that thou art engaged in Magna silentii laus est quo confessus est Aron justo Dei judicio extinctos esse ita se cohibitum fuisse ut cum Deo rixari non auderet Ad animum enim refertur ut Psal 39.3 Psal 62.1 Calv. in loc Ephes 2.12 Qui extra foedus est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est sine Deo à se culto à se amato eoque propitio nonbabet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 jus sibi vendicandi postulandi possidendi quod est filiorum Dei Coc. de foeder Testamento Dei. Thes 1. §. 7. prevail not let not thy heart rise against it Aaron had a great tryal Levit. 10.13 He lost two Sons by an immediate stroke of Gods hand in an act of sin and yet Aaron held his peace A higher tryal had Abraham O that Ishmael might live in thy sight The Lord answers my Covenant will I establish with Isaac Abraham knew that there was no salvation out of Covenant and that this Covenant should not be established with Ishmael and yet he sits down in silence under the hand of God If once the will of God be manifested the soul ought to acknowledge it It is the Lord let him do what seems him good This was the blessed temper of Ely when he heard of the miseries that should come upon his house I will cut off thine arm and the arm of thy fathers house and there shall not be an old man in thy house for ever 1 Sam. 2.31 Brachium ipsa materia cogit ut de fortitudine vitali sermonem esse intelligamus Cajet Descriptio est eripiendi sacerdotii quod illius familiae robur erat firmamentum dignitatem authoritatem tuam Pontificiam auseram c. P. Martyr A Lap. Se tantis opibus spoliatos prae dolore deficiant propter excitati animi dignitatem invidia contabescant and he that is left in thy house shall be to consume thy eyes and to greive thy heart yet he answers it is the Lord. 3. Exercise a weaned heart towards thy present enjoyments It may be thou hast lost an estate thy freinds fail thy hopes are faln God hath blown upon all the projects that thy heart did fancy to thy self for thy own advancement thy heart ought to be as a weaned * Significat se nullius rei esse sollicituÌ„ infantis instar quem mater lacte alere desut ille tamen à matris cura pendet sic se omnem eventum Deo committere c. Muis in loc child Psa 131.2 It s spoken in reference to his dependencies that as children look only to their mother they have no projects for themselves so it is with me I wait only upon God look unto him only Homines quaÌ„ par est sapere providi esse appetunt Calv. Men are prudent and provident creatures but my heart is taken off from the dug of all my former comforts my dependencies are upon an immediate providence for supply I project nothing for my self The poor leaves himself with thee Psal 10.14 So much the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth fignifie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Est ita quempiam relinquere ut eum juvare aut tueri prorsus dimisit Psa 22.1 Job 39.14 Ezech. 8 12. His verbis signific dandum esse tempus Providentiae ut pii homines curas in Dei finum rejiciant Deo igitur relinquit quisquis in ejus fidem se ita consert ut fidele depositorium esse persuasus maturum redemptionis tempus placide expectet Cal. a man puts himself out of his own protection into the hands of God with an exclusive resolution I will seek no farther I am willing to be in that condition in which he will set me take the provision the Lord will make for me If he will make me a Shepherd or a King my heart is ready Vis me pastorem ovium vis me Regem populorum ecce paratum est cor meum as Bernard brings in David so speaking of himself 4. Accept the punishment That is the expression Levit. 26.41 If their uncircumcised heart be humbled and they * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Significat consentit Psa 50.18 acceptavit Eccles 9.7 hinc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 derivatur Avernar A Sept. reddit per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat etiam placavit expiavit Esay 40.1 inde sensus est ad poenam tanquam meritam consentire ut propitiam utilem aequo grato animo ferre Videtur etiam subjicere studium placandi Deo alludit enim ad sacrificia quibus se Deo reconciliabant Calv. Esay 39.8 Lam. 3.22 Gen. 32.10 accept the punishment the word signifies to be well pleased with it to acknowledge it to be less then their iniquities deserve Ezra 9.13 As when the Lord threatned a grievous punishment upon the house of Hezechiah He accepts the punishment saying good is the Word of the Lord that there shall be truth and peace in my dayes And when they were in Babylon they acknowledge it is the Lords mercy that we are not consumed And if a man should accept it for himself I conceive it also a Duty to accept the punishment for others and not to have his spirit to rise with impatient frettings as if the Lord had dealt with others in a way of rigour and paid them beyond their deserts Surely there ought to be a complacency of soul in all the dealings of God towards our selves or others An humble heart is less then the least of all Gods mercies And a man should bless God that he is not brought into the lowest condition of men that he sees any creature below him As when the two Cardinals were riding to the a Luther in tertium praeceptum Ecce hanc bestiam bufonem intuitus tam eximiam creaturaÌ„ fecit â—e Deus nunquam gratias egi quod me quoque tam deformem bufonem non fecerit hoc est quod amarè fleo Councel of Constance they heard a man in the way weeping and wailing greatly asking him what he alled they found him looking upon an ugly Toad and his heart was melted with the consideration of this mercy that God had not made him such a creature who was made of the same clay with it Which made one of them cry out well said the Father Surgunt indocti rapiunt coelum nos cum doctrinis nostris volutamur in carne sanguine Aug. 5. Judge it to be best now the will of God is manifested or else thou dost prefer thy will above Gods will Blush at such an unworthy thought that when God hath declared what his will is thou shouldst think that if it had been thus it had been better for herein thou dost make thy will the Rule of goodness and dost prefer it unto the will of God Surely The b Psal 24.1 principes non cogitent se dominos esse terrarum
