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
day that the whole plot of God should have been changed and the glorious order and beautifull agreement of all his Providences been defaced that so your will might be accomplished to serve a particular end some low and inferior design as if the whole order of the Creation should be perverted for us And we may as soon expect that God should change the works of Creation as the works of Providence and as soon finde out a better order in the one as in the other Vse 2 When you look upon the several turns of Providences that are now in the world do you labor to submit your wils unto Gods without fretting and without murmuring do not rise up against the mighty hand of God but humble your selves under it and in due time he will exalt you 1 Pet. 5.6 It may be sometimes the Lord orders things so that they do act contrary to your desires and expectations sometimes the Clouds give their rain unseasonably and the winds unseasonably blow the stars by their influences seem to fight against you and sometimes after all your labor the Earth doth not yield her encrease but thorns do grow instead of wheat and cockles instead of barly It may be the Lord denies thee the fruit of the womb or else gives a comfort as he did a Guord to Jonah for a day and he blasts it at night though it be the desire of thine eyes and the joy of thy heart it may be the Lord doth set up the right hand of thy Adversaries and they that hate thee triumph over thee and the Church is broken in the place of Dragons and covered with the shadow of Death Now say with a heart melted into the will of God Let the will of the Lord be done Math. 26 42. Distinguitur in Christo vo luntas ut est natura quae dicitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 voluntas ut est ratio quae dicitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aquin p. 3. q 18. a. 3.0 He is the Lord and his will is the Rule of goodness And although the will of nature would seek its own preservation yet let it stoop unto the will of Duty And say while the Lord is pleased to have it so I do not desire to have it otherwise We are to pray with submission unto his will in our works Jam. 4.15 If the Lord will we will do this or that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys hom 84. in Math. Voluntatem nostram voluntati divinae plenissimè unire sine retractione cordis cum quadam complacentia mentali medullium in omnibus adversis quae contingere possunt ut divinum beneplacitum fiat ei summum deâ—â—â—rium sive sint adversa exteriora persecutiones divisiones scandala sive interiora ut subtractiones gratiae divinae influentiae consolationis aternae sive obnubilationes mentis vel infrigidationes affectuum sive tentationes Harph. Theolog. Mystic p. 570. and therefore we are to submit to his will in all his works and say If the Lords will be so we have no will of our own we will not the contrary Now to bring a soul into such a frame there are these ensuing considerations which the Saints may finde useful in all these great concussions and shakings of Kingdoms and Nations 1. Whatsoever the Lord doth he doth by counsel It is not barely an act of will but of will guided by counsel Ephes 1.11 He works all things according to the councel of his own will And this councel is taken from eternity Psal 56.8 Psal 139.16 Est liber providentiae Dei generalis omnes creaturas concernentis à quo deleri est morti tradi Exod. 32.32 33. Est liber vitae qui catalogus est sive singularis illa salvandorum cognitio Glass Rhet. Scar. p. 157. The Lord hath a book of providence as well as of life In thy book are all my members written And that book in the Revelation that was sealed with seven Seals is not the book of Gods Election but the Book of Gods dispensations in the world Liber fatidicus the Book setting forth the counsels and designs of God upon the after Ages of the world They are not Counsels taken up De novo or as occasion serves upon a particular interest and for a particular end but they were counsels taken up in reference unto the general frame and ordering of all things and that from everlasting Therefore Zach. 6.1 the Instruments of vengeance are said to be Chariots that came forth from between the Mountains of Brass Non dubium est quin per montes intelligat providentiam Dei vel arcanum consilium quo omnia decreta sunt ante creationem mundi Calv. Montes duo sunt sapientia decretum dispositio definitio potentia providentia Dei praeordinatio executio A lap Judicia Dei abyssus multa quapropter Angeli qui ea exequuntur prodeunt è profunda valle inter duos montes sc ex cujus abdito firmissima ineluctabilia consilia Drus Tarn in loc which is to be understood of the Decrees of Providence which are as Mountains of Brass unchangeable Therefore should not my will stoop Should I submit unto the Decree of God in reference to my eternal estate and shal not my wil be subject unto his Decree in ordering of Providences in respect of the things below all which do conduce unto that eternal end Shall not the Lord have what designs upon the world he