Gearing on meditating on the works of God

In his work on The Mount of holy meditation William Gearing (1625-1690) says

Chap. 8. Of the subject of Meditation. Sect. 1. Of meditation on the works of God.

I now proceed to discusse the subject-matter of meditation; and here I am launching into a great Ocean, but like the dogs of Nilus, I shall but lick and away.

The first subject of meditation is God's works of Creation; a fit matter for our serious meditations: I remember the dayes of old, saith David, I meditate on all thy works, I muse on the work of thy hands, Psal. 145.5. He looketh up to the Heavens, and considereth the work of God's fingers, meditating on all those works that were visible to the eye of man, Psal. 8.3 called elsewhere the work of his hands. Isa. 48.13. My hand hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the Heavens; it is for that they are of such excellency, as if they had been his handywork indeed, which yet were made by his word only, as Moses, and St John do declare, Gen. 1.6. Joh. 1.3. That great advancer of learning hath an excellent passage suitable hereunto. It is to be observed, saith he, that for any thing which appeareth in the History of the Crea∣tion, the confused masse and matter of Heaven and earth was made in a moment, and the order and disposition of that Chaos or mass was the work of six dayes; such a note of difference it pleased God to put upon the works of power, and the works of wisdome: wherewith concurreth, that in the former it is not set down that God said, Let there be Heaven and earth, as it is set down of the works following, but actually, that God made Heaven and earth, the one carrying the stile of a Manufaction, the other of a Law, Decree or Councell. It is not enough that we barely look on the works of God, but we must meditate upon them; for if we do no more than see them, the Oxe, the Bull, and the Horse, do as much as we. If we see nothing in the Heavens, saith a grave Divine, but that they are lightsome, and above our reach, the Horse and Mule see this as well as we; if we see nothing in the earth, but a place to walk in, or to take our rest upon it, the beasts and fouls see this as well as we; if we see nothing in our gorgeous apparell, but the pride of a goodly colour, the Peacock seeth that in his feathers; if in all our refreshment from the creatures we know nothing but the pleasure and sweetnesse of our sense, the Swine hath as great a share herein as we; if hear∣ing, seeing, smelling, tasting, feeling, be all the comfort we can find in the works of God, the dumb creatures have these senses more exquisite than we, and we have turned the hearts of men into the hearts of beasts, who with wisdome and reason can do nothing, and the words of the Prophet are fulfilled in us, Man being in honour understandeth not, and is like the beasts that perish, Psal. 49.20. therefore the sight of God's works must affect us more than so, else shall we be but as the beasts, and follow them.

Now you are to meditate how God brought forth all his works in the space of six dayes, before he finisht them; he did not create the world all at once, but took time for the Creation of it, to teach us to take speciall time duely and orderly to consider and meditate on the works of God: if he that could have made the Heavens and the earth, the Sun, Moon, and Stars, and all crea∣tures, in a moment; yet it pleased him to take time for the creating of them; this should teach us to select some space of time for the meditation of them: we must not think it enough to look up∣on them at one view, but to passe from part to part, from one creature to ano∣ther, and in every creature to admire the workmanship, power, wisdome and goodnesse of the Creatour, as we are taught, Psal. 92.4, 5. Thou Lord hast made me glad through thy works, and I will triumph in the works of thy hands: O Lord how great are thy works, and thy thoughts are very deep: a bruitish man knoweth not, neither doth a fool understand this; which Psalm as the Title tells us, was a meditation penned for the Sabbath day: therefore I say, God would spend six dayes about the Creation of the world, whereas he might have done it in an instant, and in a moment of time, to the end that we might the better meditate upon it from point to point, for which purpose he presently ordained the Sabbath: Thus Job 1:6 tells us, that we must not idly behold the work, but must magnifie the workman; Remember that thou magnifie his work which men behold; this we will do coming into the Shop of an excellent Artizan. The eternall power and Godhead is seen by the things that are made; but most of us have great cause to be ashamed, that we have spent so little time in meditating on the works of God; yea who can truly say, he hath spent so much time in meditating on God's works, as God spent in ma∣king them? How few are there that have set apart so much time ever since they were born, as (if it were all laid together) will make up six dayes one entire week? What a shame is it for man whom God made on purpose to view his works, and by them to glorifie him, not to spend so much time in meditating upon them, as God spent in making of them; therefore we have great cause to become more carefull and studious readers of this great Book of nature for time to come: There is a threefold Book into which a Christian is to make inspection,

The Book of nature, or of the creatures.

