may seem to fall out by chance to you,
that you know not how it is to come to pass, and can see no cause nor reason of
it, – but it falls out by the holy will of our blessed Father. Be it of greater
or less moment, – or be it a hair of thy head fallen, or thy head cut off, –
the most dependent and contingent thing, – though it surprised the whole world
of men and angels, that they should wonder from whence it did proceed, – it is
no surprise to him, for he not only knew it, but appointed it. The most certain
and necessary thing, according to the course of nature, it hath no certainty
but from his appointment, who hath established such a course in the creatures,
and which he can suspend when he pleaseth. Be it the sin of men and devils,
which seems most opposite to his holiness, yet even that cannot appear in the
world of beings, if it were not, in a holy, righteous, and permissive way,
first conceived in the womb of his eternal counsel, and if it were not determined
by him, for holy and just ends, Acts 4:28.
The second thing
propounded is, that his mind and counsel is one; one and the same, ‘yesterday,
to-day, and for ever.’ Therefore the apostle speaks of God, that there is no
shadow of change or turning in him, James 1:17. He is not a man that he should
lie, neither the son of man that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he
not do it?’ Numb. 23:19. And shall he decree, and not execute it? Shall he
purpose, and not perform it? ‘I am the Lord, I change not;’ that is his name,
Mal. 3:6. ‘The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart
to all generations,’ Psal. 33:11. Men change their mind oftener than their
garments. Poor vain man, even in his best estate, is changeableness, and
vicissitude itself, altogether vanity! And this ariseth, partly from the
imperfection of his understanding, and his ignorance, because he does not
understand what may fall out. There are many things secret and hidden, which if
he discovered, he would not be of that judgment; and many things may fall out
which may give ground of another resolution: and partly from the weakness and
perverseness of his will, that cannot be constant in any good thing, and is not
so closely united to it, as that no fear or terror can separate from it. But
there is no such imperfection in him, neither ignorance nor weakness. ‘All
things are naked’ before him; all their natures, their circumstances, all
events, all emergencies, known to him are they, and ‘all his works from the
beginning,’ as perfectly as in the end. And therefore he may come to a fixed
resolution from all eternity; and being resolved, he can see no reason of
change, because there can nothing appear after, which he did not perfectly
discover from the beginning. Therefore, whenever ye read in the Scripture of
the Lord’s repenting – as Gen. 6:7. Jer. 18:8. – ye should remember that the
Lord speaks in our terms, and, like nurses with their children, uses our own
dialect, to point out to us our great ignorance of his majesty, that cannot
conceive more honourably of him, nor more distinctly of ourselves. When he
changeth all things about him, he is not changed, for all these changes were at
once in his mind; but when he changeth his outward dispensations, he is said to
repent of what he is doing, because we do not usually change our manner of
dealing, without some conceived grief, or repentance and change of mind. When a
man goes to build a house, he hath no mind but that it should continue so. He
hath not the least thought of taking it down again; but afterwards it becomes
ruinous, and his estate enlarges, and then he takes a new resolution, to cast
it down to the ground and build a better. Thus it is with man; according as he
varies his work, he changes his mind. But it is not so with God. All these
changes of his works, – all the successions of times, the variation of
dealings, the alteration of dispensations in all ages, – were at once in his
mind, and all before him; so that he never goes to build a house but he hath in
his own mind already determined all the changes it shall be subject to. When he
sets up a throne in a nation, it is in his mind within such a period to cast it
down again; when he lifts up men in success and prosperity, he doth not again
change his mind when he throws them down, for that was in his mind also; so
that there is no surprise of him by any unexpected emergence. Poor man hath
many consultations ere he come to a conclusion; but it is not thus with his
counsel. Of all those strange and new things which fall out in our days, he
hath one thought of them all from eternity. ‘He is in one mind,’ and none of
all these things have put him off his eternal mind or put him to a new
advisement about his great projects. Not only doth he not change his mind, but
his mind and thought is one of all, and concerning all. Our poor, narrow, and
limited minds, must part their thoughts among many Businesses, – one thought
for this, another for that, and one after another. But with him there is
neither succession of counsels and purposes, nor yet plurality; but, as with
one opening of his eye, he beholds all things as they are, so with one
inclination, or nod of his will, he hath given a law, and appointed all things.[2]
If we can at one instant, and one look, see both light and colours, and both
the glass and the shadow in it, and with one motion of our wills move towards
the end and the means; O, how much more may he, with one simple undivided act
of his good will and pleasure, pass a determination on all things, in their
times, and orders, and in his own infinite and glorious Being perceive them all
with one look! How much consolation might redound from this to believing souls!
