POINT II. All Christians have title to this Liberty 32 The Unregenerate as well as the Godly 33 35 And the Clergy as the Laity 36 The Conclusion Sermon XII Ad Aulam II. Ser. on 1 COR. x. 23. Sect. 1 2. THe Scope and Division of the Text. 3 5 OBSEKV I. Expediency not considerable but in Lawful things only 6 Illustrated by the contrary Examples of David In the matter of Saul 7 and in the matter of Uriah 8 11 THE INFERENCE thence Not to do any unlawful thing seem it never so expedient 12 OBSERV II. Things otherwise lawful to be forborn when they are inexpedient 13 16 What Expedience is 17 and how it differeth from lawfulness 18 THE INFERENCE Expediency to be examined in all other actions as well as Lawfulness 19 21 Two important Reasons thereof 22 23 OBSERV III. Edification the measure of Expediency 24 27 what is Edification 28 29 In the exercise of Liberty much left to the Discretion and to the Charity of particular men 30 33 34 35 A necessary Caution touching the Authority of Superiours in different things 36 41 The Cases of Obedience and Scandal compared 24 c. Our whole Duty for Practice summed up in Three Rules Sermon XIII Ad Aulam on ROM xv 6. Sect. 1 2. THe Scope and Division of the Text. 3 9 The words That you may glorifie God opened in Six Particulars 10 11 POINT I. The Glory of God to be intended as our chiefest End 12 Reas. 1. as being the chiefest Good 13 2. and that whereunto we are both in Duty 14 3. and Wisdom obliged 15 Inferences of Admonition That we do not either 1. bestow upon any Creature any of that Glory which is due to God 16 2. or draw to our selves any of that Glory which is due to God 17 3. or accept if cast upon us by others any of that Glory which is due to God 18 19 4. nor entitle the glory of God to our own passion or interests 20 22 with some application hereof 23 24 POINT II. God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. With the Reasons both of the Style it self 25 26 And why it is here used 27 POINT III. God to be glorified of us first with the mind 28 and then with the mouth 29 POINT IV. God is much glorified by Christian unity and Like-mindedness 30 31 Illustrated from the resemblance of Musick 32 33 and from the resemblance of Building 34 35 and that in regard both of Dispatch 36 37 and Strength 38 The Conclusion Sermon XIV Ad Aulam on PSAL. xxvii 10. Sect. 1 2. THe Scope and Division of the Text. 3 The words in the former part of the Text opened 4 POINT I. A possibility of failing in all worldly helps 5 7 I. Either out of Choice Instanced 1. in Parents 8 9 2. and all other Friends 10 12 Or out of Necessity 13 15 The Inference Not to trust in any Creature 16 The words in the latter part of the Text opened 17 POINT II. Gods help ready when all others fail 18 Proved 1. by Instances 19 2. by Reasons taken partly from the Nature of God viz. 20 22 1. his Love 23 24 2. his Wisdom 25 3. his Power 26 4. his Eternity 27 28 Partly from his Promises 29 32 Inferences thence 33 The Conclusion Sermon XV. Ad Aulam on LUKE xvi 8. Sect. 1. THe Scope of the whole Parable 2 and of the Text in particular 3 The Division of the Text. 4 POINT I. The persons here compared and opposed 5 I. Who are meant by the children of the world 6 8 and why they are so called 9 13 II. What is meant by Light 14 15 and who by Children of Light 16 The Inference from their Opposition 11 18 POINT II. the children of the world wiser than the children of Light As being 19 1. More Sagacious than they 20 2. More Industrious than they 21 3. More Cunning than they 22 23 4. More United than they 24 28 with sundry Reasons thereof 29 Two Inferences thence 1. Not to be scandalized at their prosperous successes 30 31 2. But to emulate their wisdom 32 33 POINT III. The Worldlings wisdom but folly 34 Proved and 35 discovered in sundry particulars Sermon XVI Ad Aulam on HEB. xii 3. Sect. 1 3. THe Occasion Coherence Scope 4 and Division of the Text. 5 6 The former general part Wherein 4 Particulars viz. I. The Malady Weariness 7 12 II. The Inward Cause Faintness 13 18 III. The part affected The Soul or Mind 19 22 with the Inference thence 23 24 IV. The Persons and what fear there might be of their fainting under the Cross in regard 25 1. Of the greatness of the Trial. 26 29 2. Of the natural Frailty of man 30 3. Of the neglect of watchfulness and preparation 31 32 4. Of Gods disertion 33 35 The Inference thence 36 37 A Caution concerning the lawfulness of shunning afflictions 38 43 sundry Objections to the contrary answered 44 c. A short view of the chief heads contained in the Second General Part. Sermon I. Ad Magistratum I. Ser. on PROV xxiv 10. 12. Sect. 1. THe Scope and 2 3 Division of the Text. 4 5 The main duty The delivering of the Oppressed proposed and proved 6 The Necessity thereof inferred from divers considerations Some respecting 7 8 I. God viz. 1. his Command 2. his Example 12 13 II. Our selves viz. The power we have 14 2. the need we may have 15 16 III. Those that are oppressed viz. 1. The greatness of their distress 17 2. the paucity of their friends 18 22 3. the equity of their Cause 23 26 IV. The Effects of the Duty viz. 1. Honour to the Calling 27 2. the blessing of the poor upon the Person 28 3. a reward from God for the Work 29 32 4. Mercy to the Land 33 34 The Sum of all and the Conclusion Sermon II. Ad Magistratum II. Ser. on PROV xxiv 10. 