Sermon Attributes of God (1)

From time to time we come across people who say that they meditate. They usually say that they get great help from it. Oprah Winfrey, Paul McCartney, Novak Djokovich, Jerry Seinfeld - they all say they find it a tremendous help.

Are they to be followed? Is this something Christians should engage in? When we scratch below the surface we find that usually the sort of meditation being advocated is of the eastern Buddhist or Hindu sort. We should not engage in TM as they call it or anything like it. That sort of meditation advocates emptying the mind, rather than filling it. Rather than mental passivity, Christian meditation calls on us to actively exert our mental energy. We should do that.

It is said of the nineteenth century Princeton professor Archibald Alexander

From our earliest recollections, he had been accustomed to sit and muse in the evening twilight, often prolonging these hours far beyond the time when lights are usually demanded. These moments, though solemn, appeared to be pleasurable. In these he pursued his most fruitful trains of thought. As he grew older, this sort of exercise was more frequent and protracted; and in no instance did it seem to merge into any thing like slumber. It was a period to be gratefully remembered, as one of singular peace.

Meditation of that sort is not always easy but we should seek to do it frequently and in a focussed way. Adequate time must be set aside for it. it is encouraged in Scripture. For example in Psalm 119:15 David says that he meditates on God's precepts and considers his ways. In Philippians 4:8 Paul encourages us ... whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things. Use your mind to go over these things.

Lots of pictures are used by Christian writers wanting to encourage this sort of thing.

Spurgeon says it is not enough just to gather grapes we need to tread them out so that the juice is preserved and can be used to make good wine. He likens it to a wrestler putting embrocation on his body to warm him up for the match. It is like a cow ruminating - passing its food through all four stomachs so we must slowly meditate on God's Word and on similar matters.

It is important that we take time not only to pray and to read God's Word but also to meditate.

The Puritan William Bates says our meditations are like eggs which need to be kept warm in the nest, ‘if the bird leaves her nest for a long space, the eggs chill and are not fit for production’ but ‘holiness and comfort to our souls’ will be the result of regular time with God. At the beginning, meditation is like trying to build a fire from wet wood. He encourages us to persevere ‘till the flame doth so ascend’.

Subjects

Another Puritan, George Swinnock, makes a list of subjects for meditation and I thought it might be useful for the next few Sunday mornings to take some of his suggestions and give you a meditation on each one that hopefully will get you thinking and meditating too on similar lines.

His first subject is the nature and attributes of God. A Christian should not only love and serve God but should think about him, meditate on him. That would in turn, under God, make us love God more and serve him better.

But how do I begin to meditate on God? Well, first, you have to know what God is like. That is something found in Scripture and experienced in life.

One big help in this is what you will find in good catechisms. So, for example, The famous Shorter Catechism has a sits fourth question "What is God?". The answer it expects you to give and learn is in 11 parts. It says "God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth."

The Larger Catechism (Question 7) expands the answer so that it includes 20 terms.

God is a Spirit, in and of himself infinite in being, glory, blessedness, and perfection; all-sufficient, eternal, unchangeable, incomprehensible, everywhere present, almighty, knowing all things, most wise, most holy, most just, most merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.

I notice that if you look up Attributes of God in Christianity in Wikipedia there are 28 different things listed - Aseity (God is one not made up of parts), Eternity, Goodness, Graciousness, Holiness, Immanence (nearness), Immutability (unchanging nature), Impassibility (he is without passions), Impeccability (he cannot sin), Incomprehensibility, Incorporeality (he doesn't have a body), Infinity, Jealousy, Love, Mission, Mystery, Omnipotence, Omnipresence, Omniscience (he is all powerful, in all places and is all knowing), Oneness, Providence, Righteousness, Simplicity, Sovereignty, Transcendence, Trinity, Veracity and Wrath.

If you took something like the Shorter Catechism and learned the answer (God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth) you could very profitably spend time thinking about God's nature and attributes for a good long time. God is a Spirit. That deserves some thought. He has no body and yet he is the living God. He is infinite - there is no end to his qualities. He is beyond our measuring. He is eternal - without beginning and without end.

What I want to do rather this morning is to take a psalm - Psalm 145 - and meditate together on four aspects of God's character that come out in this place - namely, God's greatness, goodness, glory and grace. So four things, four Gs

1 Meditate on the fact that God is great

The psalm is A psalm of praise and it is Of David. One of the aims of meditation is to lead to praise. David begins (1, 2) I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever. Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever. What an example David is here to us - he wants to exalt God and praise his name and extol him always and forever.

