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
latter to love our Enemies The right temper of our Minds in reference to all things without us or befalling us in any Affliction and Trouble It teacheth us to improve it in discovery and repenting of the cause of our sin in adhering to God in whom there is no variableness in keeping a loose And remiss Affection to the World in Contentedness and chearful resignation of our selves to God that is Lord of his Creature and though it should not be meritoriously deserved might be justly inflicted In times of Prosperity and Comfort it teacheth us to look to the Author and take more delight in the hand that gives it than in the Blessing it self to value the measure of my Comfort more by the favour and good will of the Giver than by the extent of the Gift In the enjoyment to be Watchful that I be not insnared by it to forget the Giver to be moderate humble wise In the whole course of our Lives to look above this World to another Country and so we may enjoy the the Favour of our God and the Fruition of that Country to be at a point with all the Pleasures Profits Preferments Honours Comforts and Life of this Life to be so fixed in our Obedience to our God as not to go out of the Path he hath put us in though it be strewed with all the Scorns Miseries Torments and Deaths that Men or Hell could scatter to hinder us These and the like Precepts are given in that Word and these and the like Effects it doth by the concurrence of God's Grace work in the Heart which are as far beyond the most sublimated Documents of the most exact moral Philosopher in the World as theirs are beyond the most gross Paganism These do proclaim therefore their original from a higher Principle than humane Authority or Invention And it is observable that these are not only Principles of a high and noble extract but of a singular use in this Life If all Men were of this Constitution it would questionless reform all those Inconveniences which do happen either from one Man to another as Enquiries breach of Contracts or from Man to himself of discontent vexation and unquietness of Mind or disorder in any Condition Now if it be said That it seems strange that God who could have preserved Man in the same Integrity of Mind in which he was created and could have supplyed Man with as uniform a motion to his End by a constant Means as other Creatures by their Instincts which are fixed and constant in them should take this Circuit in restoring lost Man by such a Means it is answered That God having endued Man with Reason Understanding and Will doth rather chuse to bring about his purposes concerning him by Rational Means conform to those Faculties of Understanding and Will putting Light into the one and Regularity into the other by such means as is suitable to his Condition and Nature and not by the actual exercise of his extraordinary Power though not without the concurrence of his special Grace and Providence as in those other actions of Men in preserving the natural or civil Subsistence of Men and Societies he doth use the instrumental means of natural and politick Provisions rationally or naturally conducing to such preservation By what hath past before these things are rationally concluded 1. That there is a First Cause of all things 2. That this First Cause is Infinite Incomprehensible c. 3. That this First Cause as he was the first and only Cause of all Beings so he appoints in his Wisdom and Justice the several Ends or Perfections of all things 4. That the several particular Ends of all things are proportionable to their several Natures 5. That every thing is carried to his several End by Rules proportionable to the End and Nature of the Creature given by the great Governour of all things 6. That Man is a Creature of higher Constitution than other Creatures principally in respect of the Immortality of the Soul the Immateriality of it the Faculties of it Understanding and Will. 7. That therefore he was at first ordained by the wise God to an End proportionable to these Excellencies an immaterial immortal intelligible desirable God. 8. That there is no other Object of this Happiness but God himself 9. That the same Wisdom of God that ordained all things to their End and planted in every thing conducible Motions and Rules for that End hath likewise appointed unto Man a Rule leading him up to that End and without the observation whereof it is impossible to attain it 10. That this Rule depends meerly upon the Will of God what it should be and that in the Conformity to this Will consists Man's present Enjoyment and Hopes and Means of future Happiness 11. That as things stand with Man he is at a Fault and knows not what his End what his Rule is nor hath a Will to obey it 12. That consequently he can never attain his End till his Understanding and Will be reformed and the Guilt contracted by the violation of that Rule be taken off 13. That the Discovery Reformation and Cure can be by no other Means than by God himself 14. That this Book of the Old and New Testament are that Means which God himself hath given in his Mercy Providence and Wisdom to be the means of the discovery unto Man what his End what his Means to attain that End was how lost how to be restored and contains most effectual and rational Means conducible to it PART II. CHAP. I. Of the Existence and Attributes of God. AND now we have drawn down the great Business of Man by dark and intricate steps and windings to a clear Light which doth not only clearly and compendiously unmask and unfold these Truths which with so much difficulty of discourse and search by Reason we dimly arrive unto but divers other Truths which all the Reason and Learning of the Sons of Men could never attain unto yet such as without which all the Passages even of this Life are dark and obscure and uncomfortable We shall therefore now fall to the consideration of those Truths which are contained in that Book that are of the greatest concernment to the Sons of Men in order to their supream End and to evidence their Congruity with sound and rectified Reason 1. This Book teacheth us That there is a God which although it be deducible by natural Evidence yet this declaration in the Scripture is of singular use as well for the speedy and easie discovery of it as also for the ratifying and confirming of this Principle as we mâ—y observe even in Truths of an inferiour nature which though by the discursive operation of the Understanding they may be discovered and assented unto yet these discoveries and that consent is facilitated and strengthened when in the Writings or Dictates of others they are set forth as in the several discourses of Men in matters Natural Metaphysical
