tenth Commandment is the certain consequent of this disposition of mind or indeed rather it is but several instances of forbidding discontentedness with our own condition and in it Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife is not meant thou shalt not desire to commit adultery with her for that was forbidden in the seventh Commandment but as thou shalt not covet his house which do's not signify thou shalt not desire once to walk thro it or to sit and dine in it but thou shalt not desire the possession nor propriety of what is not thine own shalt not desire it should be thy house but be contented with thy lot so here thou shalt not be troubled that his wife or servant is not thy wife or servant and think it as fit thy Neighbor should enjoy the comforts of a happy wife if God have given him one or the pleasures and splendors of an estate or the advantages of a commodious servant as thou dost think it fit thou shouldest enjoy what is thine and not desire not only to be theif but not the owner of them be content with what is thine 4. All the Seditions and Rebellions in the world and those armies of Sins that attend them that wage their wars which are upheld by legions of villanies as numerous as those of men all the disturbances of States and Churches are but the effects of discontented spirits men that were unsatisfied with their condition desir'd a change and car'd not by what means they compast it They can charge thro seas of bloud and sin over the faces of men and conscience to get out of the condition which they are not well content with I could assign more sins that do attend a discontented heart when it hath opportunity to break into them all the effects of anger and of malice and of concupiscence and a whole shole of others are in its train but that I must reserve one word for Envy 2. Envy to say all in one word however slight a thing we may esteem it For to envy at another person 's having better qualities or greater dignities or richer furnitures or wider estates or handsomer provisions this we think do's no mischief to the persons and therefore is no crying crime Yet besides that it is more unjust than hatred or than malice for these have still pretences that do look like reason I cannot hate a man but because he do's me some wrong and that is some reason for I hate his injustice but envy hath not any least pretence Is it a wrong to me because that person is better qualified or better endowed Is he unjust because he is rich or learned or well provided and yet for this I envy him Besides this I say to stab it with one thrust Envy hath all the vices and all the ruins in the world for its issue all sin and all damnation is its brood The Devil envied man's felicity and therefore temted him and so man lost Original Righteousness and he lost Paradise and he envies his recovery by Christ and therefore temts him still until he ruin him eternally Whatever guilt and whatever misery is in the world hence it springs it is a feind-like devilish humor And now would you take the prospect of these two qualities discontent and envy Lucifer was not satisfied with his condition and he was therefore cast from Heaven and all his fellow Angels became Devils and then he envied man's condition and chang'd his Paradise into everlasting misery These two qualities rob'd Heaven it self of those inhabitants that should have fill'd it and the Son of God himself and peopled Hell it made Angels become Feinds it made God die and made men damn'd and there is enough for that 3. Covetousness I am sure I can say no more of that than what S. Paul hath said nor more to my purpose 1. Tim. 6. 6 7 8 9 10. Godliness with contentment is great gain for we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out and having food and raiment let us be therewith content But they that will be rich fall into a temtation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtfull lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition for the love of mony is the root of all evil which while some coveted after they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves thro with many sorrows And oh that three such dismal qualities with their accursed trains should breed in that same little part the eie An evil eie is the womb wherein they are conceiv'd and if that one small faculty be so fruitful in guilt and in destructions how shall we reckon the whole man Miserable men that we are who shall deliver us from a whole body of death and from the state of those deaths and from darkness in which this evil eie engages us A darkness which our Savior could not otherwise express but by astonishment How great is that darkness A darkness great indeed because 't is wilfully incurable no state do's so withstand the light as this The Sun of Righteousness the Day-spring from on high that came to visit us could strike the light thro darkness and make the shadow of death bright Luke 1. 79. that did shed light that was a glory Luke 2. 32. could not yet break in upon a Country clouded with this humor his Miracles and he were both desired to withdraw could have no least Reception when interest and profit came to be toucht and a Legion of Devils that did plot together could contrive no surer means to keep out Christ himself than by setting up an evil eie to look upon him and his Miracles than by engaging this greedy affection against him and that but in a small instance We read a strange story Matt. 8. 28. Marke the contrivance and the policy the Devils knowing that Christ would cast them out of the two possessed men and by that Miracle so far show forth his power that it would probably bring all the Country to believe on him they desir'd to prevent this and thereupon fall on this project which might incense the men of that Country against him and in order to it they besought Christ that if he did cast them out he would suffer them to go into the herd of Swine and tho he seldom wrought any destructive Miracles yet that the people might see the virulency of these Devils how destructive they were if not restrain'd by his omnipotent goodness and so they might understand the mercy don to those that were possessed and likewise see the mercy now approching to their Country by the coming of Christ if they will accept of it and withal to try whether their love to their Swine was greater than that to their own souls he permitted the Devils to go into the Swine he would not restrain them and they went into them They who fed the Swine gave to the owners notice of their loss and did let them know
