give you that which shall satisfie Psal. 17. ult When I awake I shall be satisfied with thy likeness When I awake out of the sleep of death and shall have some of the rayes and beams of Gods glory put upon me I shall then be satisfied with his likeness 2. If you love worldly things they cannot remove trouble of mind if there be a thorn gotten into the conscience all the world cannot pluck it out King Saul being perplexed in mind all his Crown-Jewels could not comfort him 1 Sam. 28.15 But if you love God he can give you peace when nothing else can he can turn the shadow of death into the morning Amos 5.8 He can drop in Christs blood which is a cooling Julip he can whisper his Love by the Spirit and with one smile scatter all your fears and disquiets 3. If you love the world you may love that which may hinder you from Heaven Worldly contentments may be compared to the Waggons in an Army while the Souldiers have been victualling themselves at the Waggons they have lost the Battel Mark 10.23 How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the Kingdom of God Prosperity to maâ—y is like the sail to the Boat which quickly overturns it So that by loving the world you may love that which will endanger you but if you love God there is no fear of losing Heaven he will be a Rock to hide you but not to hurt you By loving him we come to enjoy him 4 You may love worldly things and they cannot love you again You love Gold and Silver but your Gold cannot love you again you love a picture but the picture cannot love you again you give away your love to the Creatuâ—e and receive no lâ—ve back but if you love God he will love you again Iohn 14.23 If any man love me my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him God will not be behind-hand in love with us for our dâ—op we shall receive an oâ—ean 5. When you love the world you love that which is worse than your selves The soul as Damascen saith is a sparkle of Celestial brigâ—â—ness it carries in it an Idea and resemblance of God while you love the World you love that which is infinitely below the worth of your souls Will any one lay out cost upon sackcloth when thou layest out thy love upon the world thou layest out gold upon dung thâ—u hangest a Pearl upon a Swine thou lovest that wâ—ich is inferiour to thy self As Christ spâ—aks in another sence of the Fowls of the aiâ— Matth. 6.26 Are not ye much better than they So I say of woâ—ldly things Are not ye much better than they You love a fair house a beautiful picture are not you much better than they but if you love God now you place your love on the most noble sublime object you love that which is better than your selves God is better than the Soul better than Angels better than Heaven 6. You may love the world and have hatred for your love Iohn 15.19 Because ye are not of the world therefore the world hateth you Would it not vex one to lay out money upon a piece of ground and instead of bâ—inging forth Corn or Grapes it should yeild nothing but Nettles Thus it is with all sublunary things we love them and they prove Nettles to sting The world is a Step-mother instead of giving the breast it draws out the sword we meet with nothing but either disappointment or discourtesie Iudg. 9.15 Let fire come out of the Bramble and devour the Cedars of Lebanon While we love the Creature fire comes out of this Bramble to devour us But if we love God he will not return hatred for love Prov. 8.17 I love them that love me God may chastise but he cannot hate Every Believer is part of Christ and God can as well hate Christ as hate a Believer 7. You may over-love the Creature You may love Wine too much Silver too much but you cannot love God too much If it were possible to exceed excess here were a vertue but it is our sin we cannot love God enough Ezek. 16.30 How weak is thy heart So it may be said How weak is our love to God 't is like water of the last drawing from the Still which hath less Spirit in it If we could love God far more than we do yet it were not proportionable to his worth So that there is no danger of excess in our love to God 8. You may love worldly things and they dye and leave you Riches take wings Relations drop away The Romans painted the vanity of worldly things in the form and shape of a man in his right hand a Rose in his left hand a Lilly under his feet Wormwood An Emblem of the world The Rose is sweet the Lilly fair but both fading and under the feet Wormwood at death all the delights of the world will be bitter There is nothing here abiding the Creature hath a little honey in its mouth but it hath wings it will soon flie away Vitae primordium mortis prodromum But if you love God he is a portion for ever Psal. 73.26 As he is called a Sun for comfort so a Rock for eternity he abides for ever Thus we