of the Law and Gospel Gal. 3.24 Circumcision typical of that of the Heart Rom. 2.29 Their state in Egypt Typical The Passover a most effectual Type of Christ 1 Cor. 5.7 Christ the true Passover and therefore the Sacrifice of Christ and of the Passover went together Matth. 26. Eaten whole Exod. 12. Not a bone of him to be broken eaten with bitter Herbs typifying Repentance the Blood sprinkled secures from the wrath of God with Hyssop a cleansing Herb Psal 51. Purge me with hyssop a Feast as well as a Sacrifice John 6.55 The Manna a Type of Christ who was that Bread of God that came down from Heaven John 6.33 The hidden Manna Revel 2.17 The Cloud and Red Sea a Type of Baptism into Christ 1 Cor. 10.1 The Jews in Egypt like the state of the unconverted World hence the World called Spiritual Egypt In their Passage out they are entertained with a Sacramental Initiation they are militant in the Wilderness of the World triumphant in Canaan the rest the water out of the Rock a Type of Christ 1 Cor. 10.4 That Rock was Christ But principally the Levitical Law was a shadow of the good things to come in Christ Heb. 8.5 Who was the End of the Law. And as the Judicial Law among the Jews did not only contain Precepts in themselves naturally good but also Typical and Sacramental Observations of that inward Sanctification and frame of Mind that God required so the Levitical Law did not only contain Precepts of that internal habitude of Love Fear and Obedience unto God admirably delivered through the whole Book of Deuteronomy but also divers Types and Figures which had a double use 1. Of evidencing the full Obedience to those Positive Commands of God because commanded by him 2. Figures of Christ to come and of that frame and constitution of Men and things in relation to him as we may observe in divers Particulars 1. The Covenant between God and Israel the Stipulation on God's part Exod. 19.5 If ye will obey my voice and keep my Covenant ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people and ye shall be unto me a Kingdom of Priests and an Holy Nation Exod. 34.10 Behold I make a Covenant Before all thy people I will do marvels c. The Stipulation on the Peoples part Exod. 19.8.24.7 All that the Lord hath spoken we will do This is that Covenant which the Lord made with the People in Horeb Deut. 5.2 And the tenor of this Covenant renewed and explained viz. Blessing to Obedience and Curses to Disobedience Deut. 29.10 c. Ye stand this day before the Lord your God that thou shouldest enter into Covenant with â—he Lord thy God and into his oath c. Accordingly in Christ a new Covenant made Jer. 31.33 Heb. 8.10 A New Covenant I will put my Laws into their hearts I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a People 2. As that Covenant was mutual consisted in somewhat promised by God somewhat undertaken by the People Obedience to the Law that God gave them so the Covenant here is reciprocal In the Gospel of God there is a double Covenant 1. A Covenant between God the Father and God the Son that the Son should take upon him Flesh and satisfie for the sins of the Elect Psal 40.6 Heb. 10.9 A body hast thou prepared me lo I come to do thy will O God on God's part a Covenant that those which should be so redeemed should be given over to Christ and united unto him in the nearest relation that is possible John 17. They whom thou hast given me Verse 21. That they may be one in us But of this more infra 2. A Covenant between God the Father in Christ with Man and this is likewise reciprocal On God's part to give Remission of Sins and Eternal Life in Christ to as many as lay hold of this Covenant John 6.40 This is the will of him that sent me that every one that believeth on me should have everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day Ibid. 47. He that believeth on me hath everlasting life John 7.37 John 12.44 John 3.36 Rom. 3.28 Heb. 8.10 And because he must make him a People that may entertain the Covenant before he can have a reciprocal from them God gives a heart to believe to those that are his that so they may enter into Covenant with God John 6.29 This is the work of God that ye believe Verse 37. All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me Verse 65. No man can come unto me except it be given of my Father Ephes 2.8 This is the putting of the Law in their Hearts Heb. 8.10 And this part of God's Covenant is made rather for us than with us even with and in Christ in whom all the Promises of God are Yea and Amen 2 Cor. 1.20 For these Promises are Eternal Promises an Eternal Covenant given to Christ for the Elect even before they had a Being or could possibly receive them On the part of the People of Christ there is likewise a Covenant too he hath given us Commandments of Obedience John 13 1â— Love one to another Ibid. Verse 34. If ye love me keep my Commandments John 14.15.21.23 Love to Christ Perseverance John 15.9 10. Bringing forth Fruit Ibid. 16. Doing Righteousness 1 John 2.29 Purifying our selves 1 John 3.3 7.9.10 Crucifying Affections and Lusts Galat. 5.24 Zealous of Good Works Tit. 2.14.3.18 Thus God out of his free Love appoints us to Eternal Life in Christ freely gives Christ to be the purchace of it freely promiseth Life for us in him through Faith freely gives us Faith to come to him which when it is wrought our Covenant again with God is but to return a fruit of his own Grace True Faith in Christ cannot be without a sense of this Love of God nor that without a return of Love to him again nor that without a Care to walk according to his Will for if ye love me ye will keep my Commandments And yet he is pleased to accept and reward the work of his own free Grace as the return of us poor and weak Men. 3. This Covenant was ordained in the hands of a Mediator Gal. 3.19 Moses alone came near the Lord and told the People all the words of the Lord and the People answered with one Voice All the words which the Lord hath said will we do Exod. 24.3 The Second Covenant ordained likewise in the hands of a Mediator even Christ Heb. 12.24 Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant 4. The first Covenant Sealed with Blood Exod. 24.8 Moses took the blood and sprinkled on the people and said Behold the blood of the Covenant thus likewise Christ sealed the second Covenant with his Blood Heb. 9.14 And therefore called the Blood of the Covenant Heb. 10.29 The Blood of the everlasting Covenant Heb. 13.20 And the sprinkling of the Blood of Jesus Christ 1 Pet.
