serve as a Glass wherein they that are subject to this Passion and the Excesses of it may behold how ill it becomes any who pretend to the Government of Reason and much worse becomes those who make profession of Religion for if it be considered how much of Religion lies in Love Love being the fulfilling of the Law yea he that dwelleth in love is said to dwell in God and God in him It 's easie to infer or whether Men will make the Inference or no because unwilling to condemn themselves as the Jews in the Question about John's Baptism yet the Consequence is unavoidable that where there is much Passion Strife and Contention there is but little of Religion He that bridleth not his Tongue may seem to be religious but his Religion is vain James 1. 26. i. e. comes short of obtaining the end of Religion which is Salvation But how lovely and endearing in it self and what an ornament to Religion is Meekness Slowness to Anger Readiness to Forgive and not only so but to render Good for Evil A meek and quiet Spirit is in the sight of God of great price Reader let it be so in thine and then thou wilt answer much of the Design of this Treatise and ours in recommending it who are Thy Servants in the Lord JOHN HOWE JOHN STARKEY PROV XXV 28. He that hath no rule over his own Spirit is like a City that is broken down and without Walls THE Proverbs of a latter Collection ascribed yet to Solomon which begins in this Chapter admit of more connexion than the former did yet some of them are entire Sentences as this is for one intreating of a Matter diverse to what went before and so admits of no Light from the Coherence And it will be our work to handle it as an Entire Proposition and as a Doctrine in the very words viz. That he that hath no Rule c. And so shew 1. The sence of the Similitude A City that hath had Walls and has them broken down or is an unwalled Town is of no Defence Jeremy sadly laments the Walls of Jerusalem to be broken down and Nehemiah also and was at great care and cost to rebuild them and thought the People but half restored till this was done A place that lyes open is in a sad condition and next to being ruined especially when Invaders are abroad and Enemies near as were about Jerusalem In such a Case 1. Any Body may come in unnoted and rob and spoil and Forces may come upon them and nothing to make resistance with they may take such a City without the cost or trouble of Besieging 2. Any Body may go out and escape Justice and go over to the Enemy and betray it 3. Strangers may come in and inhabit and so spoil it's Riches may swarm all over it and eat up the Inhabitants The Safety Honour and Government of the Place all void when it lies open on this manner they are sure of nothing can call nothing their own whilst in this Condition This in the Application of the Parable signifies 1. That the Soul of Man was at first made a defenced City encompassed with Walls and bravely secured from Enemies both from without and from within 2. That these Walls by the Fall are broken down and in the Unregenerate all lies open to Invasion without Resistance or Defence 3. That there is something of great value in the Soul which is worthy to be kept and in danger to be lost 4. That it is the great Work of Grace to build up the Walls which Sin hath broken down and to set up the necessary Defences and Fortifications 5. That to keep them in constant good repair is a good Man's great care and duty The Muringer is a great Officer in this City 6. That it is a most deplorable and lamentable thing to have these Walls broken down that sometimes have been up and betokens ruin to that Place and Soul if it be suffered to lye in that order 2dly In likeness to this What is it for a Man to have no rule of his own Spirit the Man that hath no Cohibition or Retention to his own Mind No Bridle says one no Command or Empire says another who doth not or cannot keep in himself homo animi sui incontinens Such a Man is obnoxious and liable to many Losses and Dangers Now his own Spirit the Subject of this Empire and Rule is 1. By many taken largely and truly for all his Affections they ought to be bridled and restrained The Flesh lusteth against the Spirit Gal. 5. 17. and the Spirit that is within us lusteth to Envy James 4. 5. It may signifie the force of both the Concupiscible and Irascible Appetite that we should check and restrain the inward corrupt Lustings of the Soul that they may not break out into inward or outward act to his own or others prejudice And Judicious Cartwright on this place says It concerns us to search especially what Vice we are most addicted to and to take special care that we do not in that thing break out by leaving our Spirits without guard We must take care to compass about our Mind and Affections with a Wall Gates and Bars and all little enough that what should not go out be kept in and what would not come in be kept out All Excess in any of our Carnal Affections restraint must be carefully and duly laid and kept upon There are those Men that have no government of themselves and their Fort lies open to be taken upon every Summons by the Enemy Such are the Lustful and Unclean 2 Pet. 2. 