The Book of the Scriptures.

The Book of conscience.

The Book of the creatures hath a powerfull conviction; meditate upon it, and observe God's power, or thou art an Atheist.

The Book of the Scriptures hath a power of conversion; meditate on it, and learn the will of God out of it, so to serve him, or thou art an hypocrite.

The Book of conscience hath a pow∣er of accusation; meditate on it, or thou art an Infidel.

The Book of nature hath God spread wide open, and before us, that he that runs may read; Austin calls the world Gods Book in folio; every creature should be to us a page in this Book, and every part of a creature a line in this Book: How carefull should we be to take these things into our thoughts: our Saviour saith, Matth. 24.15. When ye shall see the abomination of desolation (spoken of by Daniel the Prophet) stand in the holy place, who so readeth, let him understand: So say I, let him that readeth in this great Book of nature, understand to what end these creatures were created, even to the end that we might view them, and in them glorifie the Creatour.

And seeing God hath not only acquainted us, in the grosse, what he did in generall, but hath condescended so far, as to tell us, what he did every day; what he did the first day, what he did the second day, &c. I dare boldly affirm, that it were very convenient and expedient every day to set apart some time on that day, to meditate on the works that were created on that day; it is as convenient a method, as any I can imagine, for it is following of God in the Creation this being considered, together with the dulnesse of our apprehensions, and how apt our thoughts are to turn aside to vain and unprofitable objects, the order will be found to be very necessary.

I shall give you a tast of such kinds meditations, from one of the dayes of the week, the first day of the week called the Lord's day: on this day set apart some time to meditate on the works that were on that day created first, the works of the evening, the works of the morning.

1. The works of the evening; as the creating that huge body of the Heavens: when we see that vast body, and how God stretcheth out the Heavens as a curtain; the greatnesse of the Heavens should teach us to meditate on the greatnesse of the infinite Jehovah: if the Heavens do so far exceed our thoughts, how great then is he whom the Heaven of Heavens are not able to contain: if the earth be so glorious (as it is in the spring time) how unspeakably glorious are the Heavens which far exceed the earth; and here we may admire his greatnesse, who was able to set up such a rich canopy and covering over the earth; and here also let us meditate on the unspeakable goodnesse of God to man, that he hath made for man not only a rich dwelling here below, but also provideth for him a dwelling place in the Heavens, there to sit down with him in his Throne, Rev. 3.20. That man that is but dust and ashes, a lump of earth here below, should be exalted to the highest place of the Creation: this should check us or our folly, in suffering the earth to steal away our hearts from God, as if there were no greater happinesse to be had than here below: what stupid creatures are we to spend more time in getting a few white and red pieces of earth, than in getting a glorious possession of the Kingdome of Heaven, for the attainment whereof we should think no time too much, no pains too great, no affections too strong.

Furthermore, bring your meditations to the earth, created on the same day also, that which yeelded matter and stuffe for the making of all creatures here below: consider, that the earth was a formlesse lump before God beautified and adorned it, it was a meer nothing: Painters can draw pictures without colours; Architects raise no buildings without materials and if you take away Marble or Porphiry from Engravers, they can carve neither Images nor Statues. It is only God that actuateth nothing, that formeth being out of a non-entity, as one well saith: the earth receiveth its being, beauty, and all it hath from God.

The meditation hereof should not suffer us to let any thing in the ears to withdraw our hearts from God: sore God made the earth it was nothing; wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? Why should that which is nothing draw away our hearts from God who is full of all perfection; the earth also at first was a confused masse of things, without form, and void: this should draw out from us this meditation; to make us to consider, that we that are of the earth are altogether polluted in sin, lying in our bloud, our souls being all stained with sin, and without any form of holinesse and righteousnesse, yea void of all the saving graces of Gods Spirit: In me, saith Paul, that is in my flesh, there dwelleth no good thing: and as darknesse was then upon the face of the deep, so darknesse is upon the face of our souls; a man may see, hear, read, but can have no true discerning of spirituall things, till the day-Star arise in his heart, for spirituall blindnesse is upon the face of his soul.