12. Sect. 1. THe Scope and 2 5 Division of the Text. 6 Three Points proposed to be handled 7 I. POINT The Excuse We knew it not may be sometimes just Either through 8 I. Ignorance of the Fact When the oppressed 9 either have not 1. the Opportunity to complain 10 either have not 2. the Mind to complain 11 II. Doubtfulness in point of Right Through 1. uncertainty of the Evidence 12 2. defect of proofs 13 3. artifices to becloud the Truth 14 15 III. Inability to help Through 16 18 1. some defect in the Laws 19 20 2. the iniquity of the Times 21 24 Inferences thence 1. Governours not to be rashly censured if all be not remedied 25 2. nor discouraged if they have done their part towards it 26 27 II. POINT That Excuse sometimes but pretended 28 29 Referred therefore to the judgment of the heart 30 32 III. POINT That Excuse where it is causelesly pretended of no avail with God Because it can 33 1. neither escape his search 34 2. nor avoid his
it and to dress it and besides the charge given us in that behalf it behoveth us much for our own good to keep them with all diligence If we husband them well the benefit will be ours he looketh for no more but his rent and that an easie rent the Glory and the Thanks the fruits wholly accure to us as Usufructuaries But if we be such ill husbands so careless and improvident as to let them sylvescere overgrow with wild and superfluous branches to hinder the thriving of the grafts whereby they become ill-liking and unfruitful we shall neither answer the trust committed to us nor be able to pay our rent we shall bring him in no glory nor do our selves any good but run behind hand continually and come to nought at last 18. It will behove us therefore if we will have our fruit in holiness and the end everlasting life to look to it betimes lest some root of bitterness springing up put us to more trouble than we are aware of for the present or can be well able to deal withal afterwards The Flesh will find us work enough to be sure it is ever and anon putting forth spurns of Avarice Ambition Envy Revenge Pride Luxury some noisom lust or other like a rotten dunghil that 's rank of weeds If we neglect them but a little out of a thought that they can do no great harm yet or that we shall have time enough to snub them hereafter we do it to our own certain disadvantage if not utter undoing we shall either never be able to overcome them or not without very much more labour and difficulty than we might have done at the first 19. In the mean time whilst these superfluous excrescencies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I know not how to call them are suffered they draw away the sap to their own nourishment and so pine and starve the grafts that they never come to good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith St. Iames we translate it wherefore laying aside perhaps it may import a little more The whole verse is well worth the further considering if we had time to insist upon it it seemeth to allude throughout to the lopping off of those suckers or superfluous branches that hinder the prospering of grafts As if he had said If you desire that the holy Word of God which is to be grafted in your hearts should bring forth fruit to the saving of your souls suffer not these filthy and naughty superfluities of fleshly lusts to hinder the growth thereof but off with them away with them and the sooner the better That is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 20. I should from this Point before I had left it but that I have other things to speak to and may not insist have pressed two things more First the necessity of our Prayers It is true our endeavours are necessary God that doth our work for us will not do it without us But without the assistance of his Spirit all our endeavours are bootless and we have no reason to persume of his assistance if we think our selves too good to ask it We may not think we have done all our part toward fruit-bearing when we have planted and watered until we have earnestly solicited him to do his part too in giving the encrease and crowning our endeavours with success 21. Secondly a duty of Thankfulness If by his good blessing upon our prayers and endeavours we have been enabled to bring forth any fruit such as he will graciously accept take we heed we do not withdraw the least part of the glory of it from him to derive it upon our selves or our own endeavours Non nobis Domine non Nobis Not unto us O Lord by no means to us but to thy Name be the glory Enough it is for us that we have the comfort onward and shall have an unmeasurable reward at the last for the good we have done either of both which is infinitly more