5. 6-9 unto chance 1 Sam. 6. 9. For Chance is a Scripture-word Eccles 9. 11. Luke 10. 31. And 't is said Ruth 2. 3. that her hap hapned Hebr. to light in Boaz's field this was a mere chance in respect of Ruth who being a stranger knew not whose field it was yet was it ordered by a sweet and secret Providence of God in order to her Marriage to Boaz afterwards That which is to us but casual and contingent is yet by God Almighty both fore-appointed and effected That which is Casualty to man is no other than Counsel to God and what is Chance to the ignorant man is no less than the Lord to religious Job chap. 1. 21. The Lord giveth and taketh All Chances and Changes are as much in God's hand as is Time it self Psal 31. 15. Psal 91. 10. No evil shall chance unto thee So this Chance may be understood in a way of subservieney and subordination to Gods Providence Yet to ascribe evil to Fortune is far worse as if she were a Goddess and ordered all things both good and evil We do not finde that the very Philistims in the place before-quoted while they dreamed of a Chance did worship this Fortune as a Goddess Neither was she ever held to be so Hesiod mentions her not in his Theogonia till Homer made her so giving her a Soveraignty over all humane Affairs and the succeeding Poets that are said to lick up his Spewings say Sed te Nos facimus Fortuna Deam coelóque locamus Juvenal Satyr 10. 5. The third Discovery is Your heart will deceive you in making you to look more at the stroak that is given you than at God who strikes it Not much unlike the Dog that runs at the stone which is thrown at him but mindes not the hand that throwes it Oh! how prone is poor man to snarl at and quarrel with that tryal and trouble that is sent to afflict him saying to it Art thou come to torment me before the time as Matth. 8. 29. and many times may curse it whereas he should chiefly curse his Sin which is the procuring cause of his Misery You may pore too much upon the matter of your Affliction and too little upon both the Procuring and the Efficient Cause thereof your own sin is the former that sends for it and God's Justice against your sin is the latter that sends it Hence it is that we cannot say to our affliction as Laban said to Abraham's servant Come in thou blessed of the Lord thou art welcome Gen. 24. 31. Thou art Gods Angel or Messenger wherefore standest thou without I know that when thou hast delivered thy Message and done thy Errand thou wilt be gone and stay no longer and though thou be like a froward Guest at an Inne that is displeasing enough while he stays there yet pays nobly for all at parting may you be but able to do thus then you Accept of the punishment of your Iniquity as God saith Levit. 26. 41. then do you kiss the Rod yea and the Hand too that lays it on As the Scholar on his Death-bed did his Masters hand crying Istae manus me ad Paradisum portant Those very hands that have given me blest correction helps me to Heaven Your heart will deceive you if you look not beyond your Affliction at Gods faithfulness in your Affliction saying with David I know that out of thy very faithfulness O Lord thou hast afflicted me Psal 119.75 as if he had said Lord thou hadst not been faithful to my Soul without afflicting my Body 6. To ascribe any thing whether good or evil to fortune is the grand overthrow of all true Piety as it is an Atheistical debasing of Divine Providence Cicero himself acknowledges that it was ignorance of the Causes of things that brought in the names of Nature Chance and Fortune as if all things were either from themselves which is called Nature or Chance or only so disposed by Fortune this fictitious goddess and not by the true God that orders all from the highest Angels to the lowest worms Augustine argues excellently How can this goddess Fortune be sometimes good and sometimes evil Is it saith he because when she is evil she is no more a Goddess but is turned suddenly into a malignant Devil De Civitat Dei lib. 4. cap. 18. Sir Walter Rawleigh calleth Fortune the God of Fools a Goddess which is most reverenced when good but most reviled when bad of all other Poetical Gods or Goddesses though Hesiod who told the birth and beginning of all those counterfeit Deities hath not a word of Fortune yet after Homer had made her the Daughter of Oceanus or of the Sea as if she had her Ebbings and Flowings like it she grew so great with the blind world as to be accounted Omnipotent insomuch as all the concerns of Men even from the highest Prince down to the lowest Peasant were but Fortunae ludus ludibria the very sport and pastime of Fortune tossing them like a Tennis-ball up and down hither and thither at her pleasure abasing Wisdome by making the possessors of it miserable and advancing Folly for Fortuna favet fatuis Fortune favours fools by making the owners of it prosperous and successful This made the great but ignorant Demetrius cry out Oh Fortune thou hast exalted me and thou the same now goest about to destroy me Aâ—rel Vict. de Pertinace Yet among all the Philosophers I finde Plato most Divine in this point saying Nothing ever came to pass under the Sun whereof there was not a just preceding Cause 7. But Philip Mâ—lancton saith more plainly Quod Poetae Fortunam id nos Deum appellamus that which the Heathen Poets call Fortune we know 't is no other than God and his Providence as Exod. 21. 