applause without any higher principle may prepare and prompt men to endure Persecution And it need no more be wondred at that the meer animal and selfish life should expose it self to much smart and many severities than that a generous Cock should fight to crow and expose himself to death it self to get the victory over his Antagonist It is well known how much the superstitious Papists will deny and debase and degrade and torment themselves what Penances and Pilgrimages and poverty they will undergo and all this out of a slavish fear of God and a design to keep their lusts alive They will half kill their own bodies rather than crucifie their lusts or mortifie the body of sin These things they do not for the mortification of lusts but indeed these things they do rather than they will mortifie them for these things with them supply the place of Mortification But I fear we have many Self-sufferers in the World that will not own themselves to be of that Society I believe it is a malicious reproach that is by some cast upon the generality of Protestant sufferers at this day in the World viz. that they suffer for humour and self-conceit out of obstinacy and a spirit of contradiction for applause and a greater corroboration of their party But yet it may reasonably be feared that there are too many that do so It seems not at all strange to me that a man should study Self-advancement by a pretended Self-denial that he should seem to lose his life on purpose that he may find it I mean that he should pretend to crucifie the meer animal and selfish life on purpose to enjoy it the more securely and hug it the more dearly that a man should take joyfully the spoiling of his Goods rather than violate his fleshly interest or expose his lusts to spoil Men do sometimes most of all maintain and pamper this dying life of theirs when they seem to starve it and drive on the same design with Judas even when their Persecutions seem to be the same with Pauls Men may as verily feel themselves and as passionately please themselves in the seeming constancy courage and patience of their sufferings as in the pretended zeal and devotion of their actions and as truly seek and set up themselves and a Self-supremacy in their own souls by the one as by the other But God is All to the truly godly soul in his Persecutions This I might explain as to the Cause of them the End of them and the Manner of sustaining them As to the efficient cause of them he does not fret and storm and rage at men whether open Enemies or false Friends whether Informers Accusers Law-givers Executioners but he looks higher and sees and owns the hand of God in all things that befal him by the ministry of men David knew that Shimei could not have cursed him if God had not opened his mouth 2 Sam. 16. 10. And our Saviour presently replies unto Pilate when he bragged of his power Joh. 19. 11. Thou couldst have no power at all against me except it were given thee from above As to the material cause or matter of his Persecutions God is all in that too For he suffers for righteousness sake Mat. 5. 10. and for well doing 1 Pet. 3. 17. not for toyes and trifles petty perswasions and private opinions or matters of meer indifferency His soul is employed about more substantial and important matters he will not so much as go to Law about such things much less expose himself to the rigour of a penal Law for them he will not so much as be in a heat about them much less will he burn for them And therefore it is not out of pride humour or sullenness as the Persecutors do slanderously report but out of conscience towards God that he endures grief 1 Pet. 2. 19. He knows no interest but that of his soul which consists in his most exact conformity to truth and holiness and it is to this interest and the propagation of it that he is well content to sacrifice whatever else may be reckoned dear or grateful to him As to the End of his sufferings God is All unto the godly soul here too There are many base and low and selfish ends which a man may propound to himself in suffering for a good cause which it were too long to insist upon All which the truly Divine soul abhors He is not so prodigal of his blood as to shed one drop of it to purchase a name written in Red Letters he will not expose his Goods to spoil in order to a more ample restitution he will not fall on purpose to rebound the higher nor have his person confined that so his name may spread and his credit be enlarged But he is well content to be reproached that so God may be honoured and to be starved that truth may be maintained he is content to wither in his estate that so he may flourish in gâ—ace to perish in the outward man that he may be renewed in the inward to die for the people if so he may preserve them from perishing The glory of God and the Salvation of souls or if you will in plainer terms the exercise of grace the defence of truth the advancement of the Kingdom of Christ in his own soul and the propagation of it in the souls of others are the grand designs of the godly soul when he takes up any cross Lastly God is All to the godly soul in the manner of his suffering Persecutions His way of sustaining them is with a pure peaceable humble self-denying patient constant chearful and charitable mind a mind prepared to wish good and do good to his very enemies and Persecutors Mat. 5. 