2. The next distinction; there is a threefold relation in God; he
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may be considered — (1.) As an absolute lord ; (2.) As a law-giver ; and, (3.) As a judge.
[1.] As an absolute lord, that hath grace at his own disposal: Mat. XX. 15, ' Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with my own ? ' He may give it as he will, and withhold it as he will. Now the pleasure of God as a supreme lord is his efficacious resolved will, and respecteth events what shall be rather than Avhat should be ; and so God willeth not the salvation of all ; that is to say, doth not all that he can to procure it.
[2.] As a lawgiver ; and so he declareth his pleasure, that is, his liking and disliking of things, by the laws he maketh, and the sanctions annexed thereunto. So he hath showed us what is good and pleasing in his sight ; innocence in the first covenant, and repentance in the second, and hath annexed to both the promise of life. This is the pri- mary intention of the law, the obedience and happiness of the creatures ; but in case of refusal he hath threatened death. Now that which the lawgiver first and principally aimed at is the obedience of his laws. He doth not desire that men should incur the penalty ; that is only to bind the laws that he hath made for the common good. Other things he willeth and purposeth, but not principally : Deut. x. 12-15, ' And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to love him, and serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and all thy soul ; to keep the com- mandments of the Lord, and his statutes which I command thee for thy good ? Behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens is the Lord thy God's, the earth also with all that therein is ; only the Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people as it is this day.'
[3.] As a judge that is to pass sentence according to the law so made. The relation of a judge in the exercise of that office hath respect to the law kept or broken, and accordingly he resolveth on rewards and punishments ; and in this sense we may say that he taketh pleasure in the death of the wicked. He rejoiceth and is comforted, in the places alleged before ; that is, he hath decreed to punish the impenitent, and they are sure to sufier his vengeance ; yet his end is not properly the destruction of the creature, but the manifestation of his justice. So the apostle telleth us God raised up Pharaoh that his glory might be manifested upon him : Eom. ix. 17, ' For the scripture saitli unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power, and that my .name might be declared through- out all the earth.' I say, he doth not simply rejoice in the destruction of the creature, but the discovery of his own justice and glory in their destruction. The sum of all is this, though he doth not all that he can do, as an absolute lord and disposer of grace, yet he doth all that belongeth to him to do as a lawgiver ; and that not only in the first covenant, when he gave us an holy and innocent nature, and made a righteous law established by promises and threatenings, and adds penalties and rewards, but much more in the new covenant, when he did that for us which he was not bound to do, namely, in that he did provide us a saviour, and open a door of hope for us, and warn us of our danger, and called us to repent and believe in Christ, even every creature : Mark xvi. 16, ' He that believeth shall be saved, but he that
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believetli not shall be damned,' with a promise of pardon, life, and salvation, which he will surely make good out of his abundant mercy. And on the other side, threateueth death and damnation on those that unthankfully reject his offer and continue in their sins ; yea, he mani- festeth the more grace and goodwill to our salvation, and that he is more ready to pardon than to punish, in that he waiteth so long on the sinner's choice : Eom. ix. 22, ' What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath filled to destruction ? ' He tarries the sinner's leisure till the day of patience be quite spent ere he executeth this threatening of the new covenant ; and offereth men all this while many helps and advantages, enticing them by his mercies, awing them by his judg- ments, persuading them by his word, drawing them by his Spirit, knocking at the door of their hearts by the serious impressions of his grace, and awakening them by the stings and checks of their own con- sciences ; all which are so many signs and evidences that he taketh no pleasure in the death of sinners, as the prejudiced world thinketh, but doth all that becometh him to do, as a prudent and gracious lawgiver (though not all that he could do as an almighty God) and sovereign disposer of his grace ; and if he should do that, the world would never be put upon choice and trial, and obedience would be a matter of necessity and constraint, not of willing acceptation ; and men may as well quarrel at this as that he hath not made them all angels.