of it as a hard imposition when he is required to restore to the right owner that which he hath unjustly taken from him that Man is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there needeth no other testimony nor evidence against him than his own Conscience to condemn him Nay I may say yet more There needeth not so much as that his own mouth will do it Ex ore tuo thou unjust Man I bid thee not answer me do but answer thy self this one question and it shall suffice If it go hard with thee to restore it back to him that hath a true right in it did it not go as hard thinkest thou with him to part with it before to thee who hadst not the same right thereunto that he had I say no more consider it well and then remember the grand Rule never to be forgotten Do as you would be done to 45. Concerning the manner of Restitution and the measure the time place persons and other circumstances thereunto belonging many things there are of considerable moment and very needful to be understood of all Men that love to deal justly which I may not now enter into Whole Volumes have bin written of this Subject and the Casuists are large in their discourses thereof But for the thing it self in general thus much is clear from the Iudicial Law of God given by Moses to the people of Israel from the Letter whereof tho Christians be free positive Laws binding none but those to whom they were given yet the Equity thereof still bindeth us as a branch of the unchangeable Law of Nature That whosoever shall have wronged his Neighbour in any thing committed to his custody or in fellowship or in any thing taken away by violence or by fraud or in detaining any found thing or the like is bound to restore it and that in integrum to the utmost farthing of what he hath taken if he be able Nor so only but beside the Principal to offer some little overplus also by way of compensation for the damage if at least the wronged party have sustained any damage thereby and unless he shall be willing freely to remit it Moses his Law speaketh of a fifth part more as if he had wronged his Neighbour to the value of twenty sheckels the restitution was to be after the rate of four and twenty See the 6th of Leviticus in the beginning of the Chapter The assignment of that proportion belonged to the Iewish people and the obligation thereof therefore expired together with that policy but yet still reason and equity require that something be done The Lord give us all hearts to do that which is equal and right and in all our dealings with others to have evermore the fear of God before our eyes knowing that of the Lord the righteous Iudg we shall in our souls receive at the last great Assize according to that we have done in our bodies here whether it be good or evil Now to God the Father c. AD POPULUM The Eighth Sermon Prov. 19. 21. There are many devices in a Man's heart nevertheless the counsel of the Lord that shall stand 1. IT being impossible for us to know God absolutely and as he is his essence being infinite and so altogether incomprehensible by any but himself the highest degree of knowledg◠we can hope to attain unto at least in this life is by way of comparison with our selves and other Creatures Whereby it is possible for us making the comparison right and remembring ever the infinite disproportion of the things compared to come to some little kind of glimmering guess what he is by finding and well considering what he is not 2. But even in this way of Learning we are oftentimes very much at a loss Because we fall for the most part either short or over in that from which we are to take our first rise towards the right knowledg of God to wit the right knowledg of our selves We do not only see very imperfectly at the best because we see but in a glass as saith the Apostle but we mistake also most an end very grosly because we are apt to make use of a false glass We think foolishly yea and wickedly too sometimes as it is Psal. 50. that God is even such an one as our selves and yet God knoweth little do we know what our selves are There is so much deceitfulness in our hearts so much vanity in our thoughts so much pride in our spirits that tho we hear daily with our ears that Man is like a thing of nought that he is altogether vanity yea lighter than vanity it self and see daily before our eyes experiments enow to convince us that all this is true yet we are willing to betray our selves into a belief that sure we are something when indeed we are nothing and to please our selves but too much in our own ways and imaginations 3. To rectify this so absurd and dangerous an Error in us absurd in the ground and dangerous in the consequents and withal to bring us by a righter understanding of our selves to a better knowledg of God useful amongst other things it is to consider the wide difference that is betwixt God's ways and ours betwixt our purposes and his For my thoughts are not your thoughts saith the Lord by the Prophet neither are your ways my ways For as the heavens are higher than the Earth so but much more than so too are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts Weigh them the one against the other in the ballance of the Sanctuary or but even by the beam of your own reason and experience so it be done impartially and you will easily acknowledg both the vanity and uncertainty of ours and the certainty and stability of his thoughts and purposes 4. We have a Proverb common amongst us that yieldeth the conclusion Man purposeth but God disposeth And this Proverb of Solomon in the Text discovereth ground enough whereform to infer that conclusion There are many devices in a Man's heart nevertheless the counsel of the Lord that shall stand And that in three remarkable differences between the one and the other therein expressed First In the different names of the things Ours are but Devices his is Counsel Secondly In their different Number Ours are Devices in the plural Number and with the express addition of multiplicity also Many Devices His but one Counsel in the Singular Thirdly In their different manner of Existing Ours are but conceived in the heart we have not strength enough to bring them forth or to give them a being ad extra many devices in a Man's heart But he is able to give his a real subsistency and to make them stand fast and firm in despight of all opposition and endeavours to the contrary The counsel of the Lord that shall stand 5. The whole amounts to these two points First When we have tossed many and various thoughts
will think you Surely not thousands have resisted and daily do resist that will the Will and the Commandments of God But he meaneth it of his secret will the will of his everlasting Counsels and purposes and that too of an effectual resistance such a resistance as shall hinder the accomplishment of that Will For otherwise there are thousands that offer resistance to that also if their resistance could prevail But all resistance as well of the one sort as of the other is in vain as to that end Though hand joyn in hand it will be to no purpose the right hand of the Lord will have the preeminence when all is done Associate your selves O ye people and ye shall be broken in pieces gird your selves and ye shall be broken in pieces Take counsel together and it shall come to nought speak the word and it shall not stand Isa 8. 9 10. But the Counsel of the Lord that shall stand and none shall be able to hinder it 31. Lay all these together the Soveraignty the Eternity the Wisdom and the Power of God and in all these God will be glorified and you will see great reason why the Lord should so often blast mens devices bring all their counsels and contrivances to nought and take the wise in their own craftiness Even to let men see in their disappointment the vanity as all humane devices that they might learn not to glory in or trust to their own wisdom or strength or any thing else in themselves or in any creature but that he that glorieth might glory in the Lord only 32. Let every one of us therefore learn that I may now proceed to the Inferences from the consideration of what we have heard First of all not to trust too much to our own wit neither to lean to our own understanding Nor please our selves over-much in the vain devices imaginations fancies or dreams of our own hearts Tho our Purposes should be honest and not any ways sinful either in Matter End Means or other Circumstance yet if we should be over-confident of their success rest too much upon our own skill contrivances or any worldly help like enough they may deceive us It may please God to suffer those that have worse purposes propose to themselves baser ends or make use of more unwarrantable means to prosper to our grief and loss yea possibly to our destruction if it be but for this only to chastise us for resting too much upon outward helps and making flesh our arm and not relying ourselves intirely upon him and his salvation 33. Who knoweth but Iudgment may nay who knoweth not that Iudgment must saith the Apostle that is in the ordinary course of God's providence usually doth begin at the house of God Who out of his tender care of their well-doing will sooner punish temporally I mean his own children when they take pride in their own inventions and sooth themselves in the devices of their own hearts than he will his professed enemies that stand at defiance with him and openly fight against him These he suffereth many times to go on in their impieties and to climb up to the height of their ambitious desires that in the mean time he may make use of their injustice and oppression for the scourging of those of his own houshold and in the end get himself the more glory by their destruction 34. But then secondly howsoever Judgment may begin at the house of God most certain it is it shall not end there but the hand of God and his revenging justice shall at last reach the house of the wicked oppressor also And that not with temporary punishments only as he did correct his own but without repentance evil shall hunt them to their everlasting destruction that despise his known Counsels to follow the cursed devices and imaginations of their own naughty hearts The Persecutors of God in his servants of Christ in his members that say in the pride of their hearts with our tongues with our wits with our arms and armies we will prevail We are they that ought to speak and to rule Who is Lord our us We have Counsel and strength for war c. what do they but even kick against the pricks as the phrase is Act. 9. which pierce into the heels of the kicker and work him much anguish but themselves remain as they were before without any alteration or abatement of their sharpness God delighteth to get himself honour and to shew the strength of his arm by scattering such proud Pharaohs in the imaginations of their hearts and that especially when they are arrived and not ordinarily till then almost at the very highest pitch of their designs When they are in the top of their jollity and gotten to the uppermost roundle of the ladder then doth he put to his hand tumble them down headlong at once and then how suddenly do they consume perish and come to a fearful end Then shall they find but too late what their pride would not before suffer them to believe to be a terrible truth that all their devices were but folly and that the counsel of the Lord must stand 35. A terrible truth indeed to them But Thirdly Of most comfortable consideration to all those that with patience and chearfulness suffer for the testimony of God or a good conscience and in a good cause under the insolencies of proud and powerful persecutors When their enemies have bent all the strength of their wits and power to work their destruction God can and as he seeth it instrumental to his everlasting counsels will infatuate all their counsels elude all their devices and stratagems bring all their preparations enterprises to nought and turn them all to their destruction his own glory and the welfare of his servants 1. Either by turning their counsels into folly as he did Achitophel's 2. Or by diversion finding them work else where as Saul was fain to leave the pursuit of David when he and his Men had compassed him about and were ready to take him upon a message then brought him of an invasion of the Land by the Philistines And as he sent a blast upon Senacherib by a rumour that he heard of the King of Aethiopia's coming forth to war against him which caused him to desert his intended siege of Ierusalem 3. Or by putting a Blessing into the mouth of their enemies instead of a curse as he guided the mouth of Balaâ—m contrary to his intendment and desire 4. Or he can melt the hearts of his enemies into a kind of compassion or cause them to relent so as to be at peace with them when they meet tho they came out against them with minds and preparations of hostility as he did Lâ—ban's first and Esau's afterwards against Iacob 36. Howsoever some way or other he can curb and restrain either their malice or