Hath the Lord appointed you to suffer persecution and tribulation here? Hath he
carved out such a lot unto you in this life? Then withal consider, that his
majesty hath eternal glory wrapt up in the same counsel from which thy
afflictions proceed. Hath he made thy soul to melt before him? Hath he
convinced thee, and made thee to flee unto the city for refuge, and expect
salvation from no other but himself? Then know, that life eternal is in the
bosom of that same purpose which gave thee to believe this; though the one be
born before the other, yet the decree shall certainly bring forth the other.
And for such souls as upon this vain presumption of the infallibility of God’s
purposes, think it needless to give diligence in religion, know, that it is one
mind and purpose that hath linked the end and the means together as a chain;
and therefore, if thou expectest to be saved, according to election, thou must,
according to the same counsel, make thy calling home from sin to God sure.
Thirdly, What thing
soever he hath purposed, he in due time applies to the performance of it, and
then the counsel of his will becomes the works of his hands, and there is an
admirable harmony and exact agreement between these two. All things come out of
the womb of his eternal decree, by the word of his power, even just fashioned
and framed, as their lineaments and draughts were proportioned in the decree,
nothing failing, nothing wanting, nothing exceeding. There is nothing in the
idea of his mind but it is expressed in the work of his hands. There are no
under-cooked half-wishes in God. Men have such imperfect desires, – I would
have, or do, such a thing if it were not, &c. He wavers not thus in
suspense; but what he wills and desires, he wills and desires indeed. He
intends, doubtless, it shall be, and what he intends he will execute and bring
to pass; therefore his will in due time applies almighty power to fulfil the
desire of it; and almighty power being put to work by his will, it cannot but
work all things ‘according to the counsel of his will;’ and whatsoever his soul
desireth, that he cannot but do, even as he desires, seeing he can do it. If he
will do it, and can do it, what hinders him to work and do? Know then that his
commands and precepts to you signifying what is your duty, they do not so much
signify what he desires, or intends to work, or have done, as his approbation
of such a thing in itself to be your duty; and therefore though he have
revealed his will concerning our duty, though no obedience follow, yet is not
his intention frustrated or disappointed; for his commands to you say not what
is his intention about it, but what is that which he approves as good, and a
duty obliging men. But whatsoever thing he purposes and intends should be,
certainly he will do it, and make it to be done. If it be a work of his own
power alone, himself will do it alone. If he require the concurrence of
creatures to it, – as in all the works of providence, – then he will
effectually apply the creatures to his work, and not wait in suspense on their
determination. If he have appointed such an end to be attained by such means, –
if he have a work to do by such instruments, – then, without all doubt, he will
apply the instruments when his time comes, and will not wait on their
concurrence. You see now strange things done, you wonder at them: how we are
brought down from our excellency, – how our land is laid desolate by strangers,
– how many instruments of the Lord’s work are laid aside, how he lifts up a rod
of indignation against us, and is like to overturn even the foundations of our
land,[3]
– all these were not in our mind before, but they were in his mind from
eternity, and therefore he is now working it. Believe then that there is not a
circumstance of all this business, not one point or jot of it, but is even as
it was framed and carved out of old. His present works are according to an
ancient pattern, which he carries in his mind. All the measures and degrees of
your affliction, – all the ounces and grain-weights of your cup, were all
weighed in the scales of his eternal counsel; the instruments, the time, the
manner, all that is in it. If he change instruments, that was in his mind; if
he change dispensations, that was in his mind also; and seeing ye know by the
scriptures that a blessed end is appointed for the godly, that all things work
for their good, that all is subservient to the church’s welfare; seeing, I say,
you know his purpose is such as the scripture speaks, then believe his
performance shall tie exact accordingly, nothing deficient; no joint, no sinew
in all his work of providence, no line in all his book and volume of the
creature, but it was written in that ancient book of his eternal counsel, and
first fashioned in that, Psal. 139:16.
