And the suffering of Christ without the Gate was not without some Allusion to the placing of this Altar without the Tabernacle Vide Heb. 13.12 And as the situation of the Altar so the Sacrifice upon this Altar not without a Mystery for besides those many Sacrifices which were diversified according to the several natures of the Occasion here was one Sacrifice appropriate to this Altar the continual Burnt-Offering a Lamb of the first year in the Morning a Lamb of the first year at Even Exod. 29.38 Numb 28.3 And the Spirit of Truth takes up this description of Christ more frequently than any John 1.29 Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world 1 Pet. 1.19 Redeemed with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish or spot Revel 5.6 The Lamb that was slain c. Revel 13.8 The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world And between this Altar and the Sanctuary stood the Laver of Brass not only typifying the Sacramental Initiation by Baptism but that Purity and Cleansing that is required of all those that partake of this Altar before they enter into the Sanctuary John 3.5 Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God As the Blood of Christ cleanseth from the Guilt of our Sin so it cleanseth us from the Power of our Sin before we are to expect an admission into the Sanctuary It was as well Water to cleanse as Bloud to expiate 6. The typifying of Christ in the Priesthood of Aaron and his Successors High Priests Divers of the Ceremonies especially in the Consecration of them were meerly relative to their natural pollutions and the cleansing of them Heb. 7 27. Offering Sacrifices first for their own Sins such was the Sin-offering Levit. 9.7 Levit. 8. â—4 Others in reference to their service and designation thereunto and exercise thereof as their washing with Water Levit. 8.6 Their anointing with the holy Oyl Ibid. Verse 12. The Ram of Consecration Ibid. Verse 22. Their residence at the door of the Tabernacle seven days Ibid. Verse 33. And some parts of his Garments But there were some things that in a special manner were typical of Christ 1. The Breast-plate of Aaron bearing the Names of the Children of Israel called the Breast-plate of Judgement Exod. 28.29 And Aaron shall bear the Names of the Children of Israel in the Breast-plate of Judgment when he goeth into the holy place for a memorial before the Lord continually importing not only the nearness of the Church and redeemed of Christ unto him but also his continual presenting of their Names their Persons in his Righteousness before his Father 2. The Plate of Gold upon the Mitre engraven with Holiness to the Lord Exod. 28.38 And it shall be upon Aaron's forehead that Aaron may bear the iniquity of their holy things that they may be accepted before the Lord. As our Persons are accepted by God in the Righteousness of Christ presented for them to his Father so our Services are accepted in the strength of the same Mediation Christ presenting our Prayers and Services to his Father discharged of those Sins and Defects with which they are mingled as they come from us 3. His Solemn Atonement when he entred into the Holy of Holies Levit. 16. Wherein we shall observe 1. A most special Reconsecration almost of all the things incident to that Service before it was performed the Priest was to make an Atonement for himself by the Blood of the Bullock Verse 11. and for the Altar Verse 18. which signifie that Purification of the Humane Nature of Christ from all Sin Original and Actual from all Sin even in his Conception that so he might be a fit High Priest Heb. 7.26 For such a high priest became us who is Holy Harmless Vndefiled Separate from Sinners and made higher than the Heavens The difference was this Aaron notwithstanding his first Consecration to his Office needed a new Atonement when he entred into the Holy of Holies and exercised that high Type of Christ's Ascension and Intercession But Christ being once Consecrate needed no new Consecration Heb. 7.28 For the Law maketh men High Priests which have infirmities but the Word of the Oath which was since the Law maketh the Son who is Consecrated for evermore 2. This was to be done but once in the year Some services had frequent iterations but those special Services that were but once in the Year were Types of those things that were to be done but once though remembred yearly such was the killing of the Passover Christ by one Offering hath perfected them that are sanctified Heb. 10.14 3. This great Atonement not made but by Blood Heb. 9.7 The high Priest entred not without Blood Livit. 26. And this Atonement was to be made upon the Horns of the Altar Levit. 16.18 viz. The Golden Altar of Incense Exod. 30.10 Hence Christ called the Blood of sprinkling Hebr. 12.24 The Offering that was to be used in this solemn Atonement for so much as concerned the Sins of the People were two Goats which were to be presented before the Lord at the door of the Tabernacle Levit. 16.7 And Lots to be cast one for the Lord the other for the Scape-Goat the former was to be the Sin-offering for the People and his Blood to be brought within the Veil Verse 23. And the other was to bear the Iniquity of the Children of Israel but to be sent into the Wilderness Ibid. Vers 21. Although in the Sacrifice of Christ his Body only died and his Soul escaped yet both were but one Sacrifice he did bear our sins in both his Soul was heavy unto death as well as his Body crucified and as God had prepared him a Body in order to this Sacrifice Heb. 10.5 So he made his Soul an Offering for Sin Isa 53.10 4. As after all this the Priest entred into the most Holy and presented this Blood of Reconciliation before the Mercy Seat and no Man was to be in the Tabernacle when he goeth in Levit. 16.17 So Christ having trodden alone the Wine press of his Father's Wrath Isaiah 63.3 Is entred into the Holy Place not made with Hands now to appear in the presence of God for us Hebr. 9.24 And as the People did representatively by their Mediatour Aaron pass into the Holiest so our High Priest hath consecrated for us Access into the Holiest by a new and living way through the Veil of his Flesh Hebr. 10.20 Who as he is our Advocate with the Father John 2.1 To bear our Names before him as the High Priest did the Names of Israel to present his own Blood before the Father of Mercy as the High Priest did the Blood of the Sin-Offering before the Mercy Seat to bear the Iniquity of our holy things as the High Priest did upon his Forehead so likewise to present our Prayers to the Father Ephes 2.18 Through him we have access
the Compositum yet it is clear that the Tumultuousness or Quietness of the Mind doth much conduce to the Happiness or unhappiness of the Compositum That Man that lives contentedly with 20. l. a year is happier than he that lives as well with the same or a greater Portion but with an anxious troubled craving unsatisfied Mind Now when the Soul truly knows and is truly set upon his Supream End it knows its duty and therefore is not idle it knows the Power of his Maker therefore is not anxious and knows the use and value of the Creature and therefore values it no farther than it is useful to its proper End it knows the Love and Wisdom of his Maker and therefore refers all to him as he that wants neither Power to provide for it nor Wisdom to proportion nor Love to communicate according to the exigence of my condition and admit he doth his Will must be done and not mine I am provided well enough for if here I am contented and hereafter saved this sweetens any Losses 4. Though the Great God be absolute Lord of his Creature and is not bound farther to him than it pleaseth him though his Creature were most conformable to his Will yet I do not think but if our Hearts were and did continue right set upon our great and Supream End and could hold to it that we should want a convenient Portion of these outward Blessings which would make our Lives comfortable and happy but here is the Misery of Man that any confluence of Externals presently take off his Soul from a perfect pursuit of our great End and fasten upon those Externals therefore the Wise God oftentimes cuts out to the best of Men a small and an unpleasant viaticum that they may not linger in the way to their great End. And as it is thus with the whole Compositum in this Life so in the Resurrection when the Soul shall be reunited to the Body both shall have a perfect Fruition of Happiness in the enjoyment of the Presence Favour and Communion of God. How far forth the Soul separated is capable of its own nature of any new knowledge which it had not before in an angelical way or how far it is able to retain or improve those Conceptions and Species that it had here and whether it hath a compleat operation or what degree of Fruition it hath of the sight of God it is above our reach to determine only this we may conjecture that the Soul is not placed in that perfect degree of being and subsistence as are the Angels in as much as it is made in order to a Body by which in it it exerciseth its motions faculties and operations and therefore without all question when it shall hereafter be reunited to a most perfect spiritualized Body indissolubly it shall not thereby receive any diminution or abatement of its Perfection and Felicity but will thereby become more capable of a more perfect and full Fruition of that Supream Good which will then be communicated perfectly to the whole Compositum But this by the way latius infra CHAP. V. Of the Means of attaining the Supream End of Man. HItherto we have proceeded in the examination of these 2. Parts 1. What the Nature of the Subject is of this Happiness and 2. What the Object of it Now the third thing rests to be sought viz. 3. What is the Means of attaining this Supream End of Man his Union to God and herein we shall examine these three things 1. What naturally might be conjectured to be the Means of acquisition of this Happiness 2. Whether as things stand with Man the same Means be to be found or no 3. If not then whether there be any Means left for Man to attain this Supream End of his or no and what it is and how to be known Touching the first Though God by his power might carry every thing to his proper mediate or ultimate End without the intervention of any Means yet as it is his own peculiar Prerogative by his Will to appoint every thing to its proper End wherein is seen the Glory of his Goodness so the same Will of his hath ordered hath appointed every thing to move to this End by a certain Rule and certain Means and herein is seen the Glory of his Wisdom such are the Instincts and Inclinations of the Creatures by which they move to their special Ends and Perfections And as these Inclinations are planted by God in the inferiour Creature the like was done though in a different manner in Men at first in all probability of Reason the difference being only thus in the Creature all that is conducing to their End is made a piece or quality of their Nature in Man not altogether as shall be seen We have found Man indued with two great Faculties Understanding and Will and in these principally consists the receptiveness of his Happiness and the motion to it 1. Touching the Vnderstanding it is a Faculty receptive of an Object that may be known but that Object is not of the nature or essence of the Understanding but distinct from it So that Man might be created an intellectual Creature yet till such time as naturally through the Senses or supernaturally by the immediate infusion or demonstration of God he was but rasa tabula The first thing therefore that was put into the Understanding in order to his supream End was a stock of Knowledge of God and of that Will of God which concerned Man. And this Will of God concerning Man was that Means which if known and pursued would guide a Man to true Happiness for as is before observed every thing is so far forth Beautiful and Happy as it holds Conformity with the Will of God and such is his Wisdom and Goodness that when the Creature moves according to the Law and Will of its Maker it doth without fail attain that Happiness whereof it is capable because it moves to that End for which it was appointed by the First Cause Now because God hath made Man a Rational and Intellectual Creature he appointed a rational and intellectual way to move him to this End viz. the Knowledge of himself and of that Rule or Law which should lead him to that End. 2. The Understanding being thus enlightned with the Knowledge of God and his Will the Will was endued with a Rectitude to move on according to that Rule in order to the right End and that which was in the Understanding sub ratione Scibilis was to the Will sub ratione Legis a thing not only shewn to the Understanding as the Means to bring him to Happiness but also injoyned to the Man as his Duty under pain of Guilt and Vengeance for herein consists the difference between the Instincts in the inferiour Creatures and this Law given to Man in those it is not properly a Law because they are not intellectual nor voluntary Agents therefore their receding from that
