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
that he was no over-confident and daring Divine His direction is this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Keep the Commandments and walk according to the light that ye have received action is the way to raise a mans contemplation He that will do my will shall know of the Doctrine and the end of all our Disputes will be this To fear God and keep his Commandments this is the whole man Eccles 12.13 For the opening of this Doctrine four things are to be spoken of 1. Man is to walk by Rule 2. That the will of God is unto man this Rule of duty 3. This will of God as a Rule is manifested unto us 4. In a submission of our wils unto this will of God doth the power of godliness consist First A man must walk by Rule a Christians walk must be regular which shall be manifested in five things 1. The Lord doth promise no blessing but to such as walk by Rule and the Saints are Heirs of blessings Gal. 6.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As many as walk according to this Rule peace be to them Here is the only Canonical Obedience when a mans heart and ways lie level with the Rule of the Law he shall be blessed in his deed Jam. 1.25 2. Sin is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a digression from a Rule Heb. 2.2 a turning aside out of the way that is called holy Esay 30.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Via quae in gyros more Serpentum torquetur Therefore Sinners are said to walk in crooked ways Psal 125.5 They have their diverticula's departing from the Rule by which they ought to walk 3. Est unica fidei cultus norma in hoc scculo secundum quam Christiani judicabuntur in suturo Daven de Judice cap. 11. If a man walk not by Rule he can never tell when he is out of the way for rectum est index sui obliqui By this means the duty of Examination would be made utterly voyd 1 Cor. 11.28 Let a man examine himself If there be an examen it must be according to a Rule by which all Errors and aberrations may be discovered and reproved for by these same we are to judge our selves by which God will judge us at the last 4. Psal 37.14 125 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Casu ex accidente contingentiâ Levit 26. Septem vicibus tantum invenitur Marin Brixian in arc Noe. Unless men walk by Rule there can be no upright walking He that walks uprightly walketh surely Pro. 10.9 which no man else can do all others walk at an adventure Levit. 26.25 And the ground of the uncertainty of God's walking towards us is our unsteady walking towards him for with the froward he will shew himself froward Psal 18.26 5. Else we can never give an account of any of our actions For an account is to be given by a Rule upon which there must be a mutual agreement For if two Parties differ in the Rule there can be no account given and so no satisfaction the Rule being the Standard to judge between both There is a double account which every Saint is in this life bound to give First To his Brother Confessio desensio verae religionis spei voce per Metonym significatur Gomar Rom. 14.12 Be ready to give a reason of the hope that is in you 1 Pet. 3.15 That is an account of the Rule and of the conformity of your Actions thereunto Secondly An account to God and this every man should give daily that he may appear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 approved 2 Cor. 13.7 Besides that last account 2 Cor. 5.10 when we must all be made manifest before the Judgment Seat of Christ And then also wil the Lord judge us by a Rule There is one Joh. 5.45 that judgeth you even Moses in whom ye trust Joh. 12.48 Rom. 2.16 he will judge the secrets of all men according to my Gospel By the same Rule will he judge us by which he would have us judge our selves And to give an account unto the Rule daily is daily to give an account of our selves unto God Secondly This Rule of Duty is the will of God There are abundance of false Rules by which men guide their way Such as the wisdom of the flesh propounds to them For there are two things in men mainly corrupted Ephes 4.18.19 First 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the seat of principles there is a corruption of the very Rule in the man Secondly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the seat of the discussive faculty and the conclusions drawn from those principles In the first of these our Actions are corrupted as in the Fountain or Foundation and by these most of the world are deceived The only right Rule of Duty being the will of God as will appear by these four demonstrations 1. This will of God was the ground of the creation of men and Angels Revel 4.12 And that which was the cause of their being must be the Rule of their Acting It s said of the Angels Psal 103.20 They do his Commandment and hearken unto the Voice of his Word He doth Rule them by the same will that he did create them This is the great Office of the Spirit to act them according to the will of God Ezech. 1.20 It s said of them whether the Spirit was to go thither their Spirit was to go and for the Saints Rom. 8.26 He maketh intercession for them according to the will of God Therefore Christ teacheth us to pray that his will may be done on earth by us as by the Angels and Saints in glory with the same readiness and the same exactness even his whole will 2. A Christian must have this generall intention in all his ways that he may please God and walk with him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto all well pleasing Col. 1.10 Now there can be nothing pleasing unto God but what is agreeable unto his will Acts 13.22 I have found David my servant a man after mine own heart who shall fulfil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all my wils therefore after his own heart because he fulfilled all his wils 3. The great evil of sin lies in this that a man doth his own will not the wil of God Ephes 2.3 fulfilling 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wils of the flesh and of the mind In the most religious Duties when men take not Gods will for the Rule it is will worship 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 19.6 Col. 2.18 whereby men unlord the Law of God making it of none effect for if the will of man be set up then the will of God is put out of its dominion Ita vobis placet quos non bona mens sed malus vester agit transversos abripit spiritus Tarnov Therefore this is their charge Amos 4.5 This liketh you well oh house of Israel they took more care what would please themselves then
what would please God and what was agreeable to their wils then to his most just and holy will 4. Nothing can be a Rule of Duty to the Creature but this because this will is onely good Voluntas Dei bona est quia nobis utilia praecipit accepta est quia Deo grata praecipit perfecta quia nihil superaddi debet Glass meditat in Epist part 1 p. 35â— Rom. 12.2 Proving what the good and the acceptable will of God is Truth and goodness in all the Creatures do consist in a Conformity to something without and above themselves As therefore in intellectu divino est primum verum so in voluntate Divina est summum bonum The understanding of God is the Rule of Truth and the will of God the Rule of goodness God doth will nothing because it is good but it is therefore good because he wils it I cannot therefore approve of that distinction which some of the Schoolmen give there are quaedam volita quia bona quaedam bona quia volita Because if any thing be willed of God because it is good then it is antecedently good to the will of God which is the only cause Rule of goodness There can therefore be no Rule of Duty to the creature but that which is good there is nothing Originally good but the will of God therefore in a conformity thereunto all goodness in the creature doth consist and by it it is to be measured Thirdly The will of God as far as it concerns mans Duty is manifested and made known which will appear by these five particulars 1. This the Lord himself affirms Mica 6.8 He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord requre of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humby with thy God The Original word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath the same root with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies a Captain or a Leader so that the Lord hath set forth his word as our Leader the guide of our way Therefore it s called a Lanthorn unto our Feet and a light unto our pathes Ps 119.105 And a light shining in a dark place 2 Pet. 1.19 Because it shews a man how to walk in the way that is called holy 2. Luk. 16.29 Vt in Republica ignorantia juris neminem excusat ita nec in Ecclesia Daven de Judice c. 11. It could not be a Rule to us unless it were promulgated and made known Our Divines affirm against the unwritten Traditions of the Papists norma debet esse nota omnibus promulgata or else we could never be blamed for the transgression of that Law that was never revealed to us We make not the secret will of God the Rule of Duty neither is a man an offender because he doth not act according to Gods secret will Deut. 29.29 Deus apud se secrâ—ta continet quae scire nostra nihil interest neque expedit Calv. for secret things belong unto the Lord our God but those things that are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever that we may do them They never belong to us to do them untill they be revealed That known Instance of * Aliquando bonâ voluntate homo vulâ— aliquid quod Deus non vult tanquam si bonus Filius Patrem velit vivere quem Deus bona voluntate vult mori Rursus fieri potest ut hoc velit homo mala voluntate quod Deus vult bona velut si malus Filius velit Patrem mori volit hoc â—tiam Deus Ille vult quod non vult Deus isle vero vult quod vult Dâ—us tamâ—n â—onae voluntati Dei pietas illius potius consonat quamvis aliud volentâ—sâ—q am bujus idem volentis impietas Enchirid. ad Laurent c. 101. Augustine makes this manifest A sick Father had two Sons one prays for his Fathers life in Duty the other wishes his death to enjoy his Lands the Lord had decreed that he should die yet he that prayed according to the secret will of God sinned therein whereas the other praying according to the will of Gods precept is accepted though it were contrary to the secret will of God We have a higher instance in Abraham praying for the conversion of Ishmael O that Ishmael might live in thy sight though it were contrary unto the will of Gods purpose for he intended that the Son of the Bond-woman should be cast on t and not be Heir with the Son of the Free-woman Yet it being according to the will of his precept he did his Duty and was accepted in it 3. It cannot be obedience unless the Rule of it be made known Obedience must be voluntary and the will cannot consent to any thing but what the understanding dictates to be the Rule of Duty It must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reasonable service Rom. 12.2 Rationalis est cultus de quo rationem reddere possumus which it cannot be unless the Rule thereof be first made known Some do expound that word by the 1 Pet. 2.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render the milk of the Word Ita Basiâ—ius rationalâ—m cultum opponit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appositè satis licet noâ—â—â—a Bezaevidetur according to that acceptation that which is translated reasonable Service may be rendered Word Service This is the happiness of the Saints that in matter of Duty they are not left to ambiguous Disputes doubtful inquiries to say who shall ascend up into Heaven or who shall descend into the deep but the word is nigh them in their mouth and in their heart They know what is the Rule of Duty and when they walk before God unto well pleasing Rom. 10.8 4. Christ came from the bosome of the Father to reveal unto man the Rule of Duty He had a Law written in his heart in his creation but that is utterly obliterated there remans not not one true principle of holiness and Duty therefore * Pilius in finu patris esse dicitur in aeterna generatione in arctissima unitate in ardentâ—ssima dâ—lectione in secretissimorum communicatione Glass Rhet. sacr p. 119. the only begotten Son who is in the bosome of the Father he hath declared him Joh. 1.18 The bosome is the seat of secrets as well as of love and to reveal these secrets to open that sealed Book is a great part of Christs prophetical Office And the Spirit hath undertaken also to lead us into all truth to bring these Revelations of Christ unto our remembrance Joh. 16.13 which is not to be limited unto the Apostles only Fateor hunc locum non ita solos Apostolos spectare quin ad alios etiam fideles pastores possit extendi Deducuntur in omnem veritatem non absolutè sed in omnem veritatem necessariam Daven de Judice p. 98. Ephes 5.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sylburg but