souls by fasting or by an issue at the Tongue or Eye in an humble confession of their sins and in weeping and mourning for them with tears of repentance And they did well now to make tryal of those Remedies again wherein they had found so much help in former times especially the Remedies being proper for the Malady and such as often may do good but never can do harm But alas fasting and weeping and mourning before the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation had not strength enough against those more prevalent Corruptions wherewith the State of Israel was then pestered This Phinees saw who well perceived that as in a dangerous Pleurisie the party cannot live unless he bleed so if there were any good to be done upon Israel in this their little less than desperate estate a Vein must be opened and some of the rank Blood let out for the preservation of the rest of the Body This course therefore he tries and languishing Israel findeth present ease in it As soon as the Blood ran instantly the Grief ceased he executed Iudgment and the Plague was stayed As God brought upon that people for their sins a fearful destruction so he hath in his just wrath sent his destroying Angel against us for ours The sins that brought that Plague upon them were Whoredom and Idolatry I cannot say the very same sins have caused ours For although the execution of good Laws against both Incontinent and Idolatrous persons hath been of late years and yet is we all know to say no more slack enough yet God's holy Name be blessed for it neither Idolatry nor Whoredom are at that height of shameless impudency and impunity among us that they dare brave our Moseses and out-face whole Congregations as it was in Israel But still this is sure no Plague but for sin nor National Plagues but for National sins So that albeit none of us may dare to take upon us to be so far of God's Counsel as to say for what very sins most this plague is sent amongst us yet none of us can be ignorant but that besides those secret personal Corruptions which are in every one of us and whereunto every man 's own heart is privy there are many publick and National sins whereof the people of this Land are generally guilty abundantly sufficient to justifie GOD in his dealings towards us and to clear him when he is judged Our wretched unthankfulness unto GOD for the long continuance of his Gospel and our Peace our Carnal Confidence and security in the strength of our wooden and watry Walls our Riot and Excess the noted proper sin of this Nation and much intemperate Abuse of the good Creatures of GOD in our Meats and Drinks and Disports and other provisions and comforts of this life our incompassion to our brethren miserably wasted with War and Famine in other parts of the World our heavy Oppression of our Brethren at home in racking the rents and cracking the backs and Grinding the faces of the poor our cheap and irreverent regard unto Gods holy Ordinances of his Word and Sacraments and Sabbaths and Ministers our Wantonness and Toyishness of understanding in corrupting the simplicity of our Christian Faith and troubling the peace of the Church with a thousand niceties and novelties and unnecessary wranglings in matters of Religion and to reckon no more that universal Corruption which is in those which because they should be such we call the Courts of Iustice by sale of Offices enhaunoing of Fees devising new subtilties both for Delay and Evasion trucking for Expedition making Traps of petty poenal Statutes and but Cobwebs of the most weighty and material Laws I doubt not but by the mercy of God many of his servants in this Land are free from some and some from all of these common Crimes in some good measure but I fear me not the best of us all not a man of us all but are guilty of all or some of them at least thus far that we have not mourned for the Corruptions of the Times so feelingly nor endeavoured the reformation of them to our power so faithfully as we might and ought to have done By these and other sins we have provoked God's heavy judgment against us and the Plague is grievously broken in upon us and now it would be good for us to know by what means we might best appease his wrath and stay this Plague Publick Humiliations have ever been thought and so they are Proper Remedies against Publick Iudgments To turn unto the Lord our God with all our heart and with Fasting and with Weeping and with Mourning to sanctifie a Fast and call a solemn Assembly and gather the People and Elders together and weep before the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation and to let the Priests the Ministers of the Lord weep between the Porch and the Altar and to pray the Lord to spare his people and not be angry with them for ever Never did people thus humble themselves with true lowly and obedient hearts who found not Comfort by it in the mean time and in the end benefit And blessed be God who hath put it into the heart of our Moses with the consent of the Elders of our Israel by his Royal Example first and then by his Royal Command to lay upon us a double necessity of this so religious and profitable a course But as our Saviour told the young man in the Gospel who said he had kept the whole Law Unum tibi deest One thing is wanting so when we have done our best and utmost fasted and wept and prayed as constantly and frequently and fervently as we can unless you the Magistrates and Officers of Justice be good unto us one thing will be wanting still One main Ingredient of singular Virtue without which the whole Receipt besides as precious and sovereign as it is may be taken and yet fail the Cure And that is the severe and fearless and impartial Execution of Iudgment Till we see a care in the Gods on Earth faithfully to Execute theirs our hopes can be but faint that the God of Heaven will in mercy remove his judgments If God send a Famine into the Land let holy David do what he can otherwise it will continue year after year so long as judgment is not done upon the bloody house of Saul for his cruelty in slaying the Gibeonites God will not be intreated for the land One known Achan that hath got a wedge of gold by sacrilege or injustice if suffered is able to trouble a whole Israel and the Lord will not turn from the fierceness of his Anger till he have deserved judgment done upon him If Israel have joyned himself unto Baal-Peor so as the Anger of the Lord be kindled against them he will not be appeased by any means until Moses take the heads of the people and hang them
our selves either by the devices of other men or by our own sloth and wilful default to be entangled again with the yoke of bondage And namely in this particular branch whereof we now speak whatsoever serviceable offices we do to any of our brethren especially to those that are in Authority we must perform our duty therein with all chearfulness of spirit and for Conscience sake but still with freedom of spirit and with liberty of Conscience as being servants to God alone and not to men We find therefore in the Scriptures a peremptory charge both ways that we neither usurp mastership nor undergo servitude A charge given by our Saviour Christ to his Disciples in the former behalf that they should not be called Rabbi neither Masters Matth. 23. and a charge given by the Apostle Paul to all Believers in the latter behalf that they should not be servants of men 1 Cor. 7. God forbid any man of us possessed with an Anabaptistical spirit or rather frenesy should understand either of those passages or any other of like sound as if Christ or his Apostle had had any purpose therein to slacken those sinews and ligaments and to dissolve those joynts and contignations which tie into one body and clasp into one structure those many little members and parts whereof all humane Societies consist that is to say to forbid all those mutual Relations of superiority and subjection which are in the world and so to turn all into a vast Chaos of Anarchy and Confusion For such a meaning is contrarious to the express determination of Christ and to the constant doctrine of St. Paul in other places and we ought so to interpret the Scriptures as that one place may consist with another without clashing or contradiction The true and plain meaning is this that we must not acknowledge any our supreme Master not yield our selves to be wholly and absolutely ruled by the will of any nor enthral our Iudgments and Consciences to the sentences or laws of any man or Angel but only Christ our Lord and Master in Heaven And this Interpretation is very consonant unto the Analogy of Scripture in sundry places In Eph. 6. to omit other places there are two distinctions implied the one in the 5. the other in the 7. Verses both of right good use for reconciling of sundry Texts that seem to contradict one another and for the clearing of sundry difficulties in the present argument Servants saith St. Paul there be obedient to them that are your Masters according to the flesh Which limitation affordeth us the distinction of Masters according to the flesh only and of Masters after the spirit also Intimating that we may have other Masters of our flesh to whom we may and must give due reverence so far as concerneth the flesh that is so far as appertaineth to the outward man and all outward things But of our spirits and souls and consciences as we can have no Fathers so we may have no Masters upon Earth but only our Master and our Father which is in Heaven And therefore in Mat 23. Christ forbiddeth the calling of any man upon Earth Father as well as he doth the calling of any man Master And both the prohibitions are to be understood alike and as hath been now declared Again saith St. Paul there with good will doing service as to the Lord and not to men which opposition importeth a second distinction and that is of Masters into supreme and subordinate those are subordinate Masters to whom we do service in ordine ad alium and as under another Those are supreme Masters in whom our obedience resteth in the final resolution of it without looking farther or higher Men may be our Masters and we their servants the first way with subordination to God and for his sake And we must do them service and that with good will but with reservation ever of our bounden service to him as our only supreme Sovereign and Absolute Master But the latter way it is high sacrilege in any man to challenge and it is High Treason against the sacred Majesty of God and of Christ for us to yield to any other but them the mastership that is the sovereign and absolute Mastership over us Briefly we must not understand those Scriptures that forbid either Mastership or Servitude as if they intended to discharge us from those mutual Obligations wherein either in nature or civility we stand tied one to another in the state Oeconomical Political or Ecclesiastical as anon it shall further appear but only to beget in us a just care amidst all the offices of love and duty which we perform to men to preserve inviolate that liberty which we have in Christ and so to do them service as to maintain withal our own freedom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as free A thing whereof it behoveth us to have a special care and that for sundry and weighty respects First in regard of the trust reposed in us in this behalf Every honest man taketh himself bound to discharge with faithfulness the trust reposed in him and to preserve what is committed unto him by way of trust though it be another mans no less if not rather much more carefully than he would do if it were his own that so he may be able to give a good account of his trust Now these two the Christian Faith and the Christian Liberty are of all other the choicest Jewels whereof the Lord Jesus Christ hath made his Church the depository Every man therefore in the Church ought earnestly to contend as for the maintenance of the Faith as St. Iude speaketh so also for the maintenance of the liberty which was once delivered to the Saints even eo nomine and for that very reason because they were both delivered unto them under such a trust O Timothee depositum custodi St. Paul more than once calleth upon Timothy to keep that which was committed to his trust He meaneth it in respect of the Christian Faith which he was bound to keep entire as it was delivered him at his peril and as he would answer it another day And the like obligation lyeth upon us in respect of this other rich deposition this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Christian liberty for which we shall be answerable to Christ from whom we received it how we have both kept it and used it And if by our default and for want either of care or courage in us dolo vel latâ culpâ as the Lawyers say we lose or imbezel it as she said in the Canticles They made me the keeper of the Vineyard but mine own Vineyard have I not kept No doubt it will lie heavy upon us when we come to give in our Accounts Rather we should put on a resolution like that of Moses who would not yield to leave so much as an hoof behind him