Vultures have not seen the great God alone gave Man his End and appointed the way to that End we had once the knowledge of both but have lost it and we must owe the discovery of it to the Author of it And to Man he said Behold the Fear of the Lord that is Wisdom and to depart from Evil is Vnderstanding Job 18.28 6. It doth discover the whole Duty of Man to his Maker to himself and to others far beyond all other Books or Documents in the World. Man by his Sin hath lost the greatest part of his Light and Perfection his own discoveries of his Duty are lame and imperfect and till the God that first planted these Principles of Knowledge and Conformity to his Will give us a new Copy of them we shall never clearly attain unto them in our knowledge or practice There are these Eminencies touching Moral Precepts which this Book of God hath above all other Books in the World. 1. No other Book in the World doth discover the true ground of the Obligation unto Moral Precepts The Moral Philosopher perswades me to Temperance to Justice but what Obligation lies upon me for it If he tells me That it is his own Authority my Answer is He hath none over me more than I have over him If he tells me the Law under which I live binds me to it I shall enquire what binds me to observe those Laws but Power which if I can avoid by the like power or secrecy I am not bound or my own Consent which I am as well Master of as I was before I consented If he tells me the Law of Nature binds me I am still unsatisfied who gave that Law or when or to whom and there the Philosopher is to seek as well of my Conviction as of my Obedience But this Book shews what that Law is from whence the Obligation of Obedience to it ariseth even from that most Just and Uncontroulable Authority that God hath over his Creature 2. No other Book or Learning in the World perswades the observance of those Laws it injoyns with the like convincing and satisfying grounds of Reason that this doth The highest ground that ever Moral Philosopher could fetch to perswade to submit to Moral Precepts were but one of these viz. The Reputation and general esteem of Men which dies with me and while it lives is nothing else but a Fancie and contains no Reality or the Cohortion of the Laws which if I can avoid with secrecy or force I escape the strength of the Perswasion or that Congruity that sound Moral Precepts hold with Prudence and the permanent enjoyment of good here for it is a most certain Truth as appears before That the due observation of the Rules of right Reason hath a most clear connexion with Happiness in this Life and that the violation of these Precepts of Nature do necessarily introduce a loss of temporal Felicity These are the highest Motives of Obedience to these humane Documents But let us look upon the Motives that the very same Precepts are enforced with in this Book of God we shall find them of a higher Constitution we are there shewn they are commanded by that God to whom we owe our Being and therefore may justly challenge our Obedience as his Tribute by that God from whom we daily receive our Preservation and Mercies and therefore may justly expert the return of our Love and Thankfulness in the Observance of his Will by that God that hath annexed a Sanction to the breach of his Law which he both can and will inflict this may startle our Fear by that God that hath propounded and promised a Reward to our Obedience both in this Life and a future which he will certainly confer this doth quicken our Hope These and the like grounds and motives of Obedience fall upon the most active Affections with the most powerful and rational Perswasion and are able to conquer more difficulties in the Obedience of these very Precepts that are materially the same than all those faint and thin Perswasions that the wisest of Men could ever teach The great God that knows the frame of the Soul of Man hath not only given rational Laws to lead him to his great End and rational Means to draw out his Obedience by appointing Rewards or Punishments of his Obedience or Disobedience but also by the same Wisdom of his planted in him Affections which might be proper to receive the impressions of those Rewards and Punishments and by this Word of his conveys those Notions into his Heart which stick upon those active Affections of Love Hope and Fear in the most exact full and adequate manner This is therefore none else but the Finger of God. And this is not only evinced by the Threatnings and Promises in this Book but by the Historical part of it applying the Truths of both wherein we may see unriddled most of the varieties of Events that fall upon a People or Person especially knowing God which without this Light seem to be confused and meerly contingent Israel sins Israel is punished she repents and is delivered We are shewn by the very Historical passages of the Old Testament that when we are punished we eat but the fruit of our own ways 3. As the Eminence of the Scripture above other Learning and consequently its Original is discovered in the two former so in this that it doth distinctly and clearly evidence and set forth those Moral Precepts which are confusedly and imperfectly only delivered by the best of humane Writers especially in the Worship of God All agree God is to be worshipped but when they come to shew how then they are to seek for indeed as it is folly for any one to think that there can be any Worship of God acceptable but what is agreeable to his Will so it is vain to think that this Will of his could be discovered by any but himself And from the want of this grew Idolatries and other Vanities in Worship 4 The original of the Scriptures is discovered in this that it doth contain in it Precepts of a higher Constitution and therefore of a higher Pedegree than the best of all humane Learning ever did arrive unto such as are the Cleansing of the Heart and Thoughts from all Sin That the Formality of Sin consists in the Will even before it expresseth it self in Act That the outward Conformity of the Act to Vertue without the internal Conformity of the Will and Mind is but Hypocrisie and the seeming vertuous Action is at least dead and not of value if not sin That a Vertuous Action done out of any other End than in Obedience and Love to God that enjoyns it is not an Action rightly Principled nor acceptable to God The right directing of our Passions and Affections that nothing is worthy of our intense Love but God that nothing deserves our Hate but Sin and therefore teacheth us in the former to despise the World in the
hearkened not unto them as the Lord had said ibid. Verse 32. and divers other parts of the History The Lord hardened his Heart by Permission of the Magicians Miracles by permitting objective presenting to him the Profit of the Jews Labours by Withdrawing that external Concurrence and operation of his Grace which might have softned it and Pharaoh actively hardens his own Heart 2 Sam. 24.1 Israel had offended God and must be punished but there was an Impediment to the Execution of this Judgment David's Integrity who was concerned in the good or evil of his People if God withdraw his assistance from David and let in Satan to tempt him David will sin as well as his People and so both deservedly punishable And he moved David to number the people yet 1 Chron. 21.1 And Satan stood up against Israel and provoked David to number the people Here were three Parties God moved by permitting Satan to provoke by withdrawing a powerful Countermotion by Ordering David's sin for the means of the punishment of Israel's sin Satan provoked incited and perswaded either immediately or mediately for now the Watchman is gone God hath withdrawn his Hand and Satan loseth not the opportunity David numbers David's Heart was as corrupt and vain-glorious as anothers and as easily surprized by a Temptation when the Keeper of Israel is absent and remoto impedimento sins as freely and more naturally as before it walked conformable to the Will of his Maker this Sampson hath lost his Locks and he becomes as another Man. In the mean time let us ever admire the Justice of our Maker who never necessitates us to incur a Punishment by necessitating our Sin and his Mercy in rewarding that Obedience which he alone performs in us Also to thee O Lord belongeth mercy for thou renderest to every Man according to his Works Psalm 62.12 CHAP. III. Of the Execution of the Eternal Counsel of God in his Works of Creation and Providence NOW we come to consider the Execution of that Counsel in those two greater transient Acts viz. Creation and Providence 1. Touching the Creation This we consider in general and particularly as concerning Man In general we resolve the work of Creation into three parts 1. The original production of all things out of nothing This is simply Creation Gen. 1.1 In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth God Created This is the greatest conceptible motion viz. Ã non esse ad esse and though it be an act of Faith to believe it because related Heb. 11.3 yet it is a conclusion of Reason to know it as it appears by what hath been before observed concerning the impossibility to have any eternal subsistence but one And this truth though it be deducible by necessity of Reason if a God be once admitted yet so infinite is the distance between Nothing and a Being that divers of the acutest Naturalists were ignorant of it the ignorance of which Principle caused many of their absurd and unintelligible Positions and Superstructions to supply those difficulties which by this only Truth are avoided as concerning the First Matter the Eductions of Forms out of the power of it by I know not what Agents God created This infinite Motion could only proceed from an infinite Power who by the mere act of his Will constitutes something out of nothing In the beginning Time could not be before there were something that had succession of Being for it is the measure of a successive Being and therefore the beginning of created Beings must needs be the beginning of Time and Creation was the beginning of created Beings The Heavens and the Earth The indigested matter of the Heavens and the Earth 2. The dividing and ordering of this Mass calling out the particular Subsistences and furnishing of them with forms and qualities This was subsequent to the creation of the Matter and we find the Manner of this production in two Expressions 1. The motion of the Spirit of God upon the face of the Waters Vers 2. containing an act of the Divine Power whereby he fitted every thing to be ready for his call for though by the same instantaneous act the Divine Power could in the first instant of Creation have put things in their several Beings yet it was his Will to work successively first creating the Matter then breathing upon it and fitting this confused substance with aptitude for the things to be thereout produced 2. The Word of Command Let there be Light c. in the several works of the six days And here we may observe the admirable Wisdom of God as in divers particulars c. so especially in these 1. In the Order of the creating particular Creatures proceeding 1. to the finishing of Fundamentals then to Superstructions though of more curiosity and perfection yet more dependant upon those of the first creation 2. in the Variety of the Creatures and accommodating them with Qualities and Conveniences suitable to their Kinds whereby one doth not desire to encroach upon the Conveniences of the other's Subsistence For an Instance the Beasts Fishes Fowl endued with Appetites suitable to their Being yet the several Kinds affecting several Nourishments several places of Residence c. Herbs of contrary qualities drawing several Nourishments of several Natures even from the same Clod of Earth 3. In the Position and Situation of created Beings both for Beauty and Convenience so that the Wit of the most envious Atheist cannot imagine how the Elements the Heavens the several Creatures could be more beautifully or usefully placed every thing serves to accommodate and fit the other and speaks the Wisdom and Goodness of the Creator the Position of the Earth the Water the Air with exquisite Convenience that they may meet for the constitution of mixt and the subsistence of animate Creatures The Earth and other Bodies have dependance upon the power and influence of the Sun and Heavens each is fitted with a Figure and the Heavens with a Motion that may with admirable convenience dispense that Influence the variety of Seasons depending upon the ecliptical motion of the Sun giving variety to the Creature and intermissions to the Earth whereby she may recover strength in the Winter for the supply of the Summer The very imprefect Creatures the Rain the Winds Snow c. of admirable use for the Earth Air and Water The Elements so placed and ordered that whiles their contrary motions and qualities of Rarety and Density preserve the extremity of their contrary active qualities from meeting yet their Vicinity is such that one allays the violence of the other and so are in a fit position and temper for production of mixt Bodies 3. The planting in every thing a radical Activity and Causality by which it moves This is by Virtue of that Word of the Power of God the very Multiplication of the Creature Gen. 1.22 The warming of our Garments by the South Wind Job 27.17 The Nourishment that comes from our Bread
