In the words the man of God reasons ab efficiente ad effecium, a legislatore ad leges — from the i)roperty of God to the laws that he hath given us. God being essentially righteous and perfectly righteous, yea, righteousness itself, nothing contrary to justice can proceed from him ; no iniquity from equity itself, nor injustice from justice itself. God's law, all his dispensations that proceed from him, are as himself is. Therefore in the text you have two things : —
1 . What God is : Thou art righteous, 0 Lord.
2. What his word and works are : Upright are thy judgments. The word misphatim, judgments, implies both — both the rule and
his providential dispensations according to that rule. In God's word there is a judicial sentence concerning our thoughts, words, and works ; therefore his law is called judgments. It is the judgment of the great God concerning the actions of men, and then the effect thereof when his sentence takes place.
43S SERMONS UPON TSALM C'XIX. [SeR. GLIII.
The points are three : —
1. That God is a righteous God.
2. That tliis righteous and holy God hath given a rule of equity and justice to his creature.
3. That all the dispensations that proceed from him according to that rule nre all exactly righteous.
First, That God is a righteous God. Here I shall show —
1. AVhat is the righteousness of God.
2. Prove that God is righteous.
First, What it is. Amongst men there is a general and a particular justice. The general justice is that wherehy we carry ourselves con- formable to the rule of religion, 1 Peter ii. 24, called there living unto righteousness ; and the particular justice is that whereby we give every man his due : so it is taken, Titus ii. 12, ' That we should live soberly, righteously, and godlily.' Godliness is that grace which inclines us to give God his portion, and sobriety is that grace which helps us to govern ourselves, and righteousness that grace whereby we give our neighbour his due.
1. Justice is sometimes put for the whole rectitude and perfection of the divine nature ; when God acts becoming such a pure, holy, and infinite being ; and so God cannot do anything that is against the perfection of his nature ; he cannot deny himself, 2 Tim. ii. ] 3. He will not give his glory to another, Isa. xlii. 8. He cannot be indif- ferent to good and evil ; he will not damn and punish an innocent creature ; there is a condescency in all his actions to the perfection of his nature.
2. There is a particular justice with respect to his dealings with the creature, especially man. And before I come to open that, I must tell you that God must be considered under a twofold relation — (1.) As absolute Lord ; (2.) As governor and judge of the world.
[1.] As absolute Lord ; and so his justice is nothing but the absolute and free motion of his own will concerning the estate of all creatures. In this respect God is wholly arbitrary, and hath no other rule but his own will ; he doth not will things because they are just, but therefore they are just because God wills them. For —
(L) He hath a right of making and framing anything as he willeth in any manner as it pleaseth him, as a potter hath power over his clay to form what vessel he pleaseth, either of honour or dishonour, Rom. ix. 21 ; and Jer. xviii. 6, ' As the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, 0 house of Israel.' He hath not only might and power, but full right to dispose of the creature according to his own pleasure. As he sustaineth the person of a Lord, he doth what is agreeable to his free and sovereign will. As the good man of the house pleaded. Mat. xx. 15, ' Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own ? ' so God as absolute lord and sovereign may do as he pleaseth. Nothing before it had a being had a right to dispose of itself. Neither did God make it what it was by the necessity of nature, nor by the command, counsel, or will of any superior, or the direc- tion of any coadjutor ; neither is there any to whom he should render an account of his work, but merely produceth things by the act of his
VeR. 137.] SERMONS UPON TSALM CXIX. 439
own will, as absolute and sovereign Lord of all his own actions : ' He works all things according to the counsel of his own will/ Eph. i. 11 ; and Eev, iv. 11, ' Thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.' As his wisdom saw fit, so he hath placed creatures in several ranks of being. The fisji cannot complain that it was made without feet or hands, nor the ass that it was made for burden, that it is not fierce and mettlesome as the horse, which was made for battle. And we men, -whatever was given us by creation, it was not a matter of right, but the mere effect of God's good-will and pleasure. He might have made us stocks and stones, and not living creatures; and among living creatures plants only, with the life of vegetation and growth. Or if he had given us a sensitive life, he might have placed us in the lowest rank ; he might have made us toads and vipers, or horse and mule, without understanding, and not men. And among men, all the blessings and privileges to which we were born might have been withheld without any injustice.