man immediatly falls into sin And yet the taking away of the restraint is not the cause of his sinning but his own natural propension and inclination of Spirit thereunto The Lord doth by permission but remove the impediment take away the restraint As a man taking his hand from a glass it breaks not because he takes away his hand but from its own brittle nature so there is a Divina manutenentia which the Lord takes away As a man that doth loose an Anchor and lets a Ship drive into the Main when by the Wind and the Sea it s dashed against the Rocks thus the permission of God is but a removing of the restraints that are upon the spirits of men In sinfull and holy actions three things are to be distinguished 1. The action it self so the Lord doth concur unto both by a common Providence unto both the beings and the motions of the Creatures They must depend à primo motore For in him we live and move and have our being 2. There is also the quality of the action either good or evil And here is a different concurrence of God 1. To a gracious action the Lord concurs not only in the substance of it but in the goodness and rectitude of it For we have no sufficiency of our selves to think any thing as of our selves 2 Cor. 3.5 When we turn to him it is he turns us first when we make our selves a new heart it is he first gives us a new heart when we work with him he works our works in us and for us The Lord concurs to it with a gracious and efficacious will It depends more upon the act of God then upon the act of the creature But in the evil and obliquity of an action the Lord concurs by a permitting will only leaveing the creature to act according to its own rules and to walk after its own imaginations taking away the powerfull determination of grace and all the restraints that were before laid upon them Now the act is of God but the obliquity and the defect of the action is from the Creature only 3. There are the ends of the action and the Lord doth appoint them also Of good actions the end is his glory according to the intention of the Agent and of evil actions the end is his glory though it be praeter intentionem Agentis As an Artificer useth natural causes unto artificial ends as we see the Loadstone that naturally draws Iron how it is made use of in the Art of Navigation and we commonly use the natural enmity of a Dog or a Hawk to accomplish our end on some other of the creatures else unserviceable to us So doth the Lord over-rule the natural enmity of the creature and orders it unto his own ends the glory of his own Wisdom Power and Justice As we see in Nebuchadnezzar though he as an instrument in the hand of God intends no such thing he thinks not so Isa 10. And in these properly doth the nature of permission consist Now let us see the permitting will of God being conversant only about sin and that only the acts of the reasonable creature in what particulars it is exercised what it is that the Lord doth permit in them And they are these especially 1. God leaves remainders of sin in the best of his people This belongs unto his permitting will that though they be sanctified it is but in part He doth suffer sin to remain in them that if the best men say they have no sin they deceive themselves and the truth is not in them Sin dies a crucified death it hath only received its deaths wound and dies by degrees There is in the best a Law of the members as well as a Law of the minde which makes them cry out Vnclean undone wretched man that I am Non peccare in via praeceptum est in patria praemium It is in this life our Law and in the life to come it shall be our reward it is here our duty then our glory Peccatum in renascentibus remittitur in proficientibus minuitur in resurgentibus tollitur Aust 2. He suffers Satan both as a tempter and as an accuser and it is for these ends that he hath not yet his full torment He knows the time is not yet full come Art thou come to torment me before the time First The Lord suffers him as a Tempter this was a great part of the humiliation of Christ the King of Saints that he was not only made fin by God but he was tempted unto sin by the Devil And he suffered being tempted that he might be able to succour them that are tempted Heb. 2.18 All the Saints are there called those are tempted and tempted as we are Heb. 4.15 and the people of God had need of succour not only in their sufferings but especially in their temptations And there is no possbility for them to stand out against them without succour from Christ Sometimes Satan comes upon them by his own immediate injections which the Apostle calls fiery darts because they are apt to take shot as Granadoes and Wild fire into the Camp of an enemy So it is said Satan did move David to number the people 1 Chron. 21.1 The word doth signifie to perswade by force of Argument and by a vehement and continual importunity to take no denial And herein properly doth the strength of a temptation lie in the strength of the Arguments and the reasonings of it and the importunity of it from day to day It s used in Deut. 13.6 if a man doth perswade and entice his friend secretly to other Gods gives him reasons and arguments to perswade him thereunto It s the same word that is used of Iezabel 1 Kin. 21.25 Whom Iezabel his wife stirred up She provoked him by earnest perswasions by continual importunities And sometimes he makes use of the Creatures and there is no creature that Satan will not make use of to withdraw from God and to draw to sin A Disciple a Friend a Wife God made her a rib Satan a dart 2. He permits him as an ac cuser for he is called the accuser of the brethren And as he doth move us against God in a way of sinning so he doth move God against us in a way of Judgment And therefore Zach. 3.1 It s said Satan stood at Ioshua's right hand to resist him Some say as an accuser the manner being to set the accusers on the right hand of the person accused Others take the right hand for the instrument of action and so it was effectually to hinder Ioshua in his work So Iob 2.3 the Lord faith Thou hast moved me against him without a cause the same word is there used of his moving God against Job as before he had moved David against God in the one as a tempter in the other as an accuser And there is as great fear of Satan in the one as in the other Now it is
and scandalous falls And yet this hath been the condition of some of the most eminent Saints as David Solomon Sampson and Peter c. 3. The Lord doth suffer his people to lie under the power of the temptations of Satan which I confess is a very great misery so to be subjected unto an unclean spirit that he should have access unto our spirits and a mans heart should be as an Anvil for the Devil to form and fashion his lusts upon It was one of the greatest abasements of Christ that his holy and gracious Spirit should be subjected at least to the cursed and blasphemous injections of Satan but the Prince of this world came and found nothing in him but he doth seldom come near us but he doth touch us 1 Joh. 5.19 tactu qualitativo for there is nothing that Satan can suggest but there is a seed and a principle in us and so far as it takes with the seed there is something in us that windes with it it is as well Partus cordis as Seminarium hostis And therefore although it be a distinction which some Divines do use that if there be no consent on our part it is our misery but not our sin yet I conceive it is a hard thing for a soul to satisfie himself in this that there being a corrupt principle in men which doth close with every thing that Satan caâ— inject that there is nothing in me thaâ— doth close with such a temptation 〈◊〉 and its so much the more misery because it is an act and fruit of that ancient selling of our selves unto Satan and therefore it is just with God in a degree to leave the best of the Saints under his power for Quod vendituâ— transit in potestatem ementis But seeing it is the will of God and a mans duty to submit and to gird himself unto the battel though we wrestle