mankind are 1. The unruliness and want of government of the sensual appetite on Lusts hence grows intemperance and excess in eating and drinking unlawful and exorbitant lusts and these exhaust the Estate waste and consume the Health embase and impoverish the Mind destroy the Reputation and render men unfit for Industry and Business 2. The exorbitancy and unruliness and irregularity of the Passions as excessive love of things that are either not lovely or not deserving so much love excess of anger which oftentimes degenerate into malice and revenge excess of joy in light trivial inconsiderable matters excess of fear where either no cause of fear or not cause of so much fear is And these exorbitances of Passions betray the succours of Reason break out into very foolish vain imprudent actions and fill the World with much of that folly and disorder that is every where observable 3. These diseases and distempers of the Mind as pride vain-glory ambition of honour and place and power insolency arrogancy envy covetousness and the like these I say are so many Sicknesses and Cankers and rotten Ulcers in the Mind and as they like the Furies that were let loose out of Pandora's Box do raise most of those storms and tempests that are abroad in the World so they disease and disorder and beset the Mind wherein they are and make their lives a torment to themselves and put them upon very foolish vain and frentique actions and deportments and render men perfect fools mad men and without understanding and their folly is so much the greater and the more uncurable that like some kind of frentique men they think very goodly of themselves think themselves passing wise men and applaud themselves though it is most apparent to any indifferent by-stander that there are not a sort of vainer foolish persons under Heaven Now as we are truly told that the first degree and step of wisdom is to put off folly Sapientia prima est Stultitia caruisse so it is the method of the fear of God the beginning of all true wisdom to disburthen a man of these originals and foundations of folly It gives a law to the Sensitive appetite brings it in subjection keeps it within the limits and bounds of Reason and of those instructions and directions that the wise God hath prescribed it keeps it under discipline and rule It directs the Passions to their proper objects and keeps them within their due measures and with in the due lines and limits of moderation and as becomes a man that lives in the sight and observation of the God of glory majesty and holiness It cures those diseases and distempers of the Mind by the presence of this great preservative and cathartick the Fear of God If Pride or Vain-glory begins to bud in the Soul he considers that the God he fears resists the proud this fear puts a man in remembrance of the glorious Majesty of the most glorious God and what is a poor Worm that he should be proud or vain-glorious in the presence and sight of that mighty God If Ambition or Covetousness begin to appear this fear of God presently remembers a man that the mighty God hath prohibited them that he hath presented unto us things of greater moment for our desires than worldly wealth or honour that we are all of his houshold and must content our selves with that portion he allots us without pressing beyond the measure of sobriety or dependence upon or submission unto him If Revenge stir in our Hearts this fear of God checks it tells a man that he usurps God's prerogative who hath reserved vengeance â—o himself as part of his own Sovereignty â—f that vermin Envy begins to live and crawl in our Hearts this fear of God crusheth â—t by remembring us that the Mighty God prohibits it that he is the Sovereign Lord and dispenser of all things if he hath given me little I ought to be contented if he hath given another more yet why should my Eye be evil because his Eye is good Thus the fear of the Lord walks through the Soul and pulls up those weeds and roots of bitterness and folly that infect disquiet disorder and befool it 6. Another great cause of folly in the World is Inadvertence Inconsiderateness Precipitancy and over-hastiness in speeches or actions If men had but the patience many times to pause but so long in actions and speeches of moment as might serve to repeat but the Creed or Lord's Prayer many follies in the World would be avoided that do very much mischief both to the parties themselves and others And therefore inadvertence and precipitancy in things of great moment and that require much deliberation must needs be a very great folly because the consequence of miscarriage in them is of greater moment Now the fear of the Lord of Heaven and Earth being actually present upon the Soul and exerting it self is the greatest motive and obligation in the World to consideration and attention touching things to be done or said When a man is to do any thing or speak in the presence of a great earthly Prince the very awe and fear of that Prince will give any man very much consideration touching what he saith or doth especially to see that it be conformable to those Laws and Edicts that this Prince hath made Now the great God of Heaven and Earth hath in his Holy Word given us Laws and Rules touching our words and actions and what we are to say or do is to be said and done in no less a presence than the presence of the ever-glorious God who strictly eyes and observes every man in the World with the very same advertence as if there were nothing else for him to observe And certainly there cannot be imagined a greater engagement to advertence and attention and consideration than this And therefore if the action or speech