should repose upon such things must needs rise and fall ebb and flow just as the things themselves do Which is contrary to the state of a true contented mind which still remaineth the same and unchanged notwithstanding whatsoever changes and chances happen in these outward and mutable things 7. We see now the unsufficiency of Nature of Morality of Outward things to bring Contentment It remaineth then that it must spring from Religion and from the Grace of God seated in the heart of every godly man which casteth him into a new mould and frameth the heart to a blessed calm within whatsoever storms are abroad and without And in this Grace there is no defect As the Lord sometimes answered our Apostle when he was importunate with him for that which he thought not fit at that time to grant sufficit tibi gratia My Grace is sufficient for thee He then that would attain to St. Pauls learning must repair to the same School where St. Paul got his learning and he must apply himself to the same Tutor that St. Paul had He must not languish in Porticu or in Lycaeo at the feet of Plato or Seneca but he must get him into the Sanctuary of God and there become 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he must be taught of God and by the anointing of his holy Spirit of grace which anointing teacheth us all things 1 Ioh. 2. All other Masters are either Ignorant or Envious or Idle Some things they are not able to teach us though they would some things they are not willing to teach us though they might but this Anointing is every way a most compleat Tutor able and loving and active this anointing teacheth us all things and amongst other things this Art of Contentation also 8. Now as for the means whereby the Lord traineth us up by his holy grace unto this learning they are especially these three First by his spirit he worketh this perswasion in our hearts that whatsoever he disposeth unto us at any time for the present that is evermore the fittest and best for us at that time He giveth us to see that all things are guided and ordered by a most just and wise and powerful providence And although it be not fit for us to be acquainted with the particular Reasons of such his wise and gracious dispensations yet we are assured in the general that all things work together for the best to those that love God That he is a loving and careful Father of his children and will neither bring any thing upon them nor keep back any thing from them but for their Good That he is a most skilful and compassionate Physician such an one as at all times and perfectly understandeth the true state and temper of our hearts and affections and accordingly ordereth us and dieteth us as he seeth it most behoofeful for us in that present state for the preservation or recovery of our spiritual strength or for the prevention of future maladies And this perswasion is one special means whereby the Lord teacheth us Contentment with whatsoever he sendeth 9. Secondly whereas there are in the word scattered every where many gracious and precious promises not only concerning the life to come but also concerning this present life the spirit of grace in the heart of the Godly teacheth them by faith to gather up all those scattered Promises and to apply them for their own comfort upon every needful occasion They hear by the outward preaching of the Word and are assured of the truth thereof by the inward teaching of the Spirit That God will never fail them nor forsake them That he is their shepherd and therefore they shall not want but his goodness and mercy shall follow them all the days of their lives That his eye is upon them that fear him to deliver their souls from death and to feed them in the time of dearth That he will give grace and Worship and with-hold no good thing from them that live a godly life That though the Lions the great and greedy Oppressours of the world may lack and suffer hunger yet they which seek the Lord shall want no manner of thing that is good and a thousand other such like Promises they hear and believe The assurance whereof is another special means by which the Lord teacheth his children to repose themselves in a quiet content without fear of want or too much thoughtfulness for the future 10. Thirdly for our better learning besides these Lectures of his Providence and Promises he doth also both appoint us Exercises and discipline us with his Rod By sending changes and afflictions in our bodies and in our names in our friends in our estates in the success of our affairs and many other ways but always for our profit And this his wise teaching of us bringeth on our learning wonderfully As for those whose houses are safe from fear neither is the Rod of God upon them as Iob speaketh that are never emptied nor poured from vessel to vessel they settle upon their own dregs and grow muddy and musty with long ease and their prosperity befooleth them to their own destruction When these come once to stirring and trouble over-taketh them as sooner or later they must look for it then the grumbles and mud of their impatience and discontent beginneth to appear and becometh unfavoury both to God and man But as for those whom the Lord hath taken into his own tuition and nurturing he will not suffer them either to wax wanton with too long ease nor to be depressed with too heavy troubles but by frequent changes he exerciseth them and inureth them to all estates As a good Captain traineth his Souldiers and putteth them out of one posture into another that they may be expert in all so the Lord of hosts traineth up his Souldiers by the armour of righteousnes on the right hand and on the left by honour and dishonour by evil Report and good Report by health and sickness by sometimes raising new friends and sometimes taking away the old by sometimes suffering their enemies to get the upper hand and sometimes bringing them under again by sometimes giving success to their affairs even beyond their expectation and sometimes dashing then hopes when they were almost come to full ripeness He turneth them this way and that way and every way till they know all their postures and can readily cast themselves into any form that he shall appoint They are often abased and often exalted now full and anon hungry one while they abound and they suffer need another while Till with our Apostle they know both how to be abased and how to abound Till every where and in all things they be instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need Till they can at least in some weak yet comfortable measure do all things through Christ that strengtheneth them These exercises
mind yea and good helps withal to the attainment of a farther degree of Contentment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a desire that will not be confined within reasonable bounds and a solicitous anxious care whereby we create to our selves a great deal of vexation to very little purpose with taking thought for the success of our affairs are the rank weeds of an earthly mind and evident signs of the want of true Contentment 17. And so is also thirdly that pinching and penurious humor which because it is an Evidence of a heart wretchedly set upon the World we commonly call Miserableness and the persons so affected Misers When a man cannot find in his heart to take part of that which God sendeth for his own moderate comfort and for the convenient sustenance of his Family and of those that belong to him in some measure of proportion sutably both to his Estate and Rank Servorum ventres modio castigat iniquo Ipse quoque esuriens For whereas the contented man that which he hath not he wanteth not because he can live without it this wretch on the contrary wanteth even that which he hath because he liveth beside it He that is truly contented with what God hath lent him for his portion can be also well content to use it as becometh him and as his occasions require because that which God intended it for when he lent it him was the use not the bare possission Not that the owner should behold it with his Eyes and then neither receive farther good from it not do farther good with it but that it should be used and employed to the glory of the Giver and the comfort of the Receiver and others with all Thankfulness and Sobriety and Charity 18. And do we not also fourthly too often and too evidently bewray the discontentedness of our minds by our murmuring and repining at the ways of Gods providence in the dispensation of these outward things when at any time they fall out cross to our desires and expectations The Israelites of old were much to blame this way and the Lord often plagued them for it insomuch that the Apostle proposeth their punishment as a monitory Example for all others to take warning by 1 Cor. 10. Neither murmur ye as some of them murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer In Aegypt where they had meat enough they murmured for want of liberty and in the wilderness where they had liberty enough they murmured for want of meat There by reason of the hard bondage they were in under Pharaoh and his cruel Officers they would have exchanged their very Lives had it been possible for a little Liberty Here when they wanted either bread or water or flesh they would have exchanged their liberty again for the Onions and Garlick and flesh-pots of Aegypt Like wayward children that are never well full nor fasting but always wrangling so were they And as they were then so have ever since been and still are the greatest part of mankind and all for want of this holy learning Whereas he that is well versed in this Art of Contentation is ever like himself the same full and fasting always quiet and always thankful 19. Yea and charitable too in the dispensation of the temporals God hath bestowed upon him for the comfortable relief of the poor distressed members of Jesus Christ which is another good sign of a Contented mind For what should make him sparing to them who feareth no want for himself As the godly man is described in Psal 112. His heart is fixed and established and his trust is in the Lord and thence it is that he is so chearfully disposed to disperse abroad and to give to the poor Some boast of their Contentedness as other some do of their Religiousness and both upon much like slender grounds They because they live of their own and do no man wrong these because they frequent the house of God and the holy Assemblies Good things they are both none doubteth and necessary Appendices respectively of those two great Vertues for certainly that man cannot be either truly Contented that doth not the one or truly Religious