good thing of this life Now he that thwarts this order or subordination that lays out his desires on the things themselves that minds them for their own sake onely and the satisfaction he himself receives from them without looking further these are his ends apparently and so his good things which he rests in which if God permit him to enjoy he therefore hath his good things and hath no great reason to expect and look for other Now how miserably does this man delude himself for this is to preferr the present moment before the following eternity it is as if the Embryo should wish for a fair spacious womb and chuse to spring and leap there for its nine months rather than to live a pleasant age in a variety of full delights and so it may but dance in the womb not care to be deliver'd into a dungeon and born a fetter'd slave it is to chuse the riot of one meal one good feast and to starve the whole remainder of a mans life yea it is worse it is to love a pleasant moment more than he fears eternal Hell or loves as eternal Heaven And this will be discern'd and is by most of them that live in jollity when they come to die when they must bethink themselves of going hence and have not consider'd to provide a place nay have all reason to beleive they have no place provided but that which God prepared for the Devil and his Angels when they shall think in sad earnest I have liv'd a pleasant life and never have deni'd my self an appetite nor thwarted a design nor yet hath God deni'd me any thing but Providence hath suffer'd every thing to serve my inclinations and to gorge my appetites but I am going now where these unruly appetites that I have so indulg'd will infinitely grow and where all satisfaction will be impossible and my desires will be my endless torment 3. This Aphorisme also by pronouncing a present blessedness to the Mourners le ts us see the advantages they have above other men in their journey to Heaven Delights for the most part they are but the baits and the sawces of sin by these the Devil and the World and our own Flesh temts us to iniquities and keeps us fast glew'd in them this is every mans experience yea the most innocent delights they are at the best avocations from Heaven and from better things they entertain and hold our thoughts upon fading objects that will never profit us if it happen that they do not utterly ruin us whereas the causes of mourning calamities yea and the passion it self they beget virtues in us a whole chain of them for tribulation worketh patience patience experience experience hope Rom. 5. 3 4. yea indeed they make us perfect and entire lacking nothing Jam. 1. 4. as if to be rob'd and spoil'd of all things were the sure way of wanting nothing not a vertue certainly these deep waters of affliction and these tears of ours that raise the stream they drive and waft us to our God when he smote them then they sought him and enquir'd after God early a storm will make a Mariner pray and when the tempest beats him down upon his knees he will lift up his hands to Heaven the Heathen Seamen fled to the true Jehovah when they were ready to suffer shipwrack Jonah 1. 14 16. yea they do not onely drive but wooe us to God they are temtations in the sense of bait also I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness saith God Hos. 2. 14. when I have made her solitary put her as in the desert brought her into the very place of dragons this shall be my allurements my inticing wooings of her and not to loose the experience of this St Chrysostom hath given it in the frequent example of men of most effeminate loose dissolute lives yet by a cause of mourning by the loss of a bosom wife of a dear onely heir they become at least for that time of greif strict and severe how do they banish all soft delights no curious provision for the flesh but more than Philosophical abstinence almost to the pining of themselves watches and silence quiet and humble prostrations of themselves unspeakable meekness huge commiseration of all that are afflicted these are their passions and their exercises for a while they so contemn the world think it so little worth their moiling for that now it is not worth a wish in that time should a fire seize on all they had or a spoiler run away with all it would scarce divert a thought or eye to it from their sad melancholly object they look upon all guilded pomps and soft pleasures as cloath'd with the same dark sable that themselves have on they are almost ready to betake themselves to the wives sepulchre running to inhabit that chamber of death and again to marry themselves in that cold bed the grave so easily will mourning wean us In this dimness of anguish and darkness as of the shadow of death we should not run to hugg and embrace gloworms but prostrate our selves in this dust and ashes and with sad serious repentance set on mourning which shall bring me to the consideration of the words as of a duty And first of the duty in general now the mourning here being oppos'd to them that laugh in St Luke the thing forbidden in the duty may be all foolish lightness in conversation and manners all vanity loosness and wantoness all uncomly behaviors or jestings all freer recreations that beget or are accompani'd with any of these and the duty be in part the same with that in the Phil. 4. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if any things be grave think on these things saith he there gravity being the very garb of a Mourner Not that I would have this duty to exclude all recreation which also according to the persons with whom it is may be innocently light as with children serious toys are no sport for them But 1. Recreation must be such as may cherish health and strength and unbend the mind by diverting it for to weary my self by my refreshment is to contradict the very aim of it to make my recreation need another sport to refresh me after the toil of my laborious idleness and therefore also 2. It must be moderate otherwise it does exchange with my calling and my refreshment becomes my emploiment and 3. It must be innocent I must not make it my sport to offend God it is too dangerous a recreation to jest with and provoke the Almighty to play with sin and to sport away a virtue is of too ill consequence and the duty of the text saith also it should be 4. According to the condition of my person somwhat grave not so extremely light and vain and if you would by these examin the usual delights first all freer revelling which if they be in pleasures of the tast end frequently in intemperance are
Eye then a clear single eye is a clear conscience and then of that it must be true that it do's make the man full of light and so it do's indeed as light do's signify joy and gladness and so it often do's in Scripture Psalm 4. 6 7. And truly the applauds of an honest undeceiving heart that is conscious to it self of cordial endeavors after good and knows it neither had ill ends nor ill means they shed comforts beyond all that the earth can give they shed the peace of God that passeth understanding If my conscience be clear let my condition be never so overcast never so dark and cloudy yet do I live in shine This is the only thing that makes every estate gladsome If my condition be low pressing adversity yet if my conscience assure me 't is not my fault that threw me down into it my sin did not put out the light of Gods candle of prosperity that before shone about me but rather because I would hold fast my duty and would not let go a good conscience therefore I was thrown down with them into deep affliction here my conscience assures me I am in a case which S. James bids me count all joy Jam. 1. 2. and which our Savior do's call blessed Matth. 5. 11. S. Peter tells me If ye be reproched for the name of Christ and 't is so for all duty happy are ye for the spirit of Glory and of God resteth on you 1 Pet. 14. 