be of any moment a man that fears God will consider 1. Is this lawful to be done or not if it be not how shall I do this great evil and sin against God 2. But if it be lawful yet is it fit is it convenient is it seasonable if not then I will not do it for it becomes not that Presence before whom I live 3. Again â—f the thing be lawful and fit yet I will â—onsider how it is to be done what are the most suitable circumstances to the honour and good pleasure of that great God before whom I stand And this advertence and consideration doth not only qualifie my actions and words with wisdom and prudence in contemplation of the duty I owe to God but it gives an excellent opportunity very many times by giving pause and deliberation in reference to my duty to God to discover many humane ingredients of wisdom and prudence requisite to the choice of actions and words and the manner of doing them So that besides that greater advantage of consideration and advertence in relation to Almighty God it doth
weight of Glory If therefore thou wouldst be soundly armed against afflictions and prepared with ease and comfort to bear them this one thing necessary is sufficient to render thee such and to fit thee also with all those advantageous helps before mentioned which will necessarily follow upon this attainment 2. Secondly I come to the second general namely How Afflictions incumbent upon us are to be received entertained and improved and this will be in a great measure supplied by what hath been before said touching our preparation of heart before they come for a mind so prepared and habituated will be sufficiently qualified to receive and entertain them as becomes a good man and a good Christian Nevertheless some things I shall subjoyn in order to the bearing and improving of afflictions while they are incumbent upon us and they are these 1. It becomes a man under afflictions in the first place to have a very diligent frequent attentive and right consideration concerning Almighty God that he is a God of infinite wisdom power justice mercy and goodness That he hates not any thing that he hath made but hath a great love and benificence to all his Creatures that he designs their good and benefit even in those dispensations that seem most sharp and severe that if he had not a good will to his Creatures he would never have done so much for them as he hath done that whiles he exerciseth discipline to the children of men it is evident they are under his care that oftentimes there is a greater severity of the Divine displeasure in his leaving mankind to themselves than in exercising them with afflictions and that he equally discovers the love and care of a Father in his corrections as well as in his more pleasing administrations 2. And farther that afflictions rise not out of the dust but are sent and managed by the wise disposition and regiment of Almighty God it is his Providence that sends them that measures out their kind weight continuance and that they are always as commissionated by him so under the conduct of his power wisdom and goodness and never exceed the line and limits of his power wisdom and goodness if he bids them go they go if he bids them return they return if he commands the most tumultuous and tempestuous storms of afflictions peace be still there will be a calm as mankind is never out of the reach of his power to afflict and correct so it is never out of the reach of his power to relieve and recover 3. That as no man hath an exemption from afflictions so it is most evident that even the best of men are visited with them and it is but need they should for where one man is the worse by afflictions a thousand are the worse for want of them and as many the better by them and the wise and gracious God that knows our frame better than we our selves doth for the most part in very faithfulness afflict us The egresses of the Divine Counsels have ever in them a complication of excellent ends even in afflictions themselves they are acts of Justice oftentimes to punish and of Mercy to prevent distempers and to heal them and this is that lot which our Blessed Lord bequeathed unto his own People In the world ye shall have tribulation Joh. 16.33 so that a good man may have as great cause to suspect his own integrity in the absence of them as in the suffering under them 4. That all the Divine dispensations of comforts or crosses are so far beneficial or hurtful as they are received and used comforts if they make us thankful sober faithful they become blessings if they make us proud insolent secure forgetful they become judgments afflictions if they are received with humility patience repentance and returning to God they are blessings if they are received with murmuring impatience imcorrigibleness they become judgments and a forerunner of greater severity 5. The consequences of all these Considerations do evidently lead us unto these Dutics when-ever we are under the pressure of Affliction 1. To receive it with all Humility as reached out unto us from the hand or permission at least of Almighty God There were a sort of Philosophers that thought it a virtue to put on a resolved contempt of all crosses and afflictions not to be moved at all with them but to bear them with a stout apathy this is not that temper that becomes a Christian it is all one as if a Child should resolve to receive the correction of his Father with a stubborn resolution not to care for them or to be affected with them such a stubbornness under affliction renders it unuseful to its end and commonly provokes the great Lord and Father of Spirits totally to reject such a mind or to master it with sharper and severer and multiplied afflictions till it yield and till that uncircumcised Heart be humbled and accept of the punishment of its iniquity Levit. 