14. Having Eyes full of Adultery and cannot cease from Sin Every Whore-masters then Prov. 7. 21 22 The Drunkard that counts it a piece of Kindness and Civility and good Nature to go with every one that asks him to the beloved Alehouse and that on the Lord's-day it self He hath no Walls can see no time to give over he hath no rule of himself at all when he awakes he will seek it yet again Prov. 23. 35. He loves drink at first at least as he says for Company sake but he will soon love it for Drink 's sake that he cannot be without it Ale and Wine is his Element he has commenced and taken his Degrees in Debauchery and now adds Drunkenness to Thirst Deut. 29. 19. hath attained to a drunken Thirst and now he hath made Excess natural and necessary We have a distinction of seasoned Drunkards such as have arrived to a great habit and cannot but drink and can drink too and not be prejudiced by it These are men of Empire in their Slavery but many Well-wishers to the Trade are spoiled in the seasoning But seasoned or seasoning they have no power in the case And for Unrighteousness Oppression and Covetousness many have no rule of themselves at all If they can but get in the World they care not whom nor how much they hurt nor how
much wrong they do to their own Souls And some have no rule of their own Spirits for Acts of Charity they have no power to part with any thing but are scandalously sordid and base in their Contributions hardness of heart and covetousness hath the whole Empire in them they forget to distribute Hebr. 13. 16. or not at all proportionable to their place and havings 2. The Passion of Anger many restrain it to that Eccl. 10. 14. the Spirit there signifieth Anger So Prov. 16. 32. he that is slow to anger is better than the mighty the more truly great and valiant Person that keeps down and keeps in his Passion He is a Man of great strength that is rarely Angry 1. Because there are always Provocations enough 2. Because a Man is naturally apt to be provoked Men are the most mistaken in their Judgments in this thing to count him a poor pusillanimous Man that is not angry when provoked and injured it is not weakness of Mind but great strength and mightiness He is better than the mighty and is liker to God and in greater honour with God Angels and good Men than the most valiant Man and he that ruleth his Spirit than he that taketh a City He that can keep out of Anger or can keep it down is a mighty Conqueror He is more honourable than the most glorious Victor over a strong City He is better 1. Because it is a sorer War that a Man has with his own self and with his own Affections than to fight with others because the Enemy is more unseen and has more interest does all by Treachery and Ambuscade and the danger and loss is greater to be beaten in the other Warfare it 's but loss of Honour or outward Goods c. but this is in the loss of the Soul A Man fights with himself to save his Soul 2. Because this Victor profits himself and hurts no Body else in the other case Men are sure to hurt others and it may be not much profit themselves 3. Because the other overcomes by the help and hazard of others the Patient overcomes per seipsum in seipso by himself assisted only by Divine Grace and in himself 4. The Dispassionate Man overcomes not only Flesh and Blood but the powers of darkness Eph. 6. 12. And I will assure you the Powers of Hell are no little concerned in these Wars and Victories since he that moderates not his wrath giveth place to the Devil Eph. 4. 26 27. Now how aptly doth my Text annex to this That he that hath no rule over his own Spirit is so far from being such a mighty Man and a Conqueror that instead of being better than he that conquereth a City he is one so base that he loseth his City He makes his City that might be a strong Hold for God to lye open and naked and to be invaded and spoiled at every turn as being broken down and without Walls 3dly Some will have it signifie the neglect of the Tongue and certainly there is much unfortifiedness on this account and so great damage when Men have no rule of themselves in what they say make no choice in their words but to say what 's next Psal. 39. 1. and 141. 3. When Men pour out every thing without respect 1. to Time 2. Place 3. Company 4. many times Truth to throw out what comes next much damage comes to the poor Creature this way In the multitude of words there wants no sin Prov. 10. 19. It is a great thing to have Walls in this case It is something of government when a Man can hold his peace so as 1. Not to trouble the Company with impertinent Stories of himself and 2. To be sure not to speak what shall hurt them that are present or them that are absent Prov. 29. 