The first reason he gives as to why God should be praised, extolled and exalted is that God is great (3, 4) Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom. One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts. There is something amazing and great about God. No matter how long you meditate, you will never get to the bottom of his greatness. Down the ages people have spoken of his greatness.

In his Confessions, Augustine says "What art Thou then, my God? Most highest, most good, most potent, most omnipotent; most merciful and most just; most hidden and most present; most beautiful and most strong ..."

Calvin says "Men are never duly touched and impressed with a conviction of their insignificance until they have contrasted themselves with the majesty of God."

The Puritan Stephen Charnock says this "Nourish right conceptions of the majesty of God in your minds. Let us consider that we are drawing to God, the most amiable object, the best of beings, worthy of infinite honour, and highly meriting the highest affections we can give; a God that made the world by a word, that upholds the great frame of heaven and earth; a Majesty above the conceptions of angels; who uses not His power to strike us our deserved punishment ... a God that gave all creatures to serve us, and can, in a trice, make them as much our enemies as he hath now made them our servants. Let us view Him in His greatness ... that our hearts may have a true value of the worship of so great a majesty, and count it the most worthy employment with all diligence to attend upon Him."

One last quote from Spurgeon "There are no measures which can set forth the immeasurable greatness of Jehovah, … Notes of exclamation suit us when words of explanation are of no avail. If we cannot measure we can marvel; and though we may not calculate with accuracy, we can adore with fervency."

Psalm 145:5, 6 They speak of the glorious splendour of your majesty - and I will meditate on your wonderful works. They tell of the power of your awesome works - and I will proclaim your great deeds. Each time David heard others speak of God's greatness - the wonderful splendour of his majesty, the power of his awesome works - he too meditated on God's amazing works so that he could proclaim his great deeds. We must do the same.

2 Meditate on the fact that God is good

Then in verses 7-10 David says They celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness. The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made. All your works praise you, LORD; your faithful people extol you.

So think too of what people say not only about God's greatness but also about his goodness (and his righteousness) - about the fact that he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love, that he is good to all and has compassion on all he has made David also wants to join in the praise for these things. All God's works praise him in one way or another and his faithful people should also extol him.

Think of the goodness of God also then and meditate on it. Creation itself is urging you to praise him for it.

Augustine tells us that "God is always trying to give good things to us, but our hands are too full to receive them." Writing on the incarnation the church father Athanasius says "God is good - or rather, of all goodness He is the Fountainhead.”

Puritan John Flavel writes "He spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all; how shall He not with him freely give us all things” (Romans 8:32)? How is it imaginable that God should withhold, after this, spirituals or temporals, from His people? How shall He not call them effectually, justify them freely, sanctify them thoroughly, and glorify them eternally? How shall He not clothe them, feed them, protect and deliver them? Surely if He would not spare this own Son one stroke, one tear, one groan, one sigh, one circumstance of misery, it can never be imagined that ever He should, after this, deny or withhold from His people, for whose sakes all this was suffered, any mercies, any comforts, any privilege, spiritual or temporal, which is good for them."

John Owen says "Men are afraid to have good thoughts of God. They think it is a boldness to eye God as good, gracious, tender, kind, loving. I speak of saints. They can judge Him hard, austere, severe, almost implacable, and fierce (the very worst affections of the very worst of men, and most hated by God). Is not this soul-deceit from Satan? Was it not his design from the beginning to inject such thoughts of God? Assure yourself, then, there is nothing more acceptable to the Father than for us to keep up our hearts unto Him as the eternal fountain of all that rich grace which flows out to sinners in the blood of Jesus."

A W Tozer in the last century wrote "The goodness of God is infinitely more wonderful than we will ever be able to comprehend."

Give praise to God for he is good.

3 Meditate on the fact that God is glorious

In verse 11 David says further of the different generations that They tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might. They do it, he says (12, 13) so that all people may know of your mighty acts and the glorious splendour of your kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations.

We can think of God's greatness then but we can also speak of God's glory, his glorious nature. His attributes all flow one into another and we only distinguish them to help us think about them. Here David is thinking of God's might, his mighty acts and the glorious splendour of his kingdom which is an everlasting kingdom in which he exercises a dominion that endures through all generations.

What doe we mean then by God's glory? John Piper has attempted to define it like this. He begins by saying that the word is more like the word beauty than the word basketball. You can describe a basketball and easily get the idea across but you can’t do that with the word beauty. Some words are like that and glory is one.

