The First Attribute of God

First then, we will take this out of the text, I AM has sent me to you;

That God is perfect; he has all the kinds, degrees, and extents of being in him. There be diverse kinds of being in the world; some have more, some less; some have a more excellent being, some have a less excellent; some have a larger being, some a lesser, and yet all are in him; and this is his perfection. Imperfection is a want of some being; perfection is to have all the degrees of being, that belong to a thing in his kind, but all this is in God.

Now God is said to be perfect:

Because he being before any thing was; and therefore, he must needs be full, without them, and whatever they have, they receive it from him. You shall see this in (Acts 17:25) — Neither is he worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he gives to all life and breath, and all things. He proves there, that God is perfect; because he needs nothing, seeing he gives to all life, and breath, and all things. That which is said of man, may be said of every thing else; What have you, that you have not received? Therefore, he that gives it, must needs be full of it. It is said that he made man after his own image; and so he makes every thing else, he is the life of them all. Now the sampler and the life has more in it, than the image; and therefore the life, and first original; the reality, and first beginning must needs be perfect in himself.

There is none that can set limits to God, that can set landmarks or bounds to his entity or being. Every creature has his several bounds and limits, thus far shall they go, and no further; but who has set bounds to him? When he had set forth his essence in (Isaiah 40), he adds, To whom will you liken God? or what likeness will you compare to him?

There be these differences between the perfection that is in God, and that which is in any creature:

All creatures have perfection within their own kind only, and in such a degree; but he is simply and absolutely perfect, without all respect, without all comparison, he is a mighty sea of being, without bank and bottom; therefore his being is absolute.

They have all some imperfection mingled with it; as, take all the creatures, the Angels; take all the Saints, when they are in the highest top, and full of all their blessedness, yet they have some imperfection, as Job says; he has charged you with folly.

Object. But you will say; they are perfect in their kind, how then are they imperfect?

Answ. They have a negative imperfection, though not a privative; they are not deprived of that which should be in them; yet there is a negative imperfection, that is, there be many perfections, which they have not; it cannot be said of any creature, as (1 John 1) — That in it there is light, and there is no darkness at all: Of him only can it be said, there is no creature so perfect, but it has some imperfection.

The creature though it be perfect, yet it is capable of sin and misery, and it is in possibility to lose that perfection it is in; but God is not in possibility to lose that perfection he has, neither can he be capable of sin.

Take the best, and most exquisite creatures, the Angels; their perfection is made up by some things, that are no substances, by circumstances, which are not substances, which may be separated, (though they are not;) there is something in them which is better, something which is worse; a substance and an accident, and every accident is separable, it may be lost; you see the evil Angels, they fell, they lost that they had: but God is a perfect substance, wholly substance; there is nothing in him, by reason of which it may be said, there is something in him that is best, something that is worse.

Though they have perfection, yet they have always need of something; now God has need of nothing. The creatures, though full of perfection in their kind, yet still they have exceeding great need of something. As you say of a river, you will say it has need, though it be full, it has need of the fountain to maintain it; so may I say of the creatures, though they be full of perfection in their kind, yet they have need of that fountain, from where their perfection comes, which if it be stopped, they will come to nothing.

Thus God is infinitely perfect and immense, having no limits: For all limits are either from the matter or from the form; the form is limited, because it wants matter to carry it to a further extent; and the matter is limited, because it is bounded with such a form; but in God there is neither matter nor form; as there is nothing without him, so there is nothing within him to bound that largeness of being which he has.

But now to apply this:

Use 1. If God be thus full of being, as the sea is full of water, and a thousand times fuller, then all that you can do reaches not to him (Psalm 16:4). It extends not to him; the sins that you commit hurt him not; all the righteousness you perform does not pleasure or benefit him. And if it be so, then consider what little cause you have to murmur against him at any time, upon any occasion. For all discontentment among the creatures comes from this, that their expectation is not satisfied; and what is the reason why it is not satisfied, but because they think that there is some reason why they should be respected. Therefore examine your own hearts, whether there be not a secret popery in your hearts, that you think that you can do something that reaches to God, that he should respect you for. But if God be thus full, you can do nothing that can reach to him. But you shall see how prone men are to this; are we not ready to say: Why am I not in so great a place as another? Why have not I more gifts? Why have I not greater employments? Why have I such imperfections? Why am I thus subject to diseases and crosses? From where comes this? Because we expect something; because we think we are not well dealt with; and why do we think so? Because men think that there is something in them why they should be looked after; they think that they have carried themselves so that there is something in justice due to them. But if you can say with David, and Job, and Christ, when he says to his disciples: When you have done all that you can, say that you are unprofitable servants. What if God will not have David to build a temple, but his son must do it? Or Moses to lead the children of Israel into the land of Canaan, but Joshua must have the glory of it? They must be content; yet they did more for God than ever you can do; therefore you must labor to be content also. The creature does but take of him whatever it has, and therefore it can give nothing to him; and shall the river be beholden to him that drinks of it, because he comes and quenches his thirst? Or shall the Sun be beholden to him that has the use of his light? When you have done all that you can, say you are an unprofitable servant, you can do nothing that reaches to God; therefore labor to be vile, and low in your own eyes, and willing to be disposed of as it pleases him.