14. What if I be in the place of Dragons my conscience do's assure me 't was my duty not guilt did put me there that is God brought me thither and he is with me there the Spirit of God resteth on you What if I be in darknesss and dimness of anguish encompast with the shadow of death the Spirit of Glory resteth on me And then sure a clear conscience makes the man full of light when it makes him full of glory when in his darkest solitudes there do's break in the light of Gods countenance Let them be sadded with afflictions who understand no delight but in carnalities whose souls are married to some little comforts of this world Adversity indeed sweeps all their joys away at once a cross throws blacks upon them strait their heart 's in mourning instantly But he that understands the comforts of a good conscience and knows where to find them and hath a treasure of them in his breast will soon be able to allay the other sadnesses What can I want while I have a continual feast for so'is a good conscience It is not in the power of words to express the happiness of this blisful state It is the peace of God which passeth all understanding Phil. 4. 7. and tho felicity seems to be measur'd by our perception of it here we are happy beyond the scanty limits of our narrow apprehensions do not take in the beatific object but are our selves enclos'd and enter into the joy of our Lord Matt. 25. 23. 2. In order to the second act accusing if conscience be an eye then the well qualified eye is the tender conscience I mean not in the modern sense not only as it is accompanied with but as 't is but another word for a weak Judgment and a proud heart sturdy opposing private opinion or phancy against public authority And whereas conscience is said to be the eye of the soul a tender conscience has the sme importance in this case as when we call a blear or bloudshot a tender eye A gentle word for a troublesome malady The innocent importance of the word is that which denotes besides weakness in judging quickness in perception for conscience is the judgment of the mind concerning actions and whatsoever is tender is weak but a conscience which is such as tender things are alwaies is sensible of every the least touch of guilt checks at whatsoever we do amiss the least thing we do is a wound to it This is the tender conscience Such a one as is deeply sensible of the majesty and power and justice of Almighty God and the fatally provoking guilt of sin fears alwaies doubts and trembles foregoes lawful enjoyment least they should prove to be unlawful and flies from every not only approch but even appearance of evil This is an uneasy state but the inconvenience is abundantly repaid by the safety it procures whilst this flaming sword that turns every way guards both our Paradise and us and suspicions render us secure But if my heart grow hard not tender and my conscience insensible there is no hopes of cure I shall content my self with this one instance in answer to the evil eye as it relates to both these actions of accusing and excusing tho I might also name the conscience that accuseth to despair This is an evil eye indeed that entertains it self with the terrors of utter darkness in their own shapes that sees nothing but feinds those spirits of the dark nor will see any other An eye that will not endure but hates the least light of instruction or comfort A darkness this out of which the grave hath been counted an escape the darks of death a refuge yea to avoid the horror they have run into the shades of Hell And oh how great how insupportable is this darkness But God knows in this age we see little cause to fear nor reason to endeavor to prevent this Some little beginnings of it would be mercies to most men the danger now a daies is in the insensibleness of conscience the heart that never do's accuse of its commissions in earnest nay rather do's find out excuses it do's not check or sting them to the quick but rather tickles them Good God the heathens had a much more tender constitution of soul. The Poet says of guilty souls ad omnia fulgâ—ra pallent Cum â—onat exanimes primo quoque murmune coeli They that knew not there was an Hell to recompence iniquity nor knew that God threaten'd it with plagues yet when they heard it thunder their guilt did strike them like the thunder-bolts their souls did faint as it were the voice of God pronouncing wrath to their iniquities as if its lightnings were the flashes of that brimstone in whose eternal burnings sin must dwell This conscience did in them when knowing Christians can stand unappal'd We read of men of sear'd consciences 1 Tim. 4. 2. and such indeed cannot be tender Searing do's make insensible of pricks or little touches that you may lance and gash and it will not perceive And so it seems are some mens consciences and you will find there some other qualifications of such men they depart from the faith they give heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of Devils and it will be no wonder if they desert the holy Christian faith who have put themselves under the tutorage of Satan and have imbib'd the doctrine of Devils who with his institution have receiv'd his flames whose consciences are fear'd
the Parable concerning importunate continuance in Praiers saith it opens the bed-chamber door and gets in thither And then my Brethren what need I be troubled how the world does go abroad when I am entertain'd in Gods banquetting house and in his bed-chamber It were easy for me to produce instances of them that were so taken up with the joys of Devotion that they had scarce any thoughts for any thing besides they even forgot that which was most necessary to their being it made all other passions to languish they had no appetites for other things at least there was no vigour in those appetites onely decaied desires from which the soul was quite retir'd and minded nothing but the Object of their Praiers being as it were in trance and swoons of Devotion Neither is this any strange thing or without reason that the Soul that loves should be so employ'd about and bent upon the Object of those desires as to neglect all other of its offices so impetuous in serving them that it abandons all its other business attends no faculty but that which is engag'd upon that Object does not so much as lend it self to any outward organ feeds and advances onely that affection but leaves the rest to decay and languish and being destitute of soul to die Just so if the love of those Contemplations which Devotions afford take possession of the heart it becomes heartless to all other functions careless and languid to every thing besides the Soul is so wholly bent upon the Object of those impatient desires that it does not animate any other inclinations they have no spirit in them but are weak and faint neither can they employ the heart so as to make him mind them but just as the enamour'd person that may be call'd and waken'd into some other business but let his thoughts alone and they run to his desires there they unite and center And to a Soul that is thus taken up what 's the world or the miscarriages that are therein Are there fears abroad They do but make me then withdraw into my chamber where there are all these joys Does judgment threaten an utter desolation make solitude about us and drive us into the place of dragons in Davids words I will retire that way into Gods bed-chamber Is the dimness of anguish and darkness as of the shadow of death coming upon the Land yet I am sure that in the little Oratory there is the light of Gods Countenance