Sermons preached

First, It is a Notion which the Scripture much delighteth in, to represent God as all, and the Creature as Nothing. At first, when Moses enquired God's distinctive Name, God giveth him no other but, I AM, Exod. 3. 14. And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM; And, I AM hath sent me unto you. What thing is there under the Cope of Heaven, that cannot say, I am that I am? The least Worm hath its own Being. But this, as God's distinctive Name, implieth, that he encloseth all Being within Himself. Secondly, The Creature is nothing. Isa. 40. 17. All Nations before him are nothing, they are accounted less than nothing, and Vanity. Dan. 4. 35. The Inhabitants of the World are reputed before Him as nothing. All created Beings must vanish out of our Sight, when we think of God.

But how are the Creatures nothing, which Faith teaches us? and how something, which Sense teacheth us? Something they are unquestionably, in respect of that derived and dependent Being which they have from God. We must not establish the Pyrrhonian Conceit, That the whole World is but a Phantastry, indeed nothing, and our Life but a Dream. Or Sceptically, to look upon the Being and Modes of all things as uncertain. No, Nor to imagine that Sense is so far fallible, that a Man of sound Sense and Understanding may not be sure of the Objects conveniently presented to his Sense. Certainly the Sceptics need to be scourged as Fools, till they feel themselves something. But vet it is of high Importance in the Work of Godliness, to see the Creature nothing. It is so, 1. By way of Comparison with God. 2. By way of Exclusion of God. 3. By way of Opposition to God.

But how are the Creatures nothing, which Faith teaches us? and how something, which Sense teacheth us? Something they are unquestionably, in respect of that derived and dependent Being which they have from God. We must not establish the Pyrrhonian Conceit, That the whole World is but a Phantastry, indeed nothing, and our Life but a Dream. Or Sceptically, to look upon the Being and Modes of all things as uncertain. No, Nor to imagine that Sense is so far fallible, that a Man of sound Sense and Understanding may not be sure of the Objects conveniently presented to his Sense. Certainly the Scepticks need to be scourged as Fools, till they feel themselves something. But vet it is of high Importance in the Work of Godliness, to see the Creature nothing. It is so, 1. By way of Comparison with God. 2. By way of Exclusion of God. 3. By way of Opposition to God.