13. God hath delivered him into his hands that is Divine Providence gives up some men to be slain for some secret sin neither repented of nor punished by the Magistrate by some extraordinary casualty the Hebrews therefore use the name of God where others use Fortune because what men think to be done by Fortune is indeed done by the Providence of God though a man be killed at unawares as Deut. 19. 5. or by an errour or mistake Numb 35. 11. yet it is Gods Providence that it should be so for he is the Lord of our lives and we are guilty of death by sin Rom. 6. 23. whereby we make frequent forfeitures of our lives and 't is therefore the Lords great mercy that we are not ever and anon destroyed Lam. 3.22 Homo proponit Deus disponit man purposeth to knock down a tree but God disposeth of his stroke so that he knocks down a man the very slipping of the Axes head from the helve or handle is the work of God disponit Deus membra pulicis culicis God orders the very bitings of gnats and flyes saith Austin even Lottery is guided by Providence Prov. 16.
or that particular sin but for the trial of his Grace and to evidence unto Satan that he was no Hypocrite yet did he acknowledge to God I have sinned what shall I do unto thee O thou preserver nf men Job 7. 20. He puts himself into the hands of his Justice in hope of his Mercy he confesses his Malady to wit his sinning to be the just occasion of his suffering and ardently enquires after a due Remedy yet this good man desired further to know not so much to satisfie his Curiosity as his Conscience why he was so afflicted whether for sin or for trial and if for sin he begg'd of God to Make him know his transgression and his sin Job 13. 23. to wit that particular sin which thou chiefly strikes at 15. Afflictions have a voice as above and say to the afflicted as the Lord said to Joshuah Vp and search Israel hath sinned Josh 7. 10 11. And as the Mariners said to Jonah What evil hast thou committed what good hast thou omitted Jon. 1.8 Something surely is amiss that God would have amended It is therefore meet to be said unto God and that with a Surely I have born chastisement I will not offend any more and though yet I be in the dark and know not the right and particular cause wherefore I am afflicted That which I know not teach thou me Job 34.31 32. Alas men are very apt to mistake themselves herein and like the Child Samuel when God calls one way to run another way 1 Sam. 3. 4 5 6 8 9. Yea the Devil also deals with the afflicted just as the wretched Jews did with Christ when they did blind-fold him and bid him prophecy who smote him Luke 22. 64. Thus Satan holds his black hand before the eyes of mens Understanding and then bids them prophecy who smote them and for what Hence it is that in our Afflictions we many times grope like blinde men only guessing at this cause and at that but seldome hitting upon the right and therefore God must be sought unto for direction herein and besought also graciously to point out the sin he strikes at This Job had done once Job 10. 2. and again Job 13. 23 but Elihu would have him to do it yet better as he tutor'd him Job 34. 31 32. Lastly Consider these few following Directions 1. When you have thus sought and besought the Lord for Instruction herein Observe at what door doth your Conscience awakened by the Word lay your Affliction for God keeps his Petty-Sessions in the Court of Conscience and therein you may hear his Voice 2. Labour to have as deep a sense of Spiritual Evil as of Temporal A blind eye may bring you to Christ for Cure and Comfort when a blind Soul will not do so 3. In your Adversity forget not Divine Promises as in your Prosperity you may not be mindful of Divine Threatnings 4. Let your minde be above your means in Adversity as it ought to be below them in Prosperity 5. Let not your custome of being delivered from this or that particular Danger encourage you more than Gods promise of Deliverance from all evil 6. Be not more prone to speak of your Miseries than of your Mercies of your Losses than of your Gains as most men commonly do for if so it plainly shews you would rather have your self pitied for the former than your God praised for the latter 7. 'T will qualifie your Sufferings to take notice how many do suffer more pains for eternal Pains and for Damnation than you have yet done for everlasting Life and for Salvation 8. It may likewise comfort you to know that Christ by his Cross hath taken away the Curse of your Cross though not the cross it self which if he had done then as the Cross indeed would have done you no hurt so neither could it have done you any good whereas how many Saints have blest the Lord for their sanctified Afflictions and they would not have been without them for a world Psal 119.71.75 9. Know that Misery 't is true may be your Condition yet if you be truely godly it shall never be your portion 't is Mercy not Misery that is the portion of all the Vessels of Mercy 10. Know also that your God who chastens you will soon say It is enough c. 2 Sam. 24. 