the World For he works all things according to the counsel of his own will Ephes 1.11 This also is in a great measure revealed unto us in the Promises and Prophecies written in the Scriptures of Truth But especially since Christ took the sealed Book out of his Fathers hand Zanch de nat Deâ— l 3. c. 4 â—einolds in Hose 14. p. 75. and loosed the Seals and opened the Book Rev. 5. Thereby declaring unto his people the several designs that he hath upon the World and for his Church until the time of the end Thirdly There is his permitting will Voluntas permittens est qua Deus vult malum fieri voluntate transeunte in rem permissam cujus objectum peccatum est which concerns all the evill actions of the Creatures which though they effect yet God doth permit They that crucified Christ did act according to Gods determinate Councel that is what his will had before determined to permit them to do Acts 2.23 When the Devil did seduce Ahab in his false Prophets Deus neque vult mala ficri neque vult mala non fieeri sed vult permittere mala fieri Aquin. p 1. q. 19. a. 9. Quod Deus non impedit ideo evenit quia non impedit si cut nihil boni potest esse aut fieri nisi Deo faciente ita nil mali potest caveri nisi Deo impediente Perk. ab eo dicitur voluntas generalis Twisse vindic l. 2. p. 127. 140 c. Aug. de civit Dei l. 11. c. 17. de grat lib. arbitr c. 20.21 he did it by the permitting will of God who said thou shalt perswade him and prevail go forth and do so When the ten Kings who make up one body with the Beast in reference to his Civil power did give their Kingdoms to the Beast it was to fulfil Gods will Rev. 17.17 It was their sin and hath been the great cause of all the sufferings that have befallen the ten Kingdoms ever since and yet there was an act of Gods permitting will therein for the accomplishment of the great designs that he had upon the World Now the power of Grace lies in a submission of the will of the Creature to Gods will in all these 2. The will of man which is to be subjected to this will of God is twofold First 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is voluntas peccati The will of the flesh and of the minde Eph. 2.3 which is nothing else but the will of the Devil in the man Joh. 1.13 Ex voluntate carnes est ex propriis viribus intellectus voluntatis quae non nisi caro est h.e. corrupta for his lusts sinners do Joh. 8.44 This will of man standing wholly in opposition to the will of God and being at emnity and irreconciliable thereunto is utterly to be rejected and absolutely to be denyed Secondly There is Voluntas naturae which was in Christ when he said Ex voluntate viri h.e. ex conatibus desideriis extra Christum etiam illorum qui pro viris in mundo sc sapientissimi sanctissimi habentur Glass exegesis Evangelic part 1. p. 593. not my will but thy will be done The will of Nature sought his preservation and that is lawful so it be subordinated unto the will of God which is to be unto the creature the highest Rule of goodness Gods will is not to be co-ordinate unto any Though it be good in it self it is not to be set up equal with Gods will The supremacy is to be placed there alone I now come to speak distinctly unto each of these particulars First The power of Grace is mainly seen in the subjection of mans will unto the commanding will of God And so Grace in the will subjects it unto the will of God in these four Acts thereof 1. Consensus the consent of the will Consentire est cum aliis sentire in alterius sententiam descendere hoc voluntatis proprium est importat non solum determinationempassivam sed activam Ante consensum praecedit consilium c. Capreol l. 1. Sent. dist 1. q. 2. conclus 5. Aquin. 1. 2ae q. 15. a. 2.3 That is when the will of God is manifested as the Rule of Duty the will doth not stand up in a way of emnity and opposition against it but approves it as good and the Rule of goodness Thus it was in Christ Psal 40.8 I come to do thy will thy Law is in the midst of my bowels It was indeed a difficult service for he came to be a sacrifice and yet his will consented unto the will of God therein I lay down my life This commandment I have received from my Father Joh. 10.18 This submission also was in Paul I consent to the Law that it is good Rom. 7.12 Every unregenerate man when he doth the will of God Lex quamvis bona auget prohibendo desiderium malum per hoc fit non absolutionis adjutorium sed vinculum criminis Aug. de spirit lit cap. 4. Jam. 2.8 consents not to his will he wishes there was no such Law looks upon the ways of God as unequall his Commandments grievous This is a hard saying who can bear it The consent of their will fals not level with the Law as the Rule of Duty But when a mans will consents to the Law not only for the soeveraignty of it as it is a Royal Law but for the goodness of it I consent to the Law that it is good then is the will of man subjected unto the commanding will of God 2. Electio est finis mediorum 〈◊〉 finis poâ—a ur pro finc ultâ—â—o in communi de co non est dâ—liberatio ergo nec electio at si de fine ultimo in particulari ut Deus 〈◊〉 vâ—sin Dei de hoc datur deliberatio deinde electio Medina in 1. 2ae q 13. a. 3. Electio the choyce of the will having once consented unto the goodness of the Law the will doth chuse it as that which is best and best for him as the only way to happiness and the only Rule of life This act of submission Davids will puts forth Psal 119.30.173 I have chosen thy precepts The word in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth signifie both examinavit elegit to try and examine and upon tryal to chuse Every man doth chuse what God he will serve and by what Rule he will walk The Lord will not force himself upon any man he doth deal with a reasonable creature in a Covenant way Deut. 26 17. Electio sequitur judicium quo aliquid reputatur meâ—â—us in ordine ad finem Aquin. 1. 2ae q. 13. a. 3. unto which the Election and the Consent of the Creature is essentially required The Lord doth not only give them a Law for that is an act of Soveraignty and binds whether the Creature consent or no but in
the Spirit Gen. 9.27 The allurements of the Spirit Hos 2.14 The word in both places is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to perswade or intice or blandiendo decipere to deceive one by fair words It is used sometimes in a good sometimes in an evil sence Sometimes for the allurements of Satan in ways of temptation though he doth meet with the will of man wholly determined by a principle of evil as it is in all unregenerate men yet to act this will he hath his perswasions and enticements Job 31.27 If my heart hath been secretly enticed Besides the determination of a mans will to sin there are allurements of Satan which act this will with more chearfulness and delight So it is with the Spirit of Christ he hath his secret perswasions and allurements which facilitate the work of the will which is in a great measure determined to good before hand Cant. 6.12 Or ever I was aware my soul set me in the Chariots of my willing people For so much the word that we render Amminadib doth signifie when the heart is caught up and stoln away after Christ fully and freely we know not how This is a further way that the Lord useth to make his people willing in the day of his power 4. By giving a man an experimental taste of the comfort peace sweetness and security that is in holiness and the ways thereof Therefore we read in Scripture of spiritual senses of the Saints They are said to have their senses exercised 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quid est isle sensus spiritualis est spiritualis rerum divinarum expe rientia qua in nobis ipsis per gratiam Dei sentimus gustamus in corde nostro bonitatem amorem Dei ex qua quam vera certaque sit tota divina sapientia experimur Zanch. in Philip. Heb. 5.14 And the Apostle prays Phil. 1.9 That they may abound in all knowledge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in all sence Experience is nothing else but the bringing of things to sence and thereby tryng the truth and goodness of them Therefore what we have brought to sense we call an experiment Spiritual experience therefore is a bringing of things to a spiritual sense And this is a very glorious work of the Spirit thereby bringing on the will to chuse the things of God and to go out to them more abundantly in which it hath formerly found so much sweetness and contentment And though there be a taste that unregenerate men have let into the soul by the common works of the Spirit tasting the good Word of God and the powers of the world to come Heb. 6.4 Yet this taste is but of the good things that come by them not of the goodness that is in them Now there is nothing in the world doth carry the bent of the will towards an object with greater eagerness then this that it hath tasted and knows what is in it and that the man is not deceived It is so in the ways of sin an experimental taste of the sweetness of it doth draw out the heart and engage the will much more then the bare notion and contemplation could do As Plutarch reports of the Gauls when they had once tasted the sweet Wine of Italy they were never satisfied till they had conquered Vini olei liquaminis exportatio lege Imperiali interdicta est ne Barbari gustu illecti promptiùs invaderent fines Romanorum Leg. 1. Cod. quae res exportari non debeant and possessed that Land where such excellent Vines grew And for that cause the Lord sent searchers before into the Land of Canaan that the people tasting the precious fruits of that good Land of which they had such clear and manifold promises they might be the more encouraged and quickned at the command of God to enter what hardships or oppositions soever they met withall in that enterprize The Historian therefore hath observed of the Inhabitants of Chyna Exteri in loca regni interiora non admittuntur Boterus in Catalogo Imperiorum tantum in oris maritimis conceditur commericum They admitted none to Trade in the heart of the Kingdom but onely upon their Borders and in maritine Towns least the goodness and riches of their Land being discovered should stir up in the Neighbour Nations a desire to invade them It is therefore generally made by Interpreters an impolitike vain-glory in Hezekiah to shew his Treasures unto the Embassadors of the King of Babylon 2 King 20.12.13 thereby to inflame their desires to become Masters and Owners both of his Land and of his Treasures which shortly after they did Whosoever he be whose heart doth rise against the Law of God and whose will doth not submit thereunto look up unto the Spirit of Christ for the putting forth of these acts upon the soul For the more or less the Spirit doth exercise these the more or less is the will brought into a conformity unto the will of Christ And this is the main ground of the differing degrees of Grace in the Saints which doth consist in a conformity of our will unto the will of God Quest Quest 2. It may be further said that there remains corruption in the best men and that in the will as well as in any of the other faculties The Law of the members comes forth from the will as well as the law of the minde A godly man finds in himself a twofold will that he cannot do the things he would Gal. 5.17 Godly men may sin presumptuously therefore David prays against it Psal 19.13 The word in the original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies à superbis so that presumptuous sins are made up of two things 1. They are sins against knowledge in which the will is engaged 't is sinning wilfully not ignorantly 2. When the Law of God opposes a man in this way of sinning and his heart doth rise against it through pride and contempt of the Authority of God And the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 keep back notes a proness thereunto in the best men if if they be not restrained by Grace They may sin with deliberation consent delight How then should a man know whether he doth sin with the whole consent of will How should a man discern that there is Grace in the will when there are constant risings and oppositions against the will of God How should a man be able to say my whole heart is not in it though I sleep yet my heart wakes how should a man be able to discern Grace in the will even then when there are the strongest actings of the will for sin Answ Answ It is true while we live here there will be a mixture of corruption in the will as well as in any other faculty For Grace and sin are mixed in the same soul as wine and water in the same cup there is no part of it perfect wine or perfect water Hereafter indeed the will