44. In which excellent temper he feels not he pleases not he enjoies not himself or any self-excellency but glorifies God who gives such power unto men and admires Divine grace in that Heroical and most Christ-like passive frame which he finds derived into his soul I shall wave the farther prosecution of this particular because I foresee it will fall fitly also under another Head CHAP. IX God is all to the godly man in his Enjoyments What are the Enjoyments of Mind of Body of Estate The unregenerate mind enjoyes all these in a sensual or selfish manner But the godly man tastes a Divine sweetness in every thing that he enjoies though there be different degrees of refinement in Souls that are refined God is All to the godly Soul in his Endowments The unregenerate mind gross in admiring his own and other mens excellencies The godly soul entitles God to all that is good in himself or others God is the All of a good man's life and yet he is not satisfied with what he enjoies of him here but perpetually thirsts for more The Doctrine to be understood with three cautions that are briefly laid down 5. GOD is All to the godly man in his Enjoyments The enjoyments
Christ in my own soul or in the World or to some end higher than the pleasing of my flesh and the gratification of my animal passions I may be said to do that for God although I do not directly meditate upon the Being of God at that time And so the Religious Christian even in his recreations which of all civil actions may seem to be most alien from a Religious design may truly eye and serve God If we were so abstracted from sense and purified from flesh-pleasing as were to be desired we might consult the health of our bodies and the exoneration of our minds by recreations and serve God as truly by them as by taking either food or Physick yea though we did receive a satisfaction from those things which are purely sensual a thing which we cannot hinder yet might we be said to be supersensual and Religious in those very acts For it is not the having of animal senses no nor the pleasing of them as such that is our fault but our sacrificing to and being sunk into the animal life this is our sin and shame and misery He that doth work or play Marry or give in marriage sincerely respecting the true good of his soul cannot be said to be sensual in such actions although his senses may and indeed will have their part in the delights thereof All things cannot be said to be done for flesh-pleasing in which it falls out that the flesh is pleased For some of those very actions that are principally designed and calculated for the glory of God and the interest of the soul may yet indifferently serve for the gratification of the senses and the entertainment of this animal body as may eating and drinking though it be directly to the glory of God and Marrying though it be never so much in the Lord. In his sacred Actions there the godly soul is yet more spiritual and refined Here is indeed no great danger of sensuality properly so called and yet here the wicked man can make a shift to be carnally-minded and selfish as you have already heard But in these kind of actions God is All to the godly soul He feels not himself in these he seeks not himself by them O how common a thing is it for men to carry an image of themselves before their eyes even in the things that they pretend to do for God! I suppose Jehu was no little fond of himself and his own valourousness and thought God was not a little endebted to him for it when he calls for witnesses and spectatours of it Come see my zeal for the Lord. And truly the Sacrilegious selfishness of other men is as great though not altogether so gross who although they do not so loudly proclaim themselves nor set up such visible Trophees of their own prayers yet do magnifie themselves in their own eyes and secretly applaud themselves in an unhallowed sense of their own Atchievements and attainments But the truly Religion soul though he cannot but know his own worth and excellencies yet knows it not no delights not in it as his own but as a communication of the Almighty goodness and infinite perfection of God unto him When he shines most gloriously in the exercises of gifts and the actings of grace he does not presently fall in love with his own picture dote upon his own perfections nor wantonly dally with his own gifts but looks upon his lustre only as a poor reflection of the divine light and glory which hath spread it self upon him As a rendring nothing to God but what is indeed his own Of thine own have we given thee and all this store cometh of thine hand and is all thine own 1 Chron. 29. 14 16. Have ye not read how sharply the Apostle Peter takes up the wondring Jews that seemed not to acknowledge God in the miraculous cure wrought upon the Crepple Acts 3. 12. Ye men of Israel why look ye so earnestly on us as if by our own power and holiness we had made this man to walk The godly man feels not himself in his Religious performances neither does he seek himself by them He makes not Religion a piece of pâ—licy nor serves himself of God when he pretends to serve him as that hypocritical Generation did of whom our Saviour speaks Matth. 23. 14. who made long prayers in subserviency to oppression and after him his Apostle James Jam. 4. 3. who prayed on purpose that they might have to spend upon their lusts This hath been a very reigning superstition in the world Did Saul think ye properly seek God or himself and his own safety in those forced burnt-offerings of his which he speaks of in 1 Sam. 13. 12. Therefore I said the Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal and I have not made supplication unto the Lord I forced my self therefore and offered a burnt-offering Did Judas think ye properly seek the honour of God or himself and his own enriching when he made a motion for giving three hundred pence to the poor Let the Spirit of God be Judge of this whose determination you will find in Joh. 12. 