pleaseth when the Earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof of him are all things as the first cause and therefore to him should all things be as the last end 2. He hath committed all things in the matter of Government unto the Son He hath laid the Government upon his shoulders not only in the spiritual but in the providential Kingdom also which some Divines call a Kingdom of power which is exercised over all men and all creatures and a Kingdom of Grace which is exercised over the Church Assemblies Catech. p. 53. both which are intended in that petition Math. 6.10 Thy Kingdom come for therein we desire That Christ would so Govern all the creatures Dr. Vshers Sum of Christian Religion p. 361. both in the natural course of things and in the Civil and Domestical Government of men yea Hen. Scudders Key of Heaven p. 153. Mr. Tho. Goodwins Serm. the Interest of England p. 44. in the Rule of Devils themselves in such sort as they may serve for the good of his Church And therefore he is called King of Nations in reference to his works Jer. 10.7 as well as King of Saints in relation to his worship Rev. 15.3 This will clearly appear out of the word under these considerations Propheta non tantum in Coelo Deum regnare docet verum moderari res terrenas hac ratione extendit ejus potentiam per quatuor mundi plagas c. Calv. 1. That the Rule and Government of
put in him by God the Father and so we may rest assured he will be faithful unto him For he hath accomplished all things and hath not spared his own life he loved it not to death in reference to his spiritual Kingdom therefore he will be faithful also in the providential Kingdom which is given him not only as part of his Office but as a part also of his reward being set at the right hand of God and thereby being made both †Act. 2.36 Christus fuit Rex Dominus ex quo coepit esse Mediator non demum factus est post resurrectionem sed locus intelligi debet de solenni declaratione quae tum facta est cum Christus consedit ad dextram Patris Maccov Thes Theolog par 3. disp 15. Lord and Christ Secondly Ratione Dominii for he did purchase all the creatures There was not only a debt which he paid but there was a purchase which he made and that was of all the creatures * Constituit Christum haeredem omniuÌ„ Heb. 1.2 Sumus nos cohaeredes Christi Rom. 8.17 Cujus haeredes sumus Dei cujus Filii Quae Dei haereditas Omnia sunt Dei omnia igitur nostra quae Dei sunt sumus enim haeredes ex asse 1 Cor. 3.21 Haereditas Christi gemina est gloriae dominii in utramque partem nos ut fratres recipit Par. in Rom. 8.17 Christus meruit nobis omnia bona supernaturalia omnia auxilia sive praevenientia sive subsequentia ac universa illa bona et si bona sint nobis extrinseca quae rationem induunt mediorum ad nostram salutem Vincent Asturicens de habit Christi grat praelect q 5. p. 259. Reinolds in Psal 110.4 p 455. for the Churches service he bought the services of some and the persons of others He bought some as sons others as servants Which may be the meaning of though it be commonly otherwise interpreted 2 Pet. 2.2 They denied the Lord that bought them In both these respects we may be sure as a purchase made by himself at a dear rate and as an office committed to him by his Father he will order all things so as they shall be to his own glory and his Fathers ends And therefore we see that all the changings and shakings in the world are attributed to Christ Heb. 12.25 26. See that ye refuse not him that speaks from Heaven Relativum â— non possumus referre nisi ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hoc est ad Chrislum quem Mosi opposuit Par. Illud non ad coelum speciatim refertur sed ad rem totam Magnas antehac fcci rerum mutationes sed restat longè major Grot. whose voyce then shook the Earth c. It was Christ that did shake the Earth in the giving of the Law And it is he that is said once more to shake not only Earth but also Heaven 3. Christ hath made his Providential Kingdom subordinate unto his spiritual Kingdom Propter Ecclesiam in mundo durat mundus alioquin uno momento conflagraret coelum terra quia mundus non est dignus uno grano tritici siquidem plenus est blasphemiis impietate Nisi oratione doctrina sustentaret Ecclesia mundum uno momento perirent omnia Luth. in Gen. 30. 34. he doth rule all things in the world onely for the good of his people It is for their sakes the world stands and therefore it is for their good and in subordination thereunto that the world is governed For first All creatures made for mans use were at first put under mans Covenant and therefore when man sinned his curse did reach unto them also Gen. 3.17 If there had not been a second Covenant revealed man had perished and all the creatures for his sake Secondly It is by the Covenant of Christ and under the Government of Christ that they are at this day established Esay 49.8 I will give thee for a Covenant of the people to establish the Earth It must have the same extent with the people to whom he is given as a Covenant but that was not to the Jews only and therefore it cannot be restrained