15 16. 'T is an excellent Note that Vatablus makes upon this place understanding by the appointed time the evening of the first day which if so understood doth mightily commend the Mercy and Gentleness of God who for three days of Pestilence threatned sends it but one day onely and then his bowels yern Hos 11. 8. and he cryes even then 't is enough he cannot finde in his heart to go thorough with destroying-work for he is a God and not man yea such a God as None is like him for pitty and pardons He may indeed afflict yea he must do so but he will not do so for ever 1 Kin. 11. 39. No he quickly repents him of the evil and leaves a blessing behinde him Joel 2. 14. Lastly Let God vindicate his own Holiness who though he pardon sin yet will not patronize it no not in his own Children 2 Sam. 7. 14. Psal 89. 30. 32 33. yet Paul may be happier in his chains of Iron than King Agrippa was in his chains of Gold Oh that a bitter life may make you look for a better life CHAP. IX Of the Hearts Treachery as to your Spiritual state 1. HAving made some Discoveries of the Deceitfulness of your Heart in respect of your Temporal state whether Prosperity or Adversity we come now to your Spiritual state which is of mighty importance and upon which your everlasting weal or wo in the other world dependeth Therefore must you keep your heart with all keepings and with your utmost Care and Caution that you put not an everlasting Cheat upon your own Immortal Soul in this matter of such weighty and eternal consequence 1. The Malady 2. The Remedy First The Malady And this cheat may befal you two ways 1. Your own Heart may deceive you in falsly conceiving What you are in Gods thoughts And 2. in falsly conceiving what you are in your own thoughts First of the first You may be deceived in conceiving what you are in God's thoughts to wit that you are predestinated to Life and Salvation whatever you be and however you live in the world Even all people have a natural proneness to bless themselves with a false hope of their Predestination to life Deut. 29. 19. and that they shall have peace Now the thoughts of God are in those two unchangeable Decrees of Election and Non-election which the great Apostle exemplifies by Jacob and Esau Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated before they were yet born or had done either good or evil Rom. 9. 11 12 13. There is no doubt but Esau blest himself in his own heart and came presumptuosly to his
and the Hammer at the upshot of all 15. The fifth Allusion is Dalilah who dealt deceitfully with Sampson and betrayed him into the hands of the Uncircumcised Judg. 16. 4 6. to 21. no doubt but she allured him with all seeming signs of her love that thereby she might hide from him all suspition of treachery she might magnifie his Heroick exploits and admire the prodigious and extraordinary strength whereby he atchieved them and then desire for her own private satisfaction onely to know wherein his great strength did lie and probably she added many fair promises and possibly not a few fowl Oaths Harlots abound with such Hellish Rhetorick that she would keep his counsel secret to her self then she prevailed 1. To bind him with three green withes v. 7 8. which he yielded to not onely as a put-off but also in a way of sport and wanton dalliance with her but this availed not hereupon 2. after her blaming him for mocking her he yields to be bound with new Ropes this proves unsuccesful also then 3. she continuing her importunate allurements brings him nearer to the mark and mystery than before and yields to have the seven locks of his head weaved with the Web and winded about the beam of the loom v. 13 14. This likewise took not as the other before it he having feigned a false cause of his strength three times to her all along forgetting that Gods children will not lye Isa 63. 8. as their Father is a God that cannot lye Tit. 1. 2. but at the fourth Assault she carries it and conquers him the great Conqueror of Men was at last Conquered by a Woman he was so bewitched with her flatteries that she at last exhausted as the Hebrew word Dalal from whence her Name Dalilah comes signifyeth his very heart v. 16 18. which whoredom had indeed taken away before Hos 4. 11. Thus this strong man discovers great weakness in yielding further and further even till it came to Neck-break and life it self Prov. 6. 26. 7. 21 23. to a treacherous Strumpet that had given just grounds of suspecting her treachery against him both in putting all those three former experiments upon proof and in having so many cut-throat Philistims ready by her yet so besotted was he with his sensual sins that he reveals that secret to her which cost him the loss of his strength of his eyes of his liberty of his life yea of his God too All this will your treacherous heart do to you if God leave you in the hand of your own counsel 't will make you sleep upon the knee of presumption as she did him v. 19. 