6. Some serve their own covetousness some seek their own safety some study to advance their own name and reputation by their Fastings Prayers and Alms But a godly soul is a stranger to all these low and sorry ends It is not wealth nor fame nor peace nor victory over his enemies nor deliverance from distresses no nor any other external glory or only reward in another World which he pursues in his Religious course But he draws nigh to God that God may draw nigh to him he waits upon him in Duties and Ordinances waiting for communications from him he knows nothing better than God himself for which he should serve him he accounts his end happiness and honour to resemble him and grow up in him In a word he does not only perform the duties of Religion as being God's Work which he hath set him about and promised a reward unto but indeed as his own work his own business he reckons it the true interest of his own soul to be good and do good and therefore will spend himself in these endeavours though no body will pay him no nor thank him for it Mark the different temper that was in Christ and some of his followers they served God for meat and drink Joh. 6. 26. but he accounted it his meat and drink to serve him Joh. 4. 34. CHAP. VIII God is all to the godly man in his Sufferings An account of Self-sufferers Papists and others God is All to the godly man in the Efficient the Material and Final cause of his sufferings explained God is all to the godly man in his manner of fearing Afflictions and Persecutions 4. GOD is All to the godly man in his Sufferings I know that unsound and hypocritical spirits are much more forward to do than suffer and yet no doubt the power of self-love and affectation of
relish to his palate whilst he had an animal body as they afforded to other mens although he was so infinitely pure and spiritual as that it was his meat and drink to be doing the Will of God The power of Grace doth not enable any man not to taste a sweetness or bitterness in things that are really sweet or bitter It does not fall under the power of my reason or will whether or no I will relish or sensate the sweetness of my morsel I cannot help that although I can keep my self from eating it so then it cannot fall under the power of grace But although Grace do not destroy the sensation of the senses yet it regulates and moderates all the senses as to their actings Hence Job is said to have made a Covenant with his eyes Job 31. 1. and David to have kept his mouth as with a bridle Psal 39. 1. And as it governs the senses as to their actings so it also bestowes a more excellent ability upon the soul to delight it self in things sensual in a supersensual way and manner Besides the pleasure of the senses which is animal and common to all men yea indeed and beasts also the gracious soul doth relish something Divine something of God his Love his communications in all delectable objects which confers upon them a transcendent substantial sweetness And thus he may be said to taste God in every morsel to smell the Divinity in every Flower and to converse with him by a kind of secret feeling in all that he touches tastes or handles in the World CHAP. VI. God is All to the godly man in his Trust and Confidence The creature-confidence of carnal men is Blasphemy Good men are afraid of distrust How great reckoning they have alwaies made of their Faith The only fear of carnal men is the violation of self interest God is All in the fears of good men They fear him only though they are not afraid of him God is All to the godly man in his grief and sorrow explained 3. GOD is All to the godly man in his Trust and Confidence The degenerate and unregenerate soul as it is sunk into the creature so it sticks there it sticks by love and delight and sticks fast by confidence It were endless to give you but the Scripture instances of Self-confidence and Creature-dependance In Creature-confidence there is much Atheism or rather indeed blasphemy For to ascribe that firmness faithfulness sufficiency which God alone is to any thing besides him must needs be blasphemous and idolatrous And thus do wicked men blaspheme whilst they lay the stress of their souls upon the Arm of flesh upon Chariots and Horse men upon friends and Allies upon carnal interests or worldly riches And thus we know they do Psal 20. 7. Some trust in Chariots and some in Horses Prov. 18. 11. The rich man's wealth is his strong City and as a high Wall in his own conceit But godly men have God alone for their refuge and confidence according to that of the wise King Prov. 18. 10. The Name of the Lord is a strong Tower the righteous run into it and are safe I know they may be and often are surprized with fears and doubts but yet even then they will not let go their hold of God Psal 56. 3. What time I am afraid I will trust in thee It is as much the part of a godly soul to relye and rest upon God as to love him and pray unto him he is afraid of distrust unbelief and casting away his confidence as well as of Drunkenness or Debauchery I cannot but take notice what great reckoning the Saints have made of their Faith as if the very life of their souls had been bound up in it How expresly and pathetically does the Apostle charge us concerning this Ephes 6. 16. Above all taking the Shield of Faith and again Heb. 10. 