So what he does is to contrast it biblically with the word holy. He suggests that God's holiness is God's being in a class by himself in his perfection, greatness and worth. In a class by himself, God has infinite perfections, infinite greatness, infinite worth.

He then quotes Isaiah 6:3 where the angels cry to each other Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts and The whole earth is full of his ... As he says, you might expect holiness, but it says glory.

God is intrinsically holy, and the whole earth is full of his glory. And so Piper suggests that God's glory is best thought of as the manifest beauty of his holiness. " ... the glory of God is the holiness of God made manifest." Leviticus 10:3 confirms it. God says that he will be shown to be holy among those who are near him, and before all the people he will be glorified.

So think not only of God's greatness and goodness but also his glory - his holiness and the splendour of it.

4 Meditate on the fact that God is gracious

The last thing I want us to meditate on this morning is God's graciousness - his grace. Now you could think of this as an aspect of his goodness, of course, but it is worth looking at separately. From the end of verse 13 to verse 21 we read The LORD is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does. The LORD upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing. The LORD is righteous in all his ways and faithful in all he does. The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfils the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them. The LORD watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy. My mouth will speak in praise of the LORD. Let every creature praise his holy name for ever and ever.

The word grace is not used it is true but that is the subject - the undeserved love of God. He upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down. That is why everyone looks to him and depends on him. He opens his hand and satisf(ies) the desires of every living thing. He is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfils the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them. That is the God of grace we worship the one we should all praise forever.

In the New Testament it is revealed that God's grace comes to all who put their faith in Jesus Christ.

There's a hymn that begins

Wonderful grace of Jesus, Greater than all my sin;

How shall my tongue describe it, Where shall its praise begin?

Taking away my burden, Setting my spirit free;

For the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me.

Wonderful the matchless grace of Jesus, Deeper than the mighty rolling sea,

Higher than the mountain, sparkling like a fountain,

All sufficient grace for even me, Broader than the scope of my transgressions,

Greater far than all my sin and shame, O magnify the precious name of Jesus, Praise His name!

Wonderful grace of Jesus, Reaching to all the lost;

By it I have been pardoned, Saved to the uttermost,

Chains have been torn asunder, Giving me liberty;

For the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me.

Wonderful grace of Jesus, Reaching the most defiled,

By its transforming power, Making him God’s dear child,

Purchasing peace and heaven, For all eternity;

And the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me.

So here is a meditation - God is great, God is good, God is glorious, God is gracious. Praise his name!

The Divine Works 1

(Based on an article on the Answers in Genesis Website)

Water

Of course, the best fluid to sip all day is water - and lots of it. We are composed of about 60% water and cannot survive more than a week without drinking it.

Water might not immediately come to mind when we think of God's good gifts to us. But it is so well designed for our use that a simple glass of water should make us aware of the fingerprint of the Creator and give him glory.

Water: The Multi-Purpose Liquid

Water is not only essential to life on earth, but also incredibly useful. We drink it, cook with it, bathe in it, clean with it, play in it (or or on it in colder times), find beauty in it, travel on it and get energy from its movement. Water regulates earth’s temperature, provides a habitat for the seafood we eat and is essential for growing all of our food. And those are only a few of water’s uses!

Water is perfectly designed for all of these functions

Water is colourless and tasteless, making it perfect for cooking. If it had a flavour or even a color, certain foods would be made much less appetising. Research has even shown our bodies may be able to taste tasteless water, alerting us if we are drinking something that looks like water but is not actually water. Water in its pure state has a neutral pH (not an acid or alkali), again making it perfect for cooking and drinking.

Water is ideal for transporting dissolved substances, such as minerals, nutrients and waste, throughout (or out of) our bodies.

Water is one of few liquids that expand when frozen, allowing it to float on liquid water. If water sank when it froze, aquatic life in colder climates would be impossible.

Water molecules stick to each other, creating surface tension. Surface tension allows insects to walk on water, makes rain fall in droplets, allows particles to float in water and keeps water from immediately evaporating.

Water absorbs colours in the red part of the spectrum (red, yellow, orange), while the blue parts of the spectrum are scattered, giving the ocean and other bodies of water a blue colour. As the light direction changes, translucence and reflection from the surface give a pleasing effect.

Where Did Water Come From?

This incredible molecule covers 70% of earth’s surface and is even found in and possibly even under the mantle. But where did it come from? Evolution always wants to go back to the big bang. Evolutionists believe the big bang created hydrogen and helium. Stars soon formed from these gasses and created oxygen and other elements. Eventually the stars exploded as supernovae, expelling oxygen and hydrogen into space where the two elements formed water.