Then, lastly, His
will is irresistible, his counsel shall stand; who can turn him from his
purpose, and who can hinder him from performance? Therefore he attains his end
in the highest and most superlative degree of certainty and infallibility.
Himself will not change his own purpose; for why should he do it? If he change
to the better, then it reflects on his wisdom; if he change to the worse, it reflects
both on his wisdom and goodness. Certainly he can see no cause why he should
change it. But as himself cannot change, so none can hinder his performance;
for what power, think you, shall it be, that may attempt that? Is it the power
of men, of strong men, of high men, of any men? No sure! For their breath is in
their nostrils, they have no power but as he breathes in them. If he keep in
his breath, as it were, they perish. All nations are as nothing before him, and
what power hath nothing? Is it devils may do it? No; for they cannot, though
they would; he chains them, he limits them. Is it good angels? They are
powerful indeed, but they neither can nor will resist his will. Let it be the
whole university of the creation, – suppose all their scattered force and
virtue conjoined in one, – yet it is all but finite, it amounts to no more, if
you would eternally add unto it; but all victory and resistance of this kind
must be by a superior power, or at least by an equal. Therefore we may conclude
that there is no impediment or let, that can be put in his way, nothing can
obstruct his purpose; if all the world should conspire as one man to obstruct
the performance of any of his promises and purposes, they do but rage in vain.
Like dogs barking at the moon, they shall be so far from attaining their
purpose, that his majesty shall disabuse them, so to speak, to his own purpose.
He shall apply them quite contrary to their own mind, to work out the counsel
of his mind. Here is the absolute King, only worth the name of a King and Lord,
whom all things in heaven and earth obey at the first nod and beckoning to
them! Hills, seas, mountains, rivers, sun and moon, and clouds, men and beasts,
angels and devils, – all of them are acted, moved, and inclined according to his
pleasure; all of them are about his work indeed, as the result of all in the
end shall make it appear, and are servants at his command, going where he bids
go, and coming where he bids come, led by an invisible hand, though in the
meantime they know it not, but think they are about their own business, and
applaud themselves for a time in it. Ducunt
volentem fata, nolentem trahunt.[4]
Godly men who know his will and love it, are led by it willingly, for they
yield themselves up to his disposal; but wicked men, who have contrary wills of
their own, can gain no more by resisting, but to be drawn along with it.
Now to what purpose
is all this spoken of God’s decrees and purposes, which he hath called a secret
belonging to himself? If his works and judgments be a great depth, and
unsearchable, sure his decrees are far more unsearchable; for it is the secret
and hidden purpose of God, which is the very depth of his way and judgment. But
to what purpose is it all? I say, not to inquire curiously into the particulars
of them, but to profit by them. The Scripture holds out to us the
unchangeableness, freedom, extent, holiness, and wisdom of them, for our
advantage; and if this advantage be not reaped, we know them in vain. Not to
burden your memory with many particulars, we should labour to draw forth both
instruction and consolation out of them. Instruction, I say, in two things
especially, – to submit with reverence and respect to his majesty in all his
works and ways, and to trust in him who knows all his works, and will not
change his mind.