in his Friend scorn and oppression from his Superiour supplanting from his Equal envy and mischief from his Inferiour falsness and temptation from the Wife of his Bosom rebellion from his Children vanity and disappointment in his Purposes Diseases Distempers and infections in his Body madness and blindness in his Understanding perverseness in his Will tumult and confusion in his Affections guilt and preapprehensions of terrour in his Conscience Death and dissolution of Body and Soul and Judgment Vengeance Hell and yet Eternity after all this Then let Man know that in all this and that which is all this and more than this the Aversion of the Favour and Light of the Countenance of God he eats but the Fruit of his own ways and thou O God art just when thou thus judgest and whatsoever is better than the worst of all this to any of the Children of men is meer Mercy and more than their due But if now in the midst of Judgment God remembers Mercy and Mankind being now condemned and concluded under sin if the merciful God that at first gave Being and Blessing shall after we had spent that Patrimony and lost our selves provide for our Restitution that when we of Free-Men had made our selves Slaves and Vessels of Wrath shall provide a Means for our Deliverance This engageth us to a higher degree both of Admiration and Duty than even our first Creation did This then is the next thing considerable viz. The means and way of Man's Restitution CHAP. V. Of the Restitution of Man by Christ ALL Mankind lay by the Fall under Guilt which is an Obligation to Punishment both of loss of Happiness and everlasting subjection both to temporal and eternal Curse And this estate of Man and his Posterity even to the end of the World was present in the infallible Foresight of God from all Eternity In that consideration he had a Kingdom but over Rebels and Traitors and had everlasting cause of the execution of his Justice and the Power of his Wrath but nothing to deserve or draw out his Mercy among all the Sons of Men who were all present and stood up together in his Eternal Foresight Thus Man had as far forth as was in him disappointed the End of God in his Creation insomuch that in the outward dispensation of God's Providence it seemed that he repented that he had made Man on the Earth Gen. 6.6 But though Man as much as in him lay had made himself an useless Creature and interrupted the possibility of attaining an End answerable to his Being yet God's Counsel was not disappointed But the great Lord of his own free Goodness did in his Eternal Counsel fore-appoint some of lost Men to Remission of their Sin and eternal Happiness in Christ by such Means as he had before ordained to be effectual for that purpose And this is the great Discovery of the Scripture and contains that great Business which Man hath to do in this World because it is that which concerns his great and everlasting End without which his very Being is not only unprofitable but miserable and now comes to be consider'd This then is the sum of all That Almighty God out of his own Free-will and Goodness did in his Eternal Counsel fore appoint some of lost Mankind to Remission of sin and guilt and Reconciliation and Eternal Happiness in Christ by such Means as he had before ordained in the same Counsel to be effectual for that purpose In this description we have these Particulars to be sifted and we have done our Business 1. What the Motive of this Purpose God's meer good Will 2. What the Object of it some of Mankind 3. What the End of this Counsel Remission of sin and Restoration to Happiness 4. What the Hand or immediate Instrument of effecting it Christ 5. What those subordinate Means of attaining it 6. What the Consequents of it 1. Touching the Motive nothing at all meritorious in Man but only the good will of God thus to select some out of the lost multitude of Men to be Vessels of Mercy And this is that which is so often inculcated in the Book of God in all the successions of it Exod. 33.19 I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will shew mercy to whom I will shew mercy So Deut. 9.5 Moses's sad Admonition to the Jews who in all things were typical Vnderstand therefore that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land for thy righteousness for thou art a stiff-necked people Ezek. 16.6 When I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thy own blood I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood Live yea I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood Live. Isaiah 43.25 I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins Luke 10.21 And hast revealed them to babes even so Father for so it seemed good in thy sight Ephes 2.3 When we were by nature children of wrath even as others But God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he hath loved us even when we were dead in sins hath quickned us together with Christ by grace are ye saved 2 Tim. 1.10 Who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ before the world began but now made manifest by the appearing of Christ 1 John 4.10 Here is love not that we loved God but that he loved us Ibid. 19. We love him because he loved us first Rom. 5.8 God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us And indeed it is impossible it should be otherwise for the Scripture hath concluded all under sin Galat. 3.22 And we have shewed before an utter impossibility in Man to extricate himself The fore-appointing therefore of any to Eternal Life could not be from any Cause in the Creature meritoriously moving God to this Mercy The Freedom and Liberality of this Purpose of God. 1. In respect of the Elect to take away all matter of boasting Ephes 2.8 To keep them humble and to keep them thankful that God may be all in all It pleaseth the great God to order the Execution of his Counsels touching Man that they are brought about as with a powerful and irrisistible Hand so they are brought about by such means as is naturally suitable to the nature of Man Rationally and Freely Psal 110. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy Power Now there cannot be a more engaging Argument to Humility and Thankfulness than the consideration of this Free Goodness of God that when I had thrown away my Happiness lay in the common lump of condemned Men God should freely single me out among thousands that he passed by and make me a Vessel of Mercy And this doth most sweetly and effectually win upon the Heart So
even seeming Disappointments and Frustrations of the Love of God to Man and the glory of God in him improved to the higher manifestation both of his Love and Glory This is the Lord 's doing and let it ever be marvellous in our Eyes 4. The Congruity of it even to that nature that is in Man. The great God could have over-ruled his Creature to his own Will by his own Power but he rather chuseth to bring him up unto him by such means as are congruous to the nature of his Creature and let in a supernatural Light and Life by natural means and instruments The Son of God takes upon him Flesh and in his Flesh reveals the way and means of Life 1 John 1.1 That which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon c. In this Flesh he evidenceth his Love to Mankind suffers dies for them As the Discovery of the Truth by him was most proportionable to our manner of Understanding so was that Love which he shewed to us most winning upon our Wills In this is the love of God made manifest that when we were enemies Christ died for us Greater love than this sheweth no Man. Thus he winneth us with the cords of Love and maketh us willing in the day of his Power especially when this Light and Love is carried home to the Heart with the strength of his own powerful Spirit Man is a compounded Creature of Senses Passions and Spirit and though his Excellence consist in the latter and to the higher Perfection he attains the more spiritual he is yet as he owes even the service of his more inferiour Faculties to his Lord so they were not uselesly placed in him even in reference to his supreme End there is the Excess usually Man is inordinate in the former especially his Senses and that is much evidenced by the proneness of Man to Idolatry and sensual Worship Exod. 32.1 Make us gods that may go before us this Malady the Wise God that knows our frame doth not only cure with severe Comminations and Prohibitions but diverts it he gave the Jews outward Sacrifices and Observations he hath given us Christians his Image in his Son to divert us from Idolatry his Love and Compassion revealed even in our own flesh to take up our Affections and yet by these leads us up to a higher pitch John 6.63 Even by sensual Objects and Expressions he leads up to spiritual It is the Spirit that quickens the flesh profiteth nothing the words that I speak unto you they are Spirit and they are Life And this is most evident in the whole Life of Christ for though he still winds up his Auditors to the high and spiritual conceptions yet he is contented to use those motives that work upon the Senses and Passions Miracles Tears Parables Importunities Signs diversity of Tongues Visions of Angels sensual Convictions to Thomas John 20.27 Reach hither thy finger and behold my hands and to all his Disciples Luke 24.39 Behold my hands and my feet that it is I my self Thus although the Power of God could have wrought his Work in his by an immediate hand he rather chuseth such Means as may bear Congruity with the humane and reasonable Nature of his reasonable Creatures CHAP. VIII Of the great Work of our Redemption What it is How effected and for whom NOW we come to consider the great Work it self of our Redemption by Christ 1. What it is 2. How effected 3. For whom 4. How applyed 5. The Effects wrought by it 1. For the first Man by his Sin incurred a Guilt which bound him over 1. To a necessity of losing the Favour and Presence of God which was to be attained and kept only by Obedience 2. To a necessity of undergoing the wrath of God as the just reward of his Disobedience That Redemption that we now consider must supply both these 1. There must be a deliverance from that Wrath which was justly sentenced upon Man for his Disobedience And because it is impossible that the Punishment could be removed unless the Guilt were likewise removed some course must be taken to remove that Guilt And because the Guilt of any one Offence doth everlastingly disable that person that hath contracted it to avoid or expiate it and puts it wholly and everlastingly in the power of that Person that is offended to be judge of his own Satisfaction for if it were imaginable that an offender could for the future as far out act his Duty as in his Offence he came short of it it is not conceptible to be satisfactory without the acceptation of him that is offended hence it is that unless our offended Creator to whom we owe our Obedience to the utmost extent of our Beings accept a Satisfaction for our Guilt it is not possible nor imaginable that the Guilt of any one Sin can receive any Expiation It is true he might have released it of his absolute Power without any Satisfaction but that he would not do as is before shewen then that he accepted any Satisfaction it is a wonder of Mercy but that he should propound it himself and such a Satisfaction as Christ and to accept it it is a Wonder of Wonders And for this reason the foundation of our Redemption is ever attributed to the Love of God 1 John 3.1 Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us 1 John 4.9 In this was manifested the love of God towards us because God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him 2 Cor. 5.19 God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses to them The very foundation of Man's Redemption from his Guilt and Punishment by Christ was the Love of God in sending and accepting his Son's Satisfaction 2. But if we had only a Remission of our Guilt though that might have removed our Punishment it had not cured our Loss therefore to set Man right there must not only be the removal of the Wrath of God which made us miserable but his Favour and Reconciliation without which we could not be happy And because though our Debt were paid yet we could never come to the Favour and Acceptance of God unless his Image the Rule which he planted in Man to attain Happiness were again restored to Man and because that is impossible for us to do we by our Sin contracted Blindness as well as Guilt and Weakness as well as Blindness and therefore as we must up to our Creator for Acceptation of Satisfaction for our Guilt so we must to him to provide our Righteousness Though we had found Christ Sin for us 2 Cor. 5.21 and Christ a Curse for us Gal. 3.13 before we could be delivered from our Curse so had we found that we had been still short of our Happiness unless we had also found him as well our Righteousness as our Redemption 1 Cor. 1.30