There are apparently two major competing evolutionary stories on how water got to earth. Some say conditions on early earth would have evaporated any water as earth coalesced and so water would need to be delivered from an outside source, by comets or asteroids. Comets and asteroids would also have delivered material to earth, yet research suggests the asteroids that most likely would have delivered our water aren’t of the right composition to match the material they would have left behind. Also, using evolutionary assumptions about the age of the earth, it appears the earth’s oldest materials crystallised in the presence of liquid water over 4 billion years ago, too old to have been brought by comets or asteroids. To make matters worse for this idea, new evidence suggests water would have been vapourised as it arrived by extraterrestrial delivery.

The other hypothesis suggests maybe water has always been present and volcanoes have delivered it to the surface by degassing, as water vapour is released from cooling magma near the surface. This puts water deep inside the earth from its beginning. This hypothesis runs into the earlier mentioned problem: would the proposed conditions on early earth have allowed such vast quantities of water to remain?

The True Origin of Water

Neither of these proposed solutions adequately explains where water came from or how it could be so perfectly suited for life and for our use. But the Bible gives the answer. Water was one of God’s first creations. Genesis 1:1–2 says God created the heavens and earth and initially the earth was covered in water. As 2 Peter emphasises, the earth was formed out of water and through water (2 Peter 3:5). On day two, this water was separated so some remains on earth and some is spread throughout the heavens, including in comets and asteroids.

Water doesn’t have a mysterious naturalistic origin. It was created by God from the very beginning!

The Divine Word 1

 

A good passage to meditate on here is Psalm 19:7-9

The law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul.
The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple.
The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes.
The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever.
The decrees of the LORD are firm, and all of them are righteous.

There are six threefold statements, giving 18 things to meditate on.

1. The nature of God's Word is such that it is

The law of the LORD It instructs

The statutes of the LORD It bears witness

The precepts of the LORD It gives a mandate

The commands of the LORD It is to be obeyed

The fear of the LORD It instils fear

The decrees of the LORD It gives a verdict, a ruling

2. It can be described as

Perfect - without flaw

Trustworthy - it is true

Right -every time

Radiant - it shines

Pure - without any alloy

Firm - you can rely on it 

3. Further, it is able to

Refresh the soul.
Make the simple wise

give joy to the heart

give light to the eyes
endure forever

always be righteous

The divine word is clearly worth spending time on.

The love and fullness of the blessed Saviour 1

The love of Christ

The love of Christ is a central element of Christian belief and theology.  It can refer to Christ's love for all or for his people or of his people to him or even of Christians love for others. These are distinct Christian teachings.

The theme of love is the key element of John's writings. This is evidenced in one of the most widely quoted scriptures in the Bible (John 3:16) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life. In the Gospel of John, the pericope of the Good Shepherd (John 10:1-21) symbolises the sacrifice of Jesus based on his love for his people. In John, love for Christ results in the following of his commands, the Farewell Discourse (14:23) states If a man loves me, he will keep my word. In 1 John 4:19 the reflexive nature of this love is highlighted We love, because he first loved us, expressing the love of Christ as a mirroring of Christ's own love. Towards the end of the Last Supper, Jesus gives his disciples a new commandment Love one another, as I have loved you ... By this shall all men know that you are my disciples.

The love of Christ is also a motif in Paul's letters. The basic theme of Ephesians is that of God the Father initiating the work of salvation through Christ, who willingly sacrifices himself based on his love and obedience to the Father. Ephesians 5:25 states Christ also loved the church, and gave himself up for it. Ephesians 3:17-19 relates the love of Christ to the knowledge of Christ and considers loving Christ to be a necessity for knowing him.

Many Christians have written on the love of Christ - Augustine wrote that "the common love of truth unites people, the common love of Christ unites all Christians". Benedict instructed his monks to "prefer nothing to the love of Christ". Thomas Aquinas stated that although both Christ and God the Father had the power to restrain those who killed Christ on Calvary, neither did, due to the perfection of the love of Christ. Aquinas also opined that, given that "perfect love" casts out fear, Christ had no fear when he was crucified, for his love was all-perfect.

The Sinfulness of Sin 1

The Puritan Jeremiah Burroughs is the author of The Evil of evils on this subject. Here is a summary of Part 1

Chap. 1 That it is a very Evil Choice, To Choose Sin, rather than Affliction. 

Chap. 2 The Servants of God, have Chose the most dreadful Afflictions, rather than the least Sin.

