Discourses upon the Existence and Attributes of God

1. This dominion is managed by the rule of Wisdom. What may appear to us, to have no other spring than absolute sovereignty, would be found to have a depth of amazing Wisdom, and accountable reason, were our short capacities long enough to fathom it. When the Apostle had been discoursing of the eternal Counsels of God, in seizing upon one man, and letting go another, in rejecting the Jews and gathering in the Gentiles, which appears to us to be results only of an absolute dominion, yet he resolves not those amazing acts into that, without taking it for granted, that they were governed by exact Wisdom, though beyond his ken to see, and his line to sound. Rom. 11.33. Oh the depth of the riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God; how unsearchable are his Judgments, and his Ways past finding out? There are some things in matters of state, that may seem to be acts of mere Will, but if we were acquainted with the Arcana Imperii, the inward Engines which moved them, and the ends aimed at in those undertakings, we might find a rich vein of prudence in them, to incline us to Judge otherwise than bare Arbitrary proceedings. The other Attributes of Power and Goodness are more easily perceptible in the works of God, than his Wisdom. The first view of the Creation strikes us with this sentiment, that the Author of this great Fabric was mighty, and beneficial; but his Wisdom lies deeper, than to be discerned at the first glance without a diligent enquiry. As at the first casting our eyes upon the Sea, we behold its motion, colour, and something of its vastness, but we cannot presently fathom the depth of it, and understand those lower Fountains, that supply that great Ocean of Waters: 'Tis part of God's Sovereignty, as it is of the wisest Princes, that he hath a Wisdom beyond the reach of his Subjects; 'tis not for a finite nature to understand an infinite Wisdom, nor for a foolish Creature that hath lost his understanding by the fall, to judge of the reason of the methods of a wise Counsellor. Yet those ⟨p. 715⟩actions that savour most of Sovereignty, present men with some glances of his Wisdom. Was it mere will, that he suffered some Angels to fall? But his Wisdom was in it for the manifestation of his Justice; as it was also in the case of Pharaoh. Was it mere will, that he suffered sin to be committed by man?

1. This dominion is managed by the rule of Wisdom. What may appear to us, to have no other spring than absolute soveraignty, would be found to have a depth of amazing Wisdom, and accountable reason, were our short capacities long enough to fathom it. When the Apostle had been discoursing of the eternal Counsells of God, in seizing upon one man, and letting go another, in rejecting the Jews and gathering in the Gentiles, which appears to us to be results only of an absolute dominion, yet he resolves not those amazing acts into that, without taking it for granted, that they were govern'd by exact Wisdom, though beyond his ken to see, and his line to sound.