23. Let us hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering and again Vers 35. Cast not away your confidence which hath great recompence of reward Job when he had lost all yet resolves not to part with his Faith whatever became of him Job 13. 15. Though he slay me yet I will trust in him And doubtless an ingenuous and steady reliance upon the grace and strength and help of God alone is an excellent argument of a sound and gracious soul Good men know how to make use of second causes and they see commonly as far into all creature-probabilities as any other men but it is the vertue and strength of God that they rest upon in all means and instruments 4. God is All to the godly soul in his fears The ungodly are full of worldly fears slavish fears scarce ever free from fears about one thing or other yea though there be nothing visible to make them afraid But as their interest is bound up in self and this present World so their great and only fear is concerning the violation of this self-interest He that hath plac'd his happiness in the enjoyment of any created good hath made a miserable choice for he is in danger of being utterly ruin'd every hour all created good being subject to so many spoilers that a man can never be secure in his possession And therefore no wonder that his heart is haunted one while with the fears of death another while with the fears of losses loss of Friends or Children loss of Goods or Reputation fears of wants fears of disgrace and many things more which his slavish heart is aw'd with continually But God is All in the fears of good men He is their fear and their dread as the phrase is Isa 8. 13. Not that they are properly afraid of God for they discover nothing in him but what is most amiable and grateful to them and therefore converse with him as with love it self serve him as accounting it their happiness and interest to do so and obey his Commands as those which are most equitable and suitable and most perfective of their natures with all gladness and chearfulness but they are afraid of sin so as wicked men are afraid of sickness and death viz. as that which is hurtful to them and destructive of their happiness Sin is all their fear by reason of the opposition it bears to the pure nature of God and so it may be said that God is All in their fear Thus Moses seems to have been more solicitous for the honour of God than for the preservation of the whole Congregation and more afraid of the sin of the Egyptians than of the death of the Israelites Numb 14. 13 14 15 16. whereunto many more Instances might be added Lastly To name no more of the Affections God is All things to the godly soul in his grief Concerning the sorrow of the wicked one I may say partly the same as I said even now concerning their fears it is a worldly sorrow derived from and terminated in the Creature But the sorrow of
to that but to the two last Only I cannot but intimate that there is a vast difference between fearing of God and being afraid of him To fear him is often made the Character of an ingenuous holy child-like spirit and is therefore made the summ of all Religion Eccles 12. 13. but to be afraid of him to worship him as a severe numen or a saevus dominus with a kind of horrour and invidiousness of mind with a secret kind of wrath and jealousie or doubting does certainly argue a superstitious and legal spirit a mind that for the present is in bondage yea if I mistake not the meaning of the Prophet he makes this the badge of an hypocritical people Isa 33. 14. Fearfulness hath surprized the Hypocrites who amongst us shall dwell with devouring fire who amongst us shall dwell with everlasting burning As soon as Adam had sinned against God he becomes afraid of him and flies from him Gen. 3. And to this day men do secretly hate him whom they fear As for the fear of the creature and fear of trouble in the flesh it is a predominant principle in carnal minds where self rules but it is incident to the best of Saints and is recorded as their infirmity for our caution as in Isaac David Peter who for fear of men denied one his Wife another his reason a third his Saviour But it is weariness of troubles and eager desires of rest from Adversity that are most plainly found in the Text and which I am therefore to speak to I think I need not speak to them singly for I think they are never found single but are inseparable Companions And here I shall endeavour to shew that good men are subject to these distempers Secondly Shew the cause of the distemper Thirdly Prescribe the cure of it And lastly improve the Doctrine in some few Inferences That the hearts of good men are sometimes surprized with impatience of troubles and eager desire of rest from Adversity will appear by the Examples of several eminent Saints I will not peremptorily determine whether the Prophet Elijah were thus distempered when he fled from the Persecution raised against him by Jezabel gat him all alone into the Wilderness and requested for himself that he might die 1 King 19. But I doubt not to affirm that holy Job was under this distemper He sticks not to confess that he is even tired out and wearied and wasted and exhausted in his spirits with the Afflictions that were upon him Wearisome nights are appointed to me Job 7. 3. My soul is weary of my life it is bitter within me Job 10. 1. Therefore you have him even cursing the day and night of his birth almost through the Third Chapter and wishing to be hid in the Grave over and over and that with a great deal of vehemency Job 6. 