26.41 2. To receive it with Patience and subjection of mind and without either contesting with Almighty God charging his Providence with errour or injustice or swelling and storming against the affliction or the Divine dispensation that sends it This hath two singular benesits first it renders the affliction it self more easie and tollerable secondly it is one of the readiest ways to shorten or abate it For as yielding and humble submission to the hand of God so patience and submission of will to the Divine dispensation are two of the great ends and business of affliction which when attained by it it hath performed a great part of its errand for which it was sent 3. To return unto God that afflicteth or permitteth it Affliction misseth its end and use when it drives a man from his God either to evil or unlawful means or to shift and hide himself or keep at a distance from him and as it loseth its end so it is contrary to its natural effect at least where it meets with a nature of any understanding or ingenuity In their affliction they will seek me early God Almighty sends afflictions like messengers to call home wandring Souls and if a man will shist away get farther off and estrange himself more from him that strikes him he will either send more importunate messengers afflictions of a greater magnitude to call and fetch him as want and famine did the young Prodigal in the Gospel or which is far worse let him go without farther seeking him Whereas the man that by affliction as it were at the first call comes home to God or gets nearer to him for the most part prevents severer monitors and renders his suffering more short or at least more easie by drawing near to God the fountain of peace and deliverance And if the affliction befalls such a man that hath not estranged himself from Almighty God nor departed from him in any greater offences or backslidings yet affliction is not without its end
the best rule of wisdom prescribed it to man his best of visible creatures whom we have just reason to believe he would not deceive with a false or desicient rule of wisdom since as wisdom is the beauty and glory of man so wisdom in man sets forth the glory and excellency and goodness of God And consonant to this David a wise King and Solomon the wisest of men affirm the same truth Psal 111 10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom a good understanding have they that do his commandments Prov. 1.7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and instruction and 9.10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the holy is understanding And when the wise man had run all his long travel of Experiments to attain that which might be that good for the children of men in the end of his tedious chace and pursuit he closeth up all with this very same conclusion Eccles 12.13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter Fear God and keep his Commandments for this is the whole duty of man and he gives a short but effectual Reason of it For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil And hence it is that this wise man who had the greatest measure of wisdom of any meer man since the creation of Adam that had as great experience and knowledge of all things and persons that made it his business to search and to enquire not only into wisdom but into madness and folly that had the greatest opportunity of wealth and power to make the exactest enquiry therein This wise and inquisitive and experienced man in all his Writings stiles the man fearing God and obeying him the only wise man and the person that neglects this duty the only fool and mad man And yet it is strange to see how little this is thought of or believed in the World Nay for the most part he is thought the wisest man who hath the least of this principle of Wisdom appearing in him that shakes off the fear of God or the sense of his presence or the obedience to his will and the discipline of Conscience and by craft or subtilty or power or oppression or by whatsoever method may be most conducible pursues his ends of profit or power or pleasure or what else his own vain thoughts and the mistaken estimate of the generality of men render desirable in this World And on the other side he that governs himself his life his thoughts words actions ends and purposes with the fear of Almighty God with sense and awe of his presence according to his word that drives at a nobler end than ordinarily the World thinks of namely peace with Almighty God and with his own Heart and Conscience the hope and expectation of Eternity such a man is counted a shallow empty inconsiderate foolish man one that carries no stroke in the World a man laden with a melancholy delusion setting a great rate upon a World he sees not and neglecting the opportunities of the World he sees But upon a sound and true Examination of this business we shall find that the man that feareth God is the wisest man and he that upon that account departs from evil is the man of greatest understanding I shall shew therefore these two things 1. What it is to fear God 2. That this fear of God is most demonstratively the best Wisdom of mankind and makes a man truly and really a wise man 1. Touching the first of these Fear is an affection of the Soul that is as much diversified as any one affection whatsoever which diversification of this affection ariseth from the diversification of those objects by which this affection is moved I shall mention these four 1. Fear of Despondency or Desperation which