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
made him know that he is able to abase them that walk in pride Ibid. Verse 37. And hence it is that Men are compassed with Pride as a Chain when they set their mouth against the Heavens Psal 73.6 9 11. And this manifestation of Pride is principally in the Will because it is the absence of that subjection which we owe to his Will. 2. From this want of the due knowledge of the subjection we owe to the Power of God proceeds that Pride which evidenceth it self in that vain Confidence and Security which men put in themselves or those other accessions of Friends Wealth Power Policy c. Revel 3.17 I am rich and increased in goods and have need of nothing Luke 12.17 And I will say to my soul Soul thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thine ease Isa 28.14 When the over-flowing scourge shall pass through it shall not come near us for we have made lies our refuge and under falshood have we hid our selves This was the speech of the scornful Men of Ephraim who had not Humility enough to shelter themselves under their Maker and yet had so much Baseness of Spirit as to make a Lie their Refuge and Security Isa 30.2 trust in a shadow Verse 12. in oppression and perverseness Isa 31.1 in Horses and Chariots Isa 47.7 I shall be a Lady for ever I am and there is none else besides me to see the pride and arrogance of a Heart that knows not God even to take upon it the very self-sufficiency of God himself Now when a Heart truly knows the Power of God the essential Dependance that all things and events have upon him how easily without the interposition of his own immediate hand he can manage some little inconsiderable Circumstance to break and confound the most complicated and twisted Securities that a whole Nation can make for it self he will soon learn to look upon all these external contributions to Happiness and Safety as vanity and nothing much less will he repose any confidence in them And to break the Children of Men from this deifying themselves and the sparks that they have kindled Isaiah 50.11 God doth most commonly as I may say set himself to blast and subvert those Refuges of Men their Idols with the most unlikely and improbable means Job 5.13 He catcheth the wise even with their own craftiness intangles the Powerful by their own strength or arms some impotent unexpected Emergency a nothing in a moment to shatter in pieces what Men have been many Years or Ages building up and fortifying into a Confidence with multiplicity of Supplies 3. By the Ignorance of the latter viz. That the Original of all Good is in and from God ariseth that Haughtiness and Elevation of Mind that is in Men when they find any thing in themselves or in what they have acquired that is beautiful or useful When a Heart rightly principled meddles with any such thing it teacheth him Thankfulness and Humility he runs it up presently to God the Fountain and Original of all Good and gives him the praise of any thing he finds Good in himself and concludes even in the meanest Good that he finds even in his Skill it may be in the lowest Profession with Isaiah 28.29 This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working If he finds in himself an industrious and successful Hand he attributes this to God Deuteronom 8.18 It is he that giveth thee Power to get Wealth If he finds himself advanced to any Greatness or Honour he acknowledgeth this to be the Dispensation of God Psalm 75.7 God is the Judge he putteth down one and setteth up another If he find a victorious and successful Hand in War he attributes it not to his own Sword or his own Arm Psal 44.3 But thy right hand and thine arm and the light of thy countenance If he find any Eminence of Wisdom Knowledge Counsel Learning still he remembers that it cometh down from the Father of Lights James 1.17 But the Ignorance or want of Consideration of this is that which puffeth up a Man by carrying that Glory which is indeed due to God unto himself A Man cannot have a little more Knowledge than he sees in another but presently it swells him 1 Cor. 8.1 he thinks higher of himself than he ought to think Rom. 12.3 If he get a little Wealth presently he concludes Deuteronom 8.17 My power and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth If he hath been successful in his Counsels he presently bespeaks himself with the insolent Assyrian Isa 10.13 By the strength of my hand have I done it and by my wisdom for I am prudent And what a truly wise Heart saith to God Psalm 21.13 Be thou exalted in thy own strength this proud Fool says to himself and so much as he can makes himself God stopping the Current of that Glory at himself which would naturally run unto God as the Rivers into the Sea and thereby the Man filleth himself beyond his proportion till he surfeit upon that which belongs not unto him And therefore the Prophet well saith Hab. 2.4 His soul which is lifted up is not upright in him his Heart is out of his due place and situation and consequently as he disorders other things so he ruines himself for the eternal Wisdom and Goodness of God doth communicate his Goodness to every thing in that place and situation which he hath appointed for it and if the Heart get up above that place which God hath appointed for it it is no wonder if it miss of his Blessing by reason of its disorder and with Herod find his Vengeance for its Presumption CHAP. XVII Of Prayer THUS far concerning the Mortification of our Lusts by the help of Meditation the next is Prayer God as he is the Original of all Being so he is the Fountain of all that Good which is or can be in the Creature and this Goodness is derived to it from God by such means as he hath appointed and is most natural and suitable to the Creature Man is essentially depending upon God as well as other Creatures here is the difference other Creatures are placed in a greater distance from God and therefore he conveys his Goodness unto them by more mediate and inferiour means Man as he was created in a Perfection nearer unto God even in his own Image so consequently in a nearer degree and relation unto him and therefore though all things are in their Nature dependant upon him yet Man hath ability to know his Dependance and therefore not only to be dependent but to be dependent upon him and therefore upon all occasions might make his immediate Address to God to whom he was immediately subject Now Prayer and Thanksgiving is nothing else but the actual exercise of that Dependance we have upon God Psal 50.15 Call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and