Does Calamity rifle all plunder the very bosom breasts and bowels the bosom of its dearest guest the breasts of their dear burden the bowels of their daily food and rob necessity Yea but how stands my Praier-chamber It is not quite so ill if they have left me the food of immortality the Body and Bloud of Christ it cannot plunder me of my Devotions and there is always blessed entertainment in Gods banquetting house If these comforts do seem too subtil and too notional for any tho this do happen merely by being unacquainted with the things that give them and I have shew'd you the way how you may certainly arrive at them of which this is the sum The devout Soul receives in times of discontent not onely liberty but invitation to go and bemoan his case to him that hath God-like compassions for him so much love to him as to die for him and to cast himself with confidence upon such a kindness submitting to his all-wise all-loving will These submissions are secondly rewarded by him with the great contents of having Gods will don upon him with the comforts of finding that it is indeed best for him And sure I am there are that have experience that never any sad thing happened to them but they found that it was for the best Thirdly the custom of this repairing to God and giving themselves up to his guidance begets a great acquaintance an intimacy with the Lord he reveals himself and his comforts to that soul it do's enjoy strange refreshings from enlightnings breathings inspirations evidences and assurances even tasts of promises and preparations Lastly the contemplations of these and familiarity with God begets transcendencies of love and joy which when they are once entertain'd their desires languish to all other things they seem low and of base alloy and consequently they take no content in them being swallowed up by the other Yet let others lower souls take the comfort of this consideration when things are so that if they look into the world they can see nothing round about them but the prospect of trouble and if they go on besides the loss of all the opportunities of Religion the labors of their whole life will but serve the ruins of an hour that they have provided onely for spoil heap't up for rapine and gather'd but a prey when the affliction of such an hours consideration shall have made them forget all their prosperity so that in the whole compass of things they cannot find one occasion of comfort why then those hours they have spent or shall go and lay out on devotion and the service of God they shall be sure will turn to their account both here as to the preservation of those opportunities and of their Church for sure if God be likely to be mov'd to the continuance of them 't is to those that will make use of them and 't is for them for what should others do with them that do not value them nor use them and will also turn to their account hereafter That Praiers and those other exercises go up for a memorial to God as the Angel told devout Cornelius and prepare them mansions there when they shall be divested of all other habitations and that with Mary here is the better part that cannot be taken from them that when their Riches have forsaken them taken the adverse party and gon to their enimies these will stick by them go along with them even up to Gods Tribunal and take their part at the day of Judgment when nothing dares appear for them but Christ and Piety Oh my Brethren when you or I have spent one hearty hour in humble zealous devotions the hopes of the issues of that hour the confidence that God hath heard your and my Praiers and do's accept this our service and will eternally reward it if we continue thus tho we be not able to raise our selves up to those heights of joy and love and complacency before recited yet those lower hopes and confidences have more comfort in them than all the hours of pleasure in my life for what have I of that when the frolick's over I may as well look for the footsteps of an impression on the water whose gliding streams instantly smooth themselves or search for the tracts of birds in the yeilding air that shuts and closes up it self in a little moment as seek for relicts of joy after the pleasure is past alas the delight did vanish with the laughter and
the comfort died as soon as the smile the very memorial of them is perisht and there is nothing of them left alive but that now all is don I am never the better for them But the comforts of my devouter hours shall never die but when I go to die my self will be like life and immortality to me O the strange acquiescencies of soul in the Consideration the few hours that a man hath spent piously how they will calm death assist in agonies and releive from pains how such a Soul anticipates his Heaven The truth is to such an one death is welcom and life tho it have on it the shadow of death is full of comfort For when all the world about is Egypt a devout man tho he have but his chamber to retire to and his doors be shut upon him he lives in Goshen when the consuming fire did run upon the ground throughout the land there was no storm in Goshen Exod. 9. 26. and when flashes of judgment do burst in upon other persons 't is calm in the Praier-room When the destroying Angel had overrun every house in Egypt with death when there was nothing but carcasses and crying in each dwelling there was not one sick in Goshen Exod. 12. 30. When a thick darkness dwelt upon the Nation the Israelites had lights in all their dwellings Exod. 10. 23. and when a sad dark cloud does sit upon Gods Countenance and pour down inundations of tempest on a people yet then his face does shine in the Closets of devotion there he breaks in and does reveal his comforts God is so there as his Angel was at that time a Pillar of light to them and of cloud to those others Exod. 14. 20. and when in this their pilgrimage he takes off their chariot-wheels v. 25. that they drive heavily prest with the weight of afflictions and the heavier incumbrances of the World striving against the tide and torrent of troubles encountring nothing but rubs and crosses and having on no wheels none of Gods comforts to bear them up they march heavily till at last the waters overwhelm them when as to those others the waters were a wall on the right hand and on the left and to the devout persons the troubles of their times by making them retire into their chambers prove an occasion of security which brings on the next observation from the words hide thy self Whence we draw that Praiers and the exercises of Piety are in sad days the onely great security and the Devotion-chamber a sure hiding place from trouble And indeed where else should we take shelter but in our Sanctuary Where should we seek for refuge but at the horns of the Altar where we offer up the incense of our Praiers and the lifting up of our hands is as the evening Sacrifice I have told you to retire thus into your chambers is to enter Gods bed-chamber and where is safety to be had if it be not there Is there not full quietness and calm in the Lords withdrawing rooms Not to tell you that David plac't his Rock his Fortress his Castle his every word of safety upon this foundation not to reckon up an infinity of places besides Psalm 27. 5. and 61. 