ariseth from the fear of some great and important danger that is unavoidable or at least so apprehended and this is not the Fear that is here commended to mankind 2. Fear of Terrour or Affrightment which is upon the sense of some great important danger that though possibly it may be avoided yet it carries with it a great probability and immediate impendency as the fear of Mariners in a storm or a fear that befalls a man in some time or place of great confusion or visible calamity And this kind of fear of Almighty God is sometimes effectual and useful to bring men to Repentance after some great displeasure of Almighty God by Sin or Apostacy but this is not that fear that is here at least primarily and principally meant but those two that follow 3. A Fear of Reverence or Awfulness and this fear is raised principally upon the sense of some object full of glory majesty greatness though possibly there is no cause of expecting any hurt from the person or thing thus feared Thus a Subject bears a reverential fear to his Prince from the sense of his majesty and grandeur and thus much more the majesty and greatness of Almighty God excites reverence and awfulness though there were no other ingredient into that fear Jer. 5.21 Will ye not fear me saith the Lord will ye not tremble at my presence c. Jer. 10.7 who would not fear thee O King of Nations 4. A Fear of Caution or Watchfulness This is that which the Wise man commends Prov. 28.14 Blessed is the man that feareth always And this fear of Caution is a due care and vigilancy not to displease that person from whom we enjoy or hope for good the fear of a Benefactor or of that person from whom we may upon some just cause or demerit expect an evil as the fear of a just and righteous Judge And these two latter kinds of fear namely the fear of Reverence and the fear of Caution are those that are the principal ingredients constituting this fear of God that these excellent men commend to us as true Wisdom Now this fear of God ariseth from those right and true apprehensions concerning Almighty God that do with a kind of connaturality and suitableness excite both these two kinds of Fear and those seem to be principally these three 1. A true and deep sense of the Being of God namely That there is a most excellent and perfect Being which we call God the only true God the Maker of all things But this is not enough to constitute this Fear for Epicurus and Lucian did believe that there was a God yet were without the fear of him 2. A true and deep sense knowledge and consideration of the Attributes of God And although all the attributes of God are but so many expressions and declarations of his perfection and excellency and therefore all contribute to advance and improve this fear especially of Reverence yet there be some attributes that seem in a more special manner to excite and raise this affection of fear
cleanseth the Soul and renders a man in God's acceptation as if he had not offended 5. The next preparative against affliction is to gain an humble Mind When affliction meets with a proud heart full of opinion of its own worth and goodness there ariseth more trouble and tumult and disorder and discomposure in the contest of such a heart against the affliction than possibly can arise from the affliction it self and the strugling of that distemper of pride with the affliction galls and intangles the mind more than the severest affliction and renders a man very unfit for it and unable to bear it The Prophet describes it her Sons at the head of every street were like a wild Bull in a net But on the other side an humble lowly mind is calm and patient and falls with ease upon an afflicted condition for the truth is the great evil of suffering is not so much in the thing a man suffers as in the mind and temper of spirit of the man that meets with it an humble mind is a mind rightly prepared with the greatest facility to receive the shock of any affliction for such a mind is already as low as affliction can ordinarily set it And certainly if any man consider aright he hath many important causes to keep his Mind always humble 1. In respect of Almighty God the great and glorious King of Heaven and Earth whom if a man contemplate he will put his mouth in the dust acknowledge himself to be but a poor worm and therefore unworthy to dispute the Divine dispensations providences or permissions 2. In respect of himself He that considers aright himself his sins and failings and corruptions will have cause enough to humble himself and reckon that he is justly obnoxious to the severest crosses and afflictions Why doth the living man complain a man for the punishment of his sin 't is mercy enough that the affliction extends not yet so â—â—r as his life a living man to complain carnes a reprehension in it self of the complaint 6. Another most singular prâ—paration against affliction is a steady resolved Resignation of a man's self to the will and good pleasure of Almighty God and that upon grounds of the greatest reason imaginable For 1. it is a most sovereign will for his will must be done whether we will or not therefore it is the highest piece of folly imaginable to contest with him that will not cannot may not be controlled It is true we have commission to pray to him to deliver us from evil but when we have so done we must withal desire that his will may be done this pattern the Son of God hath given us Matth. 