let thy words be few seasonable considerate true 4. Set a Watch upon thine Appetite it is of it self natural and consequently good but the distemper of our Nature hath put it out of its place and consequently out of its bounds Suspect thy Appetite and keep it under with Rules of Moderation put a Knife to thy Throat Prov. 23.2 look not upon the Wine when it gives its colour in the Cup Prov. 23.31 love not sleep Prov 20.13 and with Rules of Seasonableness the wise Man tells us every thing is beautiful in its time Eccles 3.11 because it is then in that order which God hath appointed for it the same Action that may be but tolerable and indifferent in one time may be necessary in another and sinful in another Isaiah 22.12 13. In that day did the Lord call for weeping and mourning and behold slaving of oxen surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die 2 Sam. 11.11 The Ark and Israel and Judah abide in tents c. shall I then go down to my house to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife Regulate thy Reason by the Word and Counsel of God and discipline thy Appetite with thy Reason observe its motions and check them Rather deny it a lawful than countenance it in but a disputable Liberty CHAP. XX. Of Watchfulnes over our Affections and Passions of Love Anger and Fear 5. SET a Watch upon thine Affections and Passions Thy Affections are by thy natural corruption become inordinate Affections they are easily misplaced and more easily over-acted Take heed to thy Love according to the order or disorder of this Affection are all thy other Affections tempered See therefore that it be rightly placed Dispence thy Love in measures proportionable to the worth of the Object Nothing can challenge thy intensest Love but the intensest Good and that God that requires thy Heart is a jealous God let not out the whole Current of thy Affections upon any thing below him Lawful Pleasures natural Relations Conveniences in the World a Man 's own self may be Objects of a moderate and subordinate Love But when they take up the whole compass of our Love our Love becomes our Sin Matth. 10.37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me 1 John 2.15 If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him 2 Tim. 3.2 4. lovers of themselves and lovers of Pleasures ranked amongst the worst of Men. When the Affection of thy Soul is moving after any thing before thou give it leave examine the Object whether worthy of any measure of thy Love and if so yet let it not go without a farther debate Consider the measure of Good that is in the Object and weigh out its proportion of Love answerable to the measure of its Good But rest not there neither remember it is but a subordinate a derivative Good as well as a measurable Good bestow not that measure of thy Love upon it absolutely but subordinately catechise thy Love with this Question Whether if thy Creator requires thee to hate that Object to forgo it to forsake it thou canst be better content to call home thy Affection than to let it rest where it is By this time and by this means thy Love will be under a discipline and a rule and the Precipitancy of this Affection beyond its due Proportion allayed and moderated And remember always it is the impotency of our Condition and the great cause of the disorders in our Souls and Lives that we are contented to give our Affections leave upon the first apprehension to pursue their Objects without debate lest we should interrupt the expectation of Contentment by a clear discovery of the unworthiness and vanity of the Object and the ill consequences of immoderation in the pursuit thus we are contented to deceive our selves with the Felicity of false Expectation rather than by pre-consideration to avoid a real Inconvenience or Disappointment Take heed to thine Anger Be angry but sin not Ephes 4.26 keep it not too long nor act it too far lest it prove Hatred Revenge Oppression Order thy Anger so that it may be rather an act of thy Judgment than of thy Perturbation If thou art provoked by an Injury before thou give a Commission to this Passion propose to thy self the Question which God asked Jonah Jonah 4.9 Dost thou well to he angry weigh well the Cause and remember thou art partial to thy self and apt to construe that for a just Provocation which it may be was none or deserved Suspect thy Judgment of Partiality put thy self in the others Condition before thou judgest remember that he that doth thee the Injury is but God's Instrument 2 Sam. 16 10. Because the Lord hath said unto him Curse David who then shall say Wherefore hast thou done so It may be his Injury is God's Justice and then thy Anger against the Instrument is Rebellion or at best it may be his Experiment of thy Patience and then thy Anger is Disobedience Remember the just occasions of Anger thou hast given to thy Creator and yet his Patience to thee and shouldest thou not have compassion on thy fellow servant Matth. 18.33 Remember thy Redeemer that bought thee with the Sacrifice of his Soul hath given thee another Precept Matth. 5.44 Love your Enemies and another Example who when he was reviled reviled not again and canst thou deny the denial of Passion for his sake Remember thy gentleness will more advantage thee than thy anger it may be he will be conquered with thy Patience and revenge thy Quarrel against himself with his Repentance but if not there is a God of Vengeance can and will do it Rom. 12.19 When a Man takes up the Office of his Judge he injures both the Judge and Party and in stead of doing himself right he makes himself guilty Again if thou doest well to be angry dost thou well to be angry so much or so long The Wise Man tells us That Anger resteth in the bosom of Fools Set a Watch therefore over thy Anger let it be just and moderate and let not the Sun go down on thy wrath Ephes 4.26 Set a Watch upon thy Fear There is nothing deserves thy fear of Reverence but thy Creator nâ— thy fear of Aversion but thy Sin If thy Peace he made with him thou art above the Fear of any thing below him objects of Terror shall not come near thee the Beasts of the Field shall be at peace with thee or if they are not they shall not hurt thee The terriblest things in the World are therefore terrible because they end in Death the King of Terrors And when thy Peace is made with thy Lord thou hast a double Security against them 1. Because they are in the hands of his Power and Wisdom and they cannot exceed their Commission that he gives them he can if it please him dissipate whole Armies of