only to the Land of Judea Psal 93.1 97.1 is commonly expounded of the Kingdom of Christ Thirdly The creatures for this cause wait to be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God Rom. 8.21 The Vanity which I conceive the creature is subjected to is a Vanity of service to the lusts of Satan and Sinners and the reason why they are by God subjected thereunto is because the Lord hath a number of Sons to be carryed through the Wilderness of this World and when they are perfectly delivered from corruption then shall the creatures be delivered from the bondage of corruption Quemadmodum mundus propter hominem conditus est propter lapsum illius corruptus ita ad gloriam electorum dissolutus restituetur Gomar in Rom. 8. Fourthly The continuance of the World is only to advance the ends of the Kingdom of Christ It s attributed to the patience of God 2 Pet. 3.9 Rom. 9.22 but all the attributes of God are exercised by Christ in his Government and it is for to bring men to repentance which only belongs to the second Covenant and till the Kingdom of Christ be perfected the World is reserved by the Word of God and then shall the ancient curse be executed All things shall be dissolved the Earth and the works that are therein shall be burnt up And for this cause Ephes 11.22 it is said he is made head over all things unto the Church * In bâ—num Ecclesiae â—â—tinet hoc Iâ—pâ—râ—um Gâ—oâ— in loc Eph. 1 23. Rev. 21.9 Jer. 12.7 He is the head of the Church and over all things for the Churches sake The Church is his body the Lambs wife the dearly beloved of his soul therefore seeing it is for their sakes that he hath undertaken the Government of all things surely all things shall be so ordered as they shall turn to their spiritual good and advantage in the end Consider how dear the Church is unto God the Father * Joh. 16.27 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apud Graecos ultroneum significat sc Pater ultro vos diligit etiam nemine rogante Erasm unde Nonnus vertit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he did commit it as a depositum unto Christ to keep They are therefore stiled Those whom thou hast given me | Jo. 17.11 Act. 20.28 Quam heminibus impossibile est mixtum fermentum separare à pasto tam impossibile est diabolo Christum ab Ecclesia sua separare Luth. And consider how dear the Church is to Christ who hath purchased it with his own bloud Therefore if the Father will trust him and if he be so far engaged that he shall loose all his sufferings if the Church miscarry we may
is Here I must give you these distinctions First There are some things that the Lord doth of himself work by his own immediate power and stays not for any humane concurrence but doth them of himself and by himself If he doth work Isaiah 43.13 Psa 135.6 None can let it he doth whatsoever pleaseth him and so he governs the world and preserves and maintains it He suffered all Nations to walk in their own ways He did not incline them to walk in their own ways he did not command them but he did leave them to themselves and in the hands of their own Counsells And is therefore said to suffer them Mala sinit fieri non facit bona vero ipse facit sed nolens mala sinit volens bona operatur being in himself a free Agent he concurs with the creature when he pleaseth and as far as he pleaseth Lumb lib. 1. Sent. 45. Secondly we are to consider that the permitting will of God only respects the reasonable creature to whom properly his commanding will belongs It is true that all the Creatures come under his will For he rules all things according to the counsel of his own will He doth whatsoever he will in heaven and in earth Rev. 4.11 in the sea and all deep places It is by his will that they are created and it is by the same will by which they are preserved and governed in their being Ex necessitate naturae ad ultimum potentiae But all other creatures being to act necessarily no permission can belong to them but God either acts them or suspends their Acts at his pleasure not by a permitting but by a powerfull effecting will Only the reasonable creatures seeing they were created to act out of choice and election the Lord rules them Modo proportionate according to their own nature therefore he hath not put a Law in their natures which shall necessarily and infallibly carry them to their ends but he rules them in a Covenant-way and they are voluntary in all their actings neither shall any of them be confirmed or made impeccable but by grace in which the Lord would have all the vessels of mercy to stand as they were chosen in Christ so by him they are to be confirmed That as they â—â—nor God the Creator in ordine naturae so they should honour the Son as Mediator in ordine gratiae And for this cause whereas the Lord could have confirmed Men and Angels in the day of their Creation as he hath now the Angels in heaven and the souls of just men made perfect yet he will not but reserves it as a blessing that should come in by the Government of his Son in a way of grace by whom the beatifical vision is bestowed upon the Saints And