not with flesh and blood but with spirituaâ— wickedness in heavenly places Eph. 6.12 yet we are to fight the good fight of faith go forth under the banner of Christ who hath promised to tread Satan under foot shortly Rom. 16.20 Christ was led of the Spirit into the wilderness How did the Spirit lead him by sweet and secret motions Christ having received the Spirit as an unction this same Spirit was the guide of his way the ordererâ— of all the acts of his humane nature so he is also the guide of our ways â—nd the guidance of this Spirit Christ doth follow and though he meet with a temptation yet doth he submit to the permitting will of God therein 4 If the Lord will let wicked men rule over you if he will leave you in their hands will let out their rage and malice upon you that they shall shew you no mercy Tread you down as mire in the streets as Nebuchadnezzar is said to receive a command to do to Ierusalem Isa 10. yet it is your duty to conform your wills unto the permitting will of God If the Lord luster the Caldeans and Sabeans to plunder Iob of his goods and leave him poor to a proverb He must say The will of the Lord be done the Lord hath given the Lord hath taken blessed be the name of the Lord If the Lord will suffer Shimei to curse David in the day of his extremity and to rail upon him as a bloody man David must say Let him alone the Lord hath bidden him and if so Who shall say why dost thou so 2 Sam. 16.10 Though the Lord be not the author yet he is the ordereâ— of sin and it s he hath now let ouâ— this evil therefore look not at the instrument in it but at the hand of God so doth Christ if the cup may not pass from him but he must be delivered into the hands of men and be crucified holy Father not my will but thy will be done And this same is the case in the Text concerning Paul if the Jews shall take him and deliver him unto the Gentiles and they shall put him to death surely they could not do any such thing if the Lord did not suffer it therefore our will must not oppose Gods will but we ought to say The will of the Lord be done 3. Now we come to the grounds and reasons of the point that we may from hence see what of godliness there is in it to have our will brought into a conformity unto the permitting will of God 1. The more self-denial there is in any thing the more of the power of Grace there is exprest in it for self-denial in any man is the measure of all the grace that is in the man as self-seeking is the measure of all the corruption for the body of siune in a man is nothing else but self-exalted above God Therefore Christ rule is Matth. 16.14 Let a man deny himself Penitus abneget self must be denied in every consideration in every respect therefore Jesus Christ that was the pattern of all grace he was the great pattern of self-denial and hath left us a Copy therein to write after him 1 Pet. 2.21 He came not to do his own will nor to seek his own glory but as a Servant to be wholly at the will and the command of another Now Divines commonly say that there is a threefold self that is respectively to be denied First there is Self as corrupted sinfull Self Secondly Self as created natural self Thirdly Self as renued moral religious self Now to deny self-natural is more then to deny self-sinfull because that is not absolutely to be denied but in comparison to deny moral-self is more then to deny natural self because that is not to be denied but when it comes in competition Now this conformity of our will unto the permitting will of God exercises self-denial in all these First a man must deny natural self If God will have a man subject it under the power of wicked men or will leave him to be hurried in his person or estate by the power and according to the lust of the devil and the Lord will suffer it stand by and look on and not come in for his his help Now a man may lawfully yea he is bound in duty to seek his own preservation as Christ that he might not be delivered into the hands of unreasonable men He prayed to his Father and yet the Lord did not deliver him and he gave them power to apprehend him and did not interpose Now the will of nature gives place unto the will of duty and Christ says Not my will but thy will be done It s God that hath given Satan this power to men and therefore who am I that I should say Why dost thou so Secondly A man must deny renewed-self and truly grace in the man is dearer to him then his life he would be content to lose his life that he may maintain and perfect his grace It is the divine nature the Image of Christ begun in
the most miserable subjection that can befall him to be liable unto the unclean investings of such a wicked and malicious enemy That he should have such an immediate access to our spirits from day to day that we should wrestle with principalities and pewers for life concerning heavenly things and yet humbly to be content because it is the will of God that a man should lie under them and to wait Gods time for his deliverance and to say if the Lord will not deliver me all my dayes let his will be done There are some temptations that come upon the soul with a great deal of horror terribilia de fide horribilia de divinitate as Bernard speaks motions and injections to Blasphemy Atheism Self-murther As Luther saith he had such a temptation once came upon him with that impetuousness that he was forced for some hours to do nothing but repeat that commandment Thou shalt do no murther It may be the thorn in the flesh was an immediate messenger from hell sent unto Paul with some such violent temptation as this even the very motions that are in the damned souls in hell such as Spira had I would I were above God for I know he will not have mercy upon me 2 Cor. 12. It was some horrid temptation which was to be a cure of Pauls pride it was given him that he might not be lifted up through the multitude of Revelations Whereupon Austin breaks forth Quantum sit superbiae venenum quod non potest nisi veneno curari Now Paul was mightily awakened by this temptation he looked upon it as a terrible affliction as a thorn in the flesh that did hurt him and gall him from day to day and therefore he prayed thrice It expresseth both his frequency and his fervency But the Lord told him it was his will that he should lie under that temptation which permitting will of God being made manifest Paul must not slack to pray against it or to be afflicted with it and yet Paul must be content to lie under it so long as it was the will of God to suffer it to lie upon him Thirdly If the Lord will leave a man under the hands of wicked men to be content to let the Ploughers plough upon his back and make long furrows and from a Principle of Faith not to make haste Isa 28.16 Faith is commended from the excellent fruit of it it keeps the soul in a continual calm in a quiet condition that though a man earnestly desire deliverance whether for himself or for the Churches pray for it daily it pities him to see the stones of Zion to lie in the dust yet his bow with Josephs abides in strength his heart is not overcome by the continuance of the affliction so as to make him to take any evil course for his