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
Uncertainties in the midst of any external Trouble without a Refuge and so full of Despair As we cannot have Confidence to go to our offended God by our Prayers so it makes him withdraw and hide himself from them a continual disquietness and heaviness of Spirit mingles and winds it self into all our thoughts even in our pursuits of diversions from it the same aspect that is between God and us is between our own Conscience and us The Light of his Countenance is able to give Life and Comfort and Serenity to the Soul in the midst of all the Losses and Pains and Deaths in the World and the want of that Light makes the most happy external Condition to be dark and disconsolate And all this Good I lose by a transient unprofitable Sin a Sin that I might have avoided and therefore a Loss that I might have avoided a Loss that comes not to me by my necessity but by my foolish choice I will therefore sit down and mourn in secret for that Comfort and Light that I have thus foolishly sinned away and measure out my sorrows and tears proportionable in some degree to that Loss I have sustained The time was when it pleased the great God to let his Presence and the Light of his Countenance to shine into my Soul and when I could with Comfort and Confidence upon any occasion go to him and present my wants my desires my acknowledgements unto him and he that sits in Heaven was pleased to accept and entertain them at the hands of his Creature But now that Influence of his hath met with a filthy and backsliding Heart and is weary of it and hath withdrawn it self as justly it may and my Prayers are laden with my Guilt and cannot get up to him and he hides himself I have regarded Iniquity in my Heart and as he hath said so I find he will not hear my Prayers But though he will not hear my Prayers yet he will not neglect my Tears A broken and contrite heart O Lord thou wilt not despise O Lord though I have thus trifled away my Peace and my Comfort and have destroyed my self yet in thee is my help As I will not rest in my Sin so neither will I rest in my Grief but will never give my self nor thee rest till thou hast been pleased in the Blood of thy Son to wash away my Guilt and restore unto me thy Presence and Peace again And when I have recovered this Loss I will by the assistance of that good Spirit of thine learn by this my sin to revenge my self upon my sin to value the Mercy and Goodness of my Creator that hath yet once more intrusted into my hands the Life and Comfort which I had so lately lost to value the necessity as well as the Love of my Saviour that hath been pleased by a reapplication of his own Blood to wash me again after my late Relapse to value the kindness of the Pure and Blessed Spirit that though by my sin I made him weary and forsake that polluted chamber of my Heart yet is pleased to return and cleanse and take up again that Room from which I had so unworthily excluded him I will learn to prise that Peace and Comfort which once I had and valued not but lost it for an unprofitable perishing Sin I will strive to sence my Heart with renewed Covenants and Resolutions of more watchfulness over my self that I return not again to Folly I will sit down and bless the Mercy Goodness Patience Bounty of God that hath not left me in that Condition which I could neither endure nor remove and study to return a Heart and Life in some measure answerable to so great Love and Goodness And when I have done all O Lord Jesus let that Eternal Covenant between thee and the Father that thou shouldest give Eternal Life to as many as he hath given thee John 17.2 that Power and Promise of thine that none shall pluck me out of thy hands John 10.28 that Union with thee that thou art pleased to give to as many as believe on thee John 15.4 5. that Spirit of thine which by that Union with thee conveys Life and Influence to the smallest branch in thee preserve and support me in all my Purposes and Resolutions in all my Frailties and Temptations For without thee I can do nothing 2. In reference to outward Objects and occasions of Sorrow as loss of Friends Wealth Reputation Health Life it self have a guard upon this Passion 1. Look upon them as the Fruits and Effects of thy Sin and so let them carry thy Grief beyond the immediate object to the meritorious cause of them This is the sting of all Affliction the Plague in thy Heart is the Core and Fountain of the Plague of thy Externals And when thou hast humbled thy Soul before thy Creator and gotten the Blood of thy Saviour to wash thy Conscience thy Affliction shall be removed or thy Soul enabled with chearfulness and comfort to bear it 2. Labour to find out the Voice of the Rod the Mind of thy Creator for if thou diligently observe it there is not a dispensation of Divine Providence but it brings a message with it to thy Soul. Look into thy Heart it may be there is an accursed thing in the midst of thee Joshua 7.13 and this Affliction bids thee be up and removing it It may be thy Heart was leaning too much upon that very Blessing wherein thou findest thy Cross or Affliction which robbed thy Maker of some of the Love and Duty thou owest to him It may be thy Heart was grown dead and careless in thy applications to thy Creator secure and resting in thy temporal Enjoyment and he hath sent his Messenger to awake thee It may be thou hast had a dull and heavy Ear that would not listen or could not perceive God speaking once yea twice unto thee in a still voice Job 33.14 and now he hath sent an instruction with a louder voice It may be thou begannest too much to set up thy rest here to place thy Confidence in the things of this World to be overtaken with the delight in them to overâ—expect them and he hath sent a disappointment into thy Counsels a Worm into thy Gourd a Moth into thy Store a Canker into thy Bag a Distemper into thy Body to shew thee the vanity of thy Dependances to make thee let go thy hold of that which may fall upon and hurt thee but cannot secure thee to make the look upward to quicken thy Life of Faith by shaking thy Life of Sense It may be thou wert growing presumptuous in the Goodness of God Saucy in thy Carriage towards him insolent towards him opinionative of thy self And he hath sent this searching Medicine to fallow and purge these disorderly and dangerous Humours But gâ—ant that upon all thy search thou findest that for a long time thou hast kept a Watch over thy Heart that thou