Rebecca had a good intention in putting Jacob upon an unlawful way of getting the blessing For the Lord had said the elder shall serve the younger but her good intention doth not justifie her action And on the contrary Jehu did a good action but with an evil intention Therefore as from him the Lord abhors it Reformation in Rulers upon Politick principles subjecting the things of God unto secular ends though the action be good yet it is rejected of God because the intention is evil 5. Sinete sapientes hujus mundi alta sapientes terram lingentes sapienter descendere in infernum Bern. de vit solit Ipsa est professio vestra quaerere DeuÌ„ Jacob non communi hominum more sed quaerere faciem Dei quam vidit Jacob. Bern. ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost Illud Grotii dilutum est fruatur quisque sua sententia Rom. 14.6 We must not follow a multitude to do evil Exod. 23.2 The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth signifie either quantitatem continuam or discretam either magnitudinem or multitudinem Thou shalt not follow great men to do evil for there is no example will bear a man out against the command of God Or thou shalt not follow a multitude Man being as a drop of water emptied into the Sea carryed to and fro as the Tide goes this also will not bear a man out when the will of God is manifested to the contrary 6. In doubful cases via tutior est eligenda its good to go the safest way whatsoever a man doth he ought to be well perswaded in his own heart For whatsoever is not of Faith is sin Rom. 14.5.6 It is dangerous for a man in the things of God not onely to act with an erring but with a doubting conscience Secondly The more particular directions for a man that desires to know the will of God in doubtful cases are these 1. Be renewed in the spirit of your minds Rom. 12.2 For it is the spiritual man only that hath spiritual discoveries Psal 25.14 Job 29.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad arcanum consilium refert quod inter socios ejusdem regni aut Reipub consortes tractari soleat Proprietas illa secreti indicare videtur internam quandam divinaruÌ„ reâ—uÌ„ contemplationem colloquia secreta c. Pined 2 Pet. 1.19 Ps 73 16.17 Hoc est in coetum in quo sonat verbum Dei ubi causae ostenduntur cur Deus Ecclesiam velit esse cruci subjectam impios in hac vita florere patiatur Mallor Dan. 9.1.2 It is unto him only that the Spirit hath under-taken to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the guide of his way The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him And there are secrets of his Covenant and secrets of his Providence God takes delight to reveal himself to his people in the day of their streights Schola crucis est Schola lucis But it is otherwise with the ungodly men the Lord suffers them to grope in the dark as though they had no eyes And in difficult cases he doth not only hide his own face but he hides their way also from them 2. Search the Scriptures of truth Joh. 5.39 For they are a light shining in a dark place And the more we are in the dark the more need we have to have recourse to this light David met with a passage of providence that he could not satisfie his spirit in now he goes into the sanctuary of God where the Word was read and opened there he understood the end of the men and the matter Daniel consulted the Scripture concerning the return of the Captivity and whensoever the people of God have been in the dark they have had recourse unto this light 3. Lay aside all received Traditions whatsoever For he must have nothing to do with the will of man that comes to enquire the will of God For he that enquires of God and sets up his Idols in his heart Ezeck 14.4 Veniat verbum Domini veniat submittemus etiamsi nobis essent sexcenta colla c. Baldass Ep. ad Oecolampad the Lord will answer him according to the multitude of his Idols Your understandings must not be blended with contrary impressions nor your hearts byassed with former intentions you must come clean paper to the Lord that he may write what he will you must lay apart all malice and guile and superfluity of naughtiness that you may receive the word with meekness James 1.21 Perit omne judicium cum res transit in affectum The judgement is bribed and so blinded when the affections are pre-engaged 4. Have an eye of Faith upon that promise Joh. 16.13 The spirit shall lead you into all truth It is not made to the Apostles only as some of our own Interpreters have well observed but it belongs unto all the Saints Into all truth non absolutè as if they should know all truth Daven de judice norma fidei p. 98. Promissio haec ad eos solos pertinet qui fese subjiciunt magisterio spiritus for here the best know in part but in omnem veritatem necessariam into all truth needful for the guide of their way Observe therefore and attend unto the secret hints and speakings of the Spirit For this promise shall be fulfilled unto none but those that subject themselves unto the guidance and direction of this same Spirit 5. Be much in Prayer to seek a way Thus did Ezra in a great straight Chap. 8. v. 21. We fasted and prayed to seek of him a right way for our selves our little ones and all our substance So doth David Psal 143.10 Teach me to do thy will teach me thy Statutes Let thy good Spirit lead me c. There are strange intimations that the Spirit gives to the Saints as a return of prayer And it is a strange boldness that they have in prayer when they go unto God upon this ground 1 Sam. 23.10.11.12 As we see in David Shall Saul come down to Keilah and shall the men of Keilah deliver me up I beseech thee tell thy servant And 1 Sam. 9 15. Occultè revelaverat sic enim in aurem dicimus quod ecccultuÌ„ esse volumus A Lap. Aurem revelare est aliquid indicare 1 Sam. 20.2 Job 36.10 The Lord told Samuel in his ear As friends use to impart secrets each to other God did of old appoint unto his people the Vrim and Thummim that they might enquire of him and receive directions a Num. 27.21 1 Sam. 28.6 from him in doubtful cases That means b Ezra 2.63 Nehe. 7.65 Vox submissa de caelo delapsa unde futura didicerunt quae post Prophetiam semper audita fuit tempore Templi secundi Matth. 17.3 Act. 9.4 Jo. 12.28 Schindler in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ad dexteram Dei sedet amictu sacerdotali sacerdotalis enim Baltheus fùit Rev. 1.13 Bright ceased
sed constitutos esse tantum vicarios Hospitiae etiam nusquam sanctis defutura Domini enim terra est plenitudo ejus Cum etiam clarificatur Dominus annuntiatur in fidem omnium Gentium universus orbis terrarum fit Ecclesia ejus August in Psal 24. Earth is the Lords and fulness thereof The Government belongs to him Therefore it was a gratious and wise admonition that Luther sent to Melancton who was much troubled at the present affairs of the Church Ibi quoque vis est facultas ea dirigendi gubernandi quibus providere dicitur nam in rebus invenitur non modo natura eorum sed ordo quo sibi invicem connectuntur una in aliam tendit ut eam adjuvet sive ut ab illa perficiatur utroque pacto res benè institutae sunt quoad seipsas sigillatim quaeque dictae sunt bonae generaliter quoad ordineÌ„ valdè bonae Petr. Martyr loc com Provid Rom. 8.28 Pet. Martyr Monendus est Philippus ut desinat esse rector mundi That he would leave off to govern the world for we are no more able to Rule it then we are to create it 6. With thankfulness and faith expect the good that the Lord will bring out of it If thy design had gone on be it what it will it had been but particular to have served a present turn but the Lords end is general and sutes with all the glory of his other actions in all times and in all Ages past and to come And the order of those must not be inverted nor the glory of them defaced for thee Therefore say surely all things shall work together for good for those that love the Lord. God in all this doth but carry on his own design the plot of his eternal Counsel De operibus Dei non est judicandum ante quintum actum And the rather we are with thankfulness to expect what God will bring to pass because he hath in the book a Rev. 5.1 Liber intus foris scriptus septem sigillis obsignatus est Codex satidicus seu consiliorum Dei quo scries ordo rerum gestarum ad sccunduÌ„ illuÌ„ gloriosuÌ„ Christi adventuÌ„ pertexebatur Mede of the Revelation fore-told us all the designes that he hath upon the world untill the end thereof The Lord made all things for himself Prov. 16.4 b Quamvis Deus nihil propter utilitatem propriam fecerit eo quod nullo indiget tamen omnia propter semet ipsum ut ultimuÌ„ fineÌ„ operatus est Cajet in loc Psal 43.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 teipsum deprimes Mont. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tumultuaberis Vt quid me conturbas anima ita vertit August Mentes nostras ad gratiae absconditae intuitum procul evehit os sibi in praesentiâ satâ—tur obstructum esse spem suam in â—ongum tempus extendit sibi promittit quod non apparet Calv. that is for his own ends and he doth rule all things so as may accomplish those ends As therefore in spiritual dispensations the Lord doth sometimes lift up the light of his countenance upon his people and sometimes he doth hide his face from them their hearts are cast down or as the word signifies they do cast down themselves the heart makes a noise or there is an uproar or tumult in the soul not being pleased with the present dispensations This is a mans fault that he should reprove and reason his soul out of from a principle of faith saying I shall yet praise him that is not only the Lord will turn to me again in mercy and remove the affliction and when his hand is changed towards me he will give me matter of praise as now I have matter of sorrow But there is this farther in it that though in this present dispensation I can see nothing but matter of trouble and sorrow yet I shall see God working all things so for his glory and my good which are bound up together that this which is now to me matter of grief shall be unto me in time to come Laudo Deum ut qui hactenus mecum egerit liberalissimè nunc etiam pro liberrinia potestate inculpabiliter Cocceius in loc We have so much blessing in our affliction as we can bless God for our affliction Caryl matter of prayse There are two famous instances of it in the Scripture Job 1.21 Blessed be the name of the Lord. He doth as well bless God for taking as for giving Now as we love God because he loved us first so we can never bless God for any thing but when we do apprehend that there is in it a blessing from God unto us And the Lord doth as well bless by taking as by giving therefore we should bless him in both who is blessed for evermore The other instance is that of Christ Scipsum nos secum Christus attollit ad considerandum Dei occultum judicium quod adorat praedicat ne nos illud sub examen vocare audeamus in quo filius Dei se acquiescere testatur quo Patri gratias agit Par. Matth. 11.25 I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto Babes He doth thank God for hiding as well as revealing To let the greatest part of the world to walk in their own ways to live without God in the world to have no taste or savour of the great things that he hath wrought that Christ hath purchased and these many of them men of the greatest parts the highest place the most improved abilities yet laid aside * Liberatur pars hominuÌ„ parte percunte latet discretionis ista ratio sed non latet ipsa discretio quid calumniamur justitiae occultae qui gratias debemus misericordiae manifestae Laudemus veneremur quod agitur quia tutum est nescire quod tegitur Prosper de vocat Gent. l. 1. cap. 15. as vessels in which there is no pleasure Those upon whom the Spirit of God in his common works hath bestowed so much cost a man would think it sad to consider but when the will of the Lord is manifested it is the duty of the Saints as it was of Christ not only to be silent and submit to it but even to bless God and to be thankful for such dispensations He that abounded in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or loving kindness to mankind he that sought their salvation above his life yet if the Lord will hide the things of salvation from the wisest of them he is not only well pleased but it being the will of God to glorifie his Justice in the one as well as mercy in the other he doth bless God for hiding as well as revealing 7. Take heed of standing in the way of God when he is going forth in judgement Whatsoever God hath a design to