must needs drive to that End for if it should in any thing go beside that End or not aim at it there is so much want of Love My Love to a Creature may consist with a crossing of the End of that Creature out of my very love to it because the Creature which I love may drive to an End which is not for his own good but this is impossible in case of my Love to God for whatsoever most tends to his Glory is most conformable to his Will and whatsoever is conformable to his Will is most infallibly conformable to the soundest and best Wisdom 2. It makes the Heart Conformable unto the Will of God for he that loves God truly makes his Will the measure of his own and it is impossible to think that a Creature should love God truly and yet cross the Will of him whom he thus loves The Perfection of all Creatures even inanimate consists in their Conformity to the Will and Law of their Creator stampt upon them in their Creation and when they turn aside from this they contract Disorder and Deformity much more in case of a rational Creature who is endued with Faculties susceptive and executive of the Will of God in a higher measure And the Fruits of this Conformity to the Will of God are 1. A chearful Submission to the actings of the Will of God upon us with Patience and Contentedness for it is his Will whose Will I have made the measure of mine and though I shall not cease to make my humble application to him for the removing of his Hand of what kind soever yet I have learned of my Saviour to conclude Not my will but thy will be done 2. A solicitous inquiry what this Will of God is for the same Love that teacheth me to make his Will mine teacheth me likewise to make inquiry after this Will by my Prayers by my Studies and Inquiries c. 3. A strict walking according to that Will in all things and at all times 3. This Love of God works an awful Conversation and Heart before him And this is that Fear of God which the wise Man tells us is the great duty of Man Eccles 12.13 Now the Fear of God may arise upon some of these Considerations 1. Out of the meer Sense of a Guilt incurred and the Power and Wrath of God against the guilty Creature Such was the fear of Adam before God had revealed the Cure of his Guilt Gen. 2.10 I heard thy voice in the garden and was afraid and this fear drives the Heart from God and therefore he hid himself and therefore this Fear in the perfection of it is not consistent with the Love of God though so much of imperfection as our love unto God hath so much even of this Fear may be in the Soul Rom. 8.15 We have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear 1 John. 4.18 He that feareth is not made perfect in Love. 2. Out of the mere sense of the Majesty and Glory and Power of God and the subordination and subjection and distance of the Creature And such a Fear as this as it may consist so it ought to be joined unto our Love of God. And although there were in us an impossibility to sin as in Angelical Natures or blessed Souls yet this Awfulness and Reverence to his Majesty will be and must be in us for all the Attributions of God must be received with answerable Affections in his Creature and one hinders not the other And this awe of the Majesty of God in the Heart expresseth it self in suitable Deportments and Expressions without Abraham that was the Friend of God yet forgets not his distance in his Prayer Gen. 18.27 Behold now I have taken upon me to speak to the Lord which am but dust and ashes Exod. 34.6 When God passed by Moses he proclaimed his Majesty and Glory as well as his Mercy and Goodness The Lord The Lord God Merciful c. And it found a suitable affection of reverence in Moses he bowed his Head towards the Earth and worshipped Even when we rejoyce in him it must be with Trembling Psal 2.11 And this is a great part of the Business of the Old Testament to acquaint revolting Man with the Majesty of God and to fence out those irreverent and unbecoming thoughts that the degenerate Sons of Men had of the infinite God Isa 40. per totum Vers 18. To whom then will ye liken God And as the Angels in awful reverence to his Majesty are said to cover their Faces Isa 6.2 so the twenty four Elders that sat about the Throne cast down their Crowns before the Throne â—ev 4.10 3. Out of a sense of his Goodness mingled with the consideration of his Greatness which doth at once improve the value of his Mercy that it should come from so great a Majesty and improve that Fear of his Greatness by mixing with an humble Love the Love of a Child to a Father And this is most seen in the care of avoiding any thing which may displease God 1 Pet. 1.17 Passing the sojourning here in fear This is that that makes them watchful and jealous of themselves lest any thing unbeseeming so great an Engagement should pass from them This Caution against Sin riseth from the Love of God under both the notions before expressed 1. As our Love is terminated in him as the Chiefest Good and so we avoid sin out of fear of that loss which we may have by it This it is true is not without a mixture of Love to our selves yet allowable to be a ground of our Care. 2. As our Love returns to him by way of Benevolence Where Love is to an Equal it creates an awe of giving distaste How much more when to the infinite God and yet that so far condescends in his Love to us 4. This Love of God breeds an endeavour of Likeness to him The genuine effect of Love is Union and Similitude to the thing loved hath a degree of Union in it Now because no Eye can see God and live neither can there be that proportion between us and him that we should frame our selves unto his Image immediately he hath given us three Copies of himself to take out viz. 1. In his Works in his Patience in his Goodness in his Mercy 2. In his Word he hath transcribed for us a Copy of his Holiness 1 Pet. 1.16 Be ye holy for your heavenly Father is holy 3. In his Son. God in the Creation printed his Image upon Man and Man by his sin broke it and defaced it as Moses did the two Tables of Stone God gives a new Image of himself to Man He hath given his Son into the World who is the Image of the invisible God Colos 1.15 2 Cor. 4.4 And while we look on him with Faith and Love we put him on Rom. 13.14 We grow up to the measure of his stature Ephes 4.13 We are changed into the same
Consideratiun of the great and high Hope to which we are restored by the purchace of Christ and the great Incongruity that there is between continuing in Sin and that Hope We expect to be brought to an innumerable company of Angels to the Assembly of the first born to the Spirits of just Men made perfect to Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant to God the Judge of all Heb. 12.22 c. to be make like unto the Son of God and to be partakers of his Sonship and Inheritance 1 John 3.2 To partake of his Spirit to see the brightness of the glory of God in Christ now all these are holy how unsuitable a thing is it for a Man that hath his Hope not to purifie himself even as he is pure 1 John 3.3 This will teach a Man to bespeak his Heart thus Is the Presence of God thy Hope he is the Holy Holy Holy Lord that is of purer Eyes than to behold or to be beholden by any unclean thing If therefore thou commit Sin thou livest below thy Hope either therefore let thy Hope be answerable to thy Life or thy Life to thy Hope 3. A serious Consideration of the Presence of the Great and Just and Powerful God his Eyes run to and fro through the Earth to behold the Evil and the Good 2 Chron. 16.9 He is acquainted with all my ways Psal 139.3 His Eyes are upon all the ways of the Children of Men Jer. 32.19 The Hearts of Men Prov. 15.11 and all things are naked and manifest before him with whom we have to do And darest thou sin before the face of thy Judge who sees thee and whose Power or Justice thou canst not escape this is so great a Controll that were it soundly and deeply considered it would stifle even the first motions of sin and therefore it is the great work of our own wicked Heart either to gull themselves into a perswasion that God sees not Job 22.13 or else in plain English to forbid him their Hearts they say to God Depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways Job 22.14 4. A deep Consideration of the Nature and Consequences of Sin It is a Violation of a Righteous and Just Law the Law of a Just and Righteous God a Law the conformity whereunto is the Perfection and Blessedness of the Creature By this sin I lose my Communion with my Creator and consequently Peace within my self whiles I commit it my fruition is but short and mingled with Fear because the end of it Death is in some degree present with my Soul and sowers that transitory Content which I enjoy in it and when it is finished it brings forth Sorrow and Shame and Death and if that Sorrow end in Repentance yet the bitterness of that Sorrow overweighs the Pleasure that I had in its commission and according to the measure of the delight I had in my sin so and much more is the measure of my sorrow in repenting and yet for all this that Peace which I had formerly with my God and my Conscience very hardly recovered and God though he pardons my sin yet either not at all or not suddenly trusting me with that measure of Communion with him which I formerly enjoyed and abused But if the sorrow of Repentance wait not upon my sin a worse sorrow attends it the sin is past and so is the contentment but the storm that attends it is Everlasting the loss of the light of God's love the loss of an Eternal weight of Glory the terrible appearance of an angry God cloathed with as much Terror as Justice provoked Patience abused and Mercy contemned by a most indebted Creature can assume And this Terror shaken into the most tender and sensible parts of the Soul by the hand of Omnipotence it self and that unto all Eternity when my Life shall be full of nothing but the preapprehensions of my future misery my death the terrible inexorable and inevitable passage to it Shall I then so madly prize the satisfying of a base a perishing Lust for a season thus throw away my God my Happiness my self when the thing it self is so base and transitory and the wages so sad and dismal It shall be my care to avoid to subdue to crucifie that which as it cannot satisfie so it will certainly torment and ruine me And since I find my Lusts to be so easily actuated into Sin by every Temptation I shall by the Grace of God as avoid the latter so keep a strict hand over the former and it shall be my hourly care to ransack and examine and search my Heart what is moulding there and to cleanse and wash it from its pollutions or at least to mingle my Tears and Sorrows with them that so they may be weary of my Heart or my Heart of them But Lord Who understandeth the errors of his life Cleanse thou me from my secret sins and keep thy servant from presumptuous sins Psal 19.12 5. Frequent Considerations of the Shortness of Life the Lord hath given me a great Work to do to work out my salvation with fear and trembling and the Time wherein I have to do it is in this Life and that but a short and an uncertain Life the great Enemies to my Soul are the Lusts of my Flesh and of my Mind which fight against my Soul If the work be not done in my Life-time the Door is shut and who knows whether this or that Sin which I am now about to commit may not be concluded with my Life and then in what a case am I how shall I appear before the Holy and Eternal God with the stain of that sin upon me or if he prolong my days yet who knows whether he will not seal up my Soul with impenitency If my Lust prevail upon me now it gathers strength and vexeth that Spirit which must only enable me for the future to repent and resist it and if I get the Victory over the contestations of the Spirit of God my Conquest ends in my own Misery and Slavery It may be I have over-matched and stifled the Perswasions of the Spirit of God of that Lighit which he hath set up in my Conscience that did sting me in the midst of my Cariere after my Lusts and mingled them with bitterness to my discontent and now I pursue my Desires without interruption yet when I remember that Death is at my heels and will overtake me before I can overtake my Contentment in the things I pursue that if I over-live a sudden unexpected Death yet the Harbingers of Death Sickness or Age cannot be far off and either of these as they will take off the edge of my Pursuit and fruitions of my Lusts and render them insipid so they will thereby give leisure and opportunity to me to cast up the Accounts of my past Life and find therein nothing but Vanity and Unprofitableness Time that might have been improved to Eternity irrecoverably
not the Gift 2 Tim. 6.17 that though he give the possession of what we desire he can deny the fruition of what we possess Eccles 2.24 That a Man should enjoy good in his Labour is the gift of God Eccles 4.19 He can grant us Quails but with it can send leanness into the Soul Psal 106.15 and can increase the Wealth to the Owners hurt Eccles 5.13 That it is not the Bread I eat but the Word the Commission of God to his Creature that maintains my Life Matth. 2.4 He can make holes in our Bags and blow upon our Labours Hab. 1.6 9. That he will withhold no good thing from them that fear him Psal 84.11 Psal 35.10 Though Men of low degree are Vanity yet Men of high degree are a Lie and therefore though Riches increase yet he hath commanded me not to set my Heart upon them Psal 62.9 10. These and the like Considerations deeply digested will make a Man to carry a loose affection and pursuit of Riches or Honour and put the Soul upon such Resolutions and Contemplations as these O Lord thou hast brought me into this World wherein is great variety of all things and I see the men of this World hunting and pursuing after Wealth and Honour and Power and making it the business of their Lives and in this their pursuit often disappointments and if successful yet full of anxiety and if they attain any measure of what they pursue yet are still unsatisfied in what they have attained and yet consider not that there is a Lie in their right hand and what Profit hath he that laboureth for the Wind A Wind that may swell and torment but not satisfie the Soul And it is evident that oftentimes though thy Providence succeed their Desires and Ambitions so that they seem to have rolled up their Stone almost to the top of their Wishes yet the encounter of it may be a small and seemingly inconsiderable Circumstance tumbles all down again if not to their ruine yet to their vexation and disappointment And thus we walk in a vain shadow and disquiet our selves in vain and spend that stock of Time and Life and Strength and Opportunity in unprofitable unsatisfactory Labour till the Night overtakes us and then whose shall all these things be Luke 12.20 Blessed be thy Name that in the midst of all this variety those many things about which we are careful and troubled yet thou hast shewed us that there is one thing needful Luke 1â— 42 and hast shewed us what it is and how to attain it and this shall be the greatest Business of any because of greatest Consequence to work out my Salvation with fear and trembling Phil. 2.12 To give all diligence to make my Calling and Election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 That when the terrible Cry of Death and Judgment shall come I may have Oyl in my Lamp before the Door be shut and may be able to give my Lord an account of my Stock with Comfort and Joy. It is true the condition of my Nature stands in need of outward supplies for my defence and preservation and the wise Dispensation of thy Providence as it hath fitted this our Habitation on Earth with things useful for our Pilgrimage so it hath made Industry