There is nothing
wherein I know Christians more deficient than in this point of submission,
which I take to be one of the chiefest and sweetest, though hardest duties of a
Christian. It is hardly to be found among men, – a thorough compliance of the
soul to what his soul desires, a real subjection of our spirits to his
good-will and pleasure. There is nothing so much blessed in scripture as
waiting on him, as yielding to him to be disposed upon, – ‘Blessed are all they
that wait on him.’ Pride is the greatest opposite, and he opposes himself most
to that, for it is in its own nature most derogatory to the highness and
majesty of God, which is his very glory. Therefore submission is most
acceptable to him, when the soul yields itself and its will to him. He
condescends far more to it; he cannot be an enemy to such a soul. Submission to
his majesty’s pleasure, is the very bowing down of the soul willingly to any
thing he does or commands, – whatever yoke he puts on, of duty or suffering, to
take it on willingly, without answering again, which is the great sin condemned
in servants; to put the mouth in the dust, and to keep silence, because he doth
it – ‘I was dumb, I opened not my mouth, because thou didst it.’ There is submission indeed, – silence of
mind and mouth, – a restraint put upon the spirit to think nothing grudgingly
of him for any thing he doth. It is certainly the greatest fault of Christians,
and ground of many more, that ye do not look to God, but to creatures in any
thing that befalls you; therefore there are so frequent risings of spirits
against his yoke, frequent spurnings against it, as Ephraim, unaccustomed with
the yoke. So do ye; and this it is only makes it heavy and troublesome. If
there were no more reason for it but your own gain, it is the only way to peace
and quietness. Durum: sed levius fit
patientia, quicquid corrigere est nefas.[5]
Your impatience cannot help you, but hurt you, it is the very yoke of your
yoke; but quiet and silent stooping makes it easy in itself, and brings in more
help beside, even divine help. Learn this, I beseech you, to get your own wills
abandoned, and your spirits subdued to God, both in the point of duty and
dispensation. If duties commanded cross thy spirit – as certainly the reality and
exercise of godliness must be unpleasant to any nature – know what thou art
called to, to quiet thy own will to him, to give up thyself to his pleasure
singly, without so much respect to thy own pleasure or gain. Learn to obey him
simply because he commands, though no profit redound to thee; and by this means
thou shalt in due time have more sweet peace and real gain, though thou
intendedst it not. And in case any dispensation cross thy mind, let not thy
mind rise up against it. Do not fall out with Providence, but commit thy way
wholly to him, and let him do what he pleases in that. Be thou minding thy
duty. Be not anxious in that, but be diligent in this, and thou shalt be the
only gainer by it; besides, the honour redounds to him.
Then I would exhort you,
from this ground, to trust in him. Seeing he alone is the absolute Sovereign
Lord of all things, – seeing he has passed a determination upon all things, and
accordingly they must be, – and seeing none can turn him from his way, – O
then, Christians, learn to commit yourselves to him in all things, both for
this life and the life to come! Why are ye so vain and foolish as to depend and
hang upon poor, vain, depending creatures? Why do ye not forsake yourselves?
Why do ye not forsake all other things as empty shadows? Are not all created
powers, habits, gifts, graces, strength, riches, &c. like the idols in
comparison of him, who can neither do good, neither can they do ill? Cursed is
he ‘that trusteth in man,’ Jer. 17:5. There needs no other curse than the very
disappointment you shall meet withal. Consider, I beseech you, that our God can
do all things, whatever he pleases, in heaven and earth, and that none can
obstruct his pleasure. Blessed is that soul for whom the counsel of his will is
engaged. And it is engaged for all that trust in him. He can accomplish his
good pleasure in thy behalf, either without or against means; all impediments
and thorns set in his way, he can burn them up. You who are heirs of the
promises, O know your privilege! What his soul desireth, he doth even that; and
what he hath seriously promised to you, he desires. If you ask, who are heirs
of the promises? I would answer, simply those and those only, who do own them
and challenge them, and cling to them for their life and salvation; those who
seek the inheritance only by the promise, and whose soul desires them and
embraces them. O if you would observe how unlike ye are to God! Ye change
often, ye turn often out of the way; but that were not so ill if ye did not
imagine him to be like yourselves, and it is unbelief which makes him like to
yourselves, – when your frame and tender disposition changes, – when presence
and access to God is removed. That is wrong, it speaks out a mortal creature
indeed; but if it be so, O do no more wrong! Do not, by your suspicions and
jealousies, and questionings of him, imagine that he is like unto you, and
changed also. That is a double wrong and dishonour to his majesty. Hath he not
said, ‘I am the Lord, and change not.’ ‘He is in one mind, who can turn him?’
