Discourses upon the Existence and Attributes of God

1. This is a branch of Gods Dominion as Lawgiver. So was the vengeance God would take upon the Amalekites. Exod. 17.16. The Lord hath sworn, that the Lord will have War. The Hebrew is, the hand upon the Throne of the Lord, as in the margin. As a Lawgiver he saves or destroys. James 4.12. He acts according to his own Law, in a congruity to the sanction of his own precepts; though he be an Arbitrary Lawgiver, appointing what Laws he pleases, yet he is not an Arbitrary Judge. As he commands nothing, but what he hath a right to command, so he punisheth none, but whom he hath a right to punish, and with such punishment as the Law hath denounced. All his acts of Justice and inflictions of Curses, are the effects of this Sovereign Dominion. Psal. 29.10. He sits King upon the Floods. Upon the deluge of Waters wherewith he drowned the World, say some. 'Tis a right belonging to the Authority of Magistrates, to pull up the infectious weeds, that corrupt a Common-Wealth. 'Tis no less the right of God as the Lawgiver and Judge of all the Earth, to subject Criminals to his vengeance, after they have rendered themselves abominable in his Eyes, and carried themselves unworthy Subjects of so great and glorious a King. The first name whereby God is made known in Scripture, is Elohim. Gen. 1.1. In the beginning God Created the Heaven and Earth. A name which signifies his power of judging in the opinion of some Critics; from him it is derived to earthly Magistrates; their Judgment is said therefore to be the Judgement of God, Deut. 1.17. When Christ came, he proposed this great motive of Repentance from the Kingdom of Heaven being at hand; the Kingdom of his Grace, whereby to invite men; the Kingdom of his Justice in the punishment of the neglecters of it, whereby to terrify men. Punishments as well as Rewards belong to Royalty; it issued accordingly; those that believed and repented, came under his gracious Sceptre; those that neglected, and rejected it, fell under his Iron Rod. Jerusalem was destroyed, the Temple demolished, the Inhabitants lost their lives by the edge of the Sword, or lingered them out in the chains of a miserable Captivity. This term of Judge which signifies a Sovereign right to govern and punish Delinquents, Abraham gives him, when […] came, to root out the People of Sodom, and make them the examples of his ve geance.