and Diligence the way to attain them he that will not labour let him not eat and the same Wise and Bountiful Hand hath not only furnished our way with supplies for our necessity but with provisions for our delight I will therefore diligently go on in that course wherein thy Providence hath cast me for it is the â—avel thou hast given me to be exercised withall Eccles 3.10 But I will not make this the End the Business of my Life The one thing necessary shall be always in my Eye and that it may be continually my Work I will endeavour to improve even my worldly Imployment into a spiritual by doing it in Obedience to the Command of God and that Order which he hath set in the World by walking conscionably in it as in the presence of God by casting my Care upon him nothing solicitous concerning the success but leaving it to him that governs all things by observing the passages of his Wisdom Mercy and Power in the passages and Successes of it by recumbence and resting upon his Promise for a subsistence Psal 37.3 Verily thou shalt be fed by my Patience and Contentedness with whatsoever Condition he shall cast me into and a chearful Resignation of my self into his hands who hath given me Christ and how shall he not with him give me all things else If he is pleased to straiten my Condition and make my Labours unsuccessful and feed me with Bread of Affliction and Water of Affliction yet if he afford me the Light of his Countenance the assurance of his Favour the pardon of my Sins the sound hope of Eternity blessed be his Name In the midst of my Exigences I shall learn with the Prophet Hab. 3.7 Although the fig-tree shall not blossom neither shall fruit be in the vines the labour of the olive shall fail and the field shall yield no meat c. yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation I shall learn with Moses to esteem the reproach of Christ greater Riches than the Treasures of Egypt Heb. 11.26 I shall improve my Necessities and Exigences to take off my Soul from the over-greedy pursuit of these Inferiours to establish and settle my Heart in the hope of that eternal weight of Glory the Contemplation and Expectation whereof is able to swallow up the momentany Sufferings as well as Pleasures of this Life with Job 14.14 to wait till my change come to magnifie the Mercy and Bounty of my Lord who whiles my sins deserve the loss of all is pleased to continue unto me that which is best and makes my Wants not so much the Punishment as the Cure of my Sin and though he brings me into a Wilderness yet there he speaks comfortably to me I shall learn to make his Will the measure of mine own and whiles I remember that he is the absolute Lord of his own Creature that he manageth and ordereth all the Events and Concurrences in the World by a most Wise and most Righteous Providence that he feeds the young Ravens when they cry Creatures that need a liberal supply and yet have no means to procure it that he is pleased to reveal himself in his Word unto me in such terms as are most comprehensive of Power and Mercy I will learn to wait upon him patiently chearfully and dependingly If it be his Pleasure to enlarge his hand I shall thankfully receive it as a free addition if not yet I will not change my Wants my Necessities my Scorns accompanied with the Favour of God nor sell the least degree of the Light of his Countenance for all the Supplies of Glory and Abundance that Heaven and Earth can afford If I can but
say upon found grounds the Lord is my Portion Psal 16.5 Like the Tree that Moses cast into the Waters of Marah Exod. 15.23 It makes those bitter Waters sweet and puts more Joy in my Heart than in the time that their Corn and their Wine increased Psal 4.6 But if it please him together with the Light of his Countenance to give me a competency of Externals to feed me with Food convenient for me with Agar Prov. 30.8 though with David Psal 23. my Cup runs not over yet if the Lord be the Portion of my Cup Psal 16.5 O Lord shouldest thou deny me all things even necessary for my present subsistence yet I have Portion enough in thy Favour and the Light of thy Countenance for which I owe thee more than all the thankfulness and strength of my Soul and such a Portion as would bear up my Heart in the midst of all my Exigences When thy Son bore our Nature in the Flesh though the sence of thy Love supported him yet he wanted things of convenience he became poor that we might be rich But if it shall please God to add the Blessings of his left hand to the Blessings of his right hand as rather than deny me the latter I beseech thee give me not the former If he shall bless me in the Fruit of my Body and my Ground and command a Blessing upon my Store-houses and all that I set my hand unto Deut. 28.4 8. I will learn to serve the Lord my God with joyfulness and gladness of Heart for the abundance of all things Deut. 28.47 to contemplate and bless that good hand of God that giveth me power to get Wealth Deut. 8.18 To look with more comfort and delight upon that Hand that gives than in the very Blessing that is given to set a watch over that evil and deceitful Heart of mine that is able to turn my Blessing into my Snare to beware lest when all that I have is multiplied my Heart be lifted up and I forget the Lord my God Deut. 8.13 14. To beware lest when my Riches increase I set my Heart upon them Psal 62.10 and trust in uncertain Riches 1 Tim. 6.17 To remember that I am but a Fiduciary a Steward of them they are not given me to look upon but to use them as one that must give an account of them to watch over my self that I use them soberly with moderation and as in his presence that I turn not the Grace and Bounty of God into Excess or Wantonness to look upon all the Goodness Comfort and Use of them as flowing from the Blessing and Commission that God sends along with them Eccles 2.24 That a man should make his soul enjoy good in his labour this also is from the hand of God To beware that the multiplication of Blessings do not rob my Creator of one grain of that Love Service and Dependance that I owe unto him to carry a loose affection towards them for it is infallibly true that where the Heart is truly set upon God and makes him his Portion it enables a Man equally to bear all Conditions because the object of his Soul is immutable and invaluable though his external Condition alter an accession of Externals may carry up such a Soul in a more sensible apprehension of the Goodness of him whom the Soul loves it cannot steal away one jot of that Love which it owes to the giver the Creature it self is of too low a value to diminish the Love to the Creator a Heart that is rightly principled cannot find any good in the Creature but what he will derive from and carry to the object of his Love. 3. The Pride of Life There are two great Cardinal Truths whereof if the Mind be soundly convinced it puts a Man in a right frame and temper of Spirit in the whole course of his Life 1. That there is an essential universal Subjection due from all Creatures to the Will and Power of God This is the ground of all true Obedience and all true Humility which is nothing else but a putting of the Mind into a Posture and frame answerable to that Position wherein by Nature it is framed a conformity of the Mind to the Truth and Station wherein it is set 2. That all Goodness Beauty and Perfection is originally in God and nothing of Good Beauty or Perfection is in any thing but derivatively from him according to that measure that he is freely pleased to communicate This keeps the Heart in a continual Love of him Dependance upon him and Thankfulness unto him From the Ignorance of those is the ground of all the Pride in the World which is nothing else but a false placing of the Mind in such a Condition or Station or the opinion of such a Station wherein in truth he is not and so it disorders the Mind it makes a Man that is essentially subordinate to God and depending upon him to place himself above God and to be independent upon him And though this false opinion cannot alter his condition in truth for he that hath said My Will shall stand cannot be removed by the pride or resistance of Man yet as to the Man himself it puts him out of his place and in the room of God And therefore above all other distempers of the Soul this is the most hateful to God for as the proud Man resisteth God and labours to get into his place so God resisteth him 1 Pet. 5.5 Prov. 3.24 And this Ignorance or not full subscription to these two Truths will appear to be the foundation of all the Pride in Men. 1. From the Ignorance of the former of the subjection we owe to God proceeds that Pride that manifests it self in Rebellion and Disobedience against God. God challengeth the subjection of our Wills to his as justly he may and Man will have his own Will take place Jer. 42.14 No but we will go into the â—and of Egypt Luke 19.14 We will not have this Man to rule over us And as among Men Pride is the Mother of Contention because it puts a Man out of that place wherein he is and he doth consequently put himself in the place of another and thence come Contentions so from this Pride of Men putting themselves into the place of God comes the contention between God and man He that hath said he will not give his Glory to another will not give his Place to his Creature but resisteth the proud And from this ignorance of that subjection we owe to God proceeds that Haughtiness and Arrogance which we find in the Spirits of Men Exod. 5.2 Who is the Lord that I should let the people go Job 21.15 What is the Almighty that we should serve him Dan. 3.15 Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands This Ignorance was that which bred that haughty speech in Nebuchadnezzar Dan. 4.30 Is not this great Babylon c. Till God by his immediate hand
Terrors by the least word of his Power 2. But if their Commission extend to thy very Life yet the Son of God hath taken away that sting that terror that is in Death hath by his own Death sanctified Death unto thee and made it a door unto a better Life so that Death though in it self terrible and bitter yet this Tree being himself cast into this bitter Water Exod. 15.25 hath sweetned them and as he hath taken away the Venome of it by destroying that Serpent that had the power of it Heb. 2.14 so he hath made it though not for it self yet in respect of him that stands on the other side of this Gulf with Immortality and Glory in his hand desirable Phil. 1.23 Having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better It is true thou art pursued with an Army of Egyptians of Sins and of Miseries and when thou comest to the Shore thou seest a raging and a bloody Sea But remember thou hast an Angel even the Angel of the Covenant that hath gone before and yet goes with thee and turns this Sea into a Passage of Ease and Safety and though of either side the Waves may affright thy Sense they shall not hurt thee and remember that though thy Passage may be difficult and troublesome yet thou hast not as once the Israelites a Wilderness behind it but a Canaan Therefore in all Objects or Occurrences of Terror first look inward and see how the case stands between thy God and thy Conscience indeed if there remain a Guilt unwashed by the Blood of Christ a secret sin entertained and not repented of thou hast cause to fear because thy Lord is angry But if thou keep thy daily Watch upon thy Soul and thy Life if thou find the presence of thy Saviour in thy Soul and thy Heart though of it self a sinful Heart yet cleansed and delivered from the power of any evil way an honest Heart acted by the love of God in Christ thou mayest then look above them and having thine Eye fixed upon the Lord of Events walk quietly and untroubled through the midst of those dangers that do incompass thee It is true that in the great Concussions of the World God expects a suitable affection even from the most innocent Heart an affection of Reverence and awe of his Presence and working Jeremiah 10.7 Who would not fear thee O king of nations But the fear of an honest Heart is the fear of Reverence not of Consternation a Fear mingled with Love a Fear mingled with Faith and confidence a Fear mingled with Praise and Glorifying God a Fear terminated in the great Lord that works not in the Instrument not in the immediate Object of Terror a Fear mingled with Comfort not over-run with distraction When therefore thou meetest with Objects of Fear first learn to distinguish their kinds some there are that come as it were from the immediate hand of God such are Famine Pestilence Wars Fires Inundations Earthquakes and the like entertain them with Reverence to the great and Just and Powerful hand of God not slightly or saucily or presumptuously yet without consternation or distraction of Mind carry up thy Soul above the Objects to the Hand that guides them make him thy Dependance and his Will the measure of thine own under them use all warrantable means with Dependance upon his Power and Submission to his Will to avoid them The wise Man seeth the Plague and hideth himself Prov. 22.3 Prov. 27.12 If thou escape the danger bless the God that hath preserved thee if thou fall in them yet still bless the God that hath not left thee and value ten thousand Deaths with his Presence and Light upon thy Soul above the most sublimated Life without it Again there are some Objects of Fear which though they are guided and mastered by the hand of God yet they are immediately the works of Men and so less terrible such are wrought by the power oppression cruelty and malice of Men these may and ought to be entertained with more resolution and confidence That one Example may serve for all when the power and injustice of Man shall meet with an unarmed and weak innocence Dan. 3.16 O