than we deserve but far be it from us to claim any share in the glory let all that be to him alone Whatsoever fruit therefore we bear or how much soever let us not be high-minded thereupon or take too much upon us For we bear not the root but the root beareth us and when we have done our utmost endeavors the fruit we bear is still the fruit of the Spirit not the fruit of our endeavours 22. I have dwelt long upon this first difference not so much because it was the first though that somtimes falleth out to be the best excuse we are able to make for such prolixities as because it is the most maâ—erial as arising from the different nature of the things spoken of whereas the three that follow are rather verbal arising but from the different manner of the Apostles expressions in respect of the words The first whereof the second of the whole four is that the evil effects proceeding from the flesh are called by the name of Works and the good effects proceeding from the Spirit are called by the name of Fruits The Quaery is Why those and these being both effects alike they are not either both alike called Works or both alike called Fruits but the one Works the othere Fruit The works of the Flesh there here the fruit of the Spirit 23. For answer whereunto I shall propose to your choice two Conjectures The one more Theological or rather Metaphysical which is almost as new to me as perhaps it will seem to you for it came not into my thoughts till I was upon it the other more moral and popular For the former take it thus Where the immediate Agent produceth a work or effect virtue propriâ by his own power and not in the virtue of a superiour Agent both the work it self produced and the efficacy of the operation whereby it is produced are to be ascribed to him alone so as it may be said properly and precisely to be his work But where the immediate Agent operateth virtute aliâ—nâ in the strength and virtue of some higher Agent without which he were not able to produce the effect tho the work done may even there also be attributed in some soâ—â— to the inferior and subordinate Agent as the immediate cause yet the efficacy whereby it was wrought cannot be so properly imputed to him but ought rather to be ascribed to that higher Agent in whose virtue he did operate 24. The Application will make it somewhat plainer In all humane actions whether good or bad the will of Man is the immediate Agent so that whether we commit a sin or do a good work inasmuch as it proceedeth from our free Wills the work is still our work howsoever But herein is the difference between good and evil actions The Will which is naturally in this depraved estate conrupt and fleshly operateth by its own power alone for the producing of a sinful action without any co-operation at all as was said already
hath done all he can he is but an unprofitable servant and cannot be profitable unto God as he that is wise may be profitable to himself and his neighbours and that his goodness though it might be pleasurable to the Saints that are on the earth yet it could not extend unto the Lord. All this he knew and yet knowing withal that God accepteth the will for the deed and the desire for the performance he doubted not to raise up his Language to that key in Psal. 116. Quid retribuam What requital shall I make What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me I will take the Cup of Salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord. This thankful heart he knew God valued as a Sacrifice nay preferred before Sacrifices For having rejected them at Vers. 8. I will not reprove thee for thy Sacrifices c. He exacteth this at Vers. 14. of Psal 50. Offer unto God thanksgiving c. God respecteth not so much the Calves out of our stalls or the fruits from off our grounds as these Vitulos labiorum these calves of our lips as the Prophet and these Fructus labiorum these fruits of our lips as the Apostle calleth them Let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name Heb. 13. More than this in his Mercy he will not desire less than this in all Reason we cannot give Thankfulness is an Act of Iustice we are unjust if we receive his good Creatures and not return him thanks for them It is not only an Act of Iustice it is an Act of Religion too and a branch of that service whereby we do God worship and honour Whoso offereth praise he honoureth me Psal. 50. ver last Now look what honour we give unto God it all redoundeth to our selves at the last with plentiful advantage Them that honour me I will honour 1 Sam. 2. Here then is the fruit of this religious act of Thanksgiving that it sanctifieth unto us the use of the good Creatures of God which is the very reason S. Paul giveth of this present speech in the next Verse Every Creature of God is good saith he here and nothing to be refused if it be received with Thanksgiving for saith he there it is sanctified by the Word of God and Prayer Understand not by the Word of God there his written Word or the Scriptures as some yet