therefore I conceive Christ is called The Angel of Gods face that is Qui faciem Dei quasi conspicuam populo fecit Isa 63.9 Now the face of God in Scripture is put for three things 1. For a full Revelation of his will They shall see his face and his name shall be written in their foreheads Rev. 22.4 2. For a full manifestation of his favor So the Church is said To seek the face of God And the Lord is said to cause his face to shine upon his Saints Psal 67.1 3. A perfect vision of his glory and so heaven is a seeing of God face to face 1 Cor. 13.12 And in â—ll these respects Christ is said to be the Angel that discovers the face of God unto the Saints And it is by this last manifestation that they are made impeccable Thirdly The permitting will of God is only conversant about the sins of the reasonable Creatures in all their good actions the Lord doth concur and act them by an efficacious and a working will so as it is rather Gods work then theirs 1 Cor. 13.10 Yet not I but the grace of God that was with me Cooperando perfecit quod operando incipit Aust But for evil actions God cannot have a hand in them as the Author or Efficient cause for he is light and in him is no darkness at all he is goodness it self and in him is no evil neither can any evil come from him James 1.13 14. The case is decided that God is not the Author of Sin neither can be for he that forbids all sin cannot work any darkness cannot proceed from the Father of lights and yet against his will sin cannot be Non fit aliquid nisi Omnipotens fieri velit vel sinendo vel faciendo Aust Sin could not have come into the world if God would have kept it out he could have created all the creatures impeccable if he had pleased There is a threefold order to be observed concerning the decrees of God 1. The same Soveraign Lord that did elect some to life did decree to pass by others and not to confer the same grace and favour upon them For we teach no absolute Reprobation but a preterition only and non-election or which the Schoolmen call Reprobatio negativa which as Suarez hath well observed opusc lib. 2. pag. 175. Non est poena sed solum negatio gratuiti beneficii quod Deus ut supremus Dominus negare potest 2. Unto these he doth resolve and decree not to give grace but to leave the other to the instability of their own wills 3. He doth decree that he will for their sin cast them off for ever and eternally destroy them So that the Lord decreed to leave the creature unto that strength which he had received in his Creation and then falling he did decree to damn him for that sin which he did of himself voluntarily commit Thus God did from eternity decree to permit sin to come into the world though it be the act of the Creatures and not of God And hence it was that sin entred into the world and death by sin Rom. 5.14 4. The Lord in his permission doth withhold his grace and doth not bestow that which should keep a man from sin but leave a man to walk in his own ways to act according to his own counsels and doth not effectually determine his will unto that which is good but leaves it to be freely carried away to that which is evil Therefore permission is as it were the removing of the impediment and no more As Twiss Vindic. part 2. pag. 28. hath well observed Ex remotione impedimenti effectus interdum sequitur cujus causa non est removens impedimentuÌ„ sed aliquid aliud As if a stone being staid from falling you remove the impediment then it falls immediatly the stop being taken away but the taking away of the stop is not properly the cause of its fall but it s own natural form which hath a tendency to its center So when there is restraining grace upon a man an impediment put in the way of sinning his way is hedged up but when the Lord removes the restraint the
Israel hath sent me and they ask me what is his name what shall I answer So John the Baptist when Christ came to be baptized of him he disputes the case saying I had need to be baptized of the◠and comest thou to me Sometimes against his effecting will Isa 45. The clay saith to th◠Potter Why hast thou made me thus 〈◊〉 and the thing begotten saith unto hi◠Father What hast thou begotten and to his Mother What hast thou brought forth Censores Divinitatis dicentes Non sic debuit Deus sic magis debuit consultiores sibimet videntur Deo Tert. in Marcion lib. 2. cap. 2. And so it is against the permitting will of God Lord why do the wicked prosper and wherefore are they happy that deal trecherously Jer. 12.1 Wherefore lookest thou on and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devours the man that is more righteous then he and makest men like the fishes of the Sea that have no ruler Hab. 1.13 14. O quam sapiens argumentatrix sibi videtur arrogantia humana praesertim cum aliquid de gaudiis metuit amittere Tert. And these kind of reasonings fill the soul with abundance of disquiet when the heart of man shall dare rise up against the will of God disputing against the equity of it saying The Lords wayes are not equal But when once the will of man is concluded under the will of God then the reasonings