2 3 4 5. I shall onely say that 't is impossible for any Sermon to say better what I have to say for him that betakes himself to these secret rooms and nestles there nor more pertinent to a time of sickness and distress than the 91. Psalm hath spoke v. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 c. and to which 't were vanity if not Tautology to add Should I labour to evince this further I could prove strangely to you that good hearty devout Praiers are in time of danger a Security even to a Miracle Security from the fury of men when single Prayers did resist an Army when Moses's hand lifted up in his devotions slew more Amalekites than the armed hands of Joshua and all his Regiments stretcht out for when Moses lifted up his hand then Israel prevailed Exod. 17. 11. Security against the storm of Gods assault for a Praier of Moses is call'd a standing in the breach against the Lord when he came to destroy the People by a plague Psalm 106. 23. so God said he would destroy them had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach to turn away his wrathful indignation least he should destroy them They are terms of war and do express the desperatest act of Valour which war hath occasion for when wall and rampart could not resist the storm of shot but the Assault made its way thro stones and bulwarks then must courage become the Rampart maintain the breach and repulse the Assailants This is the danger and the glory of Valour and this very expression do's Scripture make use of to declare the force and courage of a zealous Praier When Gods indignation had storm'd the People when it had made a gap a breach to enter and overrun them in a moment and the Angel with his sword drawn was assaulting had began his deaths in steps Moses arm'd but with single Praier maintains the breach and turns away the Indignation Neither was this all for it did not onely beat off his fury but assail'd him also as it were took God captive and held him that he could not fall upon them For in the 32. Exod. 9 10. he cries to Moses it is a stiff-necked people now therefore let me alone that my wrath may wax hot against them and that I may consume them in a moment let me alone Hebr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dimitte me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 permitte me ut invalescat Syr. nunc si permiseris mihi invalescet Arab. dimitte deprecationem tuam à facie mea Chald. Loose me and let me go suffer me let me alone that I may destroy them do not pray to me thy strong desires are as bonds and cords upon me loose me and do not hold me I can do nothing if thou pray my arm of power my stretcht our arm is held in it is restrain'd by thy strong cries thy violent sighs they cool my wrath that it cannot wax hot against them thy zeal it is irresistible do not therefore make use of it do not hinder me do not pray now let me alone and I will make of thee a greater Nation I will bribe thee to silence because my fury will not withstand thy Praiers if thou maintain the breach I shall not take this People now by storm be hir'd then to withdraw let me alone But Moses he would take no bribes from God but he besought the Lord his God as it follows there and the sudden effect of his Praier was the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people Here 's the power of a fervent Praier it hath a kind of force on the Almighty a force that he does seem as it were afraid of would have prevented and
Cities might be spar'd in fine when once they have wrought out the measure of God's mercies and their iniquity is full it is no wonder if the measure of their Judgment be full too and it self irreversible and utter But yet tho in all these Judgments whether partial or final Innocent and Righteous persons suffer with the wicked All things come alike to all there is one event to the clean and to the unclean to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not as is the good so is the sinner and he that sweareth as he that feareth an oath Ecclesiastes 9. 2. So as that it should seem the sincere Christian can no more depend than others or if he do his trust will fail him yet to omit the reasons of this dispensation of God's Providenc which are many very just ones that alone sufficeth good men in the midst of all such Judgments to depend upon which St Paul writes on the very account of such distresses and necessities Rom. 8. 28. We know that all things work together for good to them that love God even those afflictions working for them a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory 2 Cor. 4. 17. They are God's words and so trusting and depending on them we know whom we have believed namely God the person and my last part wherein I am to enquire on what accounts especially he that does depend upon him in these cases hath assurance such as that he can profess I know whom I have believed Now there is scarce that Attribute in God which is not a firm ground for resignation of our selves to and of reliance on him But to pass all those which are every where in God's Book to be met with and are urg'd with all advantage and to name two other onely First 't is certain that we may with the most comfortable hope and greatest confidence rely on him who when we have most need is readiest to relieve As we read in the Scripture of an accepted time of the day of Salvation to let us know that it is not to be catcht in every season as if whensoever we shall have a mind to be delivered and ask for it God must hearken and command deliverances no sure there are proper set times and we must be unwearied in waiting for it so also ordinarily that the time of greatest need is God's opportunity and the day of extremity the day of Salvation is obvious All other times he tries us and does exercise our virtues but when we are past all other help then he relieves us Therefore David is most peremtory with the Lord on that account Psalm 102. 13 14. Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Sion for it is time that thou have mercy upon her yea the time is come And why thy servants think upon her stones and it pitieth them to see her in the dust and Psalm 9. 9. The Lord also will be a refuge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LXXII in opportunitatibus in tribulatione in the true opportunity that is when trouble comes And we shall find a reason for this way of working in his Praier Psalm 109. 