Here then is condemned the folly of those that think ignorance the mother of devotion; but while men remain in their naturall blindnesse, they can perform no pleasing service to God; blind services may be acceptable to the Prince of darknesse, but they are abominable to the Father of lights: light was the first thing that God made in the Creation; and when there was light, the earth lay for some dayes dead and senslesse lump, and could not so much as bring forth one grasse or herb, till the Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters: so in a new Creation, when there is no light wrought in the understanding yet canst thou not bring forth one pleasant fruit of holinesse, till the Spirit of God flutter over thee, and by a divine heat and warmth move and stir thy soul, and enable thee to perform acceptable obedience to God.

2. I come to the work of the morning: then he created the light on the first day of the week, commanding the light to shine out of darknesse; now us set apart some time to meditate this excellent creature, the light, which the glory of God is greatly manifest: there was nothing before the utter darknesse; then the Lord creatrd the light without the Sun, in that the power of God is admirable; should greatly wonder at midnight to see a great light to shine forth, and expell the darknesse of the night: this may lead us to this meditation; that as God caused on this first day of the week light to arise, and break out of darknesse; so on this first day of the week also, he caused his own Son the light of the world, to arise out of the grave of darknesse, who shined through many dark thoughts and apprehensions, into the hearts of his disconsolate Disciples; for his own Disciples did then begin to doubt; We trusted, said they, that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel, Luk. 24.21. Here also we may meditate on the excellency of heavenly knowledge; that wisdome excelleth folly, even as light excelleth darknesse: Light is comfortable, and sweet it is to behold the light of the Sun, Eccl. 11.7. Darknesse makes men sad and timerous: so wisdome makes a man's face to shine, but ignorance is uncomfortable: light manifesteth things as they are, but darknesse hides them: light distinguisheth one thing from another, darknesse confounds things all alike: so knowledge gives us a right discerning of things, but ignorance overwhelms us with horrour and amazement: light directs a man in his way, but darknesse misguids him: so wisdome shews us the true way, whereas the ignorant wander in by-paths, and fall into the bottomlesse pit.

I shall conclude this Section, with that meditation of Austin, Heaven and earth, saith he, and all things therein contained, do make a continuall cry round about me, that I should love thee; O Lord they shew thy worthynesse, and declare thy bounty; such a world; such Heavens; such an Ocean; such an earth; such earthly creatures; insensible; sensible, reasonable; and all wonderfully framed Lord how mighty, how wonderfull, how wise art thou that madest them, and therefore worthy our love; and being thus made thus to blesse, to continue, to encrease, to multiply them: yea more, to fill us with them; and therefore thy bounty, thy super abundant bounty must needs make us to love thee.

Sermon The Sinfulness of Sin (7)

We have been thinking about things that we can and ought to meditate on as Christians. One of the subjects we've yet to look at is what is called the sinfulness of sin. A number of Puritans wrote on this subject. They saw, as we need to see, that if we fail to see how sinful sin is we will be tempted the more to indulge in it and tell ourselves it is not such a bad thing after all.

Now whenever we think of sin we need to be very careful. We are like very dry wood that can catch fire in a moment. If we are not careful, thoughts of sin will quickly turn to sins and that will be no advantage to us at all. You know that in certain laboratories they keep strains of different diseases like anthrax and smallpox and so on. You can imagine that they are always very careful indeed when they handle such material. We must proceed in a similar way.

To help us then what I want to do is to lean on the work of Jeremiah Burroughs and his work the evil of evils. His book is in four parts but I am just going to pick out three particular lines of thought from Part One in order to give you an idea of how to think about the sinfulness of sin.

Burroughs starts in a surprising place perhaps. He begins with Job 36:1 where the young man Elihu says to Job Beware of turning to evil, which you seem to prefer to affliction. He is very unfair to say what he says we know but he does point up a clear danger - a person may well feel he would rather sin than suffer. However, as, Burroughs points out and goes on to demonstrate, we should take the very opposite view. As he puts it "It is a very evil choice for any soul under heaven, to choose the least sin, rather than the greatest affliction." So here is a good way to think about the sinfulness of sin. Begin by thinking of sin and suffering and see that - let's put it this way - it is better to suffer than to sin. With that we want to demonstrate that sin is always opposed to God and so must always be resisted and then we want to add some further conclusions, all drawn from Burroughs.