effect take heed how you seek to hinder and set your selves in a way of opposition For if he will work none can let all those that stand in his way to hinder his purpose though it be with harmless and simple nay it may be with honest intentions they shall surely fall in them Populus Israel non satis muris munitionibus suis fidens auxiliares copias hastatorum sagittariorum sibi adesse optat quibus hosâ—â—bus possit resistere has videbis sp narum ac veprium nominibus signâ—ficatas Forer For it is but setting the briers and thorns against him in battel he will go thorow and burn them at once Isay 27.4 The Lord is gone forth against Jerusalem and they will go down to Egypt for help and they glory in the strength of Egypt now the Egyptians come in to their assistance and they think surely that will turn the scales the Lord says they shall prevail as much as when a Lyon greedy of his prey comes to a sheepfold and takes away a Lamb out of the flock and the shepherd comes unto its rescue will the Lyon be affrighted Leoni sese comparat potentissimo animali praedae avidissimo Calv. Non habet terra magis notae audaciae cui se comparet Dominus Forer or shall the Lamb be delivered No he will hold on his course and will not abase himself for their noyse And they that are taken in for their help shall be so far from succouring them that the Lord will rise up against the help of them that work iniquity and they that help and they that are holpen shall fall together So that if God be going forth in Judgement against a Person a Family a Nation it s very dangerous for any man to come in for their succour and think to turn God out of his way they shall be so far from prevailing for them Artifices vanitatis Judaeos vocat quod inani praesidio se adversus Dei manum vindicem munire cogitarent illicito auxilio Aegyptiorum A lap Minatur tam iis qui auxilium ferent tam iis qui corum auxilio utentur Calv. that in their very assistance they shall perish For the Lord will not only rise up against them that work iniquity but all those that come in for their succour and joyn themselves with them And this is the speediest way to perish with them For as he that partakes in their sins shall partake in their plagues So shall he that comes in for their succour also Isaiah 31.2 3 4. There are two famous instances of this in the Scripture One of Ahaziah King of Judah Joram the Son of Ahab made War against the Assyrians Duo Reges comprehensi tenebantur in nassa Dei nec amplius erat ad evadendum locus c. Pet. Martyr Justum congruuÌ„que suit hoc Dei judiciuÌ„ qui eos congregavit in agrum Naboth ut in eo caederentur Achaziah enim erat ex parte matris Athaliae nepos Achab. A lap in loc was wounded and returned unto Jezerel to be cured of his wounds Ahaziah King of Judah in curtesie and civility came down to visit him because he was sick 2 Kings 8.29 But he took such a time when the Lord was going forth in Judgement against the House of Ahab therefore Jehu who was the Instrument of Gods vengance being in his march came upon Ahaziah and he dyed for his curtesie by the same hand that Joram did And in the same way of complement the brethren of Ahaziah lost their lives also 2 Kin. 10.13 14. Another instance we have that is yet more remarkable and that is of Josiah a gracious Prince and one that had wrought the most glorious and thorough Reformation in Judah of any of the Kings of Judah The Lord had appointed Pharoh Necho King of Egypt to execute Judgement upon Carchemish a City belonging to the Babylonian or Assyrian which lay by the River Euphrates and by the Egyptian Conquest there to make way afterwards for his own ruine for there in a few years after was Necho himself slain and there the glory of Egypt fell Judah being the nearest passage Pharoh desires Josiah to give him leave to pass thorow his Countrey promising him security not to injure nor molest him telling him that God had commanded him to make haste and therefore he should forbear from medling with God who was with him 2 Chron. 35.21 22. Jerom saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quaest Respons 79. I believe that this religious and vertuous Prince Josias was not stirred up only by politick respects to stop the way of Nccho but thought himself bound in Faith and Honour to do his best in the defence of the Babylonian Crown whereunto his Kingdom was obliged either by Covenant or by the gift of such part as he held in the Kingdom of the Ten Tribes Sir Walter Raleigh Hist of the world pag. 1. l. 2 cap. 28. §. 2. that Pharoh had this discovery of the mind of God from Jeremiah the Prophet per oraculum non scriptum sed viva voce editum A lap goes the same way and Justin Martyr And that Josiah did not in this obey the voyce of Jeremiah the Prophet who commanded him from the mouth of the Lord That he should not go forth to meet the King of Egypt in Battel Josiah had formerly had sufficient experience of the falshood of the Egyptian and of his oppression being a Neighbour and he was in League and Covenant with the King of Babylon owing to him fealty and allegiance Now should he falsifie his word should he break his Oath forget his Covenant become a Traytor to his Prince thus he goes forth fatali ferocia saith Peter Martyr Bello temerè suscepto so Dr. Vsher * Josias contra Neconem bello temâ—re suscepto in coÌ„valle Megidduntis occisus est Annales vet Test p. 117. Mâ—rtuo principe optimo cujus vita tutum reddebat populuÌ„ à captivitate Babyâ—mâ—câ—i malorum Iliacte jam ingruente superioris anni Jubilas versus est in threnodiam ibid. 2 Kin. 22 20 Zâ—ch 12.11 2 Chron. 35.24 25. against Pharoh Necho would not be perswaded to turn from him But shall Josiah turn God out of the way of his Judgements No this gracious Prince after so glorious a work of Reformation must perish in his own obstinacy because his will is not subjected unto the will of the Lord though it be for the Lamentation of Judah afterwards by a Statute for ever It is dangerous therefore for our wills to rise against Gods will so as to stir us up to stand against God when he goes forth in Judgement against a person or a people for you cannot by all your opposition turn God out of his way but in your way of opposition you shall perish 8. Psal 8.9 Heb. 2.8 Ezech. 1.26 27 28. Endeavour to see Christ glorious in all his goings forth in the world For he
glory of God then he himself doth If the Lord would put the business into your hands you could find out a way to secure his glory far better that God doth not take a right course to glorifie himself but were it in your power you would do it As John the Baptist under a pretence of humility I have need to be baptized of thee and comest thou to me And Peter Lord Thou shalt never wash my feet did shew forth the highest pride in making themselves wiser then Christ But you will say it would be better for the Churches What is this but to charge God with want of love tenderness and faithfulness as if the Churches were dearer to you then they are to him Chrysost brings in a man complaning of the afflictions of the Saints There was such a man that did use to give much to the poor was very beneficial to the Saints but he fell among Thieves and was robbed of all that he had or suffered shipwrack and lost a great estate and now the bowels of the poor are deprived of their former refreshments Oh what pitty was it that the hand of such a man should be straightned to whom the Lord had given so large a heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Have you more care of the poor then God their Maker He brings in the Example of Job who saith he did not eat his morsels alone but the poor were nourished with his bread and cloathed with his Fleece and their bowels did bless him in the streets But now his Estate is wasted his Flocks and Heards are consumed by which so many poor were supported Had it not been better that he had had his Estate still that did so much Good with it while he had it Nay * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. he brings in Job speaking Though for my part I was unworthy to enjoy an Estate yet the Lord should have spared it for the poors sake upon whom I did expend it But he sayes no such thing thinks no such thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He was not so glorious and eminent when he fed the poor with his abundance as when he did bless God and gave thanks in the loss of all things Nay he brought a greater glory to God and gave a greater wound to the Devil by his example of suffering and patience and became of far greater use to the Church and to the Saints then ever he could have been by his Estate if he had enjoyed it Jam. 5.11 We have heard of the patience of Job and what end God made with him had it not been for his sufferings we should hardly ever have heard of Job or of his patience But now the Lord hath set him forth for a pattern to his Saints in all after Ages 4. In all your discontents is this the way to prevail with God Non faciet recedere non revocabit sed perficiet quod verbo minatus est Est Miosis A lap Will this make him change his hand or call back his word Isa 31.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He will not call back nor make voyd his word His counsels being set it is not all frettings of your hearts against them that will cause him to take other counsels or will turn him out of the way Psal 33 11. The thoughts of his heart are from everlasting and therefore it is your wisdom much rather to strive to bring about your wils to his will for there is no hope of bringing his will to yours Jam. 1.17 Balaam in stead of disswading the King from his evil enterprise God having formerly forbidden him to curse the people he attempteth under the colour of Religious actions building Altars and offering Sacrifices to change the minde and counsel of God and to obtain his favour to curse his people Ainsw in Numb 23.1 In him there is no variableness nor shadow of change You may change your course as Baalam did and try if upon this mountain you can finde God to change his minde and go from one high place to another and think to prevail but you do but deceive your selves lose your labor and the Lord doth deride all such vain enterprises of men for the thoughts of his heart endure throughout all Ages 5. This is the way to provoke God to go forth in displeasure and to cross thy will so much the more If the Lord go forth in a way of judgement Te pares ad sustinendum impetum irae meae aut ut occurras mihi vera resipiscentia emendatione Drus the means to pacifie him is to meet him as we are commanded Amos 4.12 Prepare to meet thy God O Israel Not to meet him in a way of opposition to set up thy will against his to set the battle in array against him Esay 27.4 for that is but to set bryars and thorns against him in battle but thou must meet him in a way of submission as Abigal met David when he was comming down to destroy Nabal and his House 1 Sam. 25.32 So when we are under the hand of the Lord and our spirits stoop and say It is best Lord best for me and for thy Churches It is the Lord let him do what seems him good this is the onely way to prevail with God But if men be like a wild * Esay 51.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his tantum legitur sacris bibliis hoc in loco Deut. 14.5 à Sept. redditur per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bovem sylvestrem significat est animal superbum ferox 1. Quod jugum ferre nequit 2. Quod se circumscribi non patiatur ideo derivatur à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Limitavit per antiphrasin 3. Quod illaqueatum irretitū cunū venatorū furori sit expositum 4. Quod omnibus in platea spectandū proponitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bull in a net when they are full of the fury of the Lord and like a raging Sea that cannot rest this is the way to provoke God to go on in displeasure Nay it is a very great Argument that he intends to go on †Si non eruditi fueritis mihi Montan. ut castigati ut redeant Levis 26.24 If a man be not corrected to him he will punish him seven times more untill he hath destroyed him And God doth every thing by weight and measure makes every thing glorious in its time at the last day which shall be a day of revealation the Books shall be opened the Book of Providence as well as the Book of Life and we shall see a glorious harmony in all the works of God Yea those works which ye would have had otherwise you shall see how necessary they were to come in their places and seasons and then what shame would it be to you before men and Angels if the Saints could be ashamed at the last