that neglecteth the other But yet as certain it is that no man hath either more Contentment or more Religion than he hath Charity You then that would be thought either contented or religious now if ever shew the truth of your Contentation and the power of your Religion by the works of Mercy and Compassion The times are hard by the just judgment of God upon a thankless Nation and thousands now are pinched with famine and want who were able in some measure and in their low condition to sustain themselves heretofore By this opportunity which he hath put into your hands the Lord hath put you to the Test and to the Trial and he now expecteth and so doth the World too that if you have either of those Graces in you which you pretend to you should manifest the fruits of them by refreshing the bowels of the needy If now you draw back and do not according to your Abilities and the Necessities of the times seriously and seasonably bring forth out of your treasures and dispence out of your abundance and that with more than ordinary liberality somewhat for the succour of those that stand in extreme need how dwelleth the love of God in you How dare you talk of Contentedness or make semblance of Religion Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the fatherless and widows in their Afflictions and to keep ones self unspotted of the world The same will serve as one good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among others whereby to make trial of the truth of our Contentedness also 20. Lastly it is a good sign of Contentedness when a man that hath any while enjoyed Gods blessings with comfort can be content to part with them quietly and with patience when the Lord calleth for them back again The things we have are not properly data but commodata When God lent us the use of them he had no meaning to forgo the property too and therefore they are his Goods still and he may require them at our hands or take them from us when he will and dispose of them as he pleaseth I will return and take away my corn and my wine in the season thereof and will recover my wooll and my flax Osea 2. What we have we hold of him as our Creditor and when he committed these things to our trust they were not made over to us by covenant for any fixed term Whensoever therefore he shall think good to call in his debts it is our part to return them with patience shall I say yea and with thankfulness too that he hath suffered us to enjoy them so long but without the least grudging or repining as too often we do that we may not hold them longer
together Thirdly for the order why Patience first and before Consolation Five in all somewhat of each 11. The former Title is the God of Patience Which may be understood either Formaliter or Causaliter either subjectively or effectively as they use to distinguish Or if these School-terms be too obscure then in plain terms thus either of Gods patience or Ours That is to say either of that patience which God useth towards us or of that patience which God by his grace and holy Spirit worketh in us Of Gods patience and long-suffering to us-ward besides pregnant testimony of Scripture we have daily and plentiful experience How slowly he proceedeth to Vengeance being so unworthily provoked how he beareth with our Infirmities Infirmities yea and Negligences too yea and yet higher our very Presumptions and Rebellions how he spreadeth out his hand all the day long waiting day after day year after year for our conversion and amendment that he may have mercy upon us And even thus understood Subjectivè the Text would bear a fair construction and not altogether impertinent to the Apostles scope It might at least intimate to us this that finding so much patience from him it would well become us also to shew some patience to our brethren But yet I conceive it more proper here to understand it effectivè of that Patience which is indeed from God as the Cause but yet in us as the Subject Even as a little after Verse 13. he is called the God of Hope because it is he that maketh us to abound in Hope as the reason is there expressed And as here in the Text he is stiled the God of Consolation for no other reason but that it is he that putteth comfort and chearfulness into our hearts 12. It giveth us clearly to see what we are of our selves and without God nothing but heat and impatience ready to vex our selves and to fly in the faces of our brethren for every trifle You have need of Patience saith the Apostle Heb. 10. We have indeed God help us 1. We live here in a vale of misery where we meet with a thousand petty crosses and vexations quotidianarum molestiarum minutiae in the common road of our lives poor things in themselves and as rationally considered very trifles and Vanity yet able to bring Vexation upon our impatient spirits we had need of patience to digest them 2. We are beset surrounded with a world of temptations assaulting us within and without and on every side and on every turn we had need of Patience to withstand them 3. We are exposed to manifold Injuries Obloquies and Sufferings many times without cause it may be sometimes for a good cause we had need of Patience to bear them 4. We have many rich and precious Promises made us in the Word of Grace of Glory of Outward things of some of which we find as yet but slender performance and of other some but that we are sure the anchor of our hope is so well fixt that it cannot fail no visible probability of their future performance we had need of patience to expect them 5. We have many good duties required to be done of us in our Christian Callings and in our particular vocations for the honour of God and the service of our brethren we had need of patience to go through with them 6. We have to converse with men of different Spirits and Tempers some hot fiery and furious others flat fullen and sluggish some unruly some ignorant some proud and scornful some peevish and obstinate some toyish fickle and humorous all subject to passions and infirmities in one kind or other we had need of patience to frame our conversations to the weaknesses of our brethren and to tolerate what we cannot remedy that by helping to bear each others burdens we may so fulfil the Law of Christ. 13. Great need we have of Patience you see and my Text letteth us see where we have to serve our need God is the God of patience in him and from him it is to be had but not elsewhere Whenever then we find our selves ready to fret at any cross occurent to revenge every injury to rage at every light provocation to droop at the delay of any promise to slugg in our own performances to skew at the infirmities of others take we notice first of the impatience of our own spirits and condemn it then hie we to the fountain of grace there beg for patience and meekness and he that is the God of patience will not deny it us That is the former Title the God of Patience 14. The other is The God of Consolation And the reason is for this can be understood no otherwise than Effective because sound comfort is from God alone I even I am he that comforteth you saith he himself Isa. 51. Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me saith David Psal. 23. And the Prophets often The Lord shall comfort Sion The Holy Ghost is therefore called as by his proper Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Comforter Yea perhaps as one among many others or allowing the Greek Article his Emphasis as the chiefest of all the rest which hindereth not but there may be other Comforters besides though haply of less Excellency If there were no more in it but so and the whole allegation should be granted it should be enough in wisdom to make us overlook all them that we might partake of his comforts as the best But in truth the Scriptures so speak of God not as the chiefest but as the only Comforter admitting no partnership in this prerogative Blessed be God c. The Father of Mercies and the God of Consolation 15. May we not then seek for comfort may some say nay do we not sometimes find comfort in Friends Riches Reputation and such other regular pleasures and delights as the creatures afford Verily under God we may always and do sometimes reap comfort from the creatures But those Comforts issue still from him as from the first and only sufficient cause Who is pleased to make use of his Creatures as his instruments either for comfort correction or destruction as seemeth good in his own Eyes When they do supply us with any comfort it is but as the conduit-pipes which serve the offices in a great house with water which yet springeth not from them but is only by them conveyed thither from the foundation or spring-head Set them onc◠against God or do but take them without God you may as soon squeeze water out of a flint-stone or suck nourishment out of a dry breast as gain a drop of comfort from any of the Creatures Those supposed comforts that men seek for or think they have sometimes found in the Creatures are but titular and imaginary not substantial and real Comforts And such however we esteem of them onward they will appear to be at the last for they will certainly fail us in the Evil day
justified in thy sight These latter Corrections also or chastenings of our heavenly Father are called Iudgments too When we are judged we are chastened of the Lord but in a quite different notion Because God proceedeth therein not with Violence and Fury as men that are in passion use to do but coolly and advisedly and with judgment And therefore whereas David deprecated Gods judgment as we heard in that former notion and as judgment is opposed to Favour Ieremy on the other side desireth Gods judgment in this latter notion and as it is opposed to Fury Correct me O Lord yet in thy judgment not in thy fury Jer. 10. 6. Now we see the several sorts of Gods judgments which of all these may we think is here meant If we should take them all in the Conclusion would hold them and hold true too Iudicia Oris and judicia Operis publick and private judgments those Plagues wherewith in fury he punisheth his Enemies and those rods wherewith in mercy he correcteth his children most certain it is they are all right But yet I conceive those judicia oris not to be so properly meant in this place for the Exegesis in the latter part of the verse wherein what are here called judgments are there expounded by troubles seemeth to exclude them and to confine the Text in the proper intent thereof to these judicia operis only but yet to all them of what sort soever publick or private Plagues or Corrections Of all which he pronounceth that they are right which is the Predicate of the Conclusion and cometh next to be considered I know O Lord that thy judgments are right 7. And we may know it too if we will but care to know either God or Our selves First for God though we be not able to comprehend the reasons of his dispensations the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the judgments are right it may satisfie us if we do but know that they are his Tua will infer recta strongly enough for the Lord who is righteous in all his ways must needs be so in the way of his judgments too 1. Mens judgments are sometimes not right through misinformations and sundry other mistakings and defects for which the Laws therefore allow Writs of Errour Appeals and other remedies But as for God he not only spieth out the goings but also searcheth into the hearts of all men he pondereth their spirits and by him all their actions are weighed 2. Mens judgments are sometimes not right because themselves are partial and unjust awed with Fear blinded with Gifts transported with Passion carried away with Favour or Dis affection or wearied with Importunity But as for God with him is no respect of Persons nor possibility of being corrupted Abraham took that for granted that the judge of all the world must needs do right Gen. 18. And the Apostle rejecteth all suspicion to the contrary with an Absit What shall we say then Is there unrighteousness with God God forbid Rom. 9. 