Chap. 3 There is some good in affliction, but none in sin: (1)  No good of Entity (2) No good of Causality (3) No good Principle from whence sin can come (4) No good annexed as is to afflictions, viz. 1 Of Promise. 2 Of Evidence. 3 Of Blessing. Also Five different workings of the hearts of the Saints under sin, and under affliction. (5) It is not capable of any Good, 1 Add all the good to sin that all the Creatures in heaven and earth have, yet it cannot make sin good 2 Good ends, though - To help against temptation, To do good to others, To glorify God, cannot make sin good  3 God cannot make sin good. (6) It is not comparatively good

Chap. 4 Ʋses: And Nine Consectories of excellent use, viz. 1 Sin is not the work of God. 2 Sin's promises are all Delusions 3 Sin cannot be the Object of a rational Creature 4 Nothing that’s good should be ventured for sin 5 Nothing that’s good to be made serviceable to sin 6 The mistake of making sin the chiefest good 7 Time spent in sin, lost 8 The wicked, useless members 9 Sin needeth no debate whether to be done, or not.

Chap. 5 There is more Evil in the least sin, than in the greatest affliction; Opened in six Particulars, being the General Scope of the whole Treatise

Chap. 6 Sin most opposite to God the chiefest Good, Opened in 4 Heads: 1 Sin most opposite to God's Nature 2 Sin opposite in its working against God 3 Sin wrongs God more than any thing else 4 Sin strikes at God's Being

Chap. 7 Sin in itself opposite to God, showed in 5 things: 1 Nothing directly contrary to God but sin 2 God would cease to be God, if but one drop of sin in him 3 Sin so opposite to God, that he ceases to be God, if He did but cause sin to be in another 4 He should cease to be God, if he did but approve it in others 5 Sin would cause God to cease to be, if he did not hate sin as much as he doth

Chap. 8 The workings of sin is always against God. The Scripture calls it, 1 Enmity 2 Walking contrary 3 Fighting 4 Resisting 5 Striving 6 Rising against God

Chap. 9 How sin resists God: 1 It’s a hating of God 2 It’s rebellion against God 3 It’s a despising of God

Chap. 10 Sin is a striking against God. 1 The sinner wisheth God were not so Holy, &c. 2 It seeks the destruction of God. Also sin is a wronging of God

Chap. 11 How sin wrongs God: 1 In his Attributes 2 Relation of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost 3 His Counsels 4 In the End for which God hath done all he hath done. And 1. Sin wrongs Gods Attributes: 1 His All-sufficiency, showed in 2 Particulars 2 It wrongs his Omnipresence and Omnisciency 3 his Wisdom 4 his Holiness 5 in setting man's Will above God's wrongs God's Dominion 7 his Justice 8 God in his Truth

Chap. 12. How sin wrongs God in his personal Relations 1 The Father 2 The Son 3 The Spirit

Chap. 13 Sin wrongs the Counsels of God in setting that Order in the world that he hath set

Chap. 14. Sin wrongs God in the End for which he hath made all things

Chap. 15 The First Corollary It appears by this, That but few men know what they do, when they sin against God.

Chap. 16 The Second Corollary The necessity of our Mediator being God and Man

Chap. 17 The Third Corollary That but few are humbled as they should be for sin. 1 It will not be deep enough, except it be for sin as it’s against God 2 It will not Sanctify the Name of God 3 It will not be lasting 4 Else it will never make a divorce between sin and the soul

Chap. 18 The Fourth Corollary Admire the Patience of God, in seeing so much sin in the world, and yet bearing it

Chap. 19 The Fifth Corollary Hence see a way to break your hearts for sin: And also to keep you from Temptation

Chap. 20 A Sixth Corollary If sin be thus sinful, it should teach us not only to be troubled for our own sins, but for the sins of others

Chap. 21 A Seventh Corollary If sin hath done thus much against God, then all that are now converted had need do much for God

Chap. 22 The Eight Corollary. If sin doth so much against God, hence see why God manifest such sore displeasure against sin as he doth: 1 Against the Angels that sinned 2 Against all Adam's Posterity3 See it in God's giving the Law against sin 4 See it in God's punishing sins that are accounted small 5 See it in God's destroying all the world for sin 6 See his displeasure in punishing sin eternally

Chap. 23 A Seventh Discovery of God's displeasure against sin, opened from the sufferings of Christ.