midst of a Wheel Eze. 1.16 Complexio transversa they move like the motions of Watches Cur duplices fuerint Rotae videndum est nempe quia Deus non videtur tenere rectum cursum sed habere varias conversiones quasi inter se contrarias acsi distraheretur agitatio ubi inspirat vigorem credturis c. Calvin in loc Rotae erant implicatae ne speremus illarum motionum rationes à nobis percipi si secundum humanam rationem de operibus Dei eventis judicamus tanta est preplexitas ut nos explicare non possimus c. Lavat cross-wise one Wheel acts another by a cross and a quite contrary motion so that the greatest Statesmen the wisest Polititians are puzled by it they know not what mysteries there are in Providences They cannot discern whether the Wheels move forward or backward As sometimes when the Scots molested this Nation the Inhabitants called in the Saxons for their Affistance but they did effect that which they did intend to avoid for they conquered and subdued the Nation to themselves The motions of Providence are so perplex and various that it comes not within the compass of the wisdom of man to gather any certain Conclusions from them The Lord will not have man to finde any thing after * Eccles 7.14 sc Vt nihil divinarum praerogativâ—rum homo sibi arrogare possit Cocc him 7. The Wheels are sometimes lifted up from the Earth †Multa saepe videmus fieri intempestivè nostro judicio sed sciamus Angelos peragere suuÌ„ officium ipsorum motu vel inspiratione rapi quae per se nullum motum haberent Calv. Ezech. 1.19 God doth many times go out of the way of his ordinary Providence and doth raise the Spirits of men and enable them to unwearied services he that is feeble shall be as David * Erit alter David hoc est bello fortis ac summus qui infeliciter egerit futurus sit Davidi similis sc foelix fortunatus Drus in loc Jer. 37.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 transfossi Cum de sanctissimis viris Johanne Huss Hieronymo Pragâ—nsi cogite cum summa admiratione hanc ipsam animi magnitudinem intueor Qui duo se totius mundi judiciis opposuerunt Luth. in Gen. cap. 7. Lutherus odium impetum totius orbis sustinuit Sleidan Dei gratia hoc insigne donum expertus sum ut contra Caesaris Pontificis Principum Regum totius fere mundi voluntatem docendo seribendo Jesum Christum liberrime confessus sum etiam inter mille pericula vitae Luth. Tom. 4. p. 404. Nihil est humanis viribus laboratum quod non humanis aeque viribus destrui possit quontam mortalia sunt opera mortalium Lactan. l. 7. Zach. 12.8 That is as valiant in War as David and the house of David So the Saints and the Faithful Ones of God are called shall be as an Angel of God their Spirits elevated even to Angelical strength and courage The Lord did never so settle any Nation or People but he did reserve to himself a power of alteration He did never so exalt any man but he did reserve to himself a power of degradation Ezech. 21.10.26 Remove the diadem take away the crown it shall be no more Deponit Reges disponit Regna and the sword shall be the Instrument by which it shal be effected It is the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tribus Judah quae hactenus contempsit virgam qua à Deo castigata fuit desinet esse regnum Lavat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 enim tribus est Gladius Chaldaeorum sceptrum hoc est regnum Filii mei sc Israelis succidet facilius omne lignum sc omnem alium populum A lap Sed haec interpretatio optimè quadrat Gladius Chaldaeorum est virga vel sceptrum Filii mei contemnens omne lignum Psal 17.13 Esay 10.5 rod of my Son contemning every tree and no tree shall escape not the Cedars of Lebanon for it is the Scepter of my Son men may make a great difference betwixt Cedars and shrubs but the Sons Scepter makes no such difference 8. Ezech. 1.18 Et Rotae cherubim erant oculis pleni circuÌ„ sc non in unico tantum loco sed undiquaque omni ex parte hi oculi signi ficant 1. Circumspectionem vigilantiam in orbis regimine 2. Motus vel rerum eventus esse certissimos licet instabiles impliciti nobis videantur 3. Pulcherrimos esse sc ocellis quasi stellis lucidissimis ornatos Calv. A lap He hath discovered to us in his word what ends he hath to accomplish in and upon the world and we know he carries on all things for the accomplishment of those ends For the Wheels are full of eyes Non caeco feruntur impetu they are not carryed on barely by the force and according to the wills of second causes but by counsel and though we see not how they tend to the effecting of these ends yet they shall surely be accomplished and in this our hearts ought to rest the ends are these 1. What ever mens ends are Per terram hujus mundi regna intelligo leges constitutiones cum bellicis tumultibus replentur cuncta uti Hag. 2.22.23 Et per Coelum cultum intelligo religionis statum in Ecclesiâ Christianâ sc dogmata fidei media cultus Minstros ordinarios c. uti Dan. 8.10 Tali concussione ad primum Christi adventum viam paravit talt etiam ad secundum Magnas antebac fetit rerum mutationes sed reslat longe major Grot. the Lord intends by these shakings to remove the things that are made Heb. 12.27 whatsoever hath been brought into the Church or State as an invention of man for politick ends shall be destroyed and he will shake both to that end that he may remove them That the things that cannot be shaken may remain 2. Rev. 17.13 Nisi ponâ—ifâ—x Romanus redigatur in ordinem actuÌ„ est de omni re Christiana At quis in ordmem rediget Christus illustratione adven tus sui non alius Qui habet aures audiendi audiat à bello Turcico abstincat donec nomen Papae sub Caelo valedixit Luth. Tom. 2. That he may thereby make way for Antichrists ruine who was set up by made things only the Kings of the Earth giving 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their force of arms and their power of Laws unto the Beast and so far as the Laws and Government of any people are blended with this power of Antichrist so far will the Lord shake that people that thereby he may make way for Antichrists downful ruining him by the same means he arose 3. Pro regnis cornua posuiâ— hanc habet sancta scriptura consuetudinem ut regnuÌ„ semper interpretetur in cornibus Hieron 1 King 22. 11. Dan 7.7 8 21.24 11.20 Jer.
illud nihil possint sacere aut omittere Hoc sensu â—â—rbum praecipiendi sumitur sc pro ordâ—â—are dâ—cernere 2 Sam. 16.10 Esay 5 6. Jer. 33.22 Ursin Calv. c. vide Pet. Martyr 〈◊〉 2 Sam. 16. quaest An Deus sit author peccati quomodo illud praecipâ—â— p. 275. charge to take the spoyl and the prey and to tread them down as mire in the streets Isa 10.6 And yet all this was but the permitting will of God So the ten Kings the Lord did put it into their ‖ Rev. 17.14 Fontem ostendit unde Imperatores forent per taâ— longum inter vallum adeo obsequentes ab eo proficiscitur in cujus manibuâ— sunt câ—â—da Râ—gum hic justo judicio quos vult occaecat Bright hearts to give their Kingdoms unto the Beast that Antichrist might be set up which hath been the ground of all the miseries that have been brought upon the Christian Churches ever since yet iâ— was their sin and only the permitting will of God He did neither approve the act nor acquit the Actors So the Lord will have Ahab to fall aâ— Ramoth Gilead Satan offers his servicâ— to perswade him and to be a lying spirit in the mouth of his Prophets and the Lord saith thou shalt perswade him and prevail go forth and do so Satanae voluntas semper est iniqua sed potestas nun quam injusta Gregor Deus iratus dat amanti quod male amat Multi enim miseri sunt habendo quam carendo Amando res noxias miseri habendo sunt miseriores Augustin in Psal 26. Yet it was only Gods permitting will the Act and the Agent were both hateful unto God as not doing that which was good in his sight Quest How therefore should a man know whether Gods effecting will and commanding will be the same And that what I do be done in submission unto both whether it be Gods permitting will only For the Lord may suffer evil Instruments yea he may suffer good men in an evill way as appears in Jacobs getting of the blessing Or whether it be the effecting will of God so as he allows the act and approves the Actor If I had Rules for this then I could rest securely in respect of all the dealings of God in the World Answ Before we come to give an answer to this great enquiry I must premise these two things 1. That all prejudiced and pre-engaged wils be laid aside There is a meekness of spirit with which the Word is to be received Jam. 1.21 called the meekness * Status regimiais apud Hebraeos causam denotat sensus est manfuetudo à sapientia provenions vel effectum denotat sensus est verae sapientiae effectum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est prudens mansâ—â—â—â—â—o Glass Gram. saâ—â— p. 101. c. Gomar in loc of wisdom Jam. 3.13 The words of the wise are heard in quiet †Si audiantur animo tranquillâ— non perturbato Coâ—h Eccles 9.17 more then the cry of him that rules among fools Advice given with a calm humble and submissive spirit and received with a minde free from passion and pre-engagements prevails with men much more and sinks deeper then the proud confident and censorious dictates of men whose affections engage and byass their judgements In all cases of difference a man should fear himself in this least he should shut his eyes against any truth delivered It was that which Luther found by experience Hoc meâ experientiâ disco quod non habeo tam magnam timendi causam extra quam intra me Therefore be jealous of your selves especially in those things wherein ye have received prejudice before-hand and know it is one of the greatest judgements that can befal a man to be given up to believe a lye to have his heart deeply engaged in a wrong cause and to appear much for that which will prove a falshood at the last day And it is a most dangerous sign that thou art so the less fearful that thou art of thy self in it with the greater confidence and gloriyng of Spirit that thou dost go on and with the more bitter violent and censorious spirit towards others that are not of thy minde and judgement Ne pergas quaerere quid cor durum sit si non expavisti tuum est Bern. 2. I desire you not to expect from me State-considerations belonging to the conventions of Kingdoms and Nations or the municipal Laws of the Commonwealth First It being but an Ordinance of man 1 Pet. 2.13 therefore different in severall States and Kingdoms all being not bound unto the same constitution God gave unto the Jews their judicial Laws and therefore saith he was their King for the Legislative power he reserved unto himself though the executive power he did commit unto Officers under him But that Commonwealth being dissolved though for the moral equity all people should have respect unto those Laws yet the Lord hath left the Legislative power unto themselves to chuse the Laws by which they will be ruled and unto which they will submit And as they are different in several Kingdoms so they may vary in one and the same Kingdom as the Nation shall finde them prejudicial unto that body for the good of which they were at first intended And though after the Captivity the people of the Jews were governed by Kings no more for the Lord had said that in Zedechiah the Kingly form of Government should cease Ezeh 21.25 26. Thou profane wicked Prince of Israel whose day is come when inquity shall have an end Thus saith the Lord God Remove the Diadem and take off the crown this shall not be the same exalt him that is low and abase him that is high I will overturn overturn overturn it and it shall he no more until he come whose right it is and I will give it him And yet when Kings ceased the Scepter departed not from Judah * Equidem ego sceptrum esse nil aliud nisi Majestatem imperii opinor eam nempe quae ipsi reipublicae assidet Quare quorum respublica est corum Sceptrum dici debet Non recessit sceptrum etsi mutatus reipub status sit ac penes Optimates modò Pontificesque summa fuerit imperii Nimis ineptè faciunt qui hic in arctum desilierunt nominis hujus honorem haud pertinere nisi ad Reges autumant Quicunque enim populus suâ quâdam republicâ suisque legibus utitur is recte gloriari de imperio deque sceptro potest Cunaeus de repub Heb. l. 1. c. 9. Ejecto regio nomine juris statuendi potestas in senatum translata est ei omnia jura insignia regum data legesque Regum in contemptum abiêre Et Majestatis crimen est quod adversus populum Romanum vel adversus securitatem ejus committitur Ulpian l. 1. §. 1. F. ad legem Jul. majest Gen. 49.10 After the
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-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
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
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