3. Mens judgments are sometimes not right merely for want of zeal to justice They lay not the causes of poor men to heart nor are willing to put themselves to the pains or trouble of sifting a cause to the bottom nor care much which way it go so as they may but be at rest and enjoy their ease But as for God he is zealous of doing justice he loveth it himself he requireth it in others punishing the neglect of it and rewarding the administration of it in them to whom it belongeth The righteous Lord loveth righteousness Psal. 11. 8. And then secondly in our selves we may find if we will but look enough to satisfie us even for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 too so far as is meet for us to expect satisfaction The judgments of God indeed are Abyssus multa his ways are in the Sea and his paths are in the deep waters and his footsteps are not known 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Soon may we lose our selves in the search but never find them out Yet even there where the judgments of God are like a great deep unfathomable by any finite understanding his righteousness yet standeth like the high mountains as it is in Psal. 36. visible to every eye If any of us shall search well into his own heart and weigh his own carriage and deservings if he shall not then find enough in himself to justifie God in all his proceedings I forbid him not to say which yet I tremble but to rehearse that God is unrighteous 9. The holy Saints of God therefore have ever acquitted him by condemning themselves The Prophet Ieremy in the behalf of himself and the whole Church of God The Lord is righteous for I have rebelled against his Commandments Lam. 1. So did Daniel in that his solemn Confession when he set his face to seek the Lord God by prayer and supplications with fasting and sack-cloth and ashes Dan. 9. O Lord righteousness belongeth unto thee but unto us confusion of face as it is this day to our Kings to our Princes and to our Fathers because we have sinned against thee ver 7. and again after at verse 14. Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil and brought it upon us for the Lord our God is righteous in all his works which he doth for we obeyed not his Voice Yea so illustrious many times is the righteousness of God in his judicial proceedings that it hath extorted an acknowledgment from men obstinately wicked Pharaoh who sometimes in the pride of his heart had said Who is the Lord was afterwards by the evidence of the fact it self forced to this confession I have sinned the Lord is righteous but I and my people are wicked Exod. 9. 10. They are then at least in that respect worse than wicked Pharaoh that to justifie themselves will not stick to repine either at God himself or his judgments as if he were cruel and they unrighteous like the slothful Servant in the Parable that did his Master no service at all and yet as lazy as he was could blame his Master for being an hard man Cain when he had slain his righteous brother and God had laid a judgment upon him for it complained of the burden of it as if the Lord had dealt hardly with him in laying more upon him than he was able to bear never considering the weight of the sin which God in justice could not bear Solomon noteth it as a fault common among men when by their own sinful folly they have pulled misery upon themselves then to murmur against God and complain of his providence The folly of a man perverteth his ways and his heart fretteth against the Lord Prov. 19. As the Israelites in their passage through the Wilderness were ever and anon murmuring and complaining at somewhat or other either against God or which cometh much to one against
glorifie God And then two Amplifications thereof the one respecting the person whom they were to glorifie thus described God even the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ the other respecting the manner how or the means whereby they were to glorifie him with one mind and with one mouth Of which in their order the End first and then the Amplifications 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That ye may glorifie God We must a little search into the words that we may the more fully understand them The first word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though but a Particle hath its use It pointeth us out to some end or final cause Would St. Paul have so bestirred himself as he doth spent so much breath so much oratory so many arguments been so copious and so earnest as he is by his best both persuasions and prayers to draw all parts to unity if he had not conceived it conducible to some good end He that doth not propose to himself some main end in all his Actions especially those that are of moment and such as he will make a business of is not like either to go on with any good certainty or to come off with any sound comfort There would be ever some fixt end or other thought of in all our undertakings and endeavours 4. And so there is most an end Nature it self prompting us thereunto but for the most part our Nature being so foully depraved a wrong one Omnes quae sua he speaketh of it complainingly as of an error that is common among men and in a manner universal All seek their own seldom look beyond themselves but make their own profit their own pleasure their own glory their own safety or other their own personal contentment the utmost end of all their thoughts Which upon the point is no better than very Atheism or at the best and that but a very little better Idolatry He that doth all for himself and hath no farther End make an Idol of himself and hath no other God The ungodly is so proud that he careth not for God neither is God in all his thoughts Psal. 10. He is so full of himself his thoughts are so wholly taken up with himself that there is no room there for God or any thing else but himself But this self-seeking St. Paul every where disclaimeth Not seeking his own profit 1 Cor. 10. Nor counting his life dear unto himself so as he might do God and his Church any acceptable service either with it or without it Act. 20. If he had looked but at himself and his own things what need the dissention of the Romans have troubled him any thing at all If they be so minded let them go to it hardly judge on and despise on tug it out among themselves as well as they can bite and devour one another till they had wearied and worried one another what is that to him It would be much more for his ease and possibly he should have as much thanks from them too for to part a fray is most what a thankless office to sit him down let them alone and say nothing This is all true and this he knew well enough too But there was a farther matter in it he saw his Lord and Master had had an Interest his honour suffered in their dissentions and then he could not hold off 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as his Phrase is twice in one Chapter he could not for his life forbear but he must put in for the love of Christ constrained him We are by his example to make God our chiefest good and the utmost end of all our actions and intentions Not meerly seeking our own credit or profit or ease or advancement nor determining our aims in our selves or in any other Creature But raising our thoughts to an higher pitch to look beyond all these at God as the chief delight of our hearts and scope of our desires That we may be able to say with David Psal. 16. I have set the Lord alway before me That is a second Point 5. And if we do so the third will fall in of it self to wit his Glory for he and it are inseparable The greatest glory on earth is that of a mighty King when he appeareth in state his robes glorious his attendants glorious every thing about him ordered to be as glorious as may be Solomon in all his glory Mat. 6. There is I grant no proportion here finiti ad infinitum But because we are acquainted with no higher it is the best resemblance we have whereby to take some scantling of the infinite glory of our heavenly King And therefore the Scriptures fitted to our capacity speak of it to us mostly in that key The Lord is King and hath put on glorious apparel Psal. 93. O Lord my God thou art become exceeding glorious thou art cloathed with Majesty and honour Psal. 104. But as I said before it holdeth no proportion So that we may not unfitly take up our Apostles words elsewhere though spoken to another purpose Even that which is most glorious here hath no glory in this respect by reason of the glory that excelleth 2 Cor. 3. 10. And the force of the Argument he useth at the next verse there holdeth full out as strongly here For saith he if that which is done away be glorious much more that which remaineth is glorious The glory of the greatest Monarch in the world when it is at the fullest is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word fitteth the thing very well a matter rather of shew and opinion than of substance and hath in it more of fancy than reality 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is St. Luke's expression Acts 25. Yet as emptie a thing as it is if it were of any permanency it were worthy the better regard But that that maketh it the verier vanity is that it is a thing so transitory it shall and must be done away But the glory of the great King of Heaven remaineth and shall not cannot be done away for ever The glorious Majesty of the Lord endureth for ever Psal. 104. If then that be glorious much more this but how much more is more than any tongue can utter or heart conceive So that if we look at God we cannot leave out Glory 6. Neither if we speak of Glory may we leave out God and that is a fourth Point For as no other thing belongeth so properly to God as Glory so neither doth Glory belong so properly to any other person as to God The holy Martyr St. Stephen therefore calleth him The God of Glory And the holy Apostles when they speak of giving him glory do it sometimes with the exclusive Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the only wise God or as the words will equally bear it only to the wise God be Glory to him and only to him Yea and the holy Angels in that Anthem they sang upon our
of the sense of her pressures letteth all complaints sometimes as if she were forsaken But Sion said the Lord hath forsaken me and my God hath forgotten me Isa. 49. 14. But she complaineth without cause it is a weakness in her to which during her warfare she is subject by fits but she is checkt for it immediately in the very next verse there Can a woman forget her sucking Child c. Yea they may forget yet will not I forget thee 21. Again their Love may be alienated by needless jealousies or false suggestions and so lost But his Love is durable he loveth his own unto the End He knoweth the singleness of their hearts and will receive no accusation against them Quis accusabit Who dare lay any thing to the charge of his Elect when he standeth up for their Iustification They alass are negligent enough unthankful undutiful children nay confest it must be other while stubborn and rebellious But as Davids heart longed after Absolom because he was his Son though a very ungracious one so his bowels yearn after those that are no ways worthy but by his dignation only to be called his Sons Forgiving all their by-past miscariages upon their true repentance receiving them with gladness though they have squandered away all their portion with riotous living if they return to him in any time with humble obedient and perfect hearts and in the mean time using very many admonitions entreaties and other artifices to win them to repentance and forbearing them with much patience that they may have space enough to repent in And if upon such indulgences and insinuations they shall come in he will not only welcome them with kind embraces but do his part also to hold them in when they are even ready to fly out again and were it not for that hold would in all likelihood so do So as unless by a total wilful renouncing him they break from him and cut themselves off nothing in the world shall be able to separate them from the love of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. 