8 9 10. O that I might have my request and that God would grant me the thing that I long for Even that it would please God to destroy me that he would let loose his hand and cut me off And the Prophet Jeremiah was wearied with the Persecution and Oppression of his Country-men although the same was light in comparison of what he was to suffer Jer. 12. 5. he was wearied with running even with the Foot-men At another time you have him also cursing his Birth-day through impatience and the man that brought tidings of his coming into the World because he slew him not from the Womb Jer. 20. 14 15 16 17. The same Prophet could be content to live a solitary unpleasant unprofitable life like an Anchoret so he might but escape the treachery of the people Jer. 9. 2. What a discontentment and passion Jonah was in and that for a light matter all know and how he will needs be gone out of the World in a pet his History does fully relate Concerning David and his impatience disquietness weariness and perplexity of mind I have many things to say and the book of Psalms does afford many pregnant instances How long wilt thou forget me O Lord how long shall mine enemies exalt themselves over me how long shall the Adversary reproach how long shall the wicked triumph c. But I need not go far from my Text to demonstrate the greatness of David's distemper In the words of this Text and the two following Verses you will discern the greatness of his weariness and the eagerness of his desires of deliverance if we consider the following particulars 1. In general he seems to apprehend his case desperate out of which there was no escape Videntur hae voces esse hominis desperati saies Mollerus The Words of the Text seem to be rather a boyling up of passion than the putting up of a Prayer a wise or well grounded Prayer This is a sad distemper of mind very dishonorable to God and unbeseeming a godly soul and yet so diseased in his mind does David here seem to be as also at other times as when he forgot all the promises that God had made to him and cry'd out All men are Lyars and I shall perish by the hand of Saul 2. More particularly he is so weary of his Persecution and so intent upon deliverance that he puts God upon the working of Miracles for his escape and such a Miracle as we never read that he wrought for any man Oh that I had wings What must the course of nature and the order of the Creation be inverted for him It was a devout and holy zeal in David to envy the Sparrows and the Swallows because they were allowed to come nearer the Altar of God than he Psal 84. 3. But to be content to be transformed into a silly Bird meerly to have the benefit of her wings to escape a temporal danger is certainly a strange distraction in a holy man Oh how wonderful great is the power of this animal life which puts men upon such strange contrivances for its own preservation yea even such men as in whom the reigning power of it is destroyed and a higher life hath taken place Certainly the wings of David's Soul the wings of Faith and hope were sadly moulted away or he would never have invented such a strange device as a winged body He is so eager that any kind of wings will not serve his turn neither they must be wings of a Dove the swiftest that he could think of Oh that I had wings like a Dove For so I judge that he names the wings of a Dove rather than any other Bird because of the great speediness of her flight though I know some men to excuse the Prophet or rather indeed to shew their own wit have invented other reasons Naturalists speak much of the swiftness of the Dove in flying they say she can out-fly the Hawk and need not to fear him if she would but keep a direct and simple flight but when she begins to clap with her wings in a certain kind of pride and
wantonness then she becomes a prey 4. Yea so eager is he that if he had such wings he would presently fly with them He does not wish the wings of a Dove for ornament and beauty but for speed and if he had them he would not stand picking and dressing and trimming them as sometimes Doves do but he would presently spread his new sails and be gone We Translate the words Oh that I had wings like a Dove for then would I flye away but in the Hebrew there is nothing between the wings of a Dove and flying with them The words run thus Oh that I had a wing like a Dove I will flye away and be at rest 5. Yea he would hasten with them He would not simply fly with his wings but use them to the utmost expedition As if the wings of a Dove and flying with them were not enough he will also hasten with them he will fly as fast as wings will carry him Vers 8. I would hasten my escape from the Storm and Tempest In which words he seems to continue his Metaphor and to allude to the manner of Doves who when they are abroad and presage a Storm make all possible speed to recover their Cote 6. So great is his impatience and eagerness that he will be content to wander to have no certain place not to be fixt any where so he may but escape he cares not whither it is Vers 7. Lo then would I wander c. 7. He would be content to wander afar off he cares not how far as far as wings will carry him Vers 7. Lo then would I wander afar off He that used to be so loving of the Land and so desirous of the Sanctuary that he was once ready to wish himself a Swallow or a Sparrow that he might flye thither now wishes himself a Dove that he might flie far enough from it into some of the utmost parts of the earth It was wont to be his Policy to abide in some of the borders of Judah and to hover about the skirts of that Land that so he might be ready to lay hold of any advantage that God should put into his hand for