hast endeavoured to walk humbly and perfectly before God that thou canst not find any thing upon the most faithful search thou canst make that might be the Spring of this affliction yet is not thy Labour lost the Clearness of thy Conscience will be thy support in thy Affliction and make thy Burden the easier But yet for all this know thy Affliction hath a Voice still if it look not backward yet it looks forward if it be not a Medicine to cure thee yet it may be an Antidote to preserve thee a Cordial to strengthen thee it bids thee improve thy Patience thy Faith thy Dependance upon God thy Experience of his Presence thy earnestness in Prayer thy neglect of the World thy Denyal of thy self Learn therefore before thou pourest out thy sorrow upon any Affliction to examine thy Heart to search out the meaning of God in it it will regulate thy Grief and instruct thy mind both how to bear it and how to use it 3. Beware thou put not on a Resolution not to be grieved or troubled at all upon any occasion of Grief The putting on of such a Stoical Resolution is to arm a Mans self against God to harden the Heart not to receive Correction and as much as in a Man is to disappoint the purpose of God He that put these Passions in the Heart of Man now sends this Messenger to stir up this Passion though thereby he intends a farther End And for a Man to fence his Soul against any object of Sorrow so as not to be moved thereby shall be sure to find either an absolute Ruine or that God will so plant his Batteries against that Resolution that at length he will master him and melt his Soul into a more pliable Disposition 4. When God sends an occasion of Sorrow entertain it with an Affection answerable to the Object both in kind and measure Let thy Grief be an humble Grief not mingled with murmuring or discontent If thou couldst imagine thou hadst not deserved it yet remember who it is that inflicts it even he that is absolute Lord of his Creature and owes him not his Being When thou goest and treadest upon a Worm or a Snail thou doest an injury to thy fellow Creature yet thou passest away and takest no notice of it But thy Creator can owe thee nothing Take up that incomparable Resolution and temper of Mind with old Eli 1 Sam. 3.18 It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good And this same Consideration as it will teach thee to mingle Humility with thy Grief so it will teach thee Patience and Quietness in thy Sorrow because the occasion comes from the hand of a most Just and Wise and Merciful God. Impatience under any Affliction ariseth from the termination of the motion of our Souls upon the immediate Object he that knows and fears and loves his Creator and sees his hand dispensing the Afflictions will learn Patience and Moderation though he cannot forget Sorrow and Grief under it 4. Let thy Grief be moderate in Extent Measure and Duration Nothing but sin and the displeasure of God can deserve thy intensest Grief Learn to put a true value upon thy Loss and measure out Sorrow answerable to it Consider 1. Thy Loss is not of thy chiefest Good and therefore deserveth not thy intensest Sorrow Thy Peace with thy Creator thy Everlasting Hope as long as they are safe thou hast enough left to over-weigh the greatest Loss thou canst suffer What are light Afflictions and but for a Moment when put in the Balance with an Eternal Weight of Glory 2. Consider thy Loss is not of thy own Good. Cannot the Almighty lend thee a Blessing but thou must call it thine and deny the absolute Lord of it the Property of it It is his Corn and his Wine and his Oyl and all our Blessings are his and as they are his so they are taken away by him Learn to make the Will of thy Lord the measure of thine and then though Nature teach thee to grieve Grace will teach thee not to exceed in thy Grief CHAP. XXIII Of Watchfulness over our Will Conscience and Spirit AND as thus thou must carry a Watch over thy Affections so learn to carry a Watch over thy Will 1. Learn to Principle it aright the great Lord that hath put this power or faculty in the Soul hath therefore placed it there that it should have a Conformity to his Will and when thou crossest his Will it is thy sin and Deformity and it will be thy Misery Learn therefore to make his Will the Rule of thine 1. â—n what thou dost and herein God hath not left thee without a line to guide thee He hath shewed thee O man what to do and what doth the Lord require at thy hands c. he hath given thee a Rule or Law which is to be the guide of thy Obedience 1. The Rule of his written Word traduced unto thee by a wonder of Mercy and Providence a word that is nigh unto thee Deut. 30.14 a light that shineth in a dark place 2. The Rule secretly conveyed into thy Conscience by the Power and Wisdom of God Rom. 2.15 a Law written in thy Heart and Conscience 3. The Rule manifested in the Dispensation of Divine Providence asserting and confirming the two former if exactly observed in the measuring out of Rewards and Punishments 2. In what thou sufferest the great Lord is absolute Lord over all his Creatures and can owe them nothing but what he pleaseth only to confirm our Faith and encourage our Obedience he hath been pleased to give a Covenant that he will be our God if we remain his people yet in the Dispensation of outward things he hath not absolutely bound himself though such is his Goodness that even in those he observes a measure of Justice which he doth not owe us Learn therefore to make the Will of thy Maker in all things the measure of thine 2. Observe it in the first Motions of it while they are green and flexible and before they be hardened into Resolutions and so grow Masterless bring them to their Rule and examine them by it and accordingly entertain or reject them Clog them with Deliberation and by that means thou shalt be able to take off the Violence and Eagerness of them and likewise the Errours of them Dispense not with thy self in the first Motions of thy Will to any evil in Presumption that thou shalt be able to master them before they come to ripeness for thou sinnest even in those imperfect issues of thy Will and indulgence towards them will make them grow hardy and too strong for thy Mastery consider that in the first Motion of thy Heart thy Will which is the Mistress of thy Soul is the Party against whom thou must strive and thou hast nothing to reclaim the Current of those Motions but the Grace of God which may justly withdraw it self if it finds a Compliance with