own or the Churches hasty deliverance but he is content to stay Gods time until the time of the word comes Psal 105. The Word of the Lord tried him While the Lord would have the oppression to lie on he will leave his people under the hands of their Adversaries till he hath wrought his own good work upon Sian he is content to stoop unto this permitting will of God and wait the Lords leisure for his deliverance Fourthly For a man to be earnest in prayer and yet submit unto the will of God if his prayer be delayed Christ tels us there is an importunity in prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a holy kind of impudence And St James saith there is a fervent prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an active and a working prayer There is a double importunity in prayer One from the Flesh when a man is very earnest for the thing he would have and cannot be content without it So many a man howls upon his bed for carn and wine and oyl Hos 7.14 from a principle of flesh there is many times a great deal of earnestness put into a man but there is an importunity that rises from duty that a man can be earnest in duty though he attain not the thing desired yet his importunity is held up and for all that he can be content to stay Gods time for the thing and yet pray as earnestly for it from a principle of duty as if it were granted It is a very difficult thing for a godly man to be able to do this in his whole course It was one of the great difficulties in Christianity that Luther found dilata sperare for to keep up his hope and hope will keep up a mans prayer even in the greatest delayes of God For a man to pray against sin against temptation to pray for deliverance of the Churches from the hands of ungodly men for the Lord to suffer sin to remain the temptation and persecution to continue and yet for a mans importunity in prayer to be held up when he is at the same time contented to submit unto the permtting will of God while the Lord will suffer sin and Satan continually to vex him it s a very high pitch of Grace and a great deal of curiosity there is in this to be able to cut at a thred and to be able to keep between these extreams Now it is the subjection of our will unto the permitting will of God that keep the heart within compass that it runs not out either of these wayes 4. What kind of acts of submission must there be in us unto the permitting will of God 1. There must be a deep apprehension of the Justice of God in his permitting will So it was in David though it was wicked in Shimei to curse the ruler of the people and some conceive even Paul confessed his errour therein when he said unto Annas the high Priest God shall smite thee thou painted wall I wist not or I considered not that he was the high Priest Sure it could not be that Paul being a Jew should not know him so to be But David looks not at the injustice of the Instrument but at the Justice of God in it The Lord hath said unto him Curse David and he did acknowledge in that Gods permitting will So doth Jeremiah chap. 12.1 Righteous art thou O Lord and just are thy judgements yet let me reasonwith thee why doth the wicked prosper And wherefore are they happy that deal treacherously God did suffer wicked men to prosper in a way of sinning it was an act of his permitting will which though Jeremiah understood not yet his will did submit to it as just because he did acknowledge the will of God to be the rule of Justice Secondly We must acknowledge his wisdom therein so doth David also the Lord will surely requite good for his cursing this day He knows how to turn sin to good and how to make advantage to the Saints by their worst temptations their greatest sufferings and their most dangerous fals He knows how to perfect his grace in their weakness and to temper the deadliest
poison into a most excellent medicine how to profit his people by their lying under the power of ungodly men making them the Scullions to wipe them even as a man would wipe a dish He knows how to refine them by that fire which they thought would have consumed them and he doth sit by as a refiner and he will suffer them to lie in the fire no longer then till they are refined He knows how to work his own end out of all these permissions For all the permissions of God are in design for a time till he hath accomplished his own purpose Isa 10.12 Till I have wrought my good work upon Sion And be assured the permissions of God shall be means to destroy sin as well as his Sanctification and the Enemy shall be as well destroyed by his permissions as by his executions Cuâ— off in their own malice ensnared in the works of their own hands The Lord will surely accomplish the ends of his permissions but they shall never accomplish their ends and determinations There is nothing the Lord permits but he will bring good out of it and he knows how to do it His permission of sin was an occasion of bringing in a better Covenant a more glorions head a higher righteousness a greater Sonship a more excellent name and he that can bring so much good by the permitting the worst of evils we need not fear but he can bring very great good also out of the temptations and out of the sufferings of the Saints 3. A man should not fret and be impatient but labour for a calm and quiet spirit under it because it is the will of God to suffer it and had not he suffered it it had never been There is as truly a principle of quietness in the permitting will of God as there is in the commanding and effecting will of God do not impatiently and discontentedly reason why doth the Lord suffer it to be thus It was that which David did quell in his followers when they would presently have taken off Shimet's head he answers the Lord hath bidden him and who shall say Wherefore hast thou done so 2 Sam. 16.10 Therefore Psal 37.7 his counsel is Fret not because of the man that prospers in his way against the man that bringeth wicked devices to pass God suffers Satan to infest thee and wicked men to oppress thee take heed of an unquiet Spirit under it for the permitting will of God acts as truly for the good of his people as his effecting will And it is part of that portion which the Lord doth make over to them when he saith I will be thy God whatever is in God is theirs and works for them though for the present it seems to make against them David in this bewails his own folly that his soul was not quieted under the permissions of God and therefore doth set himself before us as an example afterwards for a pattern of patience to be imitated and a pitch of patience to be attained when as he was before in his distemper foolish and as a beast before God 4. A man should not only desire that the commanding will of God might stand but his permitting will also and a man should desire onely to be delivered with a subjection to his will So Christ saith in his subjection to the will of God in Pilats condemnation of him John 19.11 Thou couldst have no power over me unless it were given thee from above It is only the permitting will of my Father which hath put this power in thy hands and if it be his will that I shall be delivered into your