't will cut off your Locks or seeming graces those seven locks or seven spirits Revel 1. 4. and you may not know that your God is gone from you as he v. 20. and you may stand out for a while as he did against the sollicitations of your fleshly heart which hunts for your life and wars against your Soul 1 Pet. 2. 11. but woe to you if left of God Hos 9. 12. to the lusts thereof you fall you fall and may never rise any more as Dalilah was not alone in the room but had her company of Philistims with her so your treacherous heart will not be alone but will have its company of deceitful lusts Eph. 4. 22. to be with it 16. The sixth Allusion among Scripture-Females is the Witch of Endor that cheated Saul 1 Sam. 28. 11 12. with indeed Satan for Samuel That Spectrum Samuelis or apparition of Samuel whereby she beguiled Saul was no other than Satan the Devil who first personates Samuels form and then his speech Samuel while alive had told Saul that rebellion is as Witchcraft 1 Sam. 15. 23. Now he falls from the like to the same and trades with Witches indeed which he had turned out of his Kingdome 1 Sam. 28. 3. but not out of his heart and bids this Witch to bring him up Samuel This is more than the Devil himself can do for it could not be 1. the Soul of the true Samuel that is here brought to Saul 't is not in the Devils power to degrade a glorified Saint and to bring him from glory Satan fell from Heaven and can fetch none out of Heaven neither was it 2. the body of the true Samuel for the Devil hath not the key of the Grave but that key hangs at Christs girdle Revel 1. 18. Neither 3. would the true Samuel have said as v. 15. Why hast thou disquieted me It can therefore be no other but Satan representing Samuel who can transform himself into an Angel of light 2 Cor. 11. 14. and Samuel himself could not have preach'd more gravely severely divinely then this foul fiend of Hell did v. 16. c. But above all 4. this Apparition appears to be a meer cheat in his appearing in a Mantle for the true Samuel could not well have a Mantle to bring with him from the grave and place of the dead it could be nothing else but onely a garment in shew of Satans making and by him put upon himself that he might the more speciously act the part of Samuel both his person and his habit as well as his words and speeches in his conference with Saul Thus as the Witch of Endor cheated Saul with a representative shew instead of a real and true presence even so your heart may cheat you with seeming instead of saving grace yea the Devil is Gods Ape thus far in mans heart that he beguiles him so far by false representations as to make him believe those to be glorious truths which indeed are no better than Doctrines of Devils 1 Tim. 4. 1. and damnable errours 2 Pet. 2. 1. CHAP. V. Of the Hearts Treachery 1. FRom deceitful persons the first pass we on to deceitful things the second and the Sequel will evidence in the Issue that the heart of man is not onely as deceitful as both but more than so 't is deceitful above all persons and above all things 1. The Serpent was more subtle than all the beasts of the field Gen. 3. 1. and beguiled Eve v. 13. making her to eat forbidden fruit Hanachash Hisheani Vaokel The serpent beguiled me and I did eat Oh how oft have you cause to cry out to Jehovah as she did that your heart hath beguiled you and you did eat the forbidden fruit of Sin The Hebrew word Nasha signifies to surprise one by laying Ambushments as Josh 8. 7 19. Alas every Creature-comfort in the fallen state hath an Ambushment a Serpent lying in ambush in it latet Anguis in Herbâ there is a Snake in the Grass a Snare in every dish You may cry out with the Sons of the Prophets Mors in ollâ there is death in the pot 2 King 4. 40. Had Eve thought there had been death in the Apple she would never have swallowed such a gilded bole or morsel 'T was pleasant to the eyes and fruit to be desired
than to be polluted Oh that you may imitate that little creature so devoted unto cleanness as to part with her liberty yea life rather than with her purity 11. The second thing is the Remedy against the treachery of your heart in Adversity Solomon bids you In a day of affliction consider Eccles 7. 14. that is you must when you are alone sit down pawse and ponder those things The first thing for you to consider as a good Help and Remedy is Who is the Authour of your Adversity It springs not out of the dust Job 5. 6. There is no evil in the City which the Lord hath not done Amos 3. 6. Now could you but make a believing use of the Soveraignty Justice and Graciousness of this Lord of yours from whence your Affliction cometh as his Messenger this would wonderfully hedge in your treacherous Heart from deceiving you As you must believe that your Lord is too kinde to do you harm and too just to do you wrong So likewise that he hath a Soveraign Power and Authority over you and is not bound to give an account of any of his matters unto you Job 33. 