operations and whose Gifts and Callings are without Repentance hath promised to be with us to the end of the World He cannot sin because his sâ—â—d abideth in him 1 John 3.9 It is true there may be intermissions of the acting of Grace in the Heart and there may be falls in the Life but to be given over to a course of sin without repentance to be brought under the power and dominion of Sin as a King or a Ruler the Honour and Truth of God is engaged in it it shall not be 2 Thes 3.3 The Lord is faithful who shall stablish you John â—0 28 Nâ—er shall any man pluck them out of my hand Rom. 6.14 Sin shall not have dominion over you for 〈…〉 under the Law but under Grace And these Promises of God cannot make the Heart of any one to whom they truly belong any whit the more careless or loose in his watch over himself for that very Spirit whereby those Promises are sealed to us is an active vigilant pure Spirit and puts the Heart and Life upon those Practices that do naturally and properly conduce to this very Perseverance viz. Assiduity in Duties Humble and Watchful walking before God Examination and search of the state of our Souls and Lives Jealousie over the Treachery of our own Hearts and the snares that are within us and without us a Guard upon our Affections and Senses a frequent Consideration of the Will of God of his Goodness to us in Christ of the Price wherewith we are bought of the Hope whereunto we are redeemed and all those other helps that conduce to the settling and stablishing of our Hearts and Lives in a Conformity to the Will of God and in avoiding of all those things which are contrary thereunto and consequently as contraries do would impair corrupt and destroy that Life of Grace which he hath begun in us And from hence ariseth 3. An Increase and Growth in a more exact Conformity to the Will of God than formerly This is that which is so often commended unto us by the Spirit of God Colos 2.7 Rooted and built up in him Colos 4.12 Compleat in all the will of God Phil. 1.9 that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and in all judgment 1 Cor. 15.58 abounding in the work of the Lord Heb. 13.21 make you perfect in good works to do his will Phil. 3.13 forgetting what is past and reaching forth to the things that are before Ephes 4.13 growing to a perfect man 2.16 increase of the body 2 Pet. 3.17 beware lest ye fall from your own stedfastness but grow in grace Jude 20. building up your selves in your most holy faith Prov. 4.18 Increasing more and more unto the perfect day John 15.2 Every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit And as this is the Will of God so it is as naturally the effect of this Life that is wrought in the Heart as it is the effect of natural Life in the Body for it is an active and operative Life If any quality have got the mastery in a mixt Body it doth ever more and more by degrees waste and consume the contrary qualities and assimulates the whole unto it self And although as long as our Flesh hangs about us it is impossible that a compleat and absolute conquest can be wrought of all that Sin that is in us because it is a spring of Corruption yet it is wasted weakned and decayed By this work of Grace Saul's House waxeth weaker and weaker Every habit though it be moral or natural only receiveth an augmentation and degrees by its continual actings And the Grace of God which is more operative and active in the Heart than any habit can be for it is accompanied with the immediate Power and Efficacy of the Divine Spirit never stands still but like the little Leven that was hid in the great quantity of Meal it never gives over till the whole be leavened 4. Renewed Repentance Thy corrupt Nature is a Body of Sin and Death a spring of Corruption that will ever cast up mire and dirt and Grace in thy Heart is a spring of living Waters that as often as that corrupts will be washing it again When thou hast made the chamber of thy Heart as clean as thou canst yet there will be leaks in it that will let in Corruptions enough quickly to make it as foul as ever Grace by the continual examination of thy self humbling of thy Heart before God renewing thy Covenant with him doth not only pump out the filth that would poyson and drown and dam thee but stops the decays and leaks of this thy infirm Vessel When the Grace of God at first found thee thou wast dead in trespasses and sins and it came into thee and by Repentance did exercise its own act of Life to quicken thee And that same Body of Death that did at first inclose thee is still about thee and takes all opportunities to get its old mastery of thee and by this means thou catchest many a fall and bruise but that same Life by which thou livest re-acts against those inroads of sin and death and doth conquer them so that though thy renewed sins are not thy ruine yet they ought to be thy burden though they must not make thee despair yet they cannot chuse but make thee mourn though thy Saviour hath born their Guilt yet it is but equal thou shouldest bear thy shame When thou hadst no Life in thee thou couldest not feel thy self dead But now thou hast Life in thee thou canst not chuse but be sensible of thy sickness and thy hurts which thy own folly have occasioned and judge and condemn and avoid that Folly of thine that occasioned it Though thou canst not be rid of thy sins that fight against thy Life yet thou wilt not entertain them with better Entertainment than Bread of Affliction and Water of Affliction Though thou canst not expiate for any of them yet thou canst not look upon them without indignation as Traytors against thy Life and thy Peace thou canst not look upon thy self without loathing and detestation thou canst not look unto Christ without shame and confusion that one that he hath redeemed from so great a Misery with so great a Price to so great a nearness as to be a member of himself a partaker of his Spirit a Co-heir of his Glory should so unworthily so unthankfully in his sight dishonour his Head and pollute himself Thou canst not look upon what is past without Repentance nor upon what is to come without a Resolution of more Vigilance and keeping a better Guard upon thy self And yet in the midst of all these thy perplexed thoughts thou canst not chuse but admire and bless that Mercy of Christ that when thou deniest him looks back upon thee as once on Peter and with that look sends in a Messenger that makes thee go by thy self and bewail thy Relapse that leaves