22. Yet again Parents affections may be so strongly byassed another way as we heard that in the pursuit of other delights they may either quite forget or very much disregard their Children But no such thing can befal our heavenly Father who taketh pleasure in his People and in their Prosperity whose chiefest delight is in shewing mercy to his children and doing them good The Lord had a delight in thy Fathers to love them Deut. 10. And whereas the Church as we also heard is apt to complain that she is forsaken and desolate The Lord by the Prophet giveth her a most comfortable assurance to the contrary Isa. 62. Thou shalt no more be called forsaken c. But thou shalt be call'd Hephzibah It is a compound word and signifieth as much as My delight is in her and so the reason of that appellation is there given For the Lord delighteth in thee That for his Love the first Attribute 23. His Wisdom is the next Fathers and Mothers through humane ignorance cannot perfectly understand the griefs of their Children nor infallibly know how to remedy them if they did But God who dwelleth in light nay who is light knoweth the in most recesses the darkest thoughts and secrets of all mens hearts better than themselves do He perfectly understandeth all their wants and what supplies are fittest in their respective conditions with all the least circumstances thereunto belonging When all the wits and devices of men are at a loss and know not which way in the world to turn them to avoid this danger to prevent that mischief to effectuate any design the Lord by his infinite wisdom can manage the business with all advantage for the good of his children if he see it behoveful for them bringing it about suaviter fortiter sweetly and without violence in ordering the means but effectually and without fail in accomplishing the end 24. Which wisdom of his observable in all the dispensations of his gracious providence towards his children we may behold as by way of instance in his fatherly corrections As the Apostle Heb. 12. maketh the comparison between the different proceedings of the fathers of our flesh and the Father of Spirits in their chastisements They do it after their own pleasure saith he that is not always with judgement and according to the merit of the fault but after the present disposition of their own passions either through a fond indulgence sparing the Rod too much or in a frantick rage laying it on without mercy or measure But it is not so with him who in all his chastisements hath an eye as to our former faults such is his Iustice so also and especially to our future profit such is his mercy and ordereth all accordingly His blessings are our daily food his corrections our Physick Our frequent surfeiting on that food bringeth on such distempers that we must be often and sometimes soundly physickt or we are but lost men As therefore a skilful Physician attempereth and applieth his remedies with such due regard to the present state of the Patient as may be likeliest to restore him to a good habit of body and consistency of health so dealeth our heavenly Father with us But with this remarkable difference The other may err in judging of the state of the body or the nature of the ingredients in his proportions of mixture in the dose and many other ways But the Lord perfectly knoweth how it is with us and what will do us good and how much and when and how long to continue c. and proceedeth in every respect thereafter 25. Thirdly whereas our earthly Parents have a limited and that a very narrow power and cannot therefore do their children the good they would our heavenly Fathers power is as his wisdom infinite Not limited by any thing but his own blessed will quicquid voluit fecit as for our God he is in heaven he hath done whatsoever pleased him Not hindred by any resistance or retarded by any impediments Quis restitit Who hath resisted his will Rom. 9. Not disabled by any casualities occurrences or straitness of time adjutor in opportunitatibus Psal. 9. Even a refuge in due time of trouble That is his due time commonly dominus in monte when it seemeth too late to us and when things are grown in the eye of reason almost desperate and remediless The most proper time for him to lay to his hand is when to our apprehensions his Law is even quite destroyed when Men have fallen upon most cursed designs trampled all Laws of God and Men under their feet and prospered And here indeed is the right trial of our faith and whether we be the true children of faithful Abraham If we can hope beyond and against hope That is if we can rest our faith intirely upon
not titular and by a naked profession only whatsoever he is taken for is clearly the wiser man And he that is no more than worldly or carnally wise is in very deed and in Gods estimation no better than a very fool Where is the Wise Where is the Scribe Where is the disputer of this World Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of the World saith the Apostle That Interrogative form of speech is more emphatical than the bare Categorical had been it signifieth as if it were so clear a truth that no man could reasonably deny it What Solomon saith in one place of the covetous rich man and in another place of the sluggard that he is wise in his own conceit is true also of every vicious person in every other kind Their wisdom is a wisdom but in conceit not in truth and that but in their own conceit neither and of some few others perhaps that have their judgments corrupted with the same lusts wherewith theirs also are Chrysippus non dicit idem Solomon sure had not that conceit of their wisdom and Solomon knew what belonged to wisdom as well as another man who putteth the fool upon the sinner I need not tell you indeed I cannot tell you how oft in his writings 34. His judgment then is clear in the point though it be a Paradox to the most and therefore would have a little farther proof for it is not enough barely to affirm Paradoxes but we must prove them too First then true saving wisdom is not to be learned but from the Word of God A lege tuâ intellexi By thy Commandments have I gotten understanding Psal. 119. it is that word and that alone that is able to make us wise unto salvation How then can they be truly wise who regard not that word but cast it behind their backs and despise it They have rejected the word of the Lord and what wisdom is in them saith Ieremy Again The fear of the Lord is the begining of Wisdom and a good understanding have they that do thereafter Psal. 111. How then can we allow them to pass for wise men and good understanding men that have no fear of God before their eyes that have no mind nor heart to do thereafter that will not be learned nor understand but are resolvedly bent to walk on still in darkness and wilfully shut their eyes that they may not see the light 35. Since every man is desirous to have some reputation of wisdom and accounteth it the greatest scorn and reproach in the world to be called or made a fool it would be very well worth the labour but that it would require as it well deserveth a great deal more labour and time than we dare now take to illustrate and enlarge this point which though it seem a very Paradox as was now said to the most is yet a most certain and demonstrable truth That godliness is the best of wisdom and that there is no fool to the sinner I shall but barely give you some of the heads of proof and refer the enlargement to each mans private meditation He that first is all for the present and never considereth what mischiefs or inconveniencies will follow thereupon afterwards that secondly when both are permitted to his choice hath not the wit to prefer that which is eminently better but chuseth that which is extremely worse that thirdly proposeth to himself base and unworthy ends that fourthly for the attaining even of those poor ends maketh choice of such means as are neither proper nor probable thereunto that fifthly goeth on in bold enterprises with great confidence of success upon very slender grounds of assurance and that lastly where his own wit will not serve him refuseth to be advised by those that are wiser than himself what he wanteth in wit making it up in will no wise man I think can take a person of this character for any other than a fool And every worldly or ungodly man is all this and more and every godly man the contrary Let not the worldly-wise man therefore glory in his wisdom that it turn not to his greater shame when his folly shall be discovered to all the world Let no man deceive himself saith St. Paul but if any among you seem to be wise in this world let him become a fool that he may be wise That is let him lay aside all vain conceit of his own wisdom and learn to account that seeming wisdom of the world to be as indeed it is no better than folly that so he may find that true wisdom which is of God The God of light and of wisdom so enlighten our understandings with the saving knowledge of his truth and so inflame our hearts with a holy love and fear of his Name that we may be wise unto salvation and so assist us with the grace of his holy Spirit that the light of our good works and holy conversation may so shine forth both before God and men in the mean time that in the end by his mercy who is the Father of lights we may be made partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in the light of everlasting life and glory and that for the merits sake of Iesus Christ his only Son our Lord. To whom c. AD AULAM. Sermon XVI Newport in the Isle of Wight Novemb. 1648. Heb. 12. 3. Consider him that endured such contradictions of sinners against himself that ye be not wearied and faint in your minds 1. THere is scarce any other provocation to the performance of any duty so prevalent with men as are the examples of such as have performed the same before them with glory and success Because besides that the same stirreth up in them an emulation of their glory and cheereth them on with hopes of like success it also clean taketh off that which is the common excuse of sloth and neglect of duty the pretension of Impossibility The Apostle therefore being to confirm the minds of these Hebrews with constancy and patience in their Christian course against all discouragements whatsoever setteth before them in the whole former Chapter a multitude of examples of the famous worthies of former times who by the strength of their faith had both done and suffered great things with admirable patience and constancy to their immortal honour upon earth and eternal happiness in heaven To the end that compassed with such a cloud of Witnesses they might think it a shame for them to hang back and not to dare especially having wâ—ithal so rich a Crown laid ready at the Goal for them to invite them thereunto to run with all possible chearfulness that race when they had seen so many so happily to have run before them vers 1. of this Chapter 2. Yet this great cloud of examples they were but to look through as the Medium at another and higher Example that of the bright Son of