1. It is better to suffer than to sin

We can argue the case by the means of four further propositions

1. It is an evil choice to choose sin over suffering. This must be so as the wages of sin is death and The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning (1 John 3:8)

2. God's servants have chosen the worst suffering over the smallest sin. Isn't that what the story of the martyrs down the ages teaches us? These men and women chose to suffer death rather than to sin against God.

Think of that list towards the end of Hebrews 11, the chapter about faith where (35b-38) the writer speaks of others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated - the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

Think of Paul and his sufferings (2 Corinthians 11:23-29) Comparing himself to the so called super-apostles he says he has worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely,and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have laboured and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.

Is this not the example of Christ himself? Anything rather than to give in to temptation?

3. There is some good in suffering but none in sin. We are not saying that suffering is a good thing but whereas some good can come from suffering we all recognise, no good can come from sin. About suffering David says (Psalm 119:71) It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees. As for sin we have already said it leads to death and is of the devil. Paul says in Romans 7 that nothing good dwells in him, in his unregenerate flesh - for all that is there is sin.

There is nothing good in sin in and of itself. It cannot lead to good. Any good that comes is in spite of sin not because of it. It contains no good principle from which good can come. The Bible never tells us that sin will lead to some good in the way that it does with suffering. In Isaiah 42:3 God says When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. There is no parallel promise about sin. Hebrews 12:8 says If you are not disciplined - and everyone undergoes discipline - then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Suffering can be a proof that God is your Father - sin is not like that. Jesus says blessed are those who mourn and are persecuted but he does not bless those who sin.

If you suffer, you can cry out to God but if you sin it's not the same - sin is a barrier to prayer. You can accept suffering complacently - you must not do so with sin. You can even rejoice and thank God that you suffer by God's grace but there's no joy in sin, nothing to be thankful for.

Burroughs says of sin "... it is so evil that it is not capable of any good at all; the air though it be dark, yet it is capable of light; that were a dismal darkness that were not capable of light to come to it: and that which is bitter, though never so bitter, yet it is capable of receiving that which will sweeten it: that which is never so venomous, yet is capable of such things as will make it wholesome; but sin is so dark that it is incapable of light; so bitter, as there is no way to make it sweet; so venomous as it is no way capable of any wholesomeness."

Sin remains even if you add all the good to it there has ever been. I know people have this idea that they can balance out their sin with good deeds but no amount of good can make sin good. Isn't that something the case of Jimmy Savile demonstrates well. Who cares about all the good he did when you think of the evil he also did?

Even when a sin is committed for a good reason, the evil still remains. You know how people sometimes convince themselves they can sin for a good reason - steal to feed my family, tell a lie to save someone from trouble, kill someone so that God's cause is advanced. But sin is still sin. A thing does not become good just because you did it with a good motive in mind. Would it be right to kill yourself to stop yourself committing a sin? Of course not.

We cannot make any sin good and nor can God. How could he ever declare a sin good? His eyes are too pure to look on evil. he cannot tolerate wrong (Habakkuk 1:13).

It is true that some sins are worse than others - it is worse to do something wrong than to think it - but no sin is good in itself. There is never a situation where it is good to sin. If you ever think like that, the thought is from the devil.

So by way application let's remind ourselves of some things

1 Sin is not the work of God. He made only what is good and there is no good in sin.

2 Sin's promises are all delusions. Sin offers pleasure, praise, profit. It's a lie. There's no good in sin.

3 Never venture anything good for sin. it cannot work.

4 Never make use of anything good to sin - not another person, your own body or anything else.

5 To make something sinful your chief aim is the height of wickedness.

6 All time spent in sinning is time wasted

7 Those who spend most of their time doing what is wicked are useless members of society.

8 You need never debate for a moment over any sin whether you should do it or not. Don't!

4. There is more evil in the least sin, than in the greatest suffering. Just one more thing here. Sin is evil because it is the thing that most opposes God, who is the chief good. To quote Burroughs again

Perhaps I might scare you in preaching of Hell and damnation, but discovering this I now speak of, the opposition sin has unto God; it has more in it to humble the Soul in a saving manner, and to cause the Soul to feel sin to be most evil where it is most evil; to be the greatest burden where it is most weighty. ... That sin is most opposite to God the chief good.