see it is better to love God than the world Secondly It is better to love God than sin What is there in sin that any should love it 1. Sin is a debt Forgive us our debts It is a debt which binds over to the wrath of God why should we love sin doth any man love to be in debt 2. Sin is a disease Isa. 1.5 The whole head is sick And wilt thou love sin will any man hug a disease will he love his plague-sores 3. Sin is a pollution The Apostle calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 filthiness Iames 1.21 It is compared to Leprosie to poyson of Asps to Vomit Gods heart riseth against sinners Isa. 11.8 My soul loathed them Sin is a mishapen Monster lust makes a man brutish malice makes him devillish What is in sin to be loved shall we love deformity 4. Sin is an enemy It is compared to a Serpent Prov. 23.32 It hath four stings Sâ—ame Guilt Horror Death Will a man love that which sâ—eks his death Surely then 't is better to love God than sin God will save thee sin will damn thee is not he bewitched who loves damnation 12. The relation we stand in to God calls for love There is near affinity Isa. 54.5 Thy Maker is thy Husband And shall not a Wife love her Husband He is full of tenderness his Spouse is to him as the Apple of his Eye he rejoyceth over her as the Bâ—idegroom over the Bride Isa. 62.5 He loves the Believer as he loves Christ Iohn 17. ult the same love for quality though not equality If God be an Huâ—band shall we not love him
themselves so much against it The more violent others are against the truth the more valiant the Saints are for it Living fish swim against the stream the more the Tyde of sin comes in the more the Godly swim against it The impieties of the times provoke holy passion in the Saints that anger is without sin which is against sin The sins of others are as a Whet-stone to set the sharper edge upon us they whet our zeal and indignation against sin the more 5. The sins of others work for good as they make us more earnest in working out our salvation When we see wicked men take such pains for Hell this makes us more industrious for Heaven The wicked have nothing to encourage them yet they sin they venture shame and disgrace they break through all oppositions Scripture is against them and Conscience is against them there is a flaming sword in their way yet they sin Lam. 5.9 We gat our bread with the peril of our lives Sinners eat the bread of wickednesse with the peâ—il of their souls Godly hearts seeing the wicked thus mad for the forbidden fruit and hacknying our themselves in the Devils service are the more emboldned and quickned in the wayes of God they will take Heaven as it were by storm The wicked are swift Dromedaries in sin Ier. 2.23 and do we creep like Snails in Religion shall impure sinners do the Devil more service than we do Christ shall they make more hast to a Prison than we do to a Kingdom are they never weary of sinning and are we weary of praying have not we a better Master than they are not the paths of vertue pleasant is not there joy in the way of duty and Heaven at the end The activity of the sons of Belial in sin is a spur to the Godly to make them mend their pace and run the faster to Heaven 6. The sins of others work for good as they are Glasses in which we may see our own hearts Do we see a flagitious impious sinner behold a picture of our hearts such should we be if God did leave us what is in other mens practise is in our nature Sin in the wicked is like fire on a Beacon that flames and blazeth forth sin in the Godly is like fire in the Embers Christian though thou dost not break forth into a flame of scandal yet thou hast no cause to boast for there is much sin raked up in the Embers of thy nature thou hast the root of bitterness in thee and wouldst bear as hellish fruit as any if God did not either curb thee by his power or change thee by his grace 7. The sins of others work for good as they are a means to make the people of God more thankfull When you see another infected with the plague how thankful are you that God hath preserved you from it It is a good use that may be made even of the sins of others to be more thankfull why might not God have left us to the same excess of riot Think with thy self O Christian why should God be more propiâ—ious to thee than to another why should he take thee out of the wild Olive of nature and not him how may this make thee to adore free grace What the Pharisee said boastingly we may say thankfully Luke 18.11 God I thank thee that I am not as other men are Extortioners Vnjust Adulterers c. So we are to adore the riches of grace that we are not as others Drunkards Swearers Sabbath-breakers Every time we see men ranâ—ing it in sin we are to blesse God we are not such If we see a franâ—ique person we blesse God