Nebuchadnezzar we are not careful to answer thee in this matter our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us out of thine hand O king But if not be it known unto thee O king we will not serve thy Gods As if they should have said It is true thou art a King and where the word of a King is there is Power and to magnifie thy self and thy Glory in the face of thy Kingdom thou hast taken up this publick Resolution of the Dedication of thine Idol and this thy Purpose is stablished by a Decree a Mischief framed by a Law and this Decree armed with Death and a cruel and terrible Death we know we cross thy proud and impious Will impatient of the seeming neglect of thy Power by three poor despised Hebrews in the midst of thy Glory and People we see fury and rage enough in thy countenance to devour us before the Furnace be hot we see thy Courtiers adding fewel to thy rage and thy Instruments greedily catching after the least Warrant from thee for our Execution and we are compassed with Flesh and Blood which cannot but shrink at the preapprehension of this inevitable and terrible dissolution yet for all this know that we have learned to tutor our Fear not to fear a Man that shall die and the Son of Man that shall be made as Grass Isa 51.11 we have learned that the fear of Man bringeth a snare but he that trusteth in the Lord shall be safe Prov. 29.25 And therefore we are not much perplexed what Answer to return to these thy Commands and Threats we serve that God in whose hand thou art as the Ax or the Saw in his hand that shaketh it in whose hand thy Breath is and he can command away thy Breath and then what becomes of thy Word that Lord in whose hand thy Heart is and he can turn it as the River of Water and can set thy Command against thy Decree that God in whose hands are the issues of death and who can arm an inconsiderable Occurrence to divert and frustrate thy Purpose in whose hands are all the Powers of Heaven and Earth and can correct and controll that Fire which thou intendest for the execution of thy Fury And this is the God whom we serve and hath made a Covenant with us to preserve us in the Fire and we are no less confident of his Love and of his Truth than of his Wisdom and Power to deliver us he hath taught us that he is a present help in trouble Psal 46.1 that if we call upon him in the day of trouble he will deliver us Psal 50.15 Psalm 91.15 that in the Fire he will be with us and
me not keepeth not my Sayings Now our Love to God ariseth upon two Grounds 1. From a Sense of the Perfection and Beauty and Purity and Excellency that is in him and in this respect our Love to him cannot chuse but move the Heart to desire to be like unto him as far forth as is or can be communicable to our Nature and Condition for whatsoever I love in another that is communicable unto me I cannot chuse but desire to be in my self 1 Pet. 2. Be ye holy for I am holy and this Love of that Goodness that is in God doth bring the Heart nearer to him for Love is a Motion unto Union and as we come nearer to that Purity of his it doth in some measure assimilate the Soul unto himself because his Goodness and Brightness is an assimilating active communicative Goodness and from this nearness to him doth grow much of our Holiness here and all our Happiness hereafter 1 John 3.2 We shall bâ— like him for we shall see him as he is 2 Cor. 3.18 But we with open Face beholding as in a Glass the Glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory Our Love to God works in the Soul a desire of Union with him and likeness to him which is a kind of Union and that approximation to him doth derive from him an impression of his own Nature and likeness unto him 2. The ground of our Love to God is the Sense of that Love that he hath shewen to us 1 John. 4.19 We love him because he loved us first and this is a Love of Gratitude or Thankfulness arising from the full Sense of the undeserved and wonderful Love of God to his unworthy Creature revealed and dispensed in Jesus Christ and this cannot chuse but put the Soul into such kind of thoughts and purposes as these O Lord at first I received my Being from thee and when I had forfeited my Being and my Blessedness to thee thou wast patient towards me and didst not take that forfeiture which thou justly mightest thou wast merciful to me and didst pitty and forgive me and when I was in my Blood thou saidst unto me Live thou was bountiful unto and didst not only pardon me but restore me to that Blessedness which I unthankfully lost and thus thou didst without my seeking even when I was Senseless and knew not my own Misery when I was obstinate and would not have it and this thou didst not by an ordinary means but thy Love did send the Son of thy love to become my Sacrifice and my Righteousness and canst thou require any thing of me that can bear any proportion to so great Love If thou shouldest call for that Being again which thou hast thus freely given me I should but return unto thee that which is thine own But after all this what dost thou require of me but to do justly and love Mercy to walk humbly with my God Such a Service wherein consists my own Happiness and Perfection a conformity unto thy Beauty and Purity If the Service that thou shouldest have enjoyned me had been a Service mingled with my own Dishonour Shame Misery Ruin thy Love to me had deserved and commanded this from me how much more when all thou requirest from my Leprous Soul is but Wash and be clean I will bless thy Name for that Love which thou shewest to me in my Redemption from so great a Death and I will bless thy Name that thou art pleased to injoyn thy Creature such a Service wherein consists his Beauty and Perfection a reasonable Service and that thou art pleased to accept that as a Tribute unto thee which inricheth thy Creature by paying it even our Conformity to thy most Righteous and Holy Will and I will endeavour in the whole Course of my Life in the whole frame and temper of my Soul to express my Thankfulness to thee in the watchful universal diligent and sincere Conformity unto that will of thine and blessed be thy Name that hast given thy poor Creature an opportunity of expressing his Sense of thy Love in so reasonable a Service 2. Fear of God likewise cleanseth the Heart Psal 19.9 The fear of God is clean Prov. 8.13 The fear of the Lord is to hate evil Prov. 16.16 By the fear of the Lord Men depart from evil And this was Joseph's fence against Temptations of all kinds Gen. 39.9 How shall I do this great wickedness and sin against the Lord and his highest security to his Brethren of keeping his Promise Gen 42.18 This do and live for I fear God. Now this fear of God is wrought upon the precedent Act of Faith in a double Relation 1. As it presents God unto the Soul in his Purity Majesty Power Justice and Presence even in the innermost and darkest Chambers of our Hearts And this Consideration becomes even the exactest Christian always to have about him for all the strongest ingagements even upon every Affection are too little God knows to fence and ward the Soul against the Corruptions within it and the Temptations without it And this Consideration will most opportunely bespeak the Soul in this manner Consider what thou art doing thou art now going about to purpose or do that which thy Creator forbids thee and thou art in the Presence of that God before whom all things are naked and manifest Heb. 4.13 whose eyes are upon all the ways of Man and he seeth all his goings Job 32.21 and his eyes are therefore upon his ways that he may give every Man according to his works Job 32.18 Consider thou art in his Presence that is a consuming Fire and a jealous God Deut. 4.24 A great God and a mighty and terrible that regardeth not Persons nor taketh rewards Deut. 10.27 That hath said that When any Man heareth the words of this Curse and shall bless himself in his Heart saying I shall have Peace though I walk in the immagination of my Heart the Lord will not spare him but his jealousie shall smoak against that man Deut. 29.19 20. That hath Justice and Wisdom and Truth and Power enough to fulfil and execute the most exquisite seasonable and unavoidable Vengeance upon any contemner of his Will and this is the God whom thou a Creature that art nothing in his hands art about to offend Consider this thou that forgettest God lest he tear thee in pieces and there be none to deliver thee But 2. Fear is a Fruit of Love and though we are not to neglect the former yet we must be sure to entertain this perfect Love casts out fear a fear of punishment but not a fear of sin a fear of a Malefactor not the fear of a Child And upon this Consideration this affection upon any Temptation thus bespeaks the Soul Consider what thou art now setting about It is that thy Lord thy Redeemer forbids thee he that hath died for thee to rescue thee from thy vain Conversation how
measure as is either beyond the convenience of our Nature or beyond the conveniency of our Condition the former is Intemperance and destroys the Body the latter is Prodigality or Profuseness and wastes the Estate the dispensation of God's Providence in Externals ought to be the measure at least beyond which we must not go in the use of Meats and Drink Again under this Rule is prohibited the making Provision for the Flesh exciting the Appetite beyond its natural disposition by Meats Drinks and Provocations 3. Vnseasonably This though it exclude not the considerations of the places where and Persons with whom we converse yet it principally looks upon the time of our action as that stands qualified or circumstantiated God hath allowed me a comfortable and liberal use of his Creatures as well for Delight as Necessity but use not that liberty upon these Seasons 1. When God's Providence hath set a mark of Sadness upon the Season Isa 22.12 In that day did the Lord of hosts call to weeping and to mourning and behold joy and gladness c. 2. When either God by his Word or Civil or Ecclesiastical Constitutions or Customs or thy own particular Dedication hath set apart a time for religious Abstinence or Duty 3. When the ordinary occasions of thy Profession Calling or temporal Employment permit it not without inconvenience to thy self or others In order to our sensual Appetite are those Affections which are carried towards those things that are subservient thereunto and these Affections we find in the Bruit Creatures The Ants a people not strong yet gather they their meat in summer Prov. 30.25 And from the same proceeds their desire of mastery one over another As the former is for Provision for their Appetites so the latter is for their Protection of that Provision or themselves in their acquiring a use of it Answerable to which in Man are those two Desires of Wealth which we call Covetousness and of Power which we call Ambition Neither of these but is conversant about those things which are meerly useful either for the Supplies of the sensual Appetite or protection of those Supplies in us or our Posterity Touching those Desires we say as of the former that they are not in themselves unlawful for as the Divine Dispensations hath appointed our natural Life to be supported and defended by these external Provisions so he hath dispersed those supplies in the World and given us Appetites to them and appointed means to acquire them They are his Blessings and we are commanded to be industrious in serving of the Divine Providence in the acquiring of these things Deut. 8.18 It is he that giveth thee power to get wealth Deut. 28.8 c. He shall command the blessing upon thee in thy store-houses he shall make thee plenteous in goods the Lord shall make thee the head and not the tail Prov. 6.6 the wise Man sendeth the Sluggard to the Ant and it pleased God oftentimes to give unto those who were his sincere Servants a great measure both of Wealth and Honour and a lawful and sober Industry to acquire them is not only permitted but commanded and injoyned He that provideth not for his own house is worse than an infidel The Errors concerning these Affections are as in the former 1. Inconsiderateness in the prosecution and use of them These things are not desirable for themselves but in order to something else and they are in themselves more remote from our Nature than the immediate Objects of our Senses and yet we are not to desire them for their own sakes but in order to that End for which that Desire is put into us viz. the preservation of our Beings and Species but Wealth and Honour and the desire of it is therefore put into us in order to those immediate Objects of our Sense We are to desire Meats and drinks in order to the preservation of our Lives And we are to desire Wealth and Riches in order to the supply of Meat and Drink And as we are not in common Reason to make Eating the End of our Eating so much less are we to make Wealth and Riches the End of our being Rich. It is more distant and remote from the necessity of my Nature to be rich than to be fed yet both are but instrumental though in a different order and therefore must be so desired and prosecuted And as this consideration is to be in the gaining of Wealth so it must be in the use of it Solomon tells us of this Vanity Eccles 6.2 A Man to whom God hath given Riches Wealth and Honour so that he wanteth nothing of all that his Soul desireth yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof As Eccles 4.8 there was no end of his Labour neither was his Eye satisfied with Riches in his pursuit of them so he makes not that rational use of them for which they were given he desired to be rich because he would be rich and being arrived to his End he cannot find in his Heart to employ them to those Ends for which alone they are only valuable And as this inconsiderateness of the End of them is to be avoided so the want of consideration of the Author of them which should carry up our Hearts with Thankfulness to the God who giveth us power to get Wealth who putteth down one and setteth up another and not to sacrifice to our own Nets or magnifie our own Deservings or Wisdom but to walk humbly and thankfully and soberly as in the presence of that God that hath made us Stewards and but Stewards of those Externals and to employ them in such a way as may be most agreeable to our Masters Will most conducible to our Masters Honour and most becoming our Masters Presence 2. Immoderation 1. In our Care for them 2. In our Love to them 3. In our Confidence in them 1. In our Care This proceeds from our Infidelity and Distrust of God's All-sufficience When we consider not that the Dispensation of things convenient for our Life is in his hands and that the accommodation of them to our use is from the Word or Commission that he gives them Man lives not by bread only but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God Matth. 4.4 It is from his hand that thou must expect thy Bread and thy Clothing Gen. 28.20 If God give me bread to eat and raiment to put on and it is from his Blessing and the Commission which he gives to that Bread and that Raiment that he gives thee to be useful for thee and accommodate to this Preservation And this Solicitousness Care and Distrust our Saviour forbiddeth and convinceth Matth. 6.25 Take no thought for your life 52. for your heavenly Father knoweth you have need of these things Thy Care is but a tormenting Care it is but an unuseful and unprofitable Care Thou canst not by thy Care add to thy own Stature It is an impertinent Care and a Care
