THE GREAT DUTY OF Self-Resignation TO THE DIVINE WILL. By the late Pious and Learned JOHN WORTHINGTON D.D. Luke xxii 42. Nevertheless not my will but thine be done Rom. vi 13. But yield your selves unto God LONDON Printed by A. C. for Walter Kettilby at the Bishops-Head in St. Pauls Church-yard M. DC LXXV The Preface THe following Treatise contains the Substance of several Sermons which were Preached on divers Texts relating to each other and most of them at Benet Fink in London where the worthy Author was for some time Preacher till his Church and Parish were laid in Ashes and they were the last that were heard from him in that place On that Lord's-day whereon the dreadful Fire of London brake forth he was come to insist on the Exemplary Resignation of holy Iob to the Divine Will under those dismal Sufferings he was exercised with which is the Argument of the Ninth Chapter of the Second Section of this Discourse And it is to be believed that he was directed by a very special Providence to so highly useful and seasonable a Subject for the preparing his Hearers for that heavy Calamity which was so nearly approaching them Some of those Sermons I heard much commended about the time they were Preached and since the much lamented Death of the good Doctor a worthy Friend having found them all tied together among a confused company of Papers with this Inscription Self-Resignation he delivered them into my hands signifying withall that he had for the most part perused them to his great satisfaction And I quickly saw cause to believe that it would be a good work to make them publick And had it not been for multiplicity of business which forced me frequently and that for a considerable time together to lay it aside this Treatise might have been completed and seen the light above a year ago And now that it is through the goodness of God at length come abroad I hope the same allowance will be made for it that uses to be for Posthumous Pieces and also that none will expect that the Author should have written with such accuracy for the Pulpit as he would have done for the Press But yet as it is I doubt not but all understanding and ingenuous Readers will acknowledge it highly worthy a serious perusal and that it is excellently fitted for the promoting a Christian's proficiency in his Master's School As for the Subject it treats of Self-Resignation there is no Duty more evident Nothing is more apparently reasonable than that we are obliged to give up our selves to God to be used and acted by him as shall seem best to his unerring Wisdom Nor is any thing so unnatural as for the Wills of dependent Creatures to oppose themselves to the Will of their great Creator which is inseparably conjoyned with and ever founded upon the highest Reason Righteousness and Goodness There is not such a Prodigy or Monster in Nature as he that will not suffer that same Will to rule him that governs the World and refuseth to be entirely at his dispose who being the Original must needs be the absolute Lord of all things This Duty is also most comprehensive and of largest extent the whole of that which the Grace of God that bringeth Salvation teacheth is reduceable to it And 't is very obvious that there is nothing either commanded or forbidden for it self in our Saviour's Religion but is a necessary and natural expression and instance of Self-Resignation I mean there is not any thing we are required in the Gospel to perform or forbear for its own sake and not in order to the better enabling us to some other Duty and guarding us from some other Sin but it is of that nature that Self-Resignation is antecedently to the Command or Prohibition inconsistent with the not doing what is so commanded or the doing what is so forbidden And where a Resigned Temper is through the Divine Grace in some good measure acquired it will naturally draw after it most chearful Obedience and willing Submission to the good pleasure and appointments of our blessed Lord So that we shall not complain of any of those Precepts he hath given us as harsh or grievous nor of any affliction he trieth us with as over-severe Let me adde that the entire Resignation of our Wills to the Will of God must needs be a Subject than which there cannot be any one handled of more weighty importance in that the restoring Mankind to this excellent Temper was the grand and main Errand upon which God the Father sent his Son into the World This is as evident as that our Fall which brought us under the necessity of a Saviour was no other than the loss of this Temper accompanied with the necessary and immediate consequents thereof Man's affecting independence on his Maker his being impatient to be restrained within those limits which his Creator had appointed him and chusing to gratifie his senses and fond imagination without consulting with the Divine Will made known to him by the Dictates of Natural Light and External Revelation this was truly his Loss of Paradise