hands I do not desire that this permission of God should be taken off until his time is I can with satisfaction and contentment lie down under it If it be not his will that this cup pass his will be done Use Let us then endeavour that the power of grace in us may appear in submission unto the permitting will of God There should be no testimony of Godliness in the power of it but a Godly man should search to find it in himself and if he doth not find it he should labour after it James 1.4 Let patience have its perfect work There is a perfect work of grace in the hearts of all the people of God not perfect in this life as it is in heaven but yet there is a fulness of the age of the stature of Christ in this life Now look what power grace hath had in any mans heart the same we should desire it might have in ours not only subduing our wills to the commanding but also to the permitting will of God in all things For it is true we know in part and many things we do not beause we know not A Gracious heart his care is to keep his eye open for every new discovery of truth and he carries with him a resolution to walk answerably thereunto when once it is made known to him by the Spirit of Revelation Now the arguments to inforce it are these 1. As it comes from God it is good For the will of God is the rule of goodness and it is onely good It is true that the things willed are not good and therefore as it is sin the Lord doth not will it but suffer it but yet though sin be not good yet it is good that God should glorifie himself and work his own ends not only out of the services but also out of the sins and the contrary actings of the Creatures 2. To be given over unto a contradicting spirit to dispute against any part of the will of God is one of the greatest plagues that a man can be given up to Who art thou that replyest against God Rom. 11. Either against the will of his purpose in his decrees or else the will of his precept in his commands or against the withdrawings of grace in his permissions there is scarcely a greater plague then to be given over to a gainsaying spirit To call the actions of God into question in either of these it is a sin that is commonly reproved Isa 1.5 All the day long I have stretched out my hand against a disobedient and gainsaying people And it s the Judgement that the damned in hell are given up to they are acted by a gainsaying spirit Therefore Luke 16.29 30. Abraham saith They have Moses and the Prophets let them hear them But Dives saith Nay Father Abram if one rise from the dead again they will repent The best way to bring them to Repentance saith Abraham is to hear Moses and the Prophets Nay saith Dives the best way to bring them to repentance is by one rising from the dead again And if an Angel or a Saint from heaven should preach to men they would dispute and resist So men do against the permitting will of God Why doth God suffer this he can hinder sin if he would Qui non vetat peccare cum potest jubet He that
is the use that Satan intends to make of it that men may neither receive counsell from God or man being unfit for either which is one great use that he makes of the discontents of mens spirits at this day 5. It keeps men from communion with God for God will have no fellowship with the spirit that stands in opposition to his will Iob. 22.21 Acquaint thy self with God and be at peace The words in the originall are rendred Assuesce te cumillo accustome thy self with him Now that you may be accustomed to communion with God he exhorts you to be at peace that is ut Spiritus deprimat insolentes So Zanchius Let all those heart risings and unquiet dispositions be supprest else you can have no communion with him neither can you attain any blessing from him 6. It is to keep a man in a continuall bittterness against the instruments and to break forth against them As when God would rent the Kingdom from Saul and an evill spirit from the Lord came upon him then he brake forth into all manner of violence against David whom he looked upon as a competitor in the kingdome whereas Jonathan seeing it was the mind of God sate down quietly saying Thou shalt be King and I shall be next thee So it was with Araunah It is conceived that he was king of Iebus before they were conquered by David and yet his spirit submits to David saying Wherefore is my lord the King come unto his servant This temper of spirit will make a man lie in wait to revenge himself and greedily to take it though it be to his own ruine As it was with Shimei his spirit was imbittered he did but wait for an opportunity and having gotten it though it were against his own life yet with how much bitterness did he vent himself 7. That it may tend at last to direct blasphemy and revenge against God for that is the end the devill aims at in all his temptations and unto which they all come if not here yet in hell 1 Iohn 5.19 The devill is said to touch men and it is for no other end then to leave an impression of devilishness upon them to make them as farr ar may be equally guilty with himself And the soul habituated unto rage and constant opposition against God is fitted by Satan for such a devilish design 3. What is the excellency of such a temper of spirit to be alwayes calm and quiet not given up to disturbances within it self 1. This is in the sight of God of great price 1 Peter 3.4 Because this is agreeable unto the nature of God And to this end was the vision given to Eliah when his spirit was in a passion 1 King 19.11 12. It was to instruct him as Peter Martyr hath well observed First in this that the way of Gods dealing with sinners is not by and by to destroy them with a wind with an earthquake or with fire but that he shews much patience toward them and takes them away in a more still and secret manner Occulta tacita media non defutura suae providentiae Secondly to let him know what manner of prayer would take with God against sinners and prevail Deum non commoveri affectibus perturbationibus incitari Men think when they have prayed in passion and have vehemently stirred themselves that God is so much moved as they but he doth not appear in an earthquake nor wind or fire but in a short still voice when he is sought unto from quiet sedate affections 2. This is agreeable to the spirit of Christ who appeared in the form of a Dove Animal non felle amarum non morsibus saevum non unguibus violentum Cyprian Therefore surely the more unquiet any mans spirit is the less of the Dove there is in that man For as the Dove is simple and without guile so it is without gall also Sine felle sine dolo 2. The excellency of such a temper of soul will appear in the sutableness thereof unto a Christian First by this every Saint as he is appointed unto a Kingdom for so Christ saith I appoint unto you a Kingdom as my father appointed unto me so he hath the Kingdom of God erected and set up in his own soul for the Kingdom of God is within you Luke 17.2 There is regimen spirituale that the Lord sets up in the man And the more any mans spirit is ordered and subjected unto the will of God the more he is acted by the spirit without reluctancy so much the more the