1. See the several expressions of Scripture: 1 He was sorrowful to death 2 began to be amazed 3 began to be in an Agony. 2. See the effects of Christ's being in an Agony: 1 He fell grovelling on the ground 2 He sweat drops of Blood 3 He cries to God, if it be possible to let this cup pass from me 3. There are eight Considerations of Christ's sufferings

The Vanity of the Creature 1

In a treatise on the subject Edward Reynolds focusses on Ecclesiastes 1:14 with these points

Proportion and propriety, the grounds of sanctification to the soul

The Creatures insufficient to satisfy the Desires of the soul

The ground hereof, The vast disproportion between the soul and the Creature.

The Creature vain

1. In its nature and worth

Therefore we should not trust in it, nor swell with it.

The Creature vain, 

2. In its deadness and inefficacy

Therefore we should not rely on it, nor attribute sufficiency to it

How to use the Creature as a dead Creature:

1. Consider its dependence, and subordination to God's power

2. Sanctify and reduce it to its primitive goodness

How the Creature is sanctified by the Word and Prayer

Love it in its own order

The Creature vain

3. In its duration

The Roots of Corruption in the Creature,

Corrupt minds are apt to conceive an immortality in earthly things

The proceedings of God's Providence in the dispensation of earthly things

Wise and Just

Correctives to be observed in the use of the Creature

1. Keep the intellectuals sound and untainted

2. By Faith look through and above them

3. Convert them to holy uses

Great disproportion between the Soul and the Creature

It is vexation of Spirit

Cares are Thorns, because, first, they wound the Spirit, secondly, they choke and over-grow the heart, thirdly, they deceive, fourthly, they vanish

Degrees of this vexation:

1. In the procuring of them,

2. In the multiplying of them

3. In the use of them. Discovered,

1 In Knowledge, Natural and Civil

2 In Pleasures

3 In Riches

4 In the Review of them

5 In the disposing of them: 

The Grounds of this vexation :

1 God's Curse.

2 The Corruption of Nature

3 The deceitfulness of the Creature:

It is lawful to labour and pray for the Creature, though it vex the Spirit. We should be humbled in the light of sin which hath defaced the Creation.

We should be wise to prevent those cares which the Creatures are apt to breed.

Irregular cares both superfluous, and sinful

How to take away or prevent vexation:

1 Pray for that which is convenient to thy abilities and occasions

2 Take nothing without Christ

3 Throw out every execrable thing.

4 Keep the Spirit untouched, and uncorrupted,

What it is to set the heart on the Creature

The Spirit is the most tender and delicate part of man

A Heart set on the World is without strength Passive or Active.

1. Unable to bear Temptations

1 Because Satan proportioneth Temptations to our Lusts 

2 Because Temptations are edged with Promises and Threatenings: 

3 God often gives wicked men over to believe lies.

2. Unable to bear afflictions

3. Unable to perform any active obedience with strength

How to use the Creature as a vexing Creature

*

Honey though the bee prepares,

An envenomed sting he wears;
Piercing thorns a guard compose
Round the fragrant blooming rose.

Where we think to find a sweet,
Oft a painful sting we meet:
When the rose invites our eye,
We forget the thorn is nigh.

Why are thus our hopes beguiled?
Why are all our pleasures spoiled?
Why do agony and woe
From our choicest comforts grow?

Sin has been the cause of all!
'Twas not thus before the fall:
What but pain, and thorn, and sting,
From the root of sin can spring?

Now with every good we find
Vanity and grief entwined;
What we feel, or what we fear,
All our joys embitter here.

Yet, through the Redeemer's love,
These afflictions blessings prove;
He the wounding stings and thorns,
Into healing med'cines turns.

From the earth our hearts they wean,
Teach us on his arm to lean;
Urge us to a throne of grace,
Make us seek a resting place.

In the mansions of our King
Sweets abound without a sting;
Thornless there the roses blow,
And the joys unmingled flow.

John Newton

The Four Last Things 1

In Christian eschatology, the Four Last Things (of man) are Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell, the four last stages of the soul in life and the afterlife. They are often commended as a collective topic for pious meditation. St Philip Neri "Beginners in religion ought to exercise themselves principally in meditation on the Four Last Things." Traditionally, the sermons preached on the four Sundays of Advent were on the Four Last Things.

Puritan tomes on the subject include

The Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Hell, and Heaven (1631) by Robert Bolton; published posthumously in 1639

Four Last Things–Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell (1691) by William Bates

John Bunyan published a poem in 1683  One thing is needful or serious meditations upon the Four Last Things

The Four Last Things are a common theme of artistic and literary works as well as theological works.