Business of thy Soul or if thou hast who can tell whether that deceitful World which hath robbed thee of that time which was due to anothers Business may not with much more ease harden thy Heart and take up the whole time of thy Life though thou shouldest live many ages But if thou devote the first and choicest of thy endeavours to thy great Concernment grant that the residue of thy Life be not sufficient for thy Provisions for thy self or thy Posterity in this World thy exchange is happy thou hast secured an everlasting weight of Glory a Kingdom immortal and undefiled that fadeth not away in that time wherein perhaps thou mightest or it may be thou mightest not have gotten some small temporal Provision which by this time thou art ready to leave and thy immortal Soul left in an anxious unsatisfied unsafe Condition But this is not all though the gain of Eternity would infinitely over-weigh the loss of those Temporals which it may be in this time thou mightest have gotten yet thou must know thou servest such a Master that whilst thou obeyest him in seeking thy chiefest good in the chiefest place will not only give thee that Eternity which thou thus seekest but will add unto thee the things of this Life which yet thou neglectest And whiles he gives thee that great and everlasting Treasure which he commands thee to seek will not deprive thee of the Conveniences of this World though thou seekest them not All these things shall be added unto you And here learn a compendious and safe way of getting the external Conveniences of the World if thou labour first to be rich thou mayest lose thy labour and miss of being what thou labourest to be but thou art sure or at least likely to miss of being happy but if thou first endeavour after Peace with God in Christ thou art sure to attain Blessedness hereafter and shalt not want a convenient Competency here 2. As in the Order so in the Seasons or Times of seeking after Wealth when a Man shall encroach upon those times which either by the Command or Dispensation of God or thy own voluntary Consecrations are dedicated to the service of God or of his Neighbour It were but equal if he that is the Lord of our Times and of our Lives should require all our Time in his own immediate Service but when he allows us unto our own occasions the greatest part of our time wherein we may do all that we have to do and requires a small portion of our time for his immediate service and that also for our own everlasting advantage it is the highest sacriledge to God and injury to our selves to steal that from him which while we do it we rob our selves I thank God I ever found that in the strictest observation of the times of his Worship I ever met with the best Advantage to my worldly Occasions and that when ever my worldly Occasions incroached upon those times I ever met with disappointment though in things of the most hopeful and probable success And ever let it be so with me It hath been and ever shall be to me a Conviction beyond all Argument and Demonstration whatsoever That God expects the observation of his Times and that whilst I find my self thus dealt with God hath not given over his care of me It would be a sad presage unto me of the severe anger of my Maker if my inadvertence should cast me upon a temporal Undertaking upon his Day and that it should prosper The End of Wealth is to supply the Exigence of our Nature in Food and Raiment and when God did in an extraordinary way supply the latter without the assistance of the former to the Israelites by Manna the seventh Day was without Manna and the sixth Day supplied that defect with a double proportion Exod. 16.29 And I shall never doubt but the same Providence will in the six days of the Week improve my Endeavours one in seven though I rest upon a seventh day from my own Occasions for The earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof and it is he that gives power to get Wealth Isa 58.13 If thou turn thy foot from the sabbatb from doing thy pleasure upon my holy day and call the sabbath a delight the holy of the Lord honourable and shalt honour him not doing thine own ways nor finding thine own pleasure nor speaking thine own words then shalt thou delight thy self in the Lord and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Blessed Lord that requires but a portion of our time and that also for our own advantage and whilst thou thereby dost improve our everlasting Blessedness thou dost not deny our temporal Benefit but dost make even that portion of time that we spend in thy service an improvement of the rest of our time for our temporal Advantage And what we say concerning that portion of our time which we sequester to God from our outward Occasions the same we may say concerning that portion of our Wealth or Estate which we give either to his service or by his command When thou denyest either thou mayest look for much and it may come to little when thou bringest it home he will blow upon it Haggai 1.9 That which is detained from works of Piety or Charity will eat holes in thy Bag and let out it self and the rest which had it been daily bestowed it would have preserved the rest and returned with increase Malachi 3.10 Bring all the tithes into the store-house that there may be meat in my house and prove me now herewith saith the Lord of hosts if I will not open unto you the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it Prov. 28.27 He that giveth to the poor shall not lack Prov. 19.17 He that hath pitâ— on the poor lendeth unto the Lord and that which he hath given will he pay him again Thou owest all thou hast to thy Maker and if thou shouldest give him all thou hast thou givest him but his own 1 Chron. 29.14 He calls to thee but for a part of what he hath lent thee and yet he is pleased so far to accept thy chearful obedience herein that he is pleased to become thy debtor even for that which thou owest him This is thy honour and this will be thy profit thou shalt receive thy Loan with advantage I can safely and without vanity say I have hitherto found this Truth exactly fulfilled In those Weeks and Years wherein I have thus sowed sparingly I have even in Temporals reaped sparingly and I ever found when my hand was most liberal I never lost by it but found a return an hundred fold more than my expence And the Bread that I have thus cast upon the Waters I found it within a
few days God forbid that I should look upon it as the merit of my Charity for it was his own or that I should be therefore charitable because I expected a temporal Reward for I have therein but done my duty and am therein an unprofitable Servant But I bless God that hath made good this Truth of his even to my sensible and frequent Experience CHAP. XXIX Of Sanctification in reference to our Neighbour viz. Righteousness the Habit and Rule of it 2. THE second general wherein our Sanctification consists is Righteousness viz. that just temperature of Mind and consequently of our Conversation that respecteth other Men Herein we will consider 1. The Habit it self or habitual Righteousness 2. The Rule of it 3. The Parts of it 1. The Habit it self it is a frame and temper of Mind arising from the Love of God to give every Man his due according to the Will of God. The great Duty that the Creature owes to his Creator is Love Thou shalt love the Lord with all thy Heart and this as hath been shewn is the first and great Commandment and the first and most natural Duty and Bond that can be the Consequence of this Love is the doing all the good we can unto him and for him from whom we receive our Being now all the good we can do him is but to please him to be conformable to his Will for it is impossible that any thing can contribute any thing to him that is infinitely full all the good we can do him therefore and all the expressions of our Love consists in this viz. A free subjection and obedience to his Will. And because we find this Righteousness and Justice and Love to our Neighbour is commanded by him and is evidenced to his Will both by that natural inclination that he hath put in us by the dispensation of his Providence whereby he makes every Man useful and beneficial to another in this way of mutual Justice and by his written Word whereby he expresly requires it this Cardinal and fundamental motion of the Soul viz. the Love of God doth presently conclude that since that great God to whom I owe my self and all my Love and all my Obedience requires this duty at my hands though I could see no reason for it I would presently submit unto much more when there is so much reason for it as indeed God doth not require my Obedience in any thing but if it be well considered is most admirably consonant to sound Reason and to my own advantage Deut. 4.6 Keep therefore and do them for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations so that the foundation of habitual Righteousness is Love to God the Consequence of that Love to God is a rational universal and voluntary Obedience to his Will and Command the Command of God next to Love to himself is to love our Neighbours the expression of that Love is in acts of Righteousness and Justice to them hence it is called the second great Commandment the great Injunction that Christ gave to his followers the fulfilling of the whole Law. 2 The Rule of Righteousness In our original Condition God gave unto Man a Rule of Righteousness by the immediate impression and revelation of his own Mind unto him and inclination to submit â—to it And this although it was much defaced yet was not wholly taken away by his Fall. So much was by the Divine Providence conveyed from Man to Man as left the Offender without excuse But as the River ran farther from the Fountain so it became more foul and polluted the sins of Men contesting with and corrupting by degrees that traditional Righteousness which was derived from Man to Man But the merciful God was pleased as the sins and corruptions of Mankind did make breaches into this Rule of Righteousness and corrupted the manners of Men so he was pleased in the ways of his Providence to repair it in some measure in all Ages raising up Prophets and Preachers of Righteousness as Noah was to the old World exciting and by his powerful and wise Spirit enabling Men to make Laws and Constitutions in States and Kingdoms which though they were not of his own immediate dictating yet he attributes too little to the Wisdom and Providence of God that doth attribute the inventing and composing of those useful and righteous Laws even among the Heathen to the meer Wisdom and discovery of Men when he himself leads us up unto himself even in the low Projections of the Plowman Isa 38.26 For his God doth instruct him to discretion and doth teach him It is true that there is a kind of natural Consonancy of the Rules of Justice and Righteousness to the well being of Men and Societies of Men as is most evident both where that Justice is and where it is not and by the observation of the now aged World and of the success and motions of Mankind much may be collected both of the Necessity of Righteousness and of the Parts and Particulars wherein it consists But God yet more careful of his Creature hath not left us to our own Collections wherein the varieties of Manners the growth of Sin and Corruptions and our own Blindness may deceive us or perplex us but hath given us a written Rule of Righteousness the Word of the Old and New Testaments He hath shewed thee O man what is good Micah 6.8 Deuteronom 30.14 The word is very nigh thee in thy mouth and in thy heart that thou mayest do it Now the Word of God is considerable as a Rule of Righteousness 1. Absolutely and in it self and therein it is considerable how the Law Moral Ceremonial and Judicial alone or joyned with the Expositions and Counsels of the Gospel are a Rule of Righteousness 2. Relatively and thus the Word of God sends us to two other but subordinate Rules 1. Subjection to Humane Laws Be obedient to every Ordinance of Man for Conscience sake 1. Pet. 2.13 2. Conscience in that great Rule Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you that do you unto them 1. The first Consideration the Scripture as it is the Rule of all Divine Truth so it is a perfect Rule of Righteousness both towards God and Man 2 Tim 3.16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in Righteousness that the man of God may be perfect throughly furnished to every good work There wants nothing in the Rule to acquire Perfection though by reason of the defect in the subject it cannot be attained 1. The Law of God is a Rule of Righteousness viz. the Moral Law. It is true in these two â—derations the Law is not binding to the 〈…〉 since the coming of Christ to the 〈…〉 1. It is not binding to the Gentiles as a Covenant for so it was in a particular manner given to the Jews and not to the Gentiles The External