this was his Lapse from the heavenly to the hellish state And therefore the restoring mankind to their original constitution the reducing our Wills to a perfect harmony and compliance with the Will of God was an undertaking of all other the most worthy of his onely begotten Son 's manifesting himself in our flesh and his doing and suffering what he did in the humane nature And as our Author could not have made choice of a more noble or necessary Subject so I presume his Method and way of mannaging it will not be thought unworthy of it First he presents us with the most powerful Considerations in order to our being fully convinced and affected with a great sense of our indispensable and eternal Obligation to Self-Resignation and to the exciting and awakening us to the most serious endeavours to subdue our Wills to the Will of God Secondly he directs us to the most effectual means for the rendring this Duty as easie as is possible to our frail and corrupt natures And under these two general Heads he hath taken occasion without digressing from his business to acquaint his Readers with most if not all the best and most important notions and principles I mean such as have the most apparent tendency to the promoting of true Holiness and to rectifie the most dangerous and fatal mistakes which are such as either directly strike at or in their Consequences undermine a good life The Reader will likewise observe an excellent and most Christian Spirit running through this whole Discourse and see great reason to believe that the Author was very much affected with what he hath written that his heart was powerfully touched with the Arguments he pursueth and that he had not a mere notional but experimental knowledge of the Excellency of a Self-denying Resigned temper and was acted with a great zeal
therefore we be not stronger if we are not better it is because we resist or at least neglect the Holy Spirit It is because we have not faith in God not because he is unwilling to help and assist us For what saith St. Iames chap. iv 5 6. The Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy such but giveth more grace He gives grace in such a measure as to overpower that spirit that lusteth in us So that for that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abundance of wickedness as the expression is Iames 1. 21. there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an abundance of grace as the phrase is Rom. 5. 17. which the regenerate and believing Soul receiveth by Jesus Christ. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell that of his fulness all might receive even grace for grace And this grace shall reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Iesus Christ our Lord. Thus you see what abundant encouragement we have to have faith in God for the supplies of his Grace and Spirit and what reason we have to take heed of unbelief if ever we would master our sinful affections and bring our wills into compliance with the Will of God And there is a double unbelief we are to beware of as very hurtful to our Souls First An Unbelief in relation to the mercy of God for the pardon of Sin Secondly An Unbelief in relation to the power and goodness of God for the subduing of Sin Now it is much to be lamented that whereas the former sort of unbelief is much taken notice of and condemned in Sermons and Books the latter is but little mentioned But if the evil of this were no less clearly and powerfully represented than the evil of the other and men were as effectually warned to beware of this as of that Unbelief it would through the blessing of God be an excellent means to make more sincere strong and healthy Christians Whereas alas the spirits and lives of the generality of Professors do now too plainly declare that they had rather have sin pardoned than subdued that they had rather sin should not be imputed to them than destroyed in them But the compleat Faith is this in opposition to that twofold Unbelief First To believe that Christ came to make expiation for sin so that it shall be pardoned to those that do truly repent That is to those that being sensible of their sins and are affected with a godly sorrow for them and an holy hatred and abhorrence of them desire and purpose above all things to walk before God in newness of life Which conditions of pardon and non-imputation of sin are by too many either not at all or but slightly insisted on while they press the duty of recumbence and relying on Christs merits for Justification and Salvation Secondly To believe that as Christ came to make atonement for sin so he was manifested also for this purpose that he might destroy the works of the Devil And to procure grace for us whereby sin may have no more dominion over us But this part of faith I say is little urged in comparison of the other whereas it is of as great concernment to our eternal happiness to have Faith in the Power of Christ as to have Faith in his Bloud Nay as