26.39 Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me yet not my will but thy will be done Willingly therefore submit to that will which whether thou wilt or no thou must thou shalt endure for his will is the most sovereign will the will of the absolute Monarch of Heaven and Earth 2. As it is the most sovereign will so it is the most wise will what he wills he wills not simply prâ—â—â—mperio but his will is founded upon and directed by a most infinite wisdom and since thou canst not upon any tollerable account judge thy will wiser than his it becomes thee to resolve thy poor narrow inconsiderate will into the will of the most wise God 3. As it is a most wise will so the will of God is most certainly the most benificent and best will what reason hast thou to suspect the benificence of his will whose will alone gave thee thy being that he might communicate his goodness to that being of thine which he freely gave thee It is true it may be thou dost not see the reason the end the use of his Dispensations yet be content with an implicit submission to resign thy self up to his disposal and rest assured it shall be best for thee though thou yet canst not understand what it means If he hath given thee an Heart to resign up this will unto his be confident he will never mislead thee nor give thee cause to repent of trusting him It was a noble pitch of a Heathen's mind namely Epictetus Enchirid. cap. 78. In quovis incepto haeâ— optanda sunt Due me ô Jupiter tâ— fatum eo quo sum à vobis destinatus sequar enim alacriter quod si noluero improbus ero sequar nihilominus Which may be thus better Englished In every Enterprize this ought to be our Prayer Guide me O God and thou Divine Providence according to thine own appointment I will with chearfulness follow which if I shall decline to do I shall be an undutiful man and yet shall nevertheless follow thy appointment whether I will or not But Christians have learned a Reason of a nobler descent namely That all things shall work together for good to those that love God and certainly there can be no greater evidence of thy love to him than to make the Will of God the guide rule and measure of thine own 7. I shall conclude with that great Preparative which is indeed the completion of all that is before said and in a few words includes all Labour to get thy Peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord when this is once attained thou art set above the love of the World and the fear of afflictions because thou hast the assurance of a greater Treasure than this World can give or take away a Kingdom that cannot be shaken a hope and most assured expectation that is above the region of afflictions and that renders the greatest and forest afflictions as they are namely light and momentany And yet because thou art notwithstanding this glorious expectation yet in this lower region and subject to passions and perturbations and fears the merciful God hath engaged his promise to support thee here under them to better and improve thee by them to carry thee through them by his all-sufficient grace and mercy The strokes thou receivest are either managed and directed or at least governed and ordered by him that is thy Father and that in very love and faithfulness doth correct thee that hath a heart of compassion and love to thee even when he seems in his Providences to frown upon thee that while thou art under them will make them work together for thy good and that will never take from thee those everlasting mercies which are thy portion that hath all thy afflictions crosses troubles whatever they are or may be under the infallible conduct of his own wisdom and power And that as on the one side he will never suffer thee to be afflicted beyond what he gives thee grace to bear and improve so on the other hand he will so manage order and govern thy light afflictions which are here but for a moment that in the end they shall be a means to bring thee a far more exceeding and eternal
the former Rom. 5.1 Being justifica by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ the only cause of breach between God and his creature is sin and this being quite removed the enmity between God and his creature is removed and peace and love restored between them 3. Free Access unto God for we are restored unto peace with him and consequently access unto him and indeed it is a part of that duty which he expects from us our access to him is not only our priviledge as the access of a Subject to his Prince or a child to his father but it is our duty as a thing enjoyned unto us in testimony of our dependence and love unto him 4. Consequently Peace with our selves and our own Conscience and that upon a double ground 1. Because our Conscience is sprinkled by the blood of Christ which defaceth and oblitereth all those black Items that otherwise would be continually calling upon us 2. Because Conscience ever sideth with God whose vicegerent she is in the Soul and hath the very same aspect for the most part that heaven hath and therefore if it be clear above it is ordinarily quiet within and if God speaks peace the Conscience unless distempered doth not speak trouble 5. An Assurance of a continual supply of sufficient Grace to lead us through this vale of trouble without a final apostacy or falling from him Were our Salvation in our own hands or managed by our own strength we should utterly lose it every moment but the Power and Truth and Love of God is engaged in a Covenant of the highest solemnity that ever was sealed in the blood of the Son of God for our preservation and it shall be as impossible for us to fall from that condition as for the Almighty God to be disappointed No his counsel and truth the constant supply of the blessed Spirit of Christ shall keep alive that seed of life that he hath thrown into the soul 1 Joh. 3.9 For his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God 