11. A Fool uttereth all his mind or spirit Marg. and such an one to be sure hath no rule of his Spirit But a wise Man keepeth it in till afterward saith not all always that ever he can but keepeth some for another time The known story of Pambo's Lesson is of great Instruction Some wise Heathens had such bounds on their own Spirits with respect to their Tongue as to say they would never speak at all but when their speaking might do more good than their silence And Thomas Kempis It is an easier thing to be silent than not to offend in speech and multitude of words Talkative People want rule and walls about their Spirits James 3. 2. If any man offend not in word the same is comparatively a perfect man and able also to bridle the whole Body As if rule the Tongue and rule all Prov. 17. 27 28. He that hath knowledge spareth his words It is want of wisdom to be too talkative Even a fool when he holdeth his peace is counted wise and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding When some Stranger was among the wise Men of Athens if I misremember not the story and took notice of and writ the wise Sayings as they came from each of them and when one among them let nothing fall towards the Collection and was solicited to do as the rest had done he answered You may report where you go that there are some in Athens that can hold their peace Where there are no Doors about the Lips nor guard there there oft much hurt is done Prov. 15. 2. The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright venteth not all at a time nor at all times but the mouth of fools poureth or belcheth or bubleth out foolishness And Verse 28. The heart of the righteous studieth to answer considers to speak appositely and to purpose but the mouth of the wicked for want of that due consideration speaketh at random and so poureth out evil things Now this rule over a Man 's own Spirit to serve my design I shall take in the latter Senses conjunctly with respect to Anger exprest by Words and Actions if it goes so far as oft it doth But Anger and angry Words seldome are asunder Men have no rule of their own Spirits and lye open without Walls that offend this way 1. Anger is a natural Passion and may be without Sin nay is given us for the due resisting Sin Eph. 4. 26. Be angry but sin not If you be angry be sure you sin not with it Our Saviour looked on them with anger being grieved for the hardness of their heart Anger and grief for mens sins are justified by our Savours example as Mr. Baxter on that place Anger at sin and an Anger with grief and pity to the sinner is the only lawful Anger It is Anger at sin but not an Anger to sin They that are Angry and sin are seldom angry at sin as sin at all Pure Zeal is sanctified Anger In human things says one Anger is lawful when it is for Vertues sake or in the cause of others but then it must be in
return to it again 8. When it proves digested wrath and ends in hatred which is ira inveterata inveterate Anger and desire to revenge If you are Angry with any one so as to be willing to do them hurt this is sinful and unchristian You should not admit every one that hath crossed you nay if he hath wronged you into the List of your Enemies for you are to keep no such Roll And none should be your Enemy so far but you should love him and be ready to do him good so much the rather that you may win him with kindness and overcome evil with good Rom. 10. 20 21. To do any one any hurt in your sudden Passion is a great wickedness and to say you did it in your Anger will not excuse it no more than doing such a thing when drunk but rather aggravate your sin and double your guilt Who gave you leave to be Angry To cast Firebrands about and to say it was in sport Prov. 26. 18 19. is as good as to say I was angry when I did this undecent thing What Mischief had David like to have done in his wrath and how thankful is he to God that he was restrained and prevented What a grief of heart might the angry Expedition of that Day have been unto him when he had been in best Prosperity as was wisely suggested by Abigail 1 Sam. 25. 31 32 33. John Cardinal de Medicis Son to Cosmo Duke of Florence rode a hunting with his Brother Cortia at the killing of the Hare the Brothers fell to debate about the first hold each of them attributing the honour of it to his Hounds one word drew on another till the Cardinal gave Cortia a Box on the Ear Cortia immediately drew upon him and thrust him into the Thigh of which he died presently A Servant of the Cardinals in revenge gave Cortia a sore wound so that saith the Historian with the Venison they carried home to Duke Cosmo one Son dead and the other wounded of which he died soon after The brave Atchievement of Anger let loose and the destruction upon destruction upon the City without Walls But to premeditate Revenge and to bear Grudges after you have fallen out and to dare to say I will do to him as he hath done to me or as in our own Dialect I hope to be even with him Prov. 24. 28. or to rejoyce when any Evil comes to him Vers. 17. This is sublimate Wrath and no way consistent with the Religion of Love and Forgiveness of which you make Profession Here is a Spirit ruled by the Devil himself for you know not what Spirit ye are of for the genuine Spirit of the Gospel is Diametrically otherwise Whereas there is envying and strife are you not carnal and walk like Men 1 Cor. 3. 