appears from what hath been said to have sin mortified and to be enabled to will after the Will of God is far more than to be meerly pardoned for willing otherwise than God doth will Now their defect in this latter part of Faith is a great cause of Christians continuing so low and weak lazy and faint in a sickly and even bed-rid condition and of their fancying that they honour and please God by complaining of their impotence and infirmities whereas the true way to please and honour him is confiding in his omnipotent grace to get up and be doing But I fear I may also adde another reason why most of those that will confess their sins and pray for grace and strength against them are still as impotent as if there were no grace or assistance promised namely their not being heartily desirous of grace as well as their want of faith in the promises of it Their unwillingness whatsoever they pretend to have some lust or other mortified and to be throughly purified Their secret fear of the searching and purging work of the Spirit and of that light and grace that would disquiet them and not let them alone in some sins to which they are fondly and tenderly devoted It was one of St. Austin's Confessions I when I was a young man begged of thee that thou wouldest indue me with the grace of Chastity and said Give me Chastity but not yet for I feared lest thou shouldest presently hear me and immediately heal me and I had rather satisfie lust than have it extinguished If this be thy case whosoever thou art that readest these lines if this be the state and temper of thy Soul then in thy complaining of weakness and that the sons of Zervia are too hard for thee and in thy praying for the assistance of God's grace against them thou dost no better than add sin to sin the sin of false dealing with God and wicked hypocrisie to that of Unbelief thy heart is not right with God and thou lyest unto him with thy tongue But to conclude this Let us take heed lest there be in any of us an evil heart of Unbelief and so we fall short of the Spiritual Canaan and entring into the rest of God as it befell the unbelieving Israelites who perished in the Wilderness and none of all that came out of Egypt entred into Canaan but Caleb and Ioshuah men of another Spirit and that followed God fully who were full of Faith and encouraged the people to believe and prosper And it is observable that Caleb asked for the mountainous Countrey where the Anakims dwelt and the Cities were great and fenced by the news of which the evil Spies dismayed Israel but Caleb gave proof of the strength of his Faith in freely chusing to expose himself to the hard and seemingly impossible service of gaining this Countrey and was rewarded with success answerable to so great a faith for we read that he drave out the three sons of Anak notwithstanding that it was commonly said Who can stand before the sons Anak He made it manifest that Faith could stand before them and overcome them And if we have Calebs Faith in the power and goodness of God in fighting with the Spiritual Anakims we may be most undoubtedly assured of Calebs success Let the Spiritual Israel therefore encourage themselves in the Lord their God and they may be certain that it shall be unto them according to their faith his grace shall be sufficient for them and when the enemy shall come in like a floud the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against them CHAP. VI. Of the
he call them to such trials as are very difficult and ungrateful Let us walk in the steps of the faith and obedience of our Father Abraham in readily sacrificing our Isaac our delight and joy that sin which is most beloved the sin of our souls as the phrase is Micah vi 7. which seems to bring us most profit and most delight and pleasure By thus doing shall we be owned as the especial Friends and Favorites of God as Abraham was and receive the reward of such as he did CHAP. IX Of the Example of JOB IX SEecondly The next Example of Self-Resignation shall be that of upright and holy Iob And he will appear to be a most memorable and eminent one by these following Particulars First He was a Great man Great for Estate and Riches We read that he had seven thousand Sheep three thousand Camels five hundred yoke of Oxen five hundred She-Asses and very great store of Servants That he was the greatest of all the men of the East that is of Arabia which lay Eastward from the Land of Canaan He was great for Wisdom and by that means for Honour and Esteem of which there is a particular account Chap. xxix The aged men when they saw him arose and stood up ver 8. The Princes refrained talking and laid their hand upon their mouth the Nobles held their peace and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth ver 9 10. Such a reverence had they for him for the greatness of his Wisdom and excellent accomplishments that the car that heard him blessed him ver 11. All gave ear to him and waited and kept silence at his counsel After his words they spake not again his speeches dropped upon them and they waited for him as for the rain and opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain ver 22. 