6. Sufficient Grace to preserve us from or support us in or deliver us out of temptations We stand more in need of Grace than we do of our bread because the consequence of the want of the former is of more danger than the latter by so much as the Soul is more valuable than the Body If our Father is pleased to furnish us with our daily bread how shall he then deny us our daily and hourly supplies of his Grace Especially since our interest therein is founded upon the covenant made in the blood of Christ 2 Cor. 12.9 My grace is sufficient for thee 7. A favourable Acceptation of our duties since they are the performances of children and therefore not measured according to their own worth but according to the relation and affection from whence they proceed 8. A Gentle and Merciful Pardoning of our Failings even as a Father pitieth and pardoneth the infirmities of a Child and though he doth not dispense with Presumptuous Offences yet he either observes not or forgives their many Infirmities And it is a Priviledge of high concernment to us that as in our first conversion the blood of Christ washeth away a whole life of sins at once so after our conversion the same fountain stands open whereunto we may and must resort to cleanse our daily Failings Christ received by faith in the heart is a continual Sacrifice which I may present unto the Father for my sins committed after my conversion 9. A comfortable Restitution of a just Interest in the creatures When man forsook the Allegiance he owed to his Maker the interest he had in the creature did as it were escheat to the Lord and though his goodness after permitted him the use of them yet it was still as it were upon account And as the sons of men have a great Account to give unto God for their sins so they have for his creatures Christ hath restored unto us a better propriety in that which Civil right hath made ours than what we had before 10. A Comfortable and Sanctified Use of all Conditions in Prosperity Moderation in Adversity Contentedness in all Sobriety For as our Lord hath purchased for us Grace to use all things aright so he hath obtained for us an inheritance that renders the best the world can give us unworthy to be valued and the worst it can give us unworthy to be feared in respect of the blessedness which he hath setled upon us 11. Consequently Contempt of the World because higher matters are in my eye such as the best the world can yield cannot equal nor the worst it can inflict cannot take away And all this upon 12. A Lively Hope a hope that maketh not ashamed even of that Glory which my Saviour came down from heaven to purchase by his blood and the assurance whereof he hath sealed with his blood Joh. 14.2 3. I go to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto my self that where I am ye may be also A hope of a blessed Resurrection after death a hope of that blessed appearance of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ a hope of that glorious sentence in the presence of Men and Angels Come ye blessed and an hope of an Everlasting estate of Blessedness and Glory in the presence of the great God and the glorified Saints and Angels unto all Eternity And the efficacy of this hope dipt in the blood of Christ brings us Victory 1. Victory over Sin Sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the Law but under Grace Rom. 6.14 He that hath this hope purifieth himself even as he is pure 1 Joh. 3.3 2. Victory over the World in the best it can afford us its flatteries and favours these are too small and inconsiderable when compared with this hope they shine like a Candle in the Sun and are ineffectual to win over a Soul that is fixed upon this hope and victory over the worst the world can inflict Our Lord hath conquered the world in this respect for us Be not afraid I have overcome the world Joh. 16. 33. and conquered it in us This is the victory that overcometh the world even your Faith 1 Joh. 5.4 3. Victory over Death which now by means of this blessed hope is stript as well of her terror as of her power Thus thanks be unto God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 15.57 And now though the nature of this argument hath carried my meditations to a great height yet to avoid mistakes some things I must subjoyn 1. That when I thus aggravate the sufferings of our Lord under the imputed guilt of the sins of mankind yet we must not think that his sufferings were the same with the Damned as not in duration so neither in kind nor in degree
motions and tendencies of our Sensual Appetite This sensual appetite is in it self good placed in us by the God of Nature for excellent ends viz. for the preservation of the individual nature as eating and drinking and those invitations of sense subservient thereunto or for the preservation of the species as the desires of sexes But they then become a sinful part of this inferior world 1. when they become inordinate 2. or excessive 3. or unseasonable or generally 4. when they are not subordinate in their actings to the government of reason enlightened by moral or religious light A Christian hath no such enemies without him as unruly and undisciplined lusts and passions within him and it is a vain thing to think of overcoming the world without us until this world within us be brought into subjection for without the corruptions and lusts within the world and the evil men of the world and the evil one of the world could not hurt us Non vulnus adactis Debetur gladiis percussum est pectore ferrum The wedge of gold was an innocent thing but Achan's covetous heart within gave it strength to do harm We come into the world as into a great