3. but if you design Hurt and Revenge you walk like Devils and where are your City Walls this while This poor Soul lies open naked to all the Invasions of the Enemy and where this is in this height there is confusion and every evil work James 3. 16. I shall subjoyn in this place once for all that famous passage of our Saviour on this Subject Matth. 5. 21 22. where he to vindicate the Law from the corrupt and too scanty Interpretations of the Jewish Teachers he speaks of the Law about Murther where he takes notice that they made the Law to reach only the outward Act and the Punishment only to reach the outward Man but he shews that this Law may be broken by the heart and a Man may be a murtherer that is unjustly angry with his Brother and hates his Brother For 1 such a one would kill if he could for the time that his Passion is up And 2 oft murthers are owing to such Causes And such Passions if indulged none knows what they may end in But the Punishments are from God sure to fall on them that kill and on them that are angry in order and tendency to kill in allusion to their several courts and degrees of punishment which rise from simple Death Stoning and the Sword and for heinous and most flagitious Crimes to burning alive or burning their Bodies when dead an execrable thing among them and this was counted the Punishment of the Valley of Hinnom you shall find worse from God than all this comes to If you be angry without cause so as to be wrathful and evil-minded towards your Brother to hate him and wish him hurt if it go no further than the heart it is a damnable sin if not repented of but greater the sin and danger if it break out into words To say Racha a vilifying expression and the action that usually accompanied it is implied spitting on him or at him vilifying him unjustly as the vilest of Men with respect to his Person and outward Condition to treat him with the greatest Scorn and Contempt A thing God allows not towards any for the honour of our common Nature A Malefactor that deserves disgraceful Scourging yet he must be beaten within such a number of stripes Deut. 25. 2 3. least thy Brother even such a one as this even as one at the Rogues Post should seem vile unto thee And will God suffer it unrevenged that ye shall in your Spleen and Passion vilifie any one on some private it may be but conceited Injury to call him ugly beggarly pitiful Fellow because he hath angered you But it is higher yet to call him Thou Fool in Scripture sense this reflects upon his Mind and Morals as a most wicked Person to be cast out of all Society as an Heretick and one Accursed and judged fit for nothing but Hell To reprobate them in thy Rage and Malice and wickedly to pass thy doom upon him and to damn him as far as in thee lyes by making him a Scripture Fool which is a flat wicked Man Dr. Lightfoot will have rash Anger to be guilty of the Judgment of God and these two latter to be obnoxious to Punishment from the Magistrate as things not to be tolerated as tending to break the Peace and to further Mischief if not curbed And Dr. Gell on this place says There ought to be in the Church Courts and Councels to judge and censure reproachful words All shews the great evil of unbounded unjust Wrath the evil of it and the mischief that it doth and that much more if it take degrees with you and break out in unchristian words it shall not escape the Judgment of God and if not repented of it shall meet with his Hell fire properly so called Men must not begin Anger without a just Cause nor continue in Anger above a just time One reckons up appositely enough four sorts of angry Men 1. Some it is soon kindled in and soon goes out the cholerick People like Gunpowder no sooner toucht but instantly fire in your face yet all but a sudden flash 2. Some long in kindling and long in going out These
25. And is it not a fine credit for thee to be marked and to be warned of as one to have as little to do with as may be Make no friendship with an angry man c. He is too hot to make a Friend of or to keep in with any while or to have much comfort from or not to be prejudiced by at some turn or at the long run But especially it damnifies the honour of the Religion thou professest when Men shall have an occasion to say If this be your Religon or these be your religious Folks fair fall a good quiet Carnal man as People call them 7. In thy Authority where thou should'st have it and use it for God He that knoweth not how to rule his own House how should he rule in the Church of God 1 Tim. 3. 5. And how should he rule his own House that cannot rule himself This passionateness makes him cheap to those he should govern They will not heed him when he speaks importantly because he oft speaks passionately and unadvisedly Such a one is an angry passionate Person and therefore not so much to be heeded The words of the wise are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools Eccl. 9. 