26 27. O save me according to thy mercy that they may know that this is thy hand and that thou Lord hast don it When we are in such distress as is past man's aid then if deliverance come we cannot chuse but know the hand when we are in darkness and dimness of anguish and if we look unto the earth behold nothing but darkness as of the shadow of death then if any light arise we know it is the day-spring from on high that visits us And if besides this reason and those Texts we but consult the Annals of God's actings we shall find it always thus and not to mention those that refer to particular persons of which Joseph's single story is a manifold instance which also gave birth to those great events which shall make up a demonstration that this is the way of God's procedure In Egypt when the design was laid so that the People of Israel could not have lasted longer than one Age for posterity was forbidden and the Nation was to be murder'd by a prohibition of being born and when they could not to avoid this persecution get out thence except the sea would at once make a passage for them and a wall and rampart to secure that passage and if it also should do so it would but land them in a wilderness and they but fled from water to perish for want of it and escapt being drown'd to die with thirst a place too where unless the desert can bring forth the bread of Heaven unless Flesh and Manna can grow there where nothing grew they have but chang'd their fate and brought themselves into a more unavoidable and speedy ruin when this state of exigence was come then God comes in by weak means a stammering tongue and little rod works all deliverance And again afterwards in the captivity of that Nation a state which Jeremy the Prophet when he had bewailed in sorrowful eloquence in lamentations that live still yet wish'd his head had bin a fountain of tears to weep for it when in seventy years the people was so mixt incorporated with their Conquerors as must needs be very hard to separate and tear them asunder and as for their Temple it was ruin'd and despoil'd of all its holy furniture which was not onely rob'd but desecrated and profan'd so as not to be likely nor scarce fit to be returned the vessels of the Sanctuary being made the utensils of their Idol-feasts and their own riots and those holy bowls made up their drunkeness as well as sacriledge yet when these conquering Robbers were enjoying their spoils and crimes as if wine in those holy bowls did stupity men past all sense they and the great Babylon are taken ere they knew it and the Jews return strait follow'd Again when Cestius Gallus had sate down before Jerusalem at the Feast of Tabernacles when the Nation being oblig'd by their Religion was all in that City and the Christians of the Land were there too after several assaults and when he might have taken it he on a sudden rais'd the siege 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Josephus without any reason no body knows why but onely as God put it in his heart to do so to give way for the Christians to obey that voice which the same Josephus saith was heard in the Temple at the Feast of Pentecost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let us go hence and upon it all the Christians went to Pella not one staid but every one escapt that ruin which Titus sitting down before that City brought upon that People the great Enimies of his Church to a final utter desolation Once more when after the nine Persecutions which like so many torrents of fire had swept away the Christians in flame Dioclesians like a tenth wave came as if it meant to swallow not
which men by degrees cannot make plausible as custome renders vice necessary so by familiarity it becomes acceptable the first horrors are soon worn off and as it fares in War the enemy is made a servant and after grows up to be a favorite and is at length a master The progress from bad to worse is like that of heavy bodies downwards the native weight gains fresh accessions from the decent already made and the motion being continued grows still more rapid and irresistible That fool who said in his heart there is no God e're long emproves into a wit and loudly saies there neither is or can be one Conscience gall'd with perpetual ill usage contracts a callows hardness and becomes utterly insensible and by these unhappy steps ungodly men are dead while they live 1 Tim. 5. 6. are dead in trespasses and sins Eph. 2. 1. O thou the day-spring from on high that cam'st to visit us who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death in ignorance and sin and in the suburbs of eternal darkness shed thy light in our hearts we beseech thee and by the Illuminations of thy Holy Spirit give us enlightned minds and sanctified wills and affections Thou hast plac'd conscience in thy stead within us to do thy offices and to be thy Vicegerent to lay thy laws to us for our direction and to watch over all our actions to teach us to convince us to correct or comfort us Furnish we beseech thee then this thy commissioner within us with all qualifications necessary for thy offices endue it with the knowledg of all thy will that we may have a right judgment in all things and then endue us with obsequious hearts that may be alwaies ready to obey the dictats of our consciences willing to live piously and honestly in all things exercising our selves alwaies in this to have a conscience void of offence both towards God and towards man and when the good Lord delivers us from this sad state and the occasions of it and if at any time we do rebel against thy officer our conscience Lord arm it with thy terrors that it may whip and lash us back again into our duty and sting and goad and never let us rest till we return to our obedience and persevere therein unto the end then shall we have the blessed comforts of a good conscience here and the gladsome light of a clear heart in this world and in the world to come light and Glory with the in thy Kingdom c. SERMON XX. THE LIGHT OF THE BODY is the Eye Matt. 6. 22 23. The light of the body is the eye if therefore thy eye be single thy whole body shall be full of light But if thine eye be evill thy whole body shall be full of darkness If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness how great is that darkness I Have drawn you the parallel betwixt the Eye and the Conscience to several of their objects and uses shew'd you how the clear eye is not a better guide to a mans walks nor finds more pleasure in the prospects of those beauties that are made to temt and entertain the sight then a pure conscience do's find in looking over the landshape of a life led righteously soberly and Godly which it must needs if it follow the guidance of this single eye this well-inform'd conscience I have lead you also to the confines of that more dismal prospect the dark of that sad state which an evil conscience do's lead into This I have done in one and that in the worst consideration that of a sear'd reprobate conscience there remain three that I propos'd to consideration the first that of an erring conscience second doubtful third scrupulous And now I am to shew how each of these do's lead a man into the dark the scrupulons raiseth a dust about him leads into error and discomfort too the doubtful do's instead of guiding him leave him so puzl'd that he knows not which way to betake himself and the erring conscience lights him into the pit and takes him by the hand only to thrust him down if in any of these waies the eye be evil the whole body shall be full of darkness Of these in their order 2. An erring conscience a conscience that gives false information of duty that either tells me I may or I must do that which either Gods Law or some Law in force upon me tells me I must not do or else tells I must not do that which I am bound to do or at the least may do Now that this is a light indeed like those deceitful ones that lead men over precipices into dark ruins like such lights that were so plac'd between the rocks as to guide the mariner into a shipwrack to make it necessary for him to be dasht against the one or the other is most certain for so it is here There is scarce such another infelicity as that this man lies under whose conscience tells him one thing when God's Law or that which is any way his duty do's require the contrary for if he do according to the Law of God he acts against his conscience and so sins and if he act according to his conscience he sins against the Law of God Poor soul Sin lies on the right and on the left hand which way soever he do's turn it seizes on him and all this I shall prove 1. That if he act against his conscience he sins tho the Law of God make it no sin Scripture and reason shall make good Rom. 14. 