23. They received his discourse as a welcome and most desireable rain and such especially was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the latter rain before Harvest for making the Corn more plump and fair Secondly He was as Good as Great and Honourable Such was his Humility that he did not despise the cause of his man-servant or maid-servant when they contended with him Chap. xxxi 13. His Sobriety and Moderation of spirit is to be seen v. 25. c. His Charity and Compassion Chap. xxix 13 15 16. Chap. xxx 25. Chap. xxxi 16 17 19 20 32. His great Chastity Chap. xxxi 1 9. So far was he from making his great Estate to serve Sensuality and Lust. His Integrity and Honesty Ch. xxix 14. Chap. xxxi 7 38 39. His readiness to employ his power and interest for the relief and not for the crushing of oppressed Innocents Ch. xxix 12. Ch. xxxi 21. And this he did boldly and resolvedly Ch. xxxi 34. His exemplary Piety in keeping himself from the Idolatries of the Arabians Ch. xxxi 26 27. His pious sollicitude for his Children in their yearly Feastings lest they might have offended God in the heat of their Banquets Chap. i. 5. And Chap. xxiii 11 12. we have him expressing the great devotion of his Soul towards God in the constancy and universality of his Obedience My foot saith he hath held his steps his way have I kept and not declined neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food And God himself gives this character of Iob Chap. ii 3. That there was none like him in the earth a perfect and an upright man one that feareth God and escheweth evil Thus was this excellent Person a great Pattern of all kinds of Vertue in his flourishing estate and he was no less a Pattern of Self-Resignation in his afflictions and trials For Thirdly This Great and Good man was sorely afflicted and tried by God There were three Messengers that brought him the tidings of sad Calamities that befell him in his Possessions his Oxen Asses Sheep and Camels with his Servants being carried away by the Sabeans and Chaldeans or consumed by fire from heaven But the fourth Messenger brings the heaviest news of all viz. That all his Sons and Daughters were crusht to pieces by the fall of the house wherein they were feasting This was dismal indeed to lose all his Children at once and that not by a natural but violent death and to have them destroyed with such a sudden destruction and that also in the midst of their feasting and mirth But besides the more to aggravate his affliction these several Messengers came immediately one after another while one was speaking another came in one wave the more to overwhelm him came upon the neck of the other so that he had no respite no time to concoct his sorrows no diversion no time of breathing to prepare himself to bear the next But after all this affliction comes nearer still and more close to him God permitted Satan to exercise his cruelty upon his Body which was stricken with sore boyls and that all over even from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot Chap. ii 7. He was full of anguish in every part There was nothing about him left whole and entire but the skin of his teeth Chap. xix 20. or the skin about his gums or lips nothing was whole about him but his mouth to complain with To have one such bile is very painful but to have such angry and noisome things all over the body how exquisitely tormenting must it needs be And in this sad plight he sate down not on an easie Couch or soft Bed but among the ashes v. 8. or upon a Dunghil without the city as the Septuagint hath it Where he had none to dress his sores but himself nor any thing that we read of to help himself with but some piece of earthen vessel cast on the Dunghill Instead of using Oyls and Salves that were proper for the mitigation of his pain and the healing his Sores he scraped them or squeezed out the raging matter of them with a potsherd He was so changed by his blains and botches and in so squalid a condition that his Friends knew him not Chap. ii 12. His Brethren went far from him and his acquaintance were estranged from him his kinsfolk failed him and his familiar friends forgot him they that dwelt in his house and his maids counted him for a stranger he was an alien in their sight He called his servant and he gave him no answer he intreated him with his mouth His breath was strange to his wife though he entreated for the Childrens sake of his body The young Children despised him and spake against him His inward friends abhorred him and those whome he loved were turned against him as he most pathetically complains Chap. xix His three Friends Eliphaz Bildad and Zophar when they first came to see him sate down upon the ground seven days and nights and could not speak for astonishment at so strange