Kingdom of God is exalted in the mans heart In regno Dei omnia sunt sic ordinata ut quod est in homine praecipuum imperet caeteris non reluctantibus Aust The more a man is led by the spirit the more ductile and easie to be led he doth shew himself to be the more the Kingdom of God is set up in him Isaiah 11.6 A little child shall lead them when the Spirit of God becomes as it were the forma informans of the man that the soul obeys the dictates of the spirit as the body subjects it self unto the rule of the soul then is the Kingof God set up in the man Confusion tumults and uproars may be sutable unto the kingdoms of men the mountains of prey the habitations of cruelty but they are every way unfit for the Kingdom of God Secondly one speciall ingredient in the Kingdom of God is peace Rom. 14.17 The Kingdem of God consists not in meat nor in drink but in righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy-ghost It is understood here of the Kingdom of Grace and Glory The Kingdom of Grace consists not in externals meat and drink neither will the observation of these bring a man unto the Kingdom of Glory but it consists in somthing within Now it is Austins observation that some are pacifici in senetipsis men that keep a constant peace and quietness of spirit within themselves keep a constant Sabbath to God in their own souls intus in corde Sabbatum nostrum Luther in one of his Epistles to a German Divine writes thus Dominus tua omnia faciat tu nihil facias sed sis Sabbatum Christi Let your hearts rest and keep a Sabbath in you and you in him and it is in this rest and quietness of spirit that the main of a Christiau Sabbath doth consist Therefore the Sabbath here is a type of Heaven There remains yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Sabbatisme for the people of God It is true in glory there shall be an externall rest they rest from their labours but the main shall be the inward rest of the soul the spirit shall keep a Sabbath to God eternally when all sinfull unruly inordinate actings of the spirit will be no more but the soul enjoy perfect peace and quietness in the Lord. Now this is the peace in which the Kingdom of God doth consist Vera pax est a
his beloved sleep Psal 121.2 By sleep is not meant that of the body but of the soul Fideles etsi vitam agant laboriosam compositis tamen tranquillis animis in fidei silentio se continent ac si dormirent They have a great deal of rest and quietness in all their labours and this is the gift of God 2. We must obtain it of God in his own way and that is in the way of prayer for as faith is the pacifying grace so prayer is the quieting duty Hannah after she had prayed though her spirit was unquiet before yet she went away and did eat and drink and wat no more sad And David though he did begin many Psalms with a troubled spirit yet he concludes with comfort being quieted and cheared under all the dealings of God with him Phil. 4.6 7. In all things let your prayer and requests be made known unto God and the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts There is a double peace of the Saints one wrought for us without us and this is reconciliation with God the other is peace within us which is given unto the Saints as a return of prayer the Spirit of supplication becoming afterward a Spirit of consolation 3. Consider the condition of the Saints while they are in this life Isa 33 46. He shall dwell on high his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks bread shall be given him and his water shall be sure There is no affliction that can hurt thee that doth not disquiet thee Men may plunder thee of thy goods but let them not rob thee of thy patience So it was with Job Satan could not hurt him till he did disquiet him though he did fire his house yet he could not fire his spirit So it was with the Christians in the primitive times Amiserunt omnia nunquid fidem nunquid pietatem hae sunt opes Christianorum 4. Be much in acts of reliance and self resignation unto God considering the relation in which thou standeth unto him To whom should the children fly but to the father and on whom should he cast his care Do children lay up for the parents or rather the parents for the children Cast therefore thy care upon him for he careth for thee With him the fatherless find mercy Thou never puttest thy self out of Gods care till thou beginnest to take the business out of Gods hands and to take care for thy self Trust in the Lord for ever for the Lord Iehovah is a rock of ages Isa 26.3 5. Reason it out with thy own soul This was Davids remedy Why art thou cast down oh my soul and why art thou disquieted within me We should call our souls unto an accompt examine the reason and the ground of our disquiet Commune with your own heatrs upon your beds and be still Faith doth as much work by sanctified reasoning as by any other way of acting whatsoever We come now to the two last particulars which are included in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And for dispatch sake I shall put both into this one observation Doct. When the will of God is manifested it is the duty of the Saints neither to speak nor act against it they are to cease from both In the opening hereof I must shew First that the will of God as manifested is to be the rule of our wills and wayes Secondly That when it is manifested it is the duty of the Saints neither to speak nor act against it Thirdly Give the grounds thereof And lastly make an application of it to our selves 1. The will of God manifested is to be the rule of our wills and ways And here we are to consider three things 1. No man is to speak or act according to his own will It is a state of sin that fulfils the wills of the flesh and of the mind Ephes 2.3 A mans own will in opposition to the will of God is the will of the devill 2. Tim. 2. and the last we are said to be led captive by him at his will This therefore cannot be a rule unto any man either for speaking or acting but unto him who hath no other god but the god of this world Christ himself doth not make his wil the rule of his actions I came not to do my own will but the will of him that sent me Ioh. 6.38 The Angels do not their own wils The Angell Gabriell was sent at the beginning of thy supplication the commandment came forth and I am come to shew thee Daniel 9.23 The Angel did not go without a command Ezek. 1.25 There is a firmament over the head of the living creatures and a voice from the firmament unto which the Angels did attend in all their motions and when they stood they let down their wings The will of God was the rule of all their actings and cessation from actions 2. It is the will of God as manifested that is the rule of all the actions of the creatures Deut. 29.29 Things revealed are to us and our children for ever This is a constant rule of all their motions for ever there will never be a time in this world when the scripture which is the revelation of the will of God shall be laid aside as of no use for they belong unto us to do them Therefore in the 12. of the Romans 2. we are exhorted to prove what the good and acceptable will of God is