Again, if this be so, then consider the freeness of his grace in all the goodness which he bestows, for to have done anything for a man beforehand does lessen the benefit bestowed. Now consider that you have done nothing to the Lord; therefore labor to magnify the Lord, that has bestowed it upon you. For this cause the Lord will have justification by faith, and not by works, that he might be magnified. And so he will have sanctification, not by the power of the free will, but by the infused grace of his Spirit, that no flesh might boast. It is the Lord that is full, it is he that gives it to you, you can do nothing to him (Romans 11:35-36): Who has first given to him, and it shall be recompensed him again; for of him, and through him, and to him, are all things, etc. As if he should say, the Lord out of his free grace had shown mercy to the Jews (for of them he there speaks); they were wet, like Gideon's fleece, when all the world was dry. Afterwards it pleased him to bedew the Gentiles, when the Israelites were dry. Well, he has done this, says Paul, and what have you to say to him? Did he do any wrong? Is he not free? May he not do what he will? This is one use. Another is, that you should be content with his disposing; he owes nothing to any; for of him, and through him, and for him are all things; to him be glory forever; Amen. Use 3.

If he be thus full, that the creature does nothing to merit at his hand, then you may go to God, though you have no worth in you; though you have done little service to God, yet go to him, and say: Lord, I have done nothing; if I had done much, yet it would not reach to you; you are full of perfection, and blessed forever. Therefore a man may go to him with great faith, and ask great things of him, though he be little worth, and has done little service for him. For, if you did God any good, you might go to him, and say: I have done this and that for you, therefore recompense me. But seeing it is not so, therefore labor to go to God in faith, and when you go, think to yourself: Why may I not have it as well as another? Do not say, I am not so holy, and I cannot do as Paul and Moses; their works did nothing to him. Think to yourself that when he first chooses a man, he does it freely; and do you think that he is not the same afterwards? Therefore, now you may go to him on this ground with boldness, because whatever you do it is nothing to him.

Use 4. Moreover, if the Lord be thus full in himself, then he has need of nothing. He therefore says to all the men in the world, and to all things: he says to princes, I have no need of you; to rich men, I have no need of you, or of your wealth; he says to scholars that have excellent parts, I have no need of you. Therefore say not, I am undone, or the churches are undone, because princes are not for you; because men help you not, for God can help them alone; he does not need princes. When there was none, says the Lord, I stirred up myself like a mighty giant. He needs no help, he is most perfect, full of being, able to do whatever he pleases.

Use 5. Again, consider with yourself, that if thousands upon thousands perish, it is nothing to him; he cares no more for the destruction of the whole world, than you do for the throwing away of a little dust; he is full of excellence and perfection; you see how often he sweeps away whole kingdoms with the besom of destruction — indeed, he swept away the whole world by the Flood, as you do sweep a little dust out of your houses. Therefore do not dispute with God, and ask, why are so many damned? Why are so many swept away? Think with yourself, that he, that was before all things were, will be when they are gone: therefore learn with Paul, to reverence his judgments, to fear and tremble before him. He is full of being, and though you perish, what is that to him? Will you dispute with God? You are but a particle of dust. What are you that contend with him? Let the potsherd strive with potsherds of the earth, but not with God. Shall the clay say to him that fashions it, what do you make?