our Faith But it is by the grace and power of God that our Faith it self standeth Take that grace away and our faith faileth and then our hearts fail and then there is neither courage nor patience nor obedience nor any thing else that good is in us At least not in that measure as to render our ways during that estate either acceptable to God or comfortable to our selves until it shall please him to renew us unto repentance to give us the comfort of his help again and to establish us afresh with his free spirit and grace 32. Of whose most holy and wise dispensations although we be neither able nor worthy to apprehend any other reason than his own will nor to comprehend that for his spirit breatheth where and when it listeth and we know not antecedently either why or how yet are we well assured in the general that the Lord is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works Yea and we find by the blessed consequents many times that the very withdrawing of his grace is it self a special act of his grace 1. As when he hath thereby humbled us to a better sight and sense of our own frailty so was Hezekiah left to himself in the matter of the Embassadours that came from the King of Babel 2. Or checkt us for our overmuch self-confidence as Peters denial was a real rebuke for his over-bold protestation 3. Or brought us to acknowledge with thankfulness and humility by whose strength it is that we have hitherto stood My strength will I ascribe unto thee Psal. 59. 4. Or taught us to bear more compassion towards our brethren and their infirmities if they hap to be overtaken with a fault and to restore them with the spirit of meekness considering that even we our selves are not such as cannot be tempted Or wrought some other good effect upon us some other way 33. Sith then great and lasting afflictions are strong trials of mens patience and courage and their inability to bear them great through the frailty of nature is yet by their own personal default and supine negligence much greater and without the support of Gods grace which as he is no ways bound to give them so he may and doth when it pleaseth him take from them their spirits are not able to bear up under the least temptation you will grant the Apostle had great reason to fear lest these Hebrews notwithstanding the good proof they had given of their Christian constancy in some former trials should yet be weary and faint in their minds under greater sufferings And consequently how it concerneth every one of us whatsoever comforts we may have of our former sufferings and patience whereof unless God have the whole glory our comfort sure will be the less yet to be very jealous of our own treacherous hearts and to keep a constant watch over them that they deceive us not not to be too high-minded or jolly for any thing that is past nor too unmerciful censurers of our weaker brethren for their faintings and failings nor too confident of our own future standing 34. It ought to be our care rather at all times especially in such times as threaten persecution to all those that will not recede from such Principles of Religion Iustice and Loyalty as they have hitherto held themselves obliged to walk by to live in a continual expectancy of greater trials and temptations daily to assault us than we have yet wrestled withal And to give all diligence by our faithful prayers and utmost endeavours to arm and prepare our selves for the better bearing them with such calm patience and moderation on the one side and yet with such undaunted courage and resolution on the other side as may evidence at once our humble submission to whatsoever it shall please God to lay upon us and our high contempt of the utmost despight the world can do us 35. For since every affliction Ianus-like hath two faces and looketh two ways we should do well to make our use of both It looketh backward as it cometh from God who layeth it upon us as a correction for some past sin And it looketh forward as it cometh from Satan and the World who lay it before us as a temptation to some new sin Accordingly are we to entertain it As it is Gods Correction by no means to despise it My Son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord the next verse but one but to take it up with joy and to bear it with patience and to profit by it to repentance But as it is Satans temptation by all means to resist it with courage yea and with disdain too Resist it I say but in that sence wherein such resistance is to be understood in the very next verse after Text. That is to say so to resist the temptation by striving against that sin whatever it be which the Tempter seeketh to drive us into by the affliction that we should fight it out in blood resolving rather to lose it all were it to the last drop than consent to the committing of that Thus to lose our blood is to win the day And the failing so to do is that weariness and faininess of mind and soul of which our Apostle here speaketh and upon which we have hitherto thus long insisted 36. Yet dare I not for all that leave it thus without adding a necessary caution lest what hath been said be mis-understood as if when we are bidden not to faint under the Cross we were forbidden to use any means or endeavours to remove it No such matter True it is where no more is left to our choice but one of the two either Sin or Suffer a right Christian should not for shame so much as take it into deliberation Never demur upon it it is a plain case we must suffer But where there is a Medium or third thing as an out-let or expedient between both as many times there is nothing hindreth but we may and reason would we should make choice of that and so neither sin nor suffer Lay that first as a sure ground We must avoid sin though we suffer for it But that once laid if we can then avoid suffering too without sinning why may we not nay why ought we not to avoid both 37. No man doubteth but we may pray to be delivered from troubles David doth it an hundred times and if we do it not daily too even as often as we beg our daily bread our Saviour having contrived both Petitions into the same Prayer we are to blame And if we may pray for it then no doubt but we may endeavour it also Though they look something alike in someother respects yet in this one at least Wishes and Prayers are much unlike Many things we may lawfully wish for which we may not endeavour after but sure whatsoever we may lawfully pray for we not only lawfully may but are in
and by what evidence you must approve your selves to be Gods Defend the poor and fatherless saith he in that Psalm See that such as be in need and necessity have right Deliver the out-cast and poor Save them from the hand of the ungodly This premised it then followeth one verse only interseâ—â—ed I have said Ye are Gods As if he had said So do and then you are Gods indeed but without this care you are Idols and not Gods Much like the Idol-Gods of the Heathen that have eyes and see not ears and hear not mouths and speak â—â—ot that have a great deal of worship from the people and much reverence but are good for nothing By this very Argument in Baruc 6. are such Idols disproved to be Gods They can save no Man from death neither deliver the weak from the mighty They cannot restore a blind Man to his sight nor help any Man in his distress They can shew no mercy to the widow nor do good to the fatherless How should a Man then think and say that they are Gods 11. I hope the greatest upon earth need think it no disparagement to their greatness to look down upon the afflictions of their meanest brethren and to stoop to their necessities when the great God of Heaven and Earth who hath his dwelling so high yet humbleth himself to behold the simple that lie as low as the dust and to liâ—t up the poor that sticketh fast in the mire The Lord looketh down from his Sanctuary from the Heaven did the Lord behold the Earth That he might hear the mournings of such as be in captivity and deliver the children appointed unto death So then for the performance of this duty thou hast God's Commandment upon thee and thou hast God's Example before thee If there be in thee any true fear of God thou wilt obey his Command and if any true hope in God follow his Example 12. If from God we look downward in the next place upon our selves and duly consider either what power we have or what need we may have from both considerations we may discover yet farther the necessity of this duty And first from our Power There is no power but of God and God bestoweth no power upon Man nor indeed upon any Creature whatsoever to no purpose The natural powers and faculties as well of our reasonable souls as of our organical bodies they have all of them their several uses and operations unto which they are designed And by the Principles of all good Philosophy we cannot conceive of Power but in order and with reference to Act. Look then what power God hath put into any of our hands in any kind and in any measure it lieth us upon to employ it to the best advantage we can for the good of our brethren for to this very end God hath given us that power whatever it be that we might do good therewithal The Lord hath in his wise providence so disposed the things of this World that there should ever be some rich to relieve the necessities of the poor and some poor to exercise the charity of the rich So likewise he hath laid distresses upon some that they might be succoured by the power of others and lent power to some that they might be able to succour the distresses of others Now as God himself to whom all power properly and originally belongeth delighteth to manifest his power rather in shewing mercy than in works of destruction God spake once Twice have I heard the same that power belongeth unto God and that thou Lord art merciful Psal. 62. O let the sorrowful sighing of the prisoners come before thee according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die Psal. 79. So all those upon whom God hath derived any part of that power should consider that God gave it them for edification not for destruction to do good withal and to help the distressed and to save the innocent not to trample upon the poor and oppress those that are unable to resist Pestifera vis est valere ad nocendum It is in truth a great weakness in any Man rather than a demonstration of power to stretch his power for the doing of mischief An evident Argument whereof is that observation of Solomon in Prov. 28. confirmed also by daily experience that a poor Man that oppresseth the poor is ever the most merciless oppressor It is in matter of Power many times as it is in matter of Learning They that have but a smattering in Scholarship you shall ever observe to be the forwardest to make ostentation of those few ends they have because they fear there would be little notice taken of their Learning if they should not now shew it when they can And yet you may observe that withal it oftentimes falleth out very unluckily with them that when they think most of all to shew their Scholarship they then most of all by some gross mistake or other betray their Ignorance It is even so in this case Men of base spirit and condition when they have gotten the advantage of a little power conceive that the World would not know what goodly Men they are if they should not do some Act or other whereby to shew forth their power to the World And then their minds being too narrow to comprehend any brave and generous way whereby to do it they cannot frame to do it any other way than by trampling upon those that are below them and that they do beyond all reason and without all mercy 13. This Argument taken from the end of that power that God giveth us was wisely and to good purpose pressed by Mordecai Esth. 1. to Queen Esther when she made difficulty to go into the Presence to intercede for the people of the Iews after that Haman had plotted their destruction Who knoweth saith he there whether thou art come to the Kingdom for such a time as this As if he had said Consider the marvellous and gracious providence of God in raising thee who wert of a despised nation and kindred to be partaker with the most potent Monarch in the World in the Royal Grown and Bed Think not but the Lord therein certainly intended some great work to be done by thy hand and power for his poor distressed Church Now the hour is come now if ever will it be seasonable for thee to make use of those great fortunes God hath advanced thee to and to try how far by that power and interest thou hast in the King's favour thou canst prevail for the reversing of Haman's bloody Decree and the preserving our whole Nation from utter destruction And of this Argument there seemeth to be some intimation in the very Text as those words in the 12th verse may and that not unfitly be understood He that keepeth thy soul doth not he know it that is He that hath preserved