the obtaining of the Kingdom as it is the manner of most men to contrive to dwell as near as they can to their hopes but now his hopes of a Kingdom are expired and all his policys are expired with them he is so eager to be got out of harms way that he never thinks of being in the way of preferment Lo then I would wander afar off 8. So impatient and eager is he that he cares not though he rested in a Wilderness so he might but rest He that was wont to take so much delight in good company as you may see in the 14 Vers of this Psalm can now be content to sit down in a solitary Wilderness void of all humane Society He that used to be so loving of the company of men can now be content to converse amongst Beasts in the Wilderness and expose himself to their savage and ravenous temper This seems indeed to imply that the lusts of his enemies were grown to a great height of sury and fierceness when he apprehended it safer conversing with the Beasts of the Wilderness than with them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Antisthenes used to say But yet it argues the greatness of his distemper who would be content with a life amongst Beasts which is a most unprofitable life scarce worthy to be called life so he might but live at rest But may some say he would have only retired into the Wilderness for a season he would have returned when the Storm was over It seems otherwise to me for 9. He will be content not only to escape thither but even to dwell there Vers 6. Eschonah habitabo and Vers 7. Alin I would remain in the Wilderness He seems as if he would forget the promise of the Kingdom and bury all the hopes of it in an everlasting Self-banishment Now put all these together and you will say with me That here is an Example of a good man in a very sad distemper of Impatience of trouble and eager desire of Rest from Adversity CHAP. II. An enquiry into the causes of the foresaid distemper in the minds of men The first cause assigned viz. A misapprehension of the Nature of God and a misinterpretation of his Providences A correction of these misapprehensions and a prescription of a cure in reference to this cause of the distemper AND now I will enquire what may be the cause of such a disease as this in holy minds Here I shall lay down some of the immediate causes as I apprehend and for brevity sake annex the cure to each which is by taking away the cause The first Cause of this distemper of Impatience of troubles and eager desires of rest from Adversity is a misapprehension of the nature of God and a misinterpretation of His Providences Men are apt to imagine God to be like unto themselves a peevish self-willed Arbitrary Being acting meerly by prerogative or carried by passion after the manner of some great King or Judge upon Earth It is the misery of these captive and degenerate souls of ours that they are fain to borrow Notions and Ideas from men and their manner of acting and governing their petty Dominions whereby to apprehend and conceive of God and his infinite nature and unsearchable Providences and by this means we come to attribute those things to God which indeed are utterly inconsistent with his perfect nature because the same are found in those earthly Potentates from whom we derive those Ideas and form these resemblances Now such a God as we phancy to our selves must needs be burdensome and grievous to us especially when he afflicteth us Who would not vex and fret and rage under the Sentence of such a Judge as he supposed did command him to be punished meerly because it was his pleasure or to shew his Authority when there was no reason in the thing Who can patiently bear the Yoke of such a God as does impose his commands only Pro imperio and inflict his punishments only Pro arbitrio only to shew his Authority But such is not the God whom we serve All his Laws are the products of his Wisdom and Infinite understanding and not imposed upon his Creatures till his own goodness and the good of the Creature was first consulted All his Providences are the result of Infinite Love and Benignity and carried on by the Eternal Laws of Righteousness If you would therefore possess your souls in patience labour to purge your minds from imbittering thoughts of God as if he did seek to get a name and make himself famous by the suffering of his Creatures or were pleased with the sighs and groans which his Almighty severity can extort from those whom he hath a mind to make miserable Be ye verily perswaded that the Will of God however absolute and
unlimited it is doth alwaies proceed according to the Eternal Rules of goodness and righteousness And this will heal your spirits of all fretfulness and reconcile your minds not only to those Laws and Institutions of his which seem to be most Arbitrary but also to those Providences which seem to be most severe or unequal By a like mistake we are apt to ascribe Passion to God and to represent him to our selves as if he were all in a rage and very angry when he afflicts us Which Notion destroies all that chearful acquiescence under his hand and that quiet and friendly conversing with his Providence which we ought to maintain and so an imaginary wrath in God begets a real rage in our peevish and inpotent minds When as indeed the nature of God is as free from Anger Hatred Revenge and all the passions of our minds as it is from Hands or Eyes or Feet or any of the Members of our Bodies God is good and doth good saies our Psalmist Psal 119. 68. God is Love saies the beloved Apostle again and again 1 Joh. 4. 