it is not so with us Much more when we see others under the power of Satan we are to make our thankfull acknowledgement that it is not our condition 8. The sins of others work for good as they are a means to make Gods people better Christian God can make thee a gainer by anothers sin The more unholy others are the more holy thou art The Roses that grow neer Garlick are sweetest So anothers unsavouriness makes a Christians graces send out a more fragrant perfume The more a wicked man gives himself to sin the more a godly man gives himself to prayer Psal. 109.4 But I give my self to prayer 9. The sins of others work for good as they give an occasion to us of doing good Were there no sinners we could not be in such a capacity for service The Godly are often a means to convert the wicked their prudent advise and pious example is a lure and bait to draw sinners to the embracing of the Gospel The disease of the Patient works for the good of the Physician by emptying the Patient of noxious peccant humours the Physitian enricheth himself So by converting sinners from the errour of their way our Crown comes to be enlarged Dan. 12.3 They that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the Stars for ever and ever Not as Lamps or Tapers but sicut Stelia as the Stars for ever Thus we see the sins of others work for our good 2. Our own sins shall work for good This must be understood warily when I say the sins of the goâ—ly work for good not that there is the least good in sin Sin is like poyson which corrupts the blood infects the heart and without a Soveraign Antidote brings death Such is the venemous naâ—uâ—e of sâ—n 't is deadly and damning Sin is worse than Hell but yet God by his mighty over-ruling power makes sin in the issue turn to the good of his people God can make a Treacle of this poyson Hence that golden saying of St. Austin God would never permit evil if he could not bring good out of evil The Reliques and remains of corruption in the Saints work for good several wayes 1. Sin makes them weary of this life That sin is in the godly is sad but that it is a burden is good St. Paul's afflictions pardon the expression were but a play to him in comparison of his sin he rejoyced in tribulation 2 Cor. 7.4 But how did this bird of Paradise weep and bemoan himself under his sins Rom. 7.24 Who shall deliver me from the body of this death A Believer carries his sins as a Prisoner his shackles Oh how does he long for a Goal-delivery This sensibility of sin is good 2. This in-being of corruption makes the Saints prize Christ more He that feels his sin as a sick man feels his sickness how welcome is Christ the Physitian to him He that feels himself stung with sin how precious is the brazen Serpent to him When Paul had cryed out of a body of death how thankful was he for Christ Rom. 7.25 I thank God through Iesus Christ my Lord. Christs bloud saves from sin and is the sacred oyntment which kills this Quick-silver 3. Sin works for good as it is an occasion of putting the soul upon six rare
may be said of many they are without an heart they have no heart to resist temptation no sooner doth Satan come but they yield Like a Coward assoon as the Thief approacheth he gives him his purse But he is the valourous Christian that bâ—andisheth the Sword of the Spirit against Satan and will rather dye than yield The courage of the Romans was never more seen than when they were assaulted by the Carthaginians The valour Puissance of a Saint is never more seen than in a Field-battel when he is fighting with the Red-Dragon and by the power of faith puts the Devil to flight That â—race is tryed Gold which can stand in the fiery tryal and withstand fiery Darts Fidei robur potest esse concussum non excussum 5. Temptations work for good as God makes them who are tempted fit to comfort others in the same distresse A Christian must himself be under the buffetings of Satan before he can speak a word in due season to him that is weary St Paul was versed in temptations 2 Cor. 2.11 We are not ignorant of his Devices and he was able to acquaint others with Satans cursed Wiles 1 Cor. 10.13 A man that hath rid over a place where there are Boggs and Quick-sands is the fittest to guide others through that dangerous way He that hath felt the claws of the roaring Lion and hath lay'n bleeding under those wounds is the fittest man to deal with one that is tempted None can better discover Satans sleights and policies than those who have been long in the fencing School of temptation 6. Temptations work for good as they stir up paternal compassions in God to them who are tempted The Child which is sick and bruised is most looked after When a Saint lyes under the bruisings of temptations Christ prays and God the Father pities When Satan puts the soul into