several men or one man at several times and yet they may be of different natures one may be a Chastisement another may be a Trial and another may be a Favour it is according as the thing sent hath its Commission from him that sends it If it be a Chastisement it is not without a sting If it be a Tryal it is not without an issue If it be a Favour it is not without a great measure of comforts mingled with it 1. A Chastisement for a sin past carries with it the poison and malignity of the sin which causes it as the fruit carries the nature of that seed from whence it grows Jer. 21.14 Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee this is thy wickedness because it is bitter Jer. 4.18 the Affliction tasted of the sin Psal 40.12 Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me Psal 38.3 There is no rest in my bones because of my sin And this like the Trumpet in the Mount waxeth louder and louder and Prayers for Deliverance prove fruitless though they come from a Joshua Josh 7.10 till the accursed thing be sought out for till then the message that the Affliction brings is not received and it will not give over vexing the man till it hath done his Errand When a man begins to examine his ways and finds out the root of his trouble and humbles himself before God for his sin then and not till then can he expect a Deliverance When David Psal 38. had run over the Catalogue of his Sufferings his Prayer for Deliverance was never seasonable v. 22. till he had undertaken Confession and Repentance of his Sin v. 18. If upon the gentle Admonitions of the Almighty in the Conscience a man listens not he hath a Messenger sent to him that will be heard Job 33.16 Then he openeth the ear of man and it may be by a disease in his Body or some other affliction and he stands by to see how this message is entertained v. 27 28. And if any say I have sinned and perverted what was right and it profited me not then he will deliver his Soul c. A Chastisement for a sin hath at the same time an Act of Justice as it looks backward to the sin and an Act of Mercy as it looks forward to an Amendment and the latter is the principal End of God in it And therefore with the Repentance either the Chastisement is ........ if immanent or if transient and past is sweetned with a sense of God's Reconciliation 2. If it be a Tryal that carries with it his message for if upon an impartial inquiry a man cannot find any eminent sin unrepented of yet it pleaseth God to lay his hand upon him yet it brings these Lessons with it 1. To acknowledge the Justice of God for all this It is somewhat strange that Job could so much justifie himself against his Sufferings and yet was made to possess the sins of his youth Those little sins which were passed twenty or thirty years since and had all the extenuations of the infirmity of Nature have malignity enough in them to deserve those Sufferings that thou now art under and it was the Patience of God towards thee that they were thus long before they bore their fruit when thou art in a better condition to make use of the punishment than thou wert shortly after their commission And it may be thy Repentance even for those long past transgressions was not particular or deep enough and it is no loss of time or labour to thee to mourn again over thy stale transgressions but howsoever let it be thy care to search thy self it will make thee better acquainted with thy self If thou find a sin not deeply enough sorrowed for thy affliction hath deserved well at thy hands and if thou find it not yet thy affliction is well recompensed by giving thee an opportunity to discover that to thy self which contents thy Conscience more valuably than thy affliction hath done thee prejudice 2. To acknowledge the Sovereignty of God and to submit to his Will with an obedient Patience 1 Sam. 3.18 It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good Psal 39.9 I was dumb and opened not my mouth because thou didst it Jer. 18.6 Behold as the clay is in the hand of the potter so are ye in my hands Though thou canst not see a cause for thy afflictions that might signally deserve it nor canst see an end in it yet thou canst not chuse but find a use of it to teach thee with Wisdom to acknowledge and with Patience to submit unto the most justly unlimited Power and Authority of the Almighty God over the Work of his own hands and to put thy mouth in the dust and to wait for him and upon him Jam. 3.28 29. till he give an expected End Jer. 29.11 3. To depend and rest upon his Mercy and Goodness for deliverance from or strength and comfort in thy Affliction As the Creature is essentially dependent upon God so it is its Duty and Perfection and he useth the absence of external confidences and comforts upon which we are most apt to rest to call man to his duty to fix his heart upon him Psal 112.7 External Confluences many times rob God of that Love and that Dependence we owe to him and if the loss or want of them send thy Love and Confidence to him to whom it belongs thou art no loser by thy loss 4. To walk more strictly and vigilantly with God. Though thou canst not upon thy Examination find a cause of thy cross that may eminently discover it self in it yet thou canst not chuse but know thou art far short of that Duty and degree of Perfection in thy heart and life which by that assistance of his Grace that thou hast thou mayest arrive unto thy affliction though it put thee not in mind of any notable sin which should humble thee it may very well put thee in mind of thy neglects and want of intention in thy duty 5. Though thy Disease needs not this Physick to cure thee yet thy Corruption needs it to prevent thee thou hast within thee a Fountain of Corruptions that were they not restrained or allayed would upon a small opportunity turn to a desperate disease in thy Soul and those Corruptions of thine live and feed upon external superfluities and supplies and the Wise God foresees it may be that in a month or two or more or less thy full Enjoyments would ripen this or that corruption into a distemper that might be dangerous if not fatal to thy Soul and he sends this Messenger to abate or allay or divert or cross or weaken this corruption to put in a little Wormwood into thy sweet Cup that thou mayest take it with more moderation and not so greedily to throw some dirt upon thy self-opinion or growing pride that may spoil the growth of it to give a check to thy desires of external Wealth or