shop full of all variety of wares accommodate to our senses lusts and affections and were it not for these those wares would lye long enough upon the hands of the prince of this world before they could get within us or corrupt us 2. The world without us is of three kinds 1. The Natural world which is the work of Almighty God most certainly in it self good and is not evil but accidentally by man's abuse of himself or it It doth contain a general supply of objects answerable to the desires of our vegetable and sensible nature and the exigences and conveniences of it is a great shop full of all sorts of wares answerable .... there is wealth and places and delights for the senses and it becomes an enemy to us by reason only of the disorder and irregularity of those lusts and passions that are within us and by reason of the over-value that we are apt to put upon them they are indeed temptations but they are only passive as the wedge of gold did passively tempt Achan but it was his own lust and covetousness that did him the harm the rock doth not strike the ship but the ship strikes the rock and breaks it self This world as it is not evil in it self so most certainly it is full of goodness and benevolence to us it supplies our wants is accommodate to the exigences and conveniences of our nature furnisheth us with various objects and instances of the divine goodness liberality bounty of his power and majesty and glory of his wisdom providence and government which are so many instructions to teach us to know and admire and magnifie him to walk thankfully dutifully and obediently unto him to teach us resignation contentedness submission and dependence upon him A good heart will be made better by it and if there be evil in it it is such as our own corrupt natures occasions or brings upon it or upon our selves by it and it is a great part of our Christian warfare and discipline to teach us to use it as it ought to be used and to subdue those lusts and corruptions that abuse it and our selves by it Again secondly there is another world without us the malignant and evil world the world of evil Angels and of evil Men Mundus in maligno positus and the great mischiefs of this world are of two kinds viz. 1. Incentives and temptations from it that are apt to bring the rest of mankind into the evil of sin and offence againft God such as are evil examples evil commands evil counsels evil perswasions and sollicitations 2. The troubles and injuries and vexations and persecutions and oppressions and calumnies and reproaches and disgraces that are inflicted by them And the evil that ariseth from these are of two kinds viz. such as they immediately cause which is great uneasiness and griefs and sorrow and again such as consequentially arise from these namely the evil of sin as impatience discontent unquietness of mind murmurings against the Divine Providence doubtings of letting go our confidence in God disturst unbelief and putting forth our hands to iniquity to deliver our selves from these inconveniences either by unlawful or forbidden means by sinful compliances with the sinful world by falling in with them to deliver our selves from their oppressions persecutions or wrongs by raising commotions engaging in parties and infinite more unhappy consequences And thirdly there is a third kind of world which is in a great measure without us namely the accidental or more truly the providential world in relation to man and his condition in this world and is commonly of two kinds viz. prosperous or adverse External or worldly Prosperity consists in an accommodate condition of man in this world as health of body comfort of friends and relations affluence or at least competency of wealth power honour applause good report and the like The dangers that steal upon mankind in this condition are pride haughtiness of mind arrogance vain-glory insolence oppression security contempt of others love of the world fear of death and desires of diversion from the thoughts of it luxury intemperance ambition covetousness neglect and forgetfulness and a low esteem of God the life to come and our duty 2. Adversity as sicknesses and diseases poverty loss of friends and estate publick or private disturbances or calamities and the like And though oftentimes these are occasioned by the evil or malignant world yet many times they seem to come accidentally and are apt to breed impatience discontent unquietness of mind distrust of Providence murmuring envy at the external felicity of others and that common discomposure which we ordinarily find in our selves and others upon like occasions IV. The fourth considerable is what is this Faith which thus overcometh the world which is nothing else but a deep real full sound perswasion of and assent unto those great truths revealed in the Scriptures of God upon the account that they are truly the word and will of the Eternal God who is truth it self and can neither deceive nor be deceived and herein these two matters are considerable 1. What are those divine truths which being really and soundly believed doth enable the victory over the world or the special objects of that victorious faith 2. What is that act of faith or belief of these excellent objects which thus overcometh the world 1. For the former of these although the whole body of divine truths is the adequate object of faith yet there seem to be certain special heads or parts of divine truths that have the greatest influence into this victory over the world I shall mention some of them namely 1. That there is one most Powerfyl Wise Gracious Bountiful Just and All-seeing God the Author of all being that is present in