a Feaver God comes with a Cordial which made Luther say that temptations are ample 〈◊〉 Christi Christs Embraces because he doth then most sweetly manifest himself to the soul. 7. Temptations work for good as they make the Saints long more for Heaven there they shall be out of Gun-shot Heaven is a place of rest no Bullets of temptation flye there The Eagle that soars aloft in the air and sits upon high Trees is not troubled with the stinging of the Serpent So when Believers are gotten above into the Empyraean Heaven they shall not be molested with the old Serpent In this life when one temptation is over another comes this is to make Gods people long till death sound a retreat and calls them off the field where the Bullets fly so thick to receive a victorious Crown where not the Drum or Cannon but the Harp and Viol shall be ever sounding 8. Temptations work for good as they engage the strength of Christ. Christ is our friend and when we are tempted he sets all his power on work for us For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted he is able to succour them that are tempted If a poor soul were to fight alone with the Goliah of Hell he were sure to be vanquished but Jesus Christ brings in his Auxillary forces he gives fresh supplyes of grace 2 Cor. 12.9 And in him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are more than Conquerours Thus the evill of temptation works for good But sometimes Satan foils a Child of God how doth this work for good I grant that through the suspension of divine grace and the â—ury of a tentation a Saint may be overcome yet this foyling by a tentation shall woâ—k for good 1. By this foyl God makes way for the augmentation of grace Peter was tempted to self-confidence he presumed upon his own strength and when he would needs stand alone Christ let him fall but thiâ— wrought for his good it cost him many a tear he went out and wept bitterly and now he grows moâ—e modest he durst not say he loved Christ more than the other Apostles Iohn 21.15 Lovest thou me more than these He durst not say so his â—all broke the neck of his pride 2. â—he foyling by a temptation causeth more ciâ—cumspection and watchfulnesse in a child of God Though Satan did before decoy him into sin yet for the future he will be the more cautious he will have a care of coming wiâ—hin the Lyons chain any more he is more shy and fearful of the occasions of sin he never â—oes abâ—oad without his spiritual Armour and he girds on his Aâ—mour by pâ—ayer he knows he walks on slippeâ—y ground therefoâ—e looks waâ—ily to his steps he keeps close Centinel in his â—oul and when he spyes the Devil coming he stands to his Aâ—mes and displayes the shielâ— of Faith Eph. 6.16 This is all the hurt the Devil doth when he foils a Saint by temptation he cures him of his careless neglect he makes him waâ—ch and pray more When wilde Beasts get over the hedge and hurt the Coâ—n a man will make his fence the stronger So when the Devil gets over the hedge by a temptation a Christian will be sure to mend his sence he is more fearful of sin and careful of â—uty Thus the being worsted by temptation works for good Object But if being foiled works for good this may make Christians careless whether they are overcome by tentations or no Resp. There is a great deal of difference between falling into a temptation and running into a temptation the falling inâ—o a temptation shall work for good not the running into it He that falls into a River is capable of help and pity buâ— he that desperaâ—ely turns into it is guilty of his own death 'T is mad running into a Lyons Dâ—n He that runs himself into a temptation is like Saul who fell upon his own sword From all that hath been said by way of Corollary see how God doth beâ—ool the old Serpent making his temptations â—uâ—n to the good of his people Sure did the Devil know how much benefit accrues to the Saints by temptation he would forbear to tempt Luther once said there are three things make a Christian Prayer Meditation Temptation After a Feaver the body shoots up more in stature After Believers have been in a hot fit of temptation they have shot up more in holinesse St. Paul in his voyage to Rome met with a contrary wind Acts 27.4 So the wind of temptation is a contrary wind to that of the Spirit but God makes use of this crosse wind to blow the Saints to Heaven SECTION III. Shewing that the evil of Desertion works for good to the Godly 3. THe evil of desertiâ—n works for good The Spouse complains of desertion Cant. 5.6 My beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone There is a two-fold withdrawing either 1. In regard of grace when God suspends the influence of his Spirit and with-holds the lively actings of grace If the Spirit be gone Grace freezeth into a chilness and