13. Oh consider that while the rod lies on your back yet 't is still in a Fathers hand He is called Pater Misericordiae a Father of Mercy but never Pater Vindictae a Father though he be called a God of Vengeance For although those whom God loves he chastens yet God doth not love to chasten He afflicts not willingly or from his heart Hebr. Lam. 3. 33. It goes as much against the heart with Him as against the hair with you hence Acts of Justice are called strange Acts with God Isai 28. 21. therefore cample not against God whose Will alone is the supreme Reason of all and 't is not only Right but 't is also the Rule of all Right Rom. 9. 20. Jer. 12. 1. 12. The second helpful Consideration is What is the End as well as Who is the Authour This Father of Spirits never chastens his Children for his own pleasure as fathers of the flesh often do â—venting their choler and disburthning themselves of that displeasure which perhaps without cause they have conceived against their children Hebr. 12. 10. But the Lord never doth so for Fury is not in him Isai 27. 4. He is a God and not man Hos 11. 8 9. Man is an angry vindictive Creature but God is full of Compassion abundant in Goodness and slow to Anger Exod. 34. 6. Nahum 1. 3. Yea a None-such God for a none-such sinner Mic. 7. 18. Though God may do with his own what he pleaseth yet doth he never over-do with them 't is a pain to him to be punishing of them In all their Afflictions he is afflicted Isa 63.9 He therefore never corrects for his own pleasure but for our profit the ground always is displeased Love and the end is always fuller embracements You may not pore upon the matter of your Adversity more than upon the end of Gods inflicting Affliction his end is always a gracious end unto a gracious Soul 't is to do you good in the latter end Deut. 8. 16. and to make you more a partaker of his Holiness Hebr. 12. 10. and of the peaceable fruits of Righteousness vers 11. to wit increase of Grace an heart left in a better frame than 't was found in which is call'd a coming out as Gold Job 23. 10. A Physician gives his Patient physick that makes him sick purges him even unto a leanness and bleeds him usque ad deliquium animi until he swoon away yet these are not the end of his undertaking but 't is to recover a more healthful state with better blood and nobler spirits accordingly may God deal with you when he findes you under a surfet of prosperity The cup your Father gives you drink it John 18. 11. that bitter potion brings sweet health 13. Consider thirdly the Measure of it as well as its End and Authour Your God will certainly correct you in measure Jerem. 30. 11. you shall not have one lash more than needs yea he will suit your burden to your back and your stroke to your strength The Jews with their Whip of three cords would rather give the Offender one lash too few than one too many that they might not exceed the number of forty stripes which were limited them by the Law Deut. 25. 3. as appears in Paul's case 2 Cor. 11. 24. They are Bastards and not Sons that have not any stripes Hebr. 12. 7 8. But there was never any son that had too many of them God had one Son only to wit Christ sine flagitio without the guilt of sinning but he never had any Son no not Christ himself sine flagello without the whip of suffering The Jews also fitted their whip to the strength or weakness of the person corrected even so doth God 2 Sam. 7. 14. beshebet Anashim Hebr. Virgâ senum aut hominum debilium I will â—hasten him with the rod of men the word signifies of old and weak men or such as are sickly who cannot strike hard and God will not do so though he can though he will be faithful to your soul yet will he not be cruel to your body for 't is but chastizing with rods not scourging with Scorpions 't is to break your sin but not your soul therefore he doth it in measure 1 Cor. 10. 13. and only by peck-peck as the Hebrew signifies Isai 27. 8. not whole bushels at once he will stay the rough wind that his tender plant may not be blown down you shall not have the whole weight of his mighty hand upon you either to crush you to pieces or to grinde you to powder 14. The fourth helpful Consideration is What is the cause or occasion of your Affliction This was it that puzzell'd Job as before Job 10. 2. You must labour to spell out Gods minde in every trouble that by his Providence befals you and hear the voice of his rod Micah 6. 9. never being satisfied with dumb crosses they have always a voice if you have but an ear they are not dumb if you be not deaf God many times points out to Man his very sin by the rod and writes his sin upon his very punishment Judg. 1. 7. that Lord of Bezek had learnt so much ingenuity as to acknowledge Gods art of Justicing in a most exact way of Retaliation his punishment did to an hair correspond with his sin The Apostle tells you that unworthy communicating was the sin which was the procuring cause of the great Mortality at Corinth 1 Cor. 11. 30. for God will be sanctified of all that draw nigh to him Levit. 10. 3. Sin is ever the occasion of Sickness and Suffering when possibly it may not be the immediate and particular cause and Sin is the cause in general when this or that particular sin is but the occasion Job's Affliction was not for a punishment of this