of the soul are calmed the fleshly wisdom disputes no more but obeyes As the poor woman in the book of Martyrs said I cannot dispute but I can burn So the Christian saith I cannot dispute but I can obey upon this ground because it is the will of God Arrogantiam existimo de bono divini praecepti disputare nee quia bonum est oscultare debemus sed quia Deus praecepit There be two difficult commands that God gave to Abraham one to forsake his Country and his Kindred and to go into a Land in which he was a stranger But it is said the Lord called him to his foot Isa 41.2 that is subdued his heart unto the call to follow the Lord in all the wayes in which he should go before him Though he might have much disputed yet the subjection of his will did silence his reason and suppressed his disquieting thoughts which otherwise might have risen within him Then the Lord gave him another command to offer his son his only son Much might have been said against it from the Law of God the light of Nature but his will being concluded under the will of God it is said Rom. 4.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he staggered not he did not dispute it pro and con with himself but the will of God being manifested immediatly he did obey and rose up early in the morning to the service to which he was appointed It is said of all the Saints Deut. 33.3 that they sit down at the Lords feet to receive his word It is an expression after the manner of Scholars among the Jews they sate down at the feet of their Tutors as Paul did at the feet of Gamaliel And they are not to dispute their Instructions but receive them So it is with the Saints when the will of God is manifested they are not to argue but to believe And when the will of man is concluded under the will of God it is upon these two principles 1. A man receives all things from Gods will as wise for it is a will guided by Counsel He doth not work barely by will as men many times do but he works all things according to the Counsel of his will Ephes 1.11 2. He looks upon it as good It is the good and acceptable will of God Rom. 12.2 good in it self and good to us even the rule of goodness whensoever the soul receives the will of God under these notions it must necessarily follow that disquieting reasonings in the soul must be suppressed 2. The soul is strangely disquieted by tormenting passions The affections of men are of two sorts some are chearing and comforting as Love Hope Joy some are afflicting as anger sorrow and fear therefore when in Scripture a man is commanded to afflict his soul the meaning is to raise up and to act in his soul these afflicting affections for it is by them that the soul is disquieted and so afflicted Therefore in heaven though the affections themselves shall not cease because they are of the nature of the immortal soul yet all the acts of them shall cease that a man shall never sorrow more never fear more As in hell all the chearing affections of the soul in their actings shall cease a man shall never love more hope more joy more Now in the souls of just men made perfect in heaven they being freed from the actings of these tormenting affections there is nothing that doth or can disquiet them therefore there must needs be a continual calm These onely cloud the souls of men below now if all the clouds were removed and dispelled there would be nothing to hinder the sun in its brightness from shining constantly forth So it would be with the soul at quiet and at peace when all the affections that distract and disquiet it are removed Now when the soul is concluded under the will of God it is disquieted by none of these For he delights to do the commanding will of God It is the joy of his heart his meat and drink He delights to be under the effecting will of God in what kind soever Si vis constituere me Pastorem ovium aut Regem Populolorum ecceparatum est Cor meum He can sing in a prison take with joy the spoiling of his goods and chearfully part with his choicest relations Per calcatum perge patrem ficcis oculis ad vexillum Crucis evola He is never vexed with tormenting cares We are not careful to answer thee in this matter For he hath cast all his care upon him that careth for him If he be called before Rulers he takes no thought what he shall answer or what the event or success shall be it shall be given you in that hour He is not disquieted with vexing fears I will not fear what man can do unto me Though an hoast of men were encamped about me I will not fear What ever befals him in the way of duty Fides famem non timet The instance of Luther in going to Worms to the disputation makes that manifest I will enter Worms in the name of the Lord though there were as many Devils as there are tiles upon the houses He is never tormented with thoughts of despair But he saith though I fall I shall rise though I sit in darkness the Lord will be a light about me I shall yet praise him Now a man that never grieves never fears never cares what should hinder this man from a constant calmness and serenity within himself Now when our will is subdued unto