give the sence not without violence to the words though the thing they say be true but more both naturally to the construction of the Words and pertinently to the drift and scope of our Apostle therein understand rather the Word of his eternal Counsel and decree and of his power and providence whereby he ordereth and commandeth his Creatures in their several kinds to afford us such service and comforts as he hath thought good Which sanctifying of the Creatures by the Word of Gods decree and providence implieth two things the one respecting the Creatures that they do their kindly Office to us the other respecting us that we reap holy comfort from them For the plainer understanding of both which instance shall be given in the Creatures appointed for our nourishment and what shall be said of them we may conceive of and apply unto every other Creature in the proper kind thereof First then the Creatures appointed for food are sanctifyed by the word of God when together with the Creatures he giveth his blessing to go along with it by his powerful word Commanding it and by that Command enabling it to feed us Which is the true meaning of that speech in Deut. 8. alledged by our Saviour against the Tempter Man liveth not by bread only but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God Alas what is Bread to nourish us without his word Unless he say the word and command the Bread to do it there is no more sap or strength in Bread than in stones The power and nutritive virtue which the Bread hath it hath from his decree because the word is already gone out of his mouth that bread should strengthen mans heart As in the first Creation when the Creatures were produced in actu primo had their beings given them and natural powers and faculties bestowed on them all that was done by the word of Gods powerful decree He spake the word and they were made he commanded and they were created So in all their operations in actu secundo when they do at any time exercise those natural faculties and do those Offices for which they were created all this is still done by the same powerful word and decree of God He upholdeth all things by the word of his power As we read of bread so we often read in the Scriptures of the staff of bread God sometimes threatneth he will break the staff of bread What is that Bread indeed is the staff of our strength it is the very stay and prop of our lives if God break this staff and deny us bread we are gone But that is not all bread is our staff but what is the staff of Bread Verily the Word of God blessing our Bread and commanding it to feed us is the staff of this staff sustaining that virtue in the bread whereby it sustaineth us If God break this staff of bread if he withdraw his blessing from the bread if by his countermand he inhibit or restrain the Virtue of the Bread we are as far to seek with bread as without it If sanctified with Gods word of blessing a little pulse and water hard and homely fare shall feed Daniel as fresh and fat and fair as the Kings dainties shall his Companions a Cake and a cruse of water shall suffice Elijah nourishment enough to walk in the strength thereof forty days and nights a few barly loaves and small fishes shall multiply to the satisfying of many thousands eat while they will But if Gods Word and Blessing be wanting the Lean Kine may eat up the Fat and be as thin and hollow and ill-liking as before and we may as the Prophet Haggai speaketh eat much and not have enough drink our fills and not be filled This first degree of the Creatures Sanctification by the Word of God is a common and ordinary blessing upon the Creatures whereof as of the light and dew of Heaven the wicked partake as well as the godly and the thankless as the thankful But there is a second degree also beyond this which is proper and peculiar to the Godly And that is when God not only by the word of his Power bestoweth a blessing upon the Creature but also causeth the Echo of that word to sound in our hearts by the voice of his holy Spirit and giveth us a sensible taste of his goodness to us therein filling our
coarse he should be content with it nay though he should want either or both he should be content without it We should all learn of an old experienced servant of God St. Paul what grace and long experience had taught him In whatsoever state we are to be therewith content We are to shew our Obedience to our heavenly Master yet further by submitting to his wholesom Discipline when at any time he shall see cause to give us correction Our Apostle a little after the Text would have servants to be subject even to their froward Masters and to take it patiently when they are buffeted undeservedly and without fault How much more ought we to accept the punishment of our iniquity as we have the phrase Lev. 26. and with patience to yield our backs to the whip when God who hath been so gracious a Master to us shall think fit to exercise some little severity towards us and to lay stripes upon us Especially since he