Burroughs spells it out - sin most opposes God's nature; it is opposite in the way it works against God; it wrongs God more than anything else; it strikes at the very being of God.

2. Sin is always opposed to God and so always must be resisted

Three things here

1. Sin is in itself opposite to God.

1 There is nothing directly contrary to God except sin. That is the very definition of sin - it is against God. 1 John 3:4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. It is against God's law.

2 God would not be God, if there was even one drop of sin found in him or even if he caused there to be sin in another or it he only approve of it in another or if he did not hate sin as much as he does.

It is like what would happen if just one drop of deadly poison should get into a glass of water.

God hates evil - Psalm 5:4 For you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness; with you, evil people are not welcome. 11:5 The Lord examines the righteous, but the wicked, those who love violence, he hates with a passion. If he did not hate sin as much as he does then he would no longer be the holy God he is and if he were not that God he would not be God at all.

2. The way sin works is always against God. It is important that we grasp this.

The Bible tells us sin is hostile to God Romans 8:7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so.)

It is hostile to God and promotes hostility from him (Leviticus 26:27, 29 If in spite of this you still do not listen to me but continue to be hostile toward me, then in my anger I will be hostile toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over.)

It is an attempt to resist God (Acts 7:51 You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit!)

It is to quarrel with your maker (Isaiah 45:9)

3. Sin resists God and strikes against him.

To sin is to show that you hate God because sin is always against his law. Sin is rebellion against God. We often don't think it is but it is. Remember when King Saul disobeyed God and he thought it was no great sin but Samuel says to him (1 Samuel 15:22, 23) Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. To sin is to despise God and his Word. Remember those words to David (2 Samuel 12:9) Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.

More, sin is a striking out against God. When you sin you show you wish that God was not so holy, that he was not as he is. It is impossible for us to harm God but sin is really an attempt to destroy him.

To sin is certainly to wrong God. To sin is to say there is not enough good in God for me - I need something else. It is to pretend that he cannot see us - he is not present or he does not know what I am doing. It is to deny the wisdom of God and to besmirch his holiness as if it was nothing. You are pretending that God is without power and is unjust. Worse than that it is to fly in the face of his mercy and grace. What? asks Paul shall we sin so that his grace can abound. No way!

To sin is to oppose the Father who made you, the Son who laid down his life for you and the Holy Spirit in you whose one purpose is to make you holy.

It is to ignore all that is written in God's Word and to oppose the very end for which God gave you life and all that he ever intended.

3. Some conclusions about sin

Just a few conclusions and we are finished

1. Only a few people really grasp what they are doing when they sin against God.

2. How we need a Mediator who is both God and man and that is what we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. He understands our state but he is also God and so is able to save us completely.

3. Few of us are as humbled as we ought to be for sin. We will only humbled as we should be if we remember that it is against God and against him alone that we have sinned. Otherwise God's Name will not be sanctified, there will be no lasting humiliation and our souls will continue to hanker after sin.

4. Admire the patience of God. How much sin there is in the world and yet he bears and forebears

5. Here is a way to break your hearts for sin and to keep you from temptation. Meditate on the sinfulness of sin.

6. If sin be this sinful, it should teach us not only to be troubled about our own sins but also about the sins of others.

7. If sin has done so much against God, then shouldn't all of us who are converted be up and doing for God?

8. If sin is so much opposed to God, we can see why God is so very opposed to it.

No wonder he dealt with the angels who fell as he did, no wonder he has dealt with Adam's children as he has. It comes out in his Law, in the way he will punish even sins that seem small to us. Think of the flood and the massive deluge that was. And think too of hell and how he is going to judge this world one day.

Above everything else we can see how much God hates sin when we consider the cross. Think for example of Gethsemane and what we learn there - how he began to be sorrowful and troubled. He says My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.

Think of him falling with his face to the ground and praying, and how his sweat his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. Think of his cries to God. My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.

There are many other things we could say about sin in light of the cross and Christ's sufferings there nut our time is gone.

So the sinfulness of sin what a sobering thing to meditate on. It is good to do it neverhtheless.