17. A quiet sedate man that speaks quietly and weightily shall be more heeded and obeyed than those that make a noise and think to rule with great words and by strong hand whom none but Fools will much regard 8. In thy ease and comfort of life Anger of it self is trouble and brings troubles from those we converse with and God oft severely punishes this Sin in crosses and disappointments in sickness and sin of relations to tame them God doth not fail to afflict to make men see and repent of this sin and to seek Peace with God and Men Who hath wo who hath sorrow who hath contentions who hath babling who hath wounds without cause but the angry man as well as the drunken as well he that hath no rule of his own Spirit as he that tarries long at the wine 9. In the danger of the Soul He that is angry with his brother without cause is in danger of the judgment Matth. 5. 22. that is of God's wrath and judgment if it be not repented of and forsaken and this judgment of God reaches the Soul with respect to eternity And the truth is the danger is greater because men are loath to be in a fault for Excess this way and so to humble themselves as they should do that they may obtain mercy and favour of the Lord. And if ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive you Matth. 6. 15. the sad Process of habituated Anger The poor Wretch is so used to it that Salamander-like he lives in the fire always crossing and chiding vexing himself and those that are about him it is his Element Angry with Enemies and angry with Friends angry for little things angry for nothing angry at his work angry at his meat angry in health angry in sickness Eccl. 5. 17. Hath great wrath in his sickness It may be he is angry at his sickness or at least angry with all about him when sick and no body can please him and it may be sadly feared it will end in wrath passively least the remainder of wrath the Lord put on as some read that instead of restrain Psal. 76. 10. least he now take his rightful turn of Anger and make thee feel it to all eternity To improve our Parable I shall conclude this Head in comparing this City broken down to the lamentable condition of a glorious City in the taking of it and the desolation of it 1. In the taking of it Jerusalem I mean Jer. 39. 2 3. the City was broken up And all the Princes of Babylon came in and sate in the middle gate where their own Kings and Rulers use to sit to rule and do Justice and acts of Government even Nergal-sharezer Samger-nebo Sarsechim Rab-saris Nergah-sharezer Rab-mag with all the residue of the Princes of the King of Babylon Now I sometimes think that it was in no honour to these men that they are named thus in the holy Records but it is to give Emphasis to this sad change which sin had brought upon this famous City To have men of such names of such uncouth sounds sit here so diverse to Hilkiah Eliakem c. Strangers Heathens c. O God the Heathen are come into thy Inheritance Jerusalem have they defiled So when thy City is broken up and dismantled by the Enemy that always lays siege to it and thou sufferest thy self to be invaded O what a gang of Aliens sit in thy Gate that where Reason and Grace and the Spirit use to rule now Nergal and Rab-saris and Rab-mag sit in thy Gate and has the whole Command for the time of thee Envy and Hatred and Malice and Jealousie and Rage and Cruelty with the rest of the Princes of Babylon have the sole rule in thee And not unlike 2. to the Desolation of this City will it be here if Repentance do not relieve A poor Wretch given up to his Passion is like the City Isa. 13. 21 22. The wild beasts of the desert shall lie there and their houses shall be full of doleful Creatures Owls shall dwell there and Satyrs shall dance there and the wild Beasts of the Islands shall cry in their desolate Houses and Dragons in their pleasant Palaces that is Anguish and Vexation and Sadness and Darkness and Discontent c. shall over-run and possess this Soul Enough sure is said to perswade us against this great Evil of having no rule of our own Spirits but to lye broken down and without walls The second thing to be spoken to is What is to be done so as to be fortified to have the rule over our own Spirits so as not to be as a City broken down and without walls We see the Mischief that is done to and by ungoverned Spirits what is to be done for remedy And this may serve for helps and means in this important case 1. A true Principle of Good in the Soul To be transformed by the renewing of your mind Rom. 12. 2. To be brought into the true Spirit of Christ which is a Spirit of Meekness The hidden man of the heart is the ornament of a meek and quiet Spirit 1 Pet. 3. 4. A Soul full of the true fear of God to be truly regenerate The old man is a man of wrath put off all these anger wrath malice for you have put off the old man with his deeds 3 Col. 8. 9. True Grace builds up the Walls and engarisons the Soul for God Grace reduces the Soul to its rightful Lord and at the same time it is restored to the rule of it self like a City delivered from a Usurper is restored to its lawful Soveraign and to its own Franchises the same day