14. I know and am perswaded by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of it self but to him that esteemeth any thing unclean to him it is unclean God had once forbidden such and such meats under pain of sin to the Jews by Moses Law and made them unclean that is unlawful to their use Now Christ had taken off this obligation and made all meats lawful for any man S. Paul saith that he knew so I am assur'd that Christ hath so remov'd all obligation to the Law of Moses that to a Christian no meat is unlawful to be eaten but yet for all this 't is unlawful to him who thinks it still prohibited and if his erring conscience tell him he ought not eat it tho by Christ's certain Law he may he sins if he do eat against his conscience and that to such an height that he whose example wrought with him to eat against the perswasion of his mind destroyeth the man v. 15. Destroy not him with thy meat for whom Christ died 't is therefore a destroying sin to do a lawful thing against a mans conscience The reason of all this is cleer because no Law of God or man no rule of duty can be applied unto us but by the mediation of conscience for till my conscience laies it to my heart and tells me such a thing is commanded and my duty it is to me as if there were
Riotous that Eats to eat eats to hunger and provoke not satisfie how will he content himself there where their happiness is they shall neither hunger nor thirst or the Incendiaries that love to set all on fire what should they do there where there are no flames but such as kindle Seraphins so that flesh and blood not only shall not but cannot enjoy the Kingdom of God And why then should they long after or think of it Nay I would this unhappy Age and an unlucky axiome of Aristotles did not convince that they do think there are no such things Sensual pleasures are corruptive of Principles saith he and indeed where Damnation is the conclusion 't is a much quieter and more easie thing for Men of Wit and Understanding to deny the Principles than granting them to lie under the torture of being liable to such an inference they therefore that resolve to love this Life and all the sinful pleasures of it at the next step resolve there is no other Life And now this pamper'd and puft Flesh is got into the Psalmists Chair the Chair of Scorners and 't is one of the Luxuries of their life to scoff at them who are so foolish as to be Religious and to deny their flesh its present appetites and pleasures on such thin after-hopes here their Wit also is an Epicure and feasts and triumphs dictates and professes in that Chair 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Chair of Pestilences as the LXX translate and very truly for such men shed a Sphere of Contagion about them and their Discourses are effluvia of the Plague and the breath of Pestilence But how to get Flesh down out of this Chair that 's the difficulty yet that my Text will tell us for all this progress of the Flesh is trasht and checkt by Sufferings for He that hath suffered hath ceast from Sin Which how I will briefly shew The Fleshes first Art was by immersing it self in the full Lawful use of Pleasures and by consequence in the immoderate to prevail with the Soul to find a gust in them and from a continued enjoyment to conclude them necessary and so from the importunities of a perpetual temper and an accustomed satisfaction to think of nothing else in this life Now it is plain Affliction made this Art unpracticable for that it did do so was every ones complaint it rob'd them of the immoderate and even of the lawful use of Pleasures it took off those customary Delights by which the mind was habituated and glued to them by not allowing them and made them so far from being necessary that they were not acquirable Thus by denying us even the Lawful use of them it stabs the Flesh in its first onset Indeed it does that for us which every man in every state of life in his most plentiful prosperity must sometimes do for himself that is Deny himself what he desires and might enjoy without offence Which he that does not do but constantly gives his Appetite every sort and degree of lawful thing it asks does teach it to crave on and be importunate and insolent and not endure to be resisted when it did always find him to be so obsequious to it If David never checkt Adonijah did not at any time displease him saying Why hast thou done so he easily takes confidence to say I will be King and step into the Throne 1 Kings i. 5 6. But he that mortifies sometimes that does acquaint even his most innocent desires with a denial how can unlawful ones assault him For can my Appetite hope to betray me into superfluities who have taught my self not to wish for necessaries Will he be tempted with Excesses or hearken to the invitations of Luxury that will not hear his bowels when they croak for bread Or he gape for intemperate satisfactions who will not let thirst call but shuts his mouth against it Why should he covet more that hath learnt to give away and want that which he hath Now Sufferings inflict this temper on us and acquaint us with the necessity of all this and in a while with the liking of it teach us Content without Lawful Delights yea by degrees make that content appear better than an assured enjoyment For were I offered the choice either of an uninterrupted Health or of a certain Cure in all Diseases sure I had rather never need a Potion than drink Antidote and Health it self And even so the lawful good things of this Life are at the best but Remedies and Reliefs never good but upon supposition Therefore while Affliction taught us to want it hath destroyed this Art of the Flesh. As for the Second Then the lulling asleep all sense or thoughts of any Life hereafter neither minding the fear of one or hopes of the other Affliction surely met with this too For Sufferings bring both the hereafters to remembrance the Sad one while every Punishment was an Essay and tast of that which is prepared for those that live after the Flesh and the more insupportable our Fiery Tryal was the more it caution'd us to beware of that Fire which is never quenched And for the other Life surely when our Condition was such that if we lookt unto the Earth behold nothing but Darkness and dimness of Anguish and darkness as of the shadow of Death we could not choose but turn away our Eyes and lift them up to Heaven When the Soul is thrown down by Oppression it mounts by a resiliency and with the force of pressure is crush'd Upwards or if the Load be heavy so as to make it grovel and lie prostrate it is but prest into the posture of Devotion When she 's disseised of all turn'd out of every possession then she begins to think of an abiding City and eternal Mansions For the Soul that is restless when it sees nothing here below to stay upon but all is hurried from her roams about for some hold to rest on and being able in that case to find nothing but God there she does grasp and cling and when the storms splits all enjoyments and devours Friends which â—â—ke enjoyments comfortable all perish in one wrack then she sees she must catch at him that sits above the Water-Floods I told you out of Job Affliction did discover better than Revelation and in the dimness of Anguish we might see more than by Vision and truly of two Visions which our Saviour gave to his most intimate Apostles Peter James and John the one of Glory on Mount Tabor the other of Sufferings in Gethsemane shewing in the one Heaven and Himself transfigured a glimpse of beatifical Vision and in the other Hell transfigured and a sad Scene of all its Agonies he thought this a more concerning sight for when they fell asleep at both at his Transfiguration Luke ix 32. Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep yet he does not rouse them up to behold his Glory when they did awake