How comes it then, that ye doubt of his love as oft as ye change? When ye are
in a good temper, ye think he loves you: when it is not so, ye cannot believe
but he is angry, and hates you. Is not this to speak quite contrary to the
word; that he is a God that changes, – that he is not in one mind, but now in
one, and then in another, as oft as the inconstant wind of a soul’s
self-pleasing humour turns about? Here is your rest and confidence, if you will
be established, not within yourselves, – not upon marks and signs within you,
which ebb and flow as the sea, and change as the moon, – but, upon his
unchangeable nature and faithful promises. This we desire to hold out to you
all, as one ground for all. You would every one have some particular ground in
your own disposition and condition, and think it general doctrine only which
layeth it not home so; but believe it, I know no ground of real
soul-establishment, but general truths and principles common to you all; and
our business is not to lay any other foundation, – or more foundations,
according to your different conditions, – but to lay this one foundation,
Christ and God unchangeable; and to exhort every one of you to make that
general foundation your own in particular, by leaning to it, and building upon
it, and clinging to it. All other are sandy and ruinous.
Let us now, in this
sad time, press consolation from this. The Lord’s hand is in all this. It is
immediate in every dispensation, and it is only carnal mindedness that cannot
see him stretching out his hand to every man, with his own portion of
affliction. Know this one thing, that God is in one mind; for all these many
ways and judgments, he is in one mind, – to gather the saints, to build up the
Church, the body of Christ. This is his end, – all other businesses are in by
the by, and subservient to this. Therefore he will change it as he pleases, but
his great purpose of good to his people all the world cannot hinder. Let us
then establish our souls in this consideration; all is clear above, albeit
cloudy below; all is calm in heaven, albeit tempestuous here upon earth. There
is no confusion, no disorder in his
mind. Though we think the world out of course, and that all things reel about
with confusion, he hath one mind in it, and who can turn him? And that mind is
good to them that trust in him; and therefore, who can turn away our good? Let
men consult and imagine what they please, – let them pass votes and decrees
what to do with his people, – yet it is all to no purpose, for there is a counsel
above, an older counsel, which must stand and take place in all generations. If
men’s conclusions be not according to the counsel of his will, they are but
imaginary dreams, like the fancies of a distracted person, who imagining
himself a king, sits down on the throne, and gives out decrees and ordinances.
May not he who sits in heaven laugh at the foolishness and madness of men who
act in all things as if they had no dependence on him, and go about their
business as if it were not contrived already? It is a ridiculous thing for men
to order their business, and settle their own conclusions, without once minding
One above them, who hath not only a negative, but an affirmative vote in all
things. It is true that God, in his deep wisdom, hath kept up his particular
purposes secret, that men may walk according to an appointed rule, and use all
means for compassing their intended ends; and therefore it is well said, Prudens futuri temporis exitum caliginosâ
nocte premit Deus (The All-Knowing God holds future events in his grasp as
they proceed out of the darkness of night).
But yet withal we should mind that of James, ‘if the Lord will,’ and go about
all things even the most probably, with submission to his will and pleasure.
And therefore, when men go without their bounds, either in fear or danger, or
joy conceived in successes, – ridetque,
si mortalis ultra fas trepidet (He will smile, who fears death more than
divine judgement), &c. – Excess of fear, excess of hope, excess of joy in
these outward things is, as it were, ridiculous to him, who hath all these
things appointed with him. To him be praise and glory.
[1][1] [That is,
"His will stands for reason." Juv. Sat. vi. ver. 222. — ED (Rev. M.
Leishman, Minister of the Parish of Govan).]
[2] [Mr. Binning was a Supralapsarian. In this and the two following Lectures, he treats of the "high mystery of predestination," the consideration of which, though it should be "handled with special prudence and care," (West. Conf. of Faith, ch. 3.) is nevertheless "full of sweet pleasant and unspeakable comfort to godly persons." Art. of Ch. of Eng. Art. xvii. His views of this mysterious doctrine are stated with singular clearness, and the objections to it, which he notices and answers, are brought forward with the utmost ingenuousness and candour, and expressed, it must be admitted, as strongly as a caviller could desire. — ED.]
[3] [The reader will remember that at this time the country was convulsed from one end of it to the other. — ED.]
[4] [That is, "Fate leads the willing, and drags the unwilling." — ED.]
[5] ['This was
the only consolation which one learned Roman could administer to another on the
death of a friend. "This is hard:" said he, "but what cannot be
remedied is more easily borne, with patience." Hor. Carm. lib. I. carm.
xxiv. — ED.]