The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth signifie 1. sedulo explorare diligently to try and search 2. approbare vitam conformare to approve and conform our lives thereunto Now it must be revealed or a man can never discern it or approve it or conform his will or way unto it God will have our services to be reasonable services which must be an obedience to his will as manifested or made known unto us Men require not obedience unto any law so long as it is in the breast of the lawgiver it never binds the subject till it be published and proclaimed that all may take notice of it So it is with the Lord who is the great and the only lawgiver 3. The will of God is revealed and made known both by his word and by his works which are nothing else but as it were a comment upon his word First By his word which is therefore called the counsell of God the mind of Christ 1 Cor. 2. and the last I have written unto them the great things of my law Hos 8.12 declaring the whole will of God concerning the creatures obedience Secondly By his works for the worketh every thing according to the counsell of his own will Ephes 1.11 Therefore whatsoever he doth in the world it is but to discover the counsell of his will to the Saints Therefore when Davids child was dead he takes it for a manifestation of the will of God and his heart is quieted under it There is a double book
did the Lord Jesus even so father for so was thy good pleasure Direction 2. Secondly cease your lying be silent in that to put away lying saith the Apostle let every man speak truth to his neighbour not only the way of lying among men and whispering against their brethren that 's not the lying I now intend but there is a lying against the Lord put it away and what is that you will say Ier. 5.12 They believed the Lord and said it is not he take heed of that lying It s an evill to belie men and you will find it so one day take heed do not belie the Lord. Direct 3. Thirdly cease your mocking silence them too the assembly of mockers is the worst society of men you can fall into and the chair of the scorner is the worst seat you can sit down in Be no more mockers lest your bands be made strong Isa 28.22 Truly mocking proceeds from a high pitch of pride and pride goes immediatly before a fall Dir. 4. Fourthly silence your rayling reviling and bitter speeches David saith some mens tongues cut like a sharp rasor and that is a remarkable place Psal 73.9 They set their mouths against heaven and their tongues run through the world what is that their mouths against heaven that is saith a learned Interpreter when men speak proudly concerning God and the things of God the ways of God the works of God and the Saints of God they stretch their mouths against heaven and their tongues run through the world they have to do with all persons with all imployments all the world over their tongues walk Solomon I remember saith Pro. 14.3 in the mouth of the foolish is a rod of â—ride he never is without a rod. Its â—he pride of a fool that sets his tongue on work to scourge the persons and their actions that are wiser then himself Direct 5. Fifthly cease your boasting speak no more so proudly against God 1 Sam. 2.3 The very boasting of men glorying in an arm of flesh hath caused the Lord many times to let them to seek their own graves When Pharaoh once said I will pursue and overtake them and satisfie my lust upon them what follows then He hastens to make his own grave in the red sea Direct 6. Lastly in some kind let me say cease your praying when the will of God is manifested take heed let not your prayers stand in opposition to Gods will when once the Lord had discovered to Ieremiah that he would certainly deliver Ierusalem into the hands of the king of Babylon he did not dare to pray any more and so David till God manifested hiâ— will for the child he prayed but Davids prayer was ended when God will was manifested Pray consider whoever he be that goes and engageâ— in prayer against Gods revealed will he may both lose his own comfort and the sweetness of it that is the first admonition 2. Secondly be admonished not to act against it when God hath manifested his will neither be thou an assistant of those that act against the revealed will of God and to inforce it take these considerations for a close Mot. 1. First let your oppositions and contrary actings be what it will be when God hath manifested his will he will carry on the work if you make the greatest opposition that heaven or earth could make yet he will carry it on Isa 31.4 The Lord led them into captivity they call to Egypt for help but saith God their horses are flesh and not spirit you come out against me as a company of â—epherds against a young Lion that â—ath taken a lamb out of the flock â—ou cannot make him fasten his pace â—ake a noise but not come near Mot. 2. Secondly the more emiâ—ently the Lord hath manifested his â—ill the more evill there is in thy oppoâ—ition and the greater the hardness of â—y heart when Gods will is manifestâ—d signally and in an eminent way Consider I pray the Lord saith Pharaoh â—ould let the children of Israel go The Lord wrought severall wonders and â—gns in the land of Egypt to manifest is will eminently and yet Pharaoh esisted his will and acted against it his made it an act of greater stubbornâ—ss and hardness of heart Mot. 3. Thirdly it is the greatest â—udgment that can befall a man in his â—cting for God to be given over to enâ—age against the manifest will of God â—ts the devils plague though he know his is Gods will he shall be worsted 〈◊〉 it and hath experience of it from day to day though God frustrate hâ— designs never so often yet by aâ— by he hath great expectation froâ— every cloud that it will present rain Mot. 4. Fourthly you will ceâ—tainly in a way of opposition to Goâ— will meet with your destrucâ— on if thou art a godly man the wilt meet with judgment Isa 27. â— Who is it saith God that seâ— bryers and thorns in battle againâ— me When Gods will is manifesteâ— all opposition is but as bryers aâ—â— thorns in battel God will go througâ— and burn them at once and let 〈◊〉 tell you this the Lord hath said Aâ— iniquity shall stop her mouth Gâ—â— uses to stop ungodly mens moutâ— two waies somtimes by the holineâ— of the lives of his people and soâ— times by his own just judgment Mot. 5. And for a conclusion 〈◊〉 not act against the will of God forâ— you submit not to the will of God 〈◊〉 one thing the Lord will heighten thâ— judgment upon you in another If you will not submit to yokes of wood truly God will make you yokes of iron remember what he hath said and I conclude with that Hos 10.11 I passed over upon her fair neck he speaks it of Iudah and saith the Lord I will put a yoke upon her fair neck and Iudah shall plough and Iacob shall break the clods God will carry it on notwithstanding all your opposition and so much for this text We ceased saying the will of the Lord be done FINIS Bellarmine what he labours to prove concerning the German Empire p. 184. Book of Providence God hath as well as of life p. 141. Book double God hath given to the Saints p. 315 Business good there should be none which God hath on foot in the world but you should desire to have a hand in it p. 195. C. CArdinals two what they heard riding to the Council of Constance p. 95. Christs going forth in the Gospel what its compared unto pag. 1. Christ hath a double engagement lying upon him in reference to the kingdom of providence p. 148. Christ hath made his providential Kingdom subordinate unto his Spiritual Kingdom p. 150. Christ is called the Angel of Gods face p. 201. Chrysostom what he speaks of p. 134 135. Church by it what is meant p. 316. Chynaes Inhabitants what is observed of them pag. 60. Commands two difficult God gave to Abraham p. 272. Conformity to Gods permitting will exercises self-denial