account of Christ or of Religion is most inconsistent with the Spirit of the Gospel For it was the Spirit of Elias who destroyed those whom the Magistrate did send that Christ opposes here the Spirit of the Gospel to in this severe rebuke ye know not what manner of Spirit ye are of The other warm Apostle meets a greater check in the like case S. Peter's zeal that they say made him chief of the Apostles as it made him promptest to confess the Lord so it did heat him to be readiest to defend him as fiery to use his Sword as his Tongue for his Master But his Master will not let a Sword be drawn in his own cause put up again thy Sword into his place The God of our Religion will not be defended by Treason and from Murder by the wounding of another nor will his Religion suffer a Sword out of the sheath against the Power of the Magistrate no not in behalf of Christ himself but goes beyond its proper bounds to threaten things that are not Gospel punishments even excision in this life to them that do attempt it They that take the Sword shall perish with the Sword Here the Gospel becomes Law and turns zealot for the Magistrate though persecuting Christ himself Our Saviour does not think it sharp enough to tell S. Peter that he did not know what Spirit he was of for when this Disciple would have kept these sufferings from his Master onely by his counsel he replies to him get thee behind me Satan He was then of that manner of Spirit therefore now that he does so much worse when he attempts to keep them from him with a Sword and drawn against the Power as if Christ did not know how to word what Spirit such attempts did savour of he does not check and rebuke now but threaten and denounce And 't is obvious to observe that this same Peter who would needs be fighting for his Master in few hours with most cursed imprecations forswears him And so irregular illegal violences for Religion usually flame out into direct opposition to that they are so zealous for fly in the face of that Religion they pretend to strive for to let us see they do not rise from Divine Zeal and from true Piety but from Hypocrisie Ambition Revenge or Interest and that warm shine that kindles there pretended Angels of Light is but a flash of Hell a glory about a fiend Therefore afterwards none was more forward than S. Peter was to press submission to the Magistrate though most unjustly persecuting for Religion talks of no Fire but the fiery trial then in Epist. 1. Cap. iv and If ye suffer for the Name of Christ the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you he knows what manner of Spirit such are of When they are in the place of Dragons then the Holy Ghost and God is with them when the darkness of the shadow of death is on their Souls even then the Spirit of glory resteth on them Accordingly the after-Fathers urge the same not onely towards Heathen Emperours but relaps'd Hereticks and Apostates As Julian and Constantius Valens Valentinian and upon the same account S. Ambrose says Spiritus Sanctus id locutus est in vobis Rogamus Auguste non Pugnamus The Holy Spirit spake these words in you we beg O Valentinian we oppose not And S. Greg. Nazianzen says to do so was the Christian Law most excellently ordained by the Spirit of God who knew best to temper his Law with the mixture of what is profitable to us and honest in it self They knew what manner of Spirit that of Christianity was It does assume no power to inflict it self 'T is not commission'd to plant it self with violence or destroy those that refuse or oppose it It wages War indeed with Vices not with men And in the Camp of our Religion as once in Israel there is no Sword found but with Saul and Jonathan his Son onely the Princes Sword Our Spirit is the Dove no Bird of prey that nor indeed of gall or passion If Christian Religion be to be writ in Blood 't is in that of its own confessors onely if mens false Opinions make no parties nor mischiefs in the State we are not to make them Martyrs to their false Opinions and if they be not so happy as to be Orthodox send them down to Hell directly tear out one anothers Souls to tear out that which we think an Errour Sure they must not root out smutted Corn that must not root out Poppy we may let that which is a little blasted grow if we must let the Tares and Darnel grow The Soldiers would not crucifie Christ's Coat nor make a rent there where they could find no seam But now men strive so for the Coat that they do rent his Flesh to catch it and to gain an inclosure of the name of Christians tear all other members from the Body of Christ care not to sacrifice a Nation to a supposed Errour will attempt to purge away what they call dross in a Furnace of consuming flame The Christian Spirit 's fiery Tongues must kindle no such heats but his effusions call'd Rivers came to quench such fires Effusions that were mistaken sor new wine indeed but never look'd like Blood Nor are they that retain to this Spirit those that have him call'd down on them in their Consecration impowered for such uses When Christ sent his Disciples to convert the World Behold saith he I send you forth as Lambs among Wolves And sure that does not sound like giving a Commission to tear and worry those that would not come into the Flock The Sheep were not by that impowered to devour the Wolves Our Lords directions to his Apostles when a City would not receive their Doctrine was shake off the dust of your feet let nothing of theirs cleave to you have no more to do with them cast off the very dust that setled on your Sandals as you pass'd their Streets And surely then we must be far from animating to give ruin to and seize the Sword the Scepter and the Thrones of Kings if they refuse to receive Christ or his Kingdom or his Reformation or his Vicar If I must not have the dust of any such upon my feet I must not have their Land in my possession their Crowns on my head their Wealth in my Coffers their Blood upon my hands nor their Souls upon my Sword It will be ill appearing so when we come to give an account how we have executed our Commission and shall be ask'd did I send you to inflict the Cross or preach it to save mens Souls or to destroy their lives yea and Souls too And when in those Myriads of Souls that have perish'd in the desolations which such occasions have wrought their Blood shall cry from under the Altar as being sacrific'd to that Duty and Religion which was the