doth not hinder sin when it is in his power doth after a sort further it Therefore why doth God punish man for sinning when he might if he had pleased have kept man from sinning It is a great Judgement to be given up to dispute the will of God in this manner for men much to exercise their wits in calling the word of God and the waies of God in this manner to give an accompt at the bar of their reason 3. You pray that the will of God might be done which is that his whole will might take place and that there may be wrought in your wils a conformity unto the whole will of God Now a man should look for the fruit of his prayers in a conformity of his will Mercies given in answer to prayers are double mercies It s not only a good thing that is given but it is given as a fruit of a promise and as a testimony that a man hath received the Spirit of supplication For there is nothing ascends up to heaven but that which comes down from heaven There is no prayer heard of God but that which doth proceed from the Spirit of God acting in the man Now as you have this testimony of the return of your prayers that your wils are subdued unto the commanding and the effecting will labour for the same also in respect of the permitting will of God And till this also be wrought you have never a full answer unto that petition 4. The permitting will of God towards the Saints is but for the time of this life for it hath respect only unto sin Now when sin shall be done away then the permissions of God and the forbearance of God shall have an end Therefore the Saints in heaven and the souls of just men made perfect the Lord doth no more suffer sin to be in them nor them to be under the power of Satan tempting and accusing They are no longer under the power of wicked men neither fear they any more to be given over unto scandalous falls it is but for the time of this life As you are to glorifie the patience of God because it will last but for a time and then cease so you are to glorifie the permissions of God also Seeing therefore it is the way which the Lord hath chosen to himself to glorifie himself for this present state a man should resolve to set himself to it There is a different way of honouring God here and in heaven our care should be that we might honour him according to that way which he requires of us while we are here for this is bringing forth fruit in the season thereof So that as I say improve Ordinances because that they shall last but for the time of the dispensatory Kingdom of Christ Do you act patience and Godly sorrow for they are but for the time of this life and then they shall cease And the way by which the life of grace is now maintained shall be no more therefore get what benefit you can by them while you do enjoy them So it is also in the permitting will of God give God the glory of it during the time of the acting thereof it is but for the dayes of thy vanity and no more therefore be content to submit unto it 5. From the glorious ends that God doth accomplish by his permissions 1. Hereby the grace of Christ is magnified and the Saints have a continual ground for recourse unto the fountain for the washing of sin and uncleanness because the Lord leaves them unto daily defilements 2. Hereby his mercy is exalted in pardoning their scandalous fals and restoring them again after they have to the utmost destroyed themselves and that they shall gain as it were a new conversion thereby When thou art converted strengthen thy brethren 3. Hereby a constant war is maintained and a mans Crown shall be proportioned to his combat Majora certamina majora sequntur praemia A mans greatest enemy is within and the sorest battails are fought betwixt Flesh and Spirit in the same heart For the power of grace as well as of Corruption is mainly drawn out by opposition Gratia vexata seipsam prodit Hereby we have experience of Christ our Advocate pleading our cause before the Throne of grace and rebuking Satan our accuser as he is brought in Zach. 3.1 2. The Lord rebuke thee the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee And hereby when Christ and the Saints shall judge the world the last act of the Kingdom of Christ will be so much the more comfortable to them 5. Hereby we shall be purged from those remainders of defilement for this is all the fruit to take away their sin Isa 27.9 when the Saints are left under the power of ungodly men it is but to try them and to purge them and make them white unto the time of the end Dan. 11.35 6. This will sweeten heaven for ever The consideration of all those miseries we are delivered from which by the permission of God we had experience of We now come to the fruit and consequence of such a temper of Spirit submitting to the will of God which is expressed in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we ceased This word is variously used both in sacred and profane Authors and I find in them all that it commonly signifies these three things 1. An inward quietness and tranquillity of mind for there is a silence of the soul Psalm 62.1 My soul keep silence unto God Therefore it is for a man to be quiet without any inward turnings or risings of spirit to have a spirit quiet like the calm sea a man that is delivered from an unquiet spirit and freed from those turbulent affections that do disquiet other men therefore the Septuagint do thus render the word to which interpretation we are most to give heed in the interpretation of the word in the New Testament In Lam. 3.26 It is good for a man to wait quietly the word is the same with that in my text It is an inward quietness of Spirit in waiting for the salvation of God 1 Thes 4.11 study to be quiet Make it your ambition to get an inward quiet calm spirit look upon it as matter of your duty and of your Glory to attain such a spirit that you may be free from all turbulent inward distractions 2. The word signifies a silence of speech as well as a silence of soul Nehem. 5.8 So they held their peace so the Septuagint render it they had not a word to answer Acts 11.18 When Peter declared to the Church the conversion of the Gentiles they held their peace and glorified God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. The word signifies a quiet behaviour a Cessation from work as a man without business or as one translates it it is as much as to keep holy day So it is rendred Luke 23.56 and I think all these three senses are meant here and then the meaning is
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
the will of God all these disquieting passions must be subdued upon a double ground 1. Because the soul doth conclude that Gods will is Gods pleasure When Christ did the will of his Father it is said the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand Isa 53.10 Now nothing should grieve me but that which grieves the Lord I should fear nothing but that which offends him I should be angry for nothing but what displeaseth him Now all the Acts of his will he is pleased with them therefore I should be quieted under them 2. If the will of God be my end the will of God shall be my reward God hath made over all his attributes to his people in that glorious promise I will be thy God and answerable to a mans obedience to any Attribute such shall his comfort that comes from that Attribute be And if I work for Gods will surely the same will will in all things work for me and the Lord will do nothing but what shall be as truly for my good as it is for his own glory And therefore the soul is not angry at any thing that God will do is not vexed or disquieted at any thing but sits down under it with a holy tranquillity of mind For his commanding will he saith Speak Lord for thy servant heareth Jube quod vis For his effecting will he saith It is the Lord let him do what seems good in his eyes The world is his great house and the Government of it belongs to him the earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof Use Let this serve by way of exhortation to press the former Doctrine that we be perfectly concluded under the will of God from this blessed fruit and effect thereof that it will free us from that unquietness of mind which is the great misery the Saints groan under For as we should truly strive to keep peace with God and to maintain peace with men so we should also strive to maintain a peace in our own spirits For in this respect also Christ is the Prince of Peace And to inforce this Exhortation I shall first shew you the sinfulness of an unquiet spirit under any of the dispensations of God Secondly The dangerous use that the Devil makes of such a distemper Thirdly What excellency there is in a calm and a quiet mind Fourthly How such a frame of spirit may be obtained First The sinfulness of an unquiet spirit 1. Hereby thou sinnest against thine own soul That is the expression Numbers 16. They are sinners against their own souls Now the soul of man in its creation was such for the glory of it that the sun in its brightness is not to be compared to it But there is a double excellency in the soul in whâ—â—â— the beauty and the glory of it dâ—â—h consist First In its purity and so sin fights against the soul for it defiles it which nothing but sin could have done Secondly In the serenity and so sin hath disquieted and disturbed the soul which nothing else could have done Do not destroy your own souls and the soul is destroyed either by the polluting of it or by the disquieting of it which is of that value and worth that all things below should be esteemed beneath it as that which is too little to ransom a soul All the creatures are not worth one disquieting thought of the soul it is of so great an excellency And the greater the sin is because a man himself is the instruemnt thereof To trouble himself torment himself be a burthen to himself as every unquiet spirited man is Psalm 43.4 5. Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me There are two words used the one signifies to lay a thing wast as a wilderness as void of comfort as if a man were in a barren Wilderness where there is nohing to be had to refresh him But how comes the soul to be thus like a desolate howling Wilderness the word signifies that he himself was the instrument thereof the means of the devastation of his own Spirit And the word signifies to prostrate a thing depress it to the very ground which word is in such a conjugation and doth signifie that the man did cast down himself the soul is the instrument in its own dejection All murther is sinfull but no murther so great an evil or so uncomfortable as self-murther and no self-murther like unto soul-murther for a man to go about to debase and bring down the glory of his soul which he should endeavor to beautifie with the highest qualifications and look upon it as his only glory for the qualifications of the soul are the only excellencies of the man 2. A man may take a measure of the sinfulness of his spirit by the unquietness of it for the unquietness of the spirit doth proceed wholly from the opposition of the will unto the will of God Now as the power of Godliness doth lie in the subjection of our wills unto Gods will that when grace shall be perfected in glory there shall be a perfect subjection so the power of sinfulness lies in the opposition of our wills unto Gods will and the more fully thou standest in opposition the greater is the measure of thy corruption If therefore unquietness of spirit doth rise from opposition of will then the more unquietness there is the greater opposition The devil being in the highest opposition unto God and they that sin against the Holy Ghost it being direct enmity whereas other sinners are but enemies to God in a collateral way their opposition is the greatest being revenge against God doing despight unto the spirit of grace therefore they are most unquiet Though in a temptation there is an unquietness of spirit that may arise upon the best men as it did upon David and Ionah yet if that be a mans ordinary and constant temper it argues he hath much of the devil in him the meekning and melting of a mans spirit into the will of God is the measure of his grace and the opposition of a mans will unto the will of God and his unquietness thereupon is the measure of his corruption Men that are alway fiery and ad oppositum now this doth not please them and now they fret at this instrument and by and by are discontented at that dispensation If Niniveh be not destroyed Ionah is angry if the Gourd be not spared he is angry it is an argument there is but a little grace and a great deal of corruption And as grace doth increase subduing the will unto the will of God so surely will the quietness of a mans spirit increase Grace in a man ripens as fruit doth at first there is a great deal of sourness and sharpness mixed with it but then it is green the riper it grows the more mellow and the more sweet it is 3. The more pride there is in any sin the greater that sin is for to sin