heart That must be left therefore wholly to the Lord who alone can do it perfectly and to whose judgment alone every man shall finally stand or fall and if he deserve to fall all his vain excuses shall not be able to hold him up 31. Which of how little avail they are in his sight let us see in some few examples What gained Adam by his thin fig-leaves and thinner Apology St. Bernard thinketh his latter sin in excusing was in some respects rather greater than his first sin in eating I dare not say so yet questionless that excuse of his added a new guilt to the former and aggravated his fault to the farther provoking of God's displeasure All he could do or say could neither hide his nakedness or hold him in Paradise And was not Cain condemned to be a perpetual runagate for all his excuse And Saul cast both out of Gods favour and the Kingdom for all his And so of all the rest The unworthy guests as they all made excuses together for company so were they all excluded from the great supper together for company And the damned Reprobates at the last day shall not with all their Allegations procure either any stay of judgment before sentence be pronounced or the least mitigation thereof after 32. If it were with Almighty God as it is with Men we might conceive some hope or possibility at least that a meer pretended excuse might be of some use to us 1. Possibly he might take it as it is and never search farther into it 2. Or he may search into it and not find out the vanity and slightness of it 3. Or he might find it out and yet let it go unpunished But the Text here assureth us that it is quite otherwise with him in each of these respects 1. The Lord will both search it out for doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it And find it out 2. for he that keepeth thy soul doth not he know it And punish it 3. for shall not he render to every Man according to his works Each of which interrogations virtually contain a several reason of the point to let us see how impossible it is that causeless Excuses should do us any good before the judgment seat of God 33. First They will not avail us because they cannot escape his search Doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it Men are credulous and inconsiderate both ways easily induced by a credible accusation to condemn the innocent and as easily by a credible Apology to accquit an offender But the righteous Lord evermore taketh the matter into his due consideration and pondereth every thing diligently for in such-like Phrases the Scriptures fitted to our capacities speak of him before he proceed to give sentence If the cry of the sins of Sodom be grievous and call importunately upon him for vengeance yet before he will powr it down upon them in fire and brimstone he will pause upon it as it were a little first he will go down and see if their doings be altogether according to that cry and if not that he may know it Neither will he give Belshazzar's Kingdom from him to the Medes and Persians before he have weighed him in the ballance and found him too light And as he will not take an accusation to the condemning so neither will he take an excuse to the acquitting of any Person without sifting it well first and searching into the truth of it In which search he is most exact and punctual For he entereth into the reins and kidneys and pierceth even to the dividing aâ—â—nder of the joints and marrow and prieth into the most secret inwards and that with a most curious eye till he discern the most close and hidden thoughts and intents of the heart And to make sure work that nothing may escape his search by lurking unspied in some remote corner or dark cranny of the heart he taketh a light with him he searcheth it with candles as the Prophet speaketh To omit those other metaphorical but significant expressions here and there scattered in the holy Scriptures to this purpose this very phrase used in the Text of pondering the heart and that other like it in Prov. 16. of weighing the spirits if there were no other would sufficiently shew forth the exactness of his proceedings in this trial It is taken from the curiosâ—ty that Men use in weighing Gold or precious quintessences for medicine It importeth that if in any thing we pretend a scruple or but so much as the least grain be wanting of the due weight it should have it will not pass current with him but shall be turned upon us again both to our shame and loss 34. Secondly Vain excuses will not help us because the vanity of them cannot scape his knowledg He that keepeth thy soul doth not he know it Men are easily deluded with false shews because they cannot always spy the falseness and emptiness of them as children are easily made believe that a piece of Brass is Gold when they see it glister And the reason is evident because Men have nothing to judg by but the outward appearance and that can let them in but a very little way into the heart So that what the Preacher saith Eccl. 8. in respect of other things holdeth no less in respect of the sincerity of Mens hearts and likewise of their speeches and allegations Tho a Man labour to seek it out yea further tho a wise Man think to know it yet he shall not be able to find it Only the Lord in whose hands and before whose eyes our hearts and all our ways are he that keepeth our souls as it is here Servat and observat too the word may import either he spieth out all our paths and observeth all our haltings We deceive ourselves if we think to mock him or to hide any thing out of his sight Shall not God search it out saith David Psal. 44. for he knoweth the very secrets of the heart Men may search for a thing and be never the nearer because they cannot search it out As Laban tumbled over all Iacob's stuff searching for his Idols but found them not But where God searcheth he doth it effectually Shall not God search it out 35. Thirdly Vain excuses will not help us because they cannot exempt us from punishment and the just vengeance of God for shall not he render to every Man according to his works Men are sometimes swayed with partial affections to connive at such things as they might redress if they were so disposed and are content to take any sorry excuse for a sufficient answer when it is so thin and transparent that they cannot chuse but see quite through it especially if it be tendred by such persons as they desire to shew some respect unto But with the Lord there is no respect of persons He hateth sin with a perfect hatred
We find it expressed with that adjunct Heb. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the immutability of his Counsel And it is here laid down as the great foundation of our Christian hope and the very strength of all our consolation Quod scripsi scripsi What he hath written in the secret Book of his determinate Counsel though it be counsel to us and uncertain until either he reveal it or the event discover it yet is it most certain in it self and altogether unchangeable We follow our own devices many times which we afterwards repent and truly our second thoughts are most an end the wiser But with God there is no after-counsel to correct the errors of the former he knoweth not any such thing as repentance it is altogether hid from his eyes He is indeed sometimes in the Scriptures said to repent as Gen. 6. and in the business of Nineveh and elsewhere But it is not ascribed unto God properly but as other humane passions and affections are as grief sorrow c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to import some actions of God eventually and according to the manner of our understanding like unto the operations which those passions produce in us but have nothing at all of the nature of those passions in them So that still that is eternally true which was spoken indeed by a false Prophet but whose spirit and tongue was at that time guided by the God of Truth Num. 23. 19. God is not a Man that he shall lye Neither the Son of Man that he should repent His Counsel therefore standeth ever one and the same not reversed by repentance or countermanded by any after counsel 18. Followeth the third Difference which consisteth in their Efficacy that is expressed in the Text by their different manner of Existing Many devices may be in a man's heart but it is not in his power to make them stand unless God will they shall never be accomplished But in despight of all the World the counsel of the Lord shall stand nothing can hinder or disappoint that but that it shall have the intended effect 19. The Heart although sometimes it be put for the appetitive part of the Soul only as being the proper seat of the desires and affections as the Head or Brain is of the conceptions or thoughts yet is it very often in Scripture and so it is here taken more largely so as to comprehend the whole Soul in all its faculties as well the apprehensive as the appetitive and consequently taketh in the Thoughts as well as the Desires of the Soul Whence we read of the thoughts of the heart of thoughts arising in the heart of thoughts proceeding from out the heart and the like The meaning then is that multitudes and variety of devices may be in a Man's head or in his heart in his thoughts and desires in his intentions and hopes but unless God give leave there they must stay He is not able to bring them on further to put them in execution and to give them a real existency They imagined such a device as they are not able to perform Psal. 21. Whatsoever high conceits Men may have of the fond imaginations of their own hearts as if they were some goodly things yet the Lord that better understandeth us than we do our selves knows all the thoughts of Men that they are but vain Psal. 94. And this he knoweth not only for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it is so by his omniscience and prescience but for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 too which is the most perfect kind of knowledg why it is so even because his hand is in it to render them vain It is he that maketh the devices of the people yea and of Princes too as it is added in some Translations to be of none effect Psal. 33. 20. Possibly the heart may be so full that it may run over make some offers outward by the mouth for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh and the tongue may boast great things and talk high It may so indeed but that boasting doth not any thing at all to further the business or to give the thoughts of the heart a firm bottom or base whereon to rest it many times rather helps to overturn them the sooner We call it vapouring and well may we so call it For as a vapour that ariseth from the earth is scattred with the wind vanisheth and cometh to nothing so are all the imaginations and devices that are conceived in the heart of Man blasted when the Lord bloweth upon them and then they come to nothing 21. But as for the Counsels of his heart they shall stand Rooted and established like the Mountains The foundation of God standeth firm though spoken by the Apostle in another sence is most true in this also What he hath purposed either himself to do or to have done by any of his Creatures shall most certainly and infallibility come to pass in every circumstance just as he hath appointed it It is established in the Heavens and tho all the Powers in Earth and Hell should joyn their forces together set to all their shoulders and strength against it and thrust sore at it to make it fall yet shall they never be able to move it or shake it much less to remove it from the place where it standeth or to overthrow it His Name is Iehovah it signifieth as much as Essence or Being 1. Not only because of the eâ—ternity of his own being and that from himself and underived from any other 2. Nor yet because he is the Author of Being to all other things that are 3. But also for that he is able to give a Being reality and subsistence to his own Will and Word to all his Purposes and Promises Da voci tuae vocem virtutiâ— What he hath appointed none can disappoint His counsel doth shall must stand My Counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure Isa. 46. 10. 22. The consideration of these differences hath sufficiently discovered the weakness frailty and unsuccessfulness of Mens devices on the one side and on the other side the stability unchangeableness and unfailingness of God's Counsels Whereof the consideration of the Reasons of the said differences will give us yet farther assurance and those Reasons taken from the Soveraignty the Eternity the Wisdom and the Power of God 23. First God is the prima causa the soveraign Agent and first mover in every motion and inclination of the Creature Men yea and Angels too who far excel them in strength are but secondary Agents subordinate Causes and as it were Instruments to do his Will Now the first cause hath such a necessary influence into all the operations of second causes that if the concurrence thereof be with-held their operations must cease The Provdence of God in ordering the World and the acting of the Creatures by his actuation of them is