8 16. And there is nothing more certain than that God would never afflict his Creature if some greater good were not in view He envies not his People any of their Ease Peace Health Liberty or other Enjoyments but he loves them with a strong and Holy and Wise Affection and therefore will Afflict them in these things whether they will or no that he may bestow upon them some more substantial good Labour to converse with God in all his Providences as with Wisdom Goodness Righteousness and Love it self and then you will not be weary of his Discipline or peevishly affected towards any of his Dispensations We are apt to cry out Oh if we were but sure of the Love of God towards us in all our Afflictions we could be then content and patient Why go you and possess your souls in patience and get your Wills reconciled to the Providences of God Love him and delight in him and believe in him though he Afflict you never so sore and then be assured that God loves you for the Love and good Will of God is not his giving the Creature but it is the communication of himself and his Divine Perfections to your Souls CHAP. III. A Second Cause assigned viz. A misunderstanding of our true interest This Explained Where the true interest of Souls is Stated and the Cure prescribed in reference to this Cause of the Distemper A third Cause assigned viz. The want of a right discerning of Good and Evil. Where the nature of Good and Evil is Explained and Direction given how to discern them by way of Cure 2. ANother Cause of this distemper is A misunderstanding of our true interest Alas how are we sunk into this body How studious are we and fond of the accommodations and conveniencies of this animal life What fears and jealousies cares and contrivances what watchings and prayings and strivings and all for the peace and welfare of the flesh Certainly we judge our main interest to lie in the preserving pleasuring accommodating of the body and not of the soul which wicked apprehension as it destroies all true Religion so particularly it breeds the distemper that I am speaking of We are strangely fond of this Life as miserable as it is and of this body as unsuitable as it is and therefore are we so much offended with all things that are grievous and hurtful to the same yea we are apt to fret against God himself if he do not please and pamper them as much as we It is a woful degeneracy that hath befallen the soul of man which makes him mis-judge and mistake his main interest the like mistake is not to be found in the whole World sure I will not say with the Prophet Pass ye over the Isles of Chittim and send unto Kedar and see if there be such a thing but indeed pass ye through the whole Creation and visit all the particular beings that are therein and you shall not find such a thing such a degeneracy as this is you shall not find any Creature that thus forgets it self or thus mistakes its main intetest although the same be no interest in comparison of the concernment of an immortal soul Be astonished O ye Heavens at this monstrous absurdity The Fig-tree in Jonathan's Parable would not leave its sweetness to go to be promoted over the Trees but this noble plant of the Lord 's planting the rational soul hath forsaken its interest and forgotten its proper sweetness and renounced its own pleasure and felicity to go serve its own servant and study the interest of flesh and blood To the service whereof it is so entirely devoted that God himself must be quarrelled with if he use not this Dalilah kindly if he offer to put it to any pain Be advised I beseech you therefore to get a right understanding of your grand interest and where it lies in order to the healing of this distemper Value your selves by your souls and not by your bodies by your spiritual and not by your corporal state Is that man happy whose body and bodily concernments are all in a peaceful and flourishing state when in the mean time his soul is defiled depraved deformed impoverished and become more vile than the Dung upon the earth and more wretched than the Beasts that perish How then can that man be judged miserable whose nobler part is beautiful healthful rich and prosperous although his corporal and temporal estate be squalid sordid contemptible and much afflicted Our Saviour hath fully resolved this Question in the persons of Dives and Lazarus Luk. 16. Live like souls as much as may be abstracted from the body provide take care for view and visit your souls value your selves happy or unhappy according as it fares with your souls and then you will find it more natural and easie for you to bear up patiently and chearfully under all the Storms that light upon your outward man 3. The want of a right discerning of Good and Evil. This is somewhat akin to the former Our souls are so sadly sunk into matter and so fondly inamoured of our bodies that we are ready to judge of all things to be good or bad according as they accommodate or incommodate them and so we come many times to put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter Isa 5. 20. This is certainly a proper and immediate cause of our flying from groaning under and hastening out of Afflictions and Persecutions because we judge them hurtful and evil to us And why evil Forsooth because they gall our backs offend our senses pinch and oppress our flesh And is this indeed a right rule whereby to judge of the goodness or evilness of things Nay but if you would indeed possess your souls in patience in the midst of bodily pressures then exercise your spiritual senses to discern aright between Good and Evil as the Apostle's phrase is Heb.