against God with a high hand is proudly to sin against him Now as humility is the measure of all grace so pride is the measure of all sin therefore Psal 19.13 David doth express presumptuous sins which are in degree next the great transgression by a word which signifies Ab insolentibus so Montanus Ab superbiis so others Now is there a higher pride in the world then this for a man to stand it out with God Whether Gods will or his will shall stand Whether God shall command as he pleaseth or I obey as I please Whether God shall Rule the world or I shall rule the world Either what will please God or what will please men And therefore the Prophet resolves all opposition unto the will of God unto this Ier. 13.17 If you will not hear my soul shall weep in secret for your pride There cannot be a higher discovery of pride in any of the sons of pride then this therefore the greater the sin is 4. This shews that there is but little dominion or authority that grace hath in the soul Grace sets up the Kingdom of Christ in the heart where it is and Christs kingdom is mainly exercised over the spirits of men It is not in meat and drink but in righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost therefore Prov. 16.32 It is said He that rules his spirit is better than he that wins a City Men generally strive for authority though few use it well when they have it there is a government that all should exercise a rule over your own spirits Now so much grace as there is in any man so much authority and rule that man hath over his own soul he that hath no rule in himself but it breaks forth into contention and disorder upon all occasions that man hath no grace in him Grace calls first for a wel-ordered soul and afterward for a well-ordered conversation And if it be so great a matter to rule the tongue that he that seems to be religious and bridles not his tongue that mans Religion is in vain it is much more to rule the spirit to set up the government of Christ in the inward man 5. It is the Devils way of sinning and it is the Judgement he is given up unto he is a restless and unquiet spirit goes about like a roaring Lion always acting in opposition unto God in way of revenge always fretting at the dispensations of God in the government of the world Matth. 12.33 He seeks rest and he finds none Ever restless under any of Gods dealings and this is his Judgement and the greatest torment that now he hath beside a certain expectation of Judgement that the Lord hath given him over to a spirit of opposition and that in a constant and a restless way and this is the Devils Hell Tolle propriam voluntatem non erit infernus So Bernard therefore on the contrary Uno posito ponitur alterum Set up a mans will against Gods will and deliver him over thereunto and it will be an hell unto that man 6. It is a fearfull Iudgement from the Lord for to be as the troubled sea that cannot rest Isaiah 57.20 There is no peace saith my God unto the wicked It is spoken upon occasion of the return of the people out of Babylon as appears verse 14. Cast cast ye up prepare the way of my people take away the stumbling block the Lord will not contend for ever neither will he be alway wrath Being returned the Lord doth promise to send them the Gospel the Messengers of Peace the Ministers of God shall now speak peace to them who did before speak error and the fruit of it shall be a constant peace and quietness in their own consciences for God would create the fruit of the lips peace peace The repetition notes excellentiam seu abundantiam Ier. 7.4 The temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord that excellent Temple where the Lord promiseth his presence should be for ever and it should be called by his name Isa 28.16 Behold I lay in Zion Musad Musad a foundation a foundation a glorious an excellent a sure foundation And the repetition also notes Continuationem Deut. 16.20 That which is Justice Justice shalt thou follow That is indesinenter sectaberis Thou shalt wholly constantly and continually follow that which is just So here he will create the fruit of the lips peace peace it notes a glorious and an eminent peace that God would give them in their own spirits and it should be a constant a setled peace not to be disquieted any more But after this return when the Lord should speak this peace to his own people yet the hearts of wicked men should have no peace they should be like the raging sea that cannot rest It notes their own inward unquietness Affectibus suis afflatu malorum Spirituum agitati floret After they are returned out of the captivity and there was peace to the Saints even then there should be no peace to the wicked Though they be not disquieted by enemies as winds from without yet as the Sea they shall disquiet themselves by their own inward motions and estuations There is an offence that men take sometimes at the word of God sometimes at the works of God At his word Hos 14.9 There is a path that the upright shall walk in and transgressors shall fall in There are some passages in the word that the Saints themselves do sometimes stumble at in scandalum This is a hard saying who can hear it but ungodly men stumble at them in ruinam There are also some works of God at which men are offended stumbling Providences either when they are above mens apprehensions the wheels being lifted up from the earth or beyond mens expectations Matth. 13.21 When persecution ariseth for the words sake by and by they are offended So Christ saith Matth. 11.6 both in respect of his word and works Blessed is he that shall not be offended in me There are as great snares of Satan and as great Judgements of God laid in scandals as in any thing in the world beside and therefore men ought to take heed how they take offence because there is a bait in it in which they may in judgement be insnared and taken It is an observation much to be confisidered that if Satan woul instill in the hearts of men any evil impression concerning any truth of God he doth usually bring it in by some Providence of God that men may take offence at we see it in the Gaderens Math 8.31 If thou cast us out suffer us to go into the heard of swine Ut eos jactur a porcorum ad maledicendum Christo impelleret that they may never desire his company and preaching more that brought so great a loss upon them and though it was the devils desire yet the Lord doth somtimes grant it as he did his request against Iob for his owne just and
great ends thereby to try and prove the obedience of the Saints such works are a stumbling block unto ungodly men and thereby a great difference is put betwixt them and others It is as great a judgment to stumble at the works as it is at the word of God 2. We are to consider the dangerous use that the devil makes of an unquiet spirit he loves it being unto him a sutable habitation Ephes 4.27 Let not the sun go down upon your wrath neither give place to the devill If once a mans spirit be in a disturbed frame there is a doore set open for Satan to enter at and the use that he doth make of such a frame of spirit is commonly this 1. He doth hereby keep the soul in a continual tumult that a man shall not be able to make a supplication unto God it shall disturb him in all his duties See it in Jonah ch 4. v. 2 3. when his spirit was in an unquiet frame see what an angry pecvish prayer he made and offers up unto God No man is fit to have communion with God that hath not the command of his own spirit 2. Another use the devil makes of it is this to imbitter a man against God and all the Instruments that God doth use This we finde to be in Saul 1 Sam 16.14 The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and an evil spirit from the Lord vexed him So that all the actions that afterward he did were by the impulse of the evil Spirit It is observed by Interpreters that this was a perverse and melancholy temper into which Saul was cast by Satan through the just Judgement of God It was saith Peter Martyr something more then natural Vel si antea in eo fuerit â bono Spiritu reprimebatur It is reported of Dioclesian the Emperour out of meer melancholy and discontent he gave over the Government of the Empire and be took himself to a private life because he could not root out the Christians whom with the uttermost violence he had persecuted This was the Judgement that befell Nebuchadnezzar for seven years he lived the life of a beast and was banished the society of men secundum imaginationem suam though not secundum imaginem And therefore Ierome observes his figure and shape was not changed for he saith My understanding returned unto me Ostendit non formam se amisisse sed mentem he lost not the shape but the understanding of a man being given up to a melancholiness and madness delivered over to a delusion and rage of the unclean spirit Suitable to which the Lord threatens Deut. 28.28 The Lord shall smite thee with madness and with blindness and with astonishment of heart To be delivered over to the discontents of a mans spirit is the next way thereunto There is a degree of madness in all the ways of sin There is madness in the heart of a man while he lives Eccles 9.3 And these were not Judgements proper and peculiar to those times but such as the Lord will inflict also in all Ages suitable to their discontents But in an especiâ—â— manner this is to be taken noticeâ—â— in the fourth and fifth Vial when the Vial is poured out upon the Sun Rev. 16.9 Men were scorched with heat and blasphemed the name of God There is no element whose torment is so exquisite as that of fire as Herodotus reports of the Atlantici men that live under the South Pole qui omnibus diris solem execrantur because they are scorched by it therefore it is called the Torrid Zone The Holy Ghost notes by it as Brightman observes Mirae inusitatae erunt acerbitates a strange kind of bitterness of spirit shall be poured out upon men in Judgement So in the fifth Vial which is upon the Seat of the Beast Men shall gnaw their tongues for pain and blaspheme the God of heaven Gnaw their tongues prae rabie furore their grief and rage shall be such as they shall gnaw their tongues and gnash their teeth as wicked men in hell are said to do yet this is the plague that shall follow they shall blaspheme the God of heaven Non est existimandum apertam fore blasphemiam It shall not be open direct blasphemy but as Antichrist doth open his mouth against God his name his worship his tabernacle his Church and his Saints they that dwell in heaven To be given up to either of these is the common use the devill makes of all the discontents of the spirits of men at any of the dealings of God 3. Satan makes use of it to this end to make their lives uncomfortable for they have no peace in their dayes no comfort in their callings because their wills are engaged against the will of God and God carries on things against them and they cannot attain their end but every thing in providence falls cross and therefore they are exceedingly displeased they have no joy in their lives for men may rise up to such discontent that their very lives may be a burthen to them Psalm 112.10 The horne of the righteous shall be exalted with honour the wicked shall see and gnash their teeth and melt away The word in the original signifies to melt by degrees not all at once but by little and little It is the same word that is used of the melting of wax before the fire Psalm 68.3 So that mens rage and discontent shall consume them It shall be such a constant griefe and vexation of spirit And this shall be the misery of those that are enemies to the two witnesses Revel 11.12 having been brought to a low ebb they shall lie dead for three years and a halfe and then they shall ascend up into heaven that is be exalted unto the highest honour by a voice from heaven that is supremi magistratus jussu and their enemies shall behold them The devill could not wish a man a worse mischife then that his heart should be engaged against any work of God that he will carry on and be greived to see it prosper Acts 4.2 It is said that they were greived that the Apostle taught the people There cannot be a greater mischiefe befall a man then this which is the ground which inrages the devill himself and is the cause of all the blasphemy in hell that their minds are contrary to the will of God which yet they cannot withstand 4. Satan makes this use of it to keep men off from receiving direction from God let God speak what he will the soul is in a disturbance cannot hear as it is to speak to a man in a tumult so it is with the noise and the rising that is in a mans heart Exod. 6.9 It was a welcom message a man would think to men in affliction that God would deliver them and that they should inherit the promise made to their fathers yet they hearkned not to Moses because of the anguish and bitterness of their spirits This
