(2.) He hath a right of using and disposing of them so made accord- ing to his own pleasure, to aj)point them to be high or low, miserable .a,nd afflicted, or prosperous and happy, as it shall be for his glory : Eom. xi. 36, * All things are of him, and from him, and to him, to whom be glory.' As God made the creatures for himself, so he governs them ultimately, terminatively for himself. There is no cause of mur- muring and repining when he will use us as he pleaseth for his own glory, Isa. xlv. 9, 10. We cannot say, Why doest thou thus? It is enough to silence all tempests in our souls, God did it : Ps. xxxix. 9, ' I was dumb, I opened not my mouth, because thou didst it.' Now this is true in the dispensations of grace as well as in the blessings of this life. To some God gives grace, to others not ; some are elected to mercy, others left to perish in their own sins ; one is taken, and another left. Mat. xxiv. 40, 41. There were two thieves upon the cross together with Christ ; God saves the one, passes by the other. He may do with his own as he pleaseth. He being sovereign is obliged by no debt of law, or the command of any superior power ; and there- fore 'hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardenethj'Bom. ix. 18. Election is an act of sovereignty and domi- nion. God might have left all in misery, as he left the fallen angels ; none of them that sinned are recovered out of their misery ; and are we of a more noble consideration than the angels, than those spirits ? One of them could have done God more service than many men could do ; therefore, as he left all those angels in their sinful condition, so it is a mercy that, when he might have destroyed all mankind, he would save any. God could have given Judas a soft heart as well as Peter, but he does not. He will be master of his own gifts. Only this clears his justice : none are denied grace, but those that deserve it should be so ; none by God are compelled to sin, none are punished without sin ; but in all his gifts, and in what he doth as supreme Lord, his will is liis reason.
[2.] God may be considered as governor and judge, and so he gave a law to the creatures ; and his governing justice consists in giving all their due according to his law. This is to be distinguished from the former ; for God, tliat is arbitrary in his gifts, is not arbitrary in his
440 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SeR. CLIIL
judgments. Observe that he is arbitrary in his gifts ; lie hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, but in his judgments he proceedeth with men according to their works, according to a law or outward rule. Of this governing justice the scripture often speaks : Deut. xxxii. 4, ' He is a righteous God, and all his ways are judgment.' So Ps. vii. 9, ' He will judge the world in righteousness, and will minister judgment to the peo})le.' Now this governing justice of God is twofold — either legislative or judicial.
(1.) God's legislative justice. This determines man's duty, and binds him to the performance thereof, and also decrees and sets down the rewards and punishments that shall be due upon man's obedience or disobedience. God made man rational, or a voluntary agent, cap- able of good and evil, with desires of the good and fears of the evil ; and therefore God, as universal king, that he might rule him according to his nature, hath made for him a law that revealeth good and evil, with promises to move him by desire and hope of the good, and with threatenings to drive him by a necessary fear of the evil. So Deut. xxx. 15, ' See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil.' It is true of the law of Moses, and it is true of the gosj)el of Christ Jesus ; he deals with us this way (that I may not make a distinction between the law and the gospel). What is the law of the gospel? Mark xvi. 16, 'He that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved ; but he that believeth not shall be damned.' Now this law is the rule of man's duty and God's dealings with all those that have received it.
(2.) There is his judicial justice, called also distributive ; and this is that whereby he renders imto men according to their works, whether they do good or evil, without any respect to persons : 1 Peter i. 17, ' Without respect of persons, he judgeth according to every man's work.' The persons that may be respected in judgment is some ex- ternal thing, that hath no affinity with the cause in hand. Now when God comes to judge of the breach of his law, or the keeping of his law, he hath no respect of persons, high or low, rich or poor, professing or not professing Christianity ; he deals with them as they have walked according to his law. His judicial or distributive justice is declared at large by the apostle, Eom. ii. 5-9. There God's executing judg- ment according to his law is described, and you find it twofold — remunerative or vindictive.