every particular Action and Occasion of our Lives in reference to others These are principally two viz. that of Matth. 22.39 taken out of Leviticus 19.18 and again enforced by the Apostle Rom. 3.9 Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self and that other which is but a repetition of the former in different words Matth. 7.12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you do ye even so to them for this is the Law and the Prophets It is a certain Rule and easily applicable to every Action of our Lives because if a Man will not wilfully blind himself he is able to judge whether the Action he now doth or resolveth be such as he would be contented should be done to him were the Persons and conditions changed And because these two great Rules are the best and clearest direction of our Consciences and the Conscience is not regular where it is not conformable to these Rules we shall examine them more particularly Then as to the first Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self wherein we must take this word Neighbour as our Saviour himself expounds it that it includes every Person of what Relation or Condition soever though a Person is my Enemy therefore Matth. 5.43 our Saviour confutes that false Gloss of the Jewish Masters that did contradistinguish a Neighbour to an Enemy and tells us that an Enemy is to be the Object of our Love and Beneficence Luke 10.33 a Jew and a Samaritane between whom there was not only a kind of civil and national Enmity but an Hatred grounded upon difference in Religion in so much that the Jews could not use a more bitter reproach against our Saviour than to stile him a Samaritan John 8.48 yet these were within the comprehension of this Command So that whatsoever he be whether knit unto me in any relation or not nay though extreamly contrary unto me either in civil Enmity or in Religion yet such a Person is the subject of this Command This being premised these things are evidently consequent upon this Command 1. That every Man is bound to love himself 2. That every Man is bound to love another as he loves himself 1. Concerning the former it is certainly a Duty and if it were not a Man might easily elude this Precept for if I might hate my self the rule and measure of my Love to my Neighbour were lost therefore a Love to my self is implicitly injoyned in this Precept of our Saviour as well as in the Inclination of Nature Ephes 5.29 No man ever hated his own flesh but the Errors of Self-love are that which our Saviour elsewhere so often reproves 1. When a Man mistakes and esteems that himself which indeed is not when a Man takes that for an Eye or a Hand or a Foot viz. parts of himself which indeed are not Matth. 5.29 When a Man shall make the lust of his Eye as dear as his Eye and the corruption of his Hand as dear as his Hand to these our Saviour commands cruelty to be shewn to be cut off and pulled out when a Man shall mistake that old Man that is in him to be himself which is to be put off and crucified Ephes 4.22 and shall take those to be members of himself which are members of the old Man which are not to be loved but mortified Colos 3.5 Such is the disorder and corruption of our Nature that we esteem our Sins and Lusts to be part of our Essentials and thereby misplace our Love upon them in stead of our selves And this is a Self Love forbidden nay they are our only Enemies Enemies that fight against our Souls 2. When our Love though it be partly right placed yet it is either beyond the due measure and proportion or doth not take in our whole Selves Every one is bound by the Laws of God and Nature to love his own Flesh but he that so loveth his own Flesh that he neglects his Soul he loves not his whole self and consequently hath indeed less love for himself than he should have Thus he that loseth his Life shall save it That Man that for the advantage of a temporal Life much less for the advantage of some temporal Profit or Pleasure shall hazard his everlasting Soul loves himself less than he should because he prefers the temporary advantage of his worse part before the eternal advantage of his better part 3. When Love to a Man's self wants the due subordination to our Love to God. The Good that is in God is infinite and the Good that we receive from him is the highest Good we are capable of for our Being which is our Capacity to receive any Good and all the Comforts Benefits and Conveniences that fill up that Capacity we receive from him and therefore our Love to him ought to take up the whole Compass and Capacity of our Soul. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy might the first and great Commandment Matth. 22.37 And as the Being of the Creature is a dependant Being so his own Love to himself ought to be a subordinate Love to him upon whom it hath his dependance Luke 26.14 If any man come to me and hate not his father c. yea and his own life he cannot be my disciple Yet such is the wonderful Bounty and Wisdom of the Will of God that in Conformity thereunto a man exactly conforms to his own Happiness Our highest and most universal Love to God is joyned with a true and exact Love to our selves for he hath conjoyned the Happiness of the Creature with the Duty to himself Both which we find Matth. 16.25 Whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it It may so happen that thy Love to thy Saviour may not consist with thy external Honour Wealth or Peace nay not with the enjoyment of thy own Life but it shall ever consist with the life and blessedness of thy Soul unto all Eternity and what can be an exchange equivalent to thy immortal Soul Thus whilst thou hatest thy Life when the Love and Duty thou owest to God calls for it thou dost at once perform a double duty of Love to God and Love to thy self 2. From hence it appears that in the relation between my Neighbour and my self there is a priority of Love due to my self to that Love I owe to my Neighbour for the Love to my self is presupposed and made the Rule of that Love I owe to my Neighbour therefore in an equality of Concernment to my self and my Neighbour I am to prefer my self as if this unhappy Necessity should lie upon me either to preserve my own Life or that my Neighbour must lose his and that without my fault I may I must prefer the saving of my own Life But where there is an inequality of Concernment there the difficulty is great to discover the measure of my Duty to my Neighbour
How then canst thou think to draw near to the Holy God when thy Heart and thy Lips and thy Life are clothed with Impurity and Filthiness when thy Thoughts the only Instruments whereby thou canst converse with him are busied in Considerations unworthy of a Spirit much more unworthy of the God of Spirits Canst thou think that this Holy God will accept of the productions of that Soul thy Prayers and Meditations who but now was imployed in base unclean earthy Thoughts and didst but now part with them with a resolution to resume them Every impure thought leaves a mark and blot upon thy Soul that remains when thy Thought is past and canst thou bring that spotted Soul into the presence of the Pure and Holy God without confusion and shame Thou art now going about with thy Lips to draw near unto God Remember how many vain and unprofitable words how many murmuring and unthankful words how many unclean and filthy words how many false and dissembling words how many proud and arrogant words how many malicious and vindictive words how many hypocritical and deceitful words how many seducing and misleading words how many ungodly and blasphemous words have stain'd and polluted those calves of thy Lips thou art now about to sacrifice to thy Creator Thou art about to undertake a Conversation and walking with God Can two walk together unless they are agreed Amos 3.3 How then canst thou a polluted Man in all thy actions even those of the best denomination expect to have a Conversation with the Holy Holy Holy Lord The stains of thy Life past stick upon thee and thou art not cleansed from them and the Sea of Corruption that is within thee will notwithstanding thy highest Resolutions never cease to cast out mire and dirt O Lord it is true I am a sinful Man and the whole frame of my Heart and Lips and Life hath been only evil and that continually and as I have been so still I must continue without thy Mercy to pardon and cleanse me My pollutions and impurities are such as may justly affright me from coming near thy Holiness lest I should be consumed such as may discourage my Prayers and Applications unto thee lest I should stain and infect them and it is no more in my power to change or cleanse my self from the stains of my sins past or from the growing evils of my Nature than in the Leopard to change his spots so that I may most justly conclude that it were extream presumption for me to draw near unto thee and rather cry out with the Disciple Depart from me O Lord for I am a sinful man Luk. 5.8 But if I sit where I am I shall perish and if I draw near unto thee I can but die That Purity that I behold in thee is the Purity of the great God and my sins are the sins of a finite Creature my sinfulness cannot defile thy Holiness but thy Holiness may cleanse my impurity That Fire which will consume an impure and a proud Heart will cleanse an impure and unhumble Heart O Lord I desire to abhor my self in dust and ashes Unless thou hadst shewn me my filthiness I could not have seen it and unless thy Grace had been with my Heart I could not have humbled my self before thee Unless thou hadst called me I could not have moved toward thee Thy Promises upon which my Soul shall ever fix till thou throw me off are full of bounty and tenderness even to the vilest of Sinners No sin of so deep a dye but thy Mercy can wash away No Corruption so hideous but thy Grace can cleanse And so far hast thou condescended to the weakness of thy Creature that thou hast given us a visible Sacrifice whose Blood is sufficient to cleanse us from all our Guilt a visible Fountain to wash for Sin and for Uncleanness even the Blood of the Son of God which cleanseth us from all Sin which cleanseth our Consciences from the guilt and stain of Sin and washeth our Bodies from the dominion and pollution of Sin and by that Blood hath opened a new and living way for us into the presence of God Hebr. 10.20 and given access thereby into the Holiest and given us a Commission to draw near with acceptation into his presence Hebr. 10.19 2. The Presence of God. Whither shall I fly from thy presence Psal 139.7 He seeth the secretest corners of the World and the secretest chambers of thy Heart and all the Guests that are there even thy closest Thoughts and Contrivances and Purposes much more thy most retired and deepest Actions are as legible to him as if they were graved in Brass And the deep and setled and frequent Consideration of this will be of excellent use upon all occasions Is thy Heart sollicited by thy self as our unhappy Hearts are our own tempters or by any Object or by the perswasions of others or by the suggestion of the Devil to impure Speculations or sinful Resolutions to atheistical Disputations to proud or arrogant Conceptions of thy self to revengeful or uncharitable or forbidden Wishes to vain and unprofitable thoughts Remember thou and all those thy Thoughts which even natural Modesty or Prudence would shame thee to publish before a mortal Man as thou art are all naked and manifest before the Great Holy and Immortal God whose Eyes walk through all the corners of thy Heart And darest thou in his presence to entertain such Guests as these in that place where thy Creator is present in that place which thou pretendest to make a Temple for him in that place which the Lord of Heaven is pleased most justly and most mercifully to claim as his own Consider what a Presence thou art in he is not only an Eye-witness of the impurities of thy Heart which yet if there were nothing else might justly shame thee but it is his Presence who hath forbidden thee to entertain such Vermin as these in thy Heart under pain of eternal Death it is thy Judge that sees thee it is the great Creator before whom the Angels of Heaven cover their Faces not being able to behold his Glory And which is more than all this to an ingenuous Nature it is he to whom thou owest thy self and all thou art he to whom thou hast given up thy name that hath purchased thy heart from Hell with the price of his Son's blood And how canst thou chuse but tremble and be confounded to think that thou shouldest contrary to all the bonds of duty and gratitude even in his presence and before his face let in again those abominations into thy heart from which it was cleansed by the Blood of Christ Again Hath a sinful thought through incogitancy of the presence of God entred into thy heart Yet remember the presence of God before it grow into a purpose or resolution or if it hath gone so far as a Resolution yet remember that presence and thou canst not dare to perfect this hideous