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
a Covenant the consent of the Creature is necessarily included Burg. vin dic legis p 121. The terms of the Covenant are offered to him and subjected to his choyce Neither dare I embrace that Doctrine that Adams consent was not necessary unto the first Covenant because he was bound to accept what God did require for he was bound freely to consent to the terms of the Covenant as he was bound freely to obey the precepts of the Law but yet his consent did constitute a Covenant between God and him which else had remained a Law only That God did indent with Adam as a publike person the word is clear and that Adam knew upon what terms he stood or else he was ignorant of the nature of his Covenant which were dangerous to affirm and so did neither know the necessity of his obedience nor the danger of his fall Now when the soul doth chuse the will of God as best and best for him herein doth his subjection to the commanding will of God further consist 3. Intentio est in aliud tendere inde pertinet ad id quod movet ad finem est ergo actus voluntatis Aquin. 1. 2ae q 19. a. 7. Intentâ—o electio sunt idem motus fed in 〈◊〉 distinguuntur quod intentio primò sertur in finem deinde in media electio vero primò attingit medium deinde finem Medina 1. 2ae q. 12 a. 4. Psal 17.3 Acts 11.23 Intentio The intention of will The Law being consented to as good and chosen as best for us then the aym and the bent of the will is to walk in all things according to this Rule It is that which he intends in his whole course Paul proves the goodness of his conscience by this Heb. 13.18 That he was willing in all things to live honestly This was the constant intention and bent of his will and when the Saints do otherwise it is praeter intentionem for they are stedfastly purposed to keep his Precepts and with full purpose of heart they cleave to God when they fall they are overtaken Gal. 6.1 It is by way of surprize as that which they intended not I do that which I would not Rom. 7.19 Therefore the regenerate part which is born of God doth not sin It may be over-born by the flesh and led Captive but it consents not to it The bent and intention of the will is against it all the while Daven in col 1 10. Sufficit quod praecesserit illa intentio in habitu retineatur licet in singulis actibus non cogitetur c. Some of our Divines do distinguish between an habitual and an actual intention and they say though there cannot be always an actual intention of God and his glory yet there must be always an habitual a constant purpose of obeying God and submitting to his Law in every thing for the power of Grace cannot stand with a purpose of sinning 4. Imperium Homo non agit ex necessitate naturae sed liberè sc modò rationali hoc est modo imperii Ad imperium requiritur dictamen ultimum intellectus practici stante efficaciâ imperii voluntas liberè movetur Cumel de volunt p. 50. The power and the command of the will The will is the leading faculty it hath a strang ruling power over the man it commands all the faculties of the soul Imperio politico all the members of the body Imperio despotico It commands the understanding to search the memory to retain the affections which are as it were the ebbings and flowings of the will to go out towards those objects the will is set upon If the will move towards any object the eye looks the hand works the feet haste towards it with all manner of readiness and unweariedness because the will commands it We have all known how powerful the commands of the will were and how unwearied in ways of sin Mich. 7.7 〈…〉 〈…〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ad malum manus 〈◊〉 reddun sc aptaâ— peritas 〈◊〉 Merde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. when we did evil with both hands earnestly fulfilling the wills of the flesh and of the mind Therefore Rom. 7.5 Sin is compared to a Husband and the Soul to a Wife because the will of sin is the law of the soul And as it is in sin so t is in Grace also Grace being the Law of the mind Rom. 7.23 And the end of the Law is Obedience Now though Grace be in the whole soul yet the Commanding power of it is chiefly in the will For Grace doth act in the soul according to the nature of every faculty In the understanding searching into the will of God as the Rule of Duty in the memory laying up the Commandments as the greatest treasure I have hid thy Law in my heart In the affections also the soul goes out to it Oh how do I love thy Law thy precepts are my delight I hope in thy word I have rejoyced in thy Testimonies more then in all riches But the commanding power over all these comes from the will therefore the Law of the minde is mainly seated in that faculty which commands the man Now when this imperium of the will is exercised over the whole man for the Law of God bringeth all into subjection thereunto as the Rule of Duty then is mans will brought into a perfect and compleat subjection unto the will of God Vse If the power of godliness doth mainly consist in the subjection of our will to the commanding will of God This serves as an Exhortation mainly to place your Religion therein Godliness consists not in reasoning and Disputing but in willing and doing when there is much inquiry what the will of God is with a resolution of will not to do it that the Lord hates as they did in Jeremiah 42.5 6. The Lord be a true and a faithful witness between us say they to the Prophet If we do not according to all things for the which the Lord thy God shall send thee to us whether it be good or whether it be evil we will obey the voyce of the Lord our God and yet after so solemn calling God to witness upon their souls they say Jer. 44.16 The word that thou hast spoken unto to us in the name of the Lord we will not hearken to it but we will certainly do whatsoever goeth out of our own mouth To enquire what the will of God is as a Rule of Duty to no other end but with the greater obstinacy to oppose it and neglect it is the greater abomination and the Lord abhors it To enforce this Exhortation of subjecting our wils to the commanding will of God we may take these considerations 1. Consider The Commands of God are the highest testification of the soveraignty of God The Lord hath an absolute soveraignty over the Creatures He is the only Potentate King of Kings and Lord of Lords
1 Tim. 6.15 And this soveraignty lieth mainly in two things In his Decrees appointing the Creatures to their ends and in his Laws prescribing their ways and the subjection of the will of man or a receiving of the Law into the will is the highest honour to the Law and the greatest acknowledgement of the soveraignty of the Law-giver Sub lege factus est quia sponte se interposuit ad eam patri cōpensationem reddendam nec solum formam servi accepit ut subesset sed etiam servi mali ut vapularet Parker de descensu l. 3. 52. Gal. 4.4.5 we see it in the Lord Jesus Christ he was in his person not bound to the Law therefore there was a superlegale meritum that followed upon his obedience yet his subjection unto the Law was the highest honour done to the Law and his receiving the Law into his will Psa 40.8 Thy Law is in the midst of my heart was the greatest acknowledgment of the soveraignty of God for whatsoever honours the Law exalts God and sets him upon him his Throne which is never done till the Law commands the will which is the commanding faculty of the soul 2. Herein the power of the Law is most gloriously seen in that it can subdue the will for till then the man is never overcome you may kill him but you cannot conquer him There may be a kind of force and violence offered unto the other faculties the understanding may be overcome with light which though it would it cannot keep out for there is a principle in all men to be willingly ignorant 2 Pet. 3.5 and to imprison Truths in unrighteousness Rom. 1.18 because they hate the light The conscience also may be awakened though men endeavor to their utmost to speak peace to themselves Esay 50.11 to kindle a fire of their own and compass themselves about with their own sparks but the will is so free that no kinde of violence can be offered to it Therefore the conquest of the will is always by its own consent as a woman by her own consent comes into subjection to her Husband this subduing of the will is that wherein the power of the word mainly consists it s called the power of God to salvation Rom. 1.16 That is it is the instrument by which he puts forth the exceeding greatness of his power though there be a great power put forth in the common works upon the other faculties yet when Omnipotency works by the word it appears mainly in this it subdues the will 3. Herein properly the liberty of the soul consists If the Son make you free you shall be free indeed Joh. 8.36 Liberty therefore is a priviledge which the Saints receive by Grace Now this liberty of a Christian though it be radicaliter in intellectu yet it is formaliter in voluntate The proper seat of Liberty is the will Now this Liberty doth not consist in an absolute indifferency either to chuse or refuse without a respect to the end There is an indifferency indeed servato ordine finis Voluntas eò liberior estquò gratiae Dei subjectior fuerit Aug. Epist 89. with a continual respect to the utmost end the chief good now what is the way that leads to this chief good what is the Rule that directs to this utmost end is it not the word of God Melior est cum totus ad haeret atque constringitur incommutabili bono quam cum inde vel ad seipsum relaxatur Gibeu de libert creat l. 1. cap. 3. Libertas est amplitudo ex adhaesione ad Deum quae tantò major illustrior quantò propius ad Deum accesserimus Therefore this the soul is to be acted by and therein its liberty consists when the will is acted by any inferiour Rules so long the man is under bondage Therefore when we come to Heaven our wils shall be acted wholy by Gods will therefore our Liberty shall be perfected where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 3.17 The reason is because where the Spirit is the soul is enlightned by the word of God and the will subjected thereunto in which properly doth consist the Liberty of the man 4. The subjection of our will unto the will of God doth pro hoc statu perfect our obedience Our best Services are mixed with many imperfections Lava lachrymas meas Dominc Aug. Job 1.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vide Caryl in loc that our prayers had need be perfumed our tears washed and a sacrifice offered daily for the iniquity of our holy things yet is there a kinde of perfection in the obedience of the Saints in this life Ignorantia infirmitas vitia sunt quae impediunt voluntatem nunc delectatur nunc non delectatur ut noverit non suae facultatis esse sed divini muneris Aug. de peccat merit remiss l. 2. c. 17. The Philosopher observes that there is Duplex aequalitas rei voluntatis now though in respect of the thing we shall always fall short of the Law yet the subjection of the will makes the Law and the heart even though in the actions there are many defects Rom. 7.19.20 2 Cor. 8.10.12 And the Grace of the Gospel accepts the will for the deed 5. It is the subjection of our will to the commanding will of God Matth. 11.30 which only makes the ways of God sweet and the commands of God easie David saith The Law was sweeter to him then the hony Christ saith Psal 19.10 1 Joh. 5.3 My yoak is easie and my burthen light The Commandments are not grievous and it is the subduing of the will works all this Omnia quippe fiunt charitati facilia cui uni Christi sarcina levis est aut ea una est sarcina ipsa quae levis est Durae sunt timori leves amori c. Aug. l. de nat grat c. 69. What a man does willingly he doth with ease and delight Whereas a small thing done against the will is looked upon as a very burthensome service It was no great labour for Haman to lead Mordecai's Horse yet it was a very burthensome and an offensive service because his will was against it 6. It is willingness that brings the reward Esth 6.13 A Dispensation of the Gospel was committed to Paul and if I do it willingly saith he I have my reward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Ethic. l. 4. cap. 1. Libentèr ex animo ipsum amans Evangelium fructum Evangelii quaerens Est 1 Cor. 9.17 Some preach Christ of Envie and some of good will and they only have the reward of their service Phil. 1.15 Therefore the Apostle exhorts those that feed the Flock of God and have the oversight of them to do it not by constraint but willingly 1 Pet. 5.2 And Paul would have Philemon to grant his request not of