Use 6. Again, if God be thus full, then consider why he has laid such a commandment on you, to do such and such things. Is it for himself? No, for your righteousness, your keeping of his Law reaches not to him. What is it for, then? Surely it is for yourself, and for your good. If for you he has commanded, and every commandment is for your wealth, then consider what reason you have to walk in his ways; he says, as kind parents to their children, when they exhort them to good courses, it will be for your own good; and if you do it not, it will be for your hurt: as it is said of the Sabbath, It was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath; that is, God appointed the Sabbath for man's advantage, he would be undone else; he would grow wild, and forget God. And as it is said of the Sabbath, so it is true of every Commandment; therefore that is put to every Commandment: The Commandment, which I command you for your wealth (Isaiah 36:17) — that is, whenever I command you anything, it is not for my own sake, not that I might be served and worshipped (though that is joined with it) but it is for your profit, whatever I command. This then should stir us up to go about holy duties willingly, after another manner than we do. No man will serve himself unwillingly (though, it may be, he will other men). Now, all the Commandments of God do tend to our own advantage: for to that end has he appointed them. Keep the Commandments and live in them: you live in them, as fire does by wood, and the creatures by their food. If a man did consider this, he would do this in another manner; we go about our own business with intention, because it is our own; so if we were persuaded, that what God did command, it were for our own good, you would do it in all diligence; you would not only go, but run the ways of his Commandments; you would not only take heaven, but you would take [illegible] with violence, and with all your might and strength, you would do whatever he commands, for it is for your own profit, and not for his.

Use 7. If God be thus full, then you should give him the praise of his perfection, and stay your thoughts upon him. It is a thing that we come short of, for the most part, for we are ready to ask, what is God to us? What profit, what good is it to us? (For that is the base nature of ours;) but grace teaches us otherwise, we must learn to know God, to honor and magnify him in our thoughts for himself. Some men have a greater knowledge of God, some less; he that has more, he is able to set him up higher in his apprehension, and to give him the more praise (Psalm 68:1). Exalt him in his name JAH, that is, consider that he alone is full of being, and gives being to all things; therefore (says he) praise him, and extol him for this, and let your thoughts be upon him.

Question: But must it be a bare and empty thought of him only?

Answer: No, you shall know it by these four things, if you think rightly of God indeed:

You will esteem his enmity and friendship above all things; you will not regard the creatures at all; either in the good, or hurt that they can do you: if you can see the fullness of being that is in him, and the emptiness that is in every creature; then, if he be your friend, he is all in all to you; and if he be your enemy, you will consider that he that is full of all strength, and power, and being, that he is your enemy, and that his enmity is heavy, for he who is, is against you. If the creature be set against you, it is but as a little clay or dust, they cannot hurt you, unless his arm goes along with it; and then it is not that creature, but his arm that does it. As when they came to take Christ, it is said, he passed through the midst of them; they were to him as a little dust, and as the army that came against David, Joshua, and Elisha, they were to them as a little water; but when God comes against a man, then every little thing, if he pleases to extend and join his power, he is able therewith to quell the strongest man. Then, one man shall chase a thousand, and a thousand shall put ten thousand to flight (Deuteronomy 28). He is as a mighty river, that carries all before it (Nahum 1). Therefore regard the enmity of the creature as small things; his enmity alone is to be respected.

If you think of him thus, then you will be satisfied with him; for you have him that is, and you lack only the thing that is not; and therefore you must say, when you have lost anything, I have lost that which is nothing; when you have gained anything, say, that you have gotten that which is nothing: it is a hard thing to say so, but yet it is so. As it is said of riches in (Proverbs 23:5), so it is true of honor, pleasure, profit, etc. Indeed riches to men are their substance, so they call them, but to God they are nothing; and so he calls them: riches, honor, etc. they have but a little diminutive being, as if they were nothing. And they are nothing in two respects: first, in comparison of God, they are nothing; second, because they are able to do nothing.

So other comparisons argue, as that they are flowers, and false treasures, and shadows: now does any man grieve, if his shadow does disappear; or that he has lost a flower. Therefore learn to magnify God, for he is all; you lack nothing, if you have him; he is all in heaven, and why should he not be so here? Because when Peter said they had left all; Christ tells them they should have a hundredfold, and why? Because they had a full communion with God; and therefore, they had all the comfort that friends or lands could afford; he was in stead of all to them, as Paul, when he was in prison, was not God all to him? And what need had he of riches, or lands, or friends? For friends are but to comfort a man; and money, it can do no more than man can do; and praise, and honor do but knit men's hearts to us; now, if we have the light of God's countenance, we need not man's help; if God will put forth his power for us, what need we anything else? If he will heal us, what needs the physician? If he will clothe us, and give us meat and drink, then what needs wealth? Therefore labor to be satisfied with him, to prize and esteem him, and to think him to be all in all.