by the permitting will of God that it should be so that the Saints should in a great measure lie under the power of this envious man first to entice them and afterwards to accuse them 3. He suffers the lusts of Godly men to arïse and they are many times led captive under the Law of sin yea even sometimes to gross and scandalous sins which do vastare conscientiam though they cannot excutere fidem As Sampson to a way of uncleanness David to Murther and that plotted Solomon to Idolatry and that continued Peter to the denial of his Master and that with the bitterest execrations cursing himself to Hell as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies if ever he knew the man yea and God doth leave them to harden their own hearts in a way of sinning and go on frowardly in it Isa 57.17 Why hast thou hardned our hearts from thy fear Isa 63.17 We hardened our hearts sinfully being by God left to our selves And God doth harden them judicially which is the greatest judgement that can befall a Saint in this life 4. God doth suffer wicked men to thrive and prosper in an evil way In ways of cruelty and oppression Nebuchadnezzar gathered the riches of the Nations like eggs that none did move the wing or peep He rules over the people of God with rigour shews them no mercy but upon the ancient he doth heavily lay the yoke The Ploughers plough upon their backs and make long furrows and wicked men oppress those that are more righteous then themselves And yet the Lord seems to stand by and look on and lets him thrive and prosper in it as if he had forsaken the earth So the ten Kings shall give their kingdoms to the Beast the power of laws and the power of arms and thereby set up Antichrist and he shall grow to that power That all kingdoms and nations and languages shall worship him and shall say Who is able io make war with the Beast And he shall make war with the faints and shall overcome them And this ordinarily the Lord doth that his people should come and cry to him to awaken him for he seems as a man asleep and as regarding nothing but leaving all in the enemies hand Awake Lord why sleepest thou Now all these belong unto the permitting will of God which is conversant only about the sins of the reasonable creature 2. There is very much of Godliness seen in a mans submission of his will unto this permitting will of God For the proof of it I shall give one Scripture for each of them First Submission unto the permitting will of God in regard of sin and the remainders thereof Though a godly man look upon it as his burthen as his misery esteems sinne worse then death worse then hell Yet seeing God will have it remain in him if he must still bear this weight draw this clog after him if he will still have them to wear their Grave-cloaths the Saints are content to wait for the resurrection of the just No man was more sensible of the remainders of sin then Paul as appears by his own expression of himself The greatest of sinners and the least of Saints therefore he cries out who shall deliver me Rom. 7.24 Yet he considers deliverance is begun I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord And therefore sin shall never prevail either to condemnation or dominion And with this deliverance the Apostle sits down and submits unto the will of God untill the day of his full redemption shall come though he knew that while he lived here while with the minde he did serve the Law of God yet he should with his flesh serve the Law of sin 2. For scandalous Falls though they be such as those that the people of God should fear and pray against as being such by which they cause the name of God to be blasphemed by which they become spotted of the world a blemish to their society and leave an ill name behinde them and they are set forth by God as examples for us to take warning by to take heed we fall not into the like yet when the Lord hath suffered us to fall into them we must not rise up and quarrel with him but we must say he is just and holy even in those things wherein we are wretched and sinfull Matth. 26.33 34. Peter had an admonition from Christ of a very dangerous fall that was near him and he answers Though all men forsake thee yet will not I Christ tells him that before the Cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice It was Peters duty not in a presumptuous manner to have told Christ in confidence of his own strength no you are mistaken in me if I die with thee I will not deny thee but to have said Lord if it be thy will I had rather die with thee if by thy grace thou wilt assist me I had rather undergo the greatest sufferings then commit such a sin this was Peters duty before hand And after the will of God was manifested to permit him to fall as he did he should have said Thou hast suffered me thus to fall it was my great sin thus to deny thee But since my proud and carnally confident spirit in thy wisdom must thus be brought down and my own weakness must be discovered for my further humiliation thou mightest deal with me as it seemed thee good I have no reason to quarrel with thee thou actest righteously even there where I have acted sinfully And as this was Peters duty so it is the duty of all the Saints whose actual Falls have manifested that it was the will of God to humble them by this means And indeed the Saints when they come to read over the story of their lives and shall see therein Omnes actiones ad se pertinentes circumstantias actionum as Suarez saith they shall see in heaven they will finde they had as much need of their sins as they had of their sufferings in this present life and all things shall work together for good Et si omnia quia ni peccata though I confess there be three ways which the Lord doth use to humble men by First by letting in his love into their souls the beauty of grace the excellency of holiness and then the soul looking down upon it self is as a man that hath looked upon the Sun he can see nothing So did the Lord humble Job by further discoveries of himself so he did humble Isaiah This is the highest and sweetest way of humbling who an I that the Lord should shew in me a pattern of mercy to me the greatest of all sinners is this grace given c. Secondly He doth humble men by sufferings by afflictions he doth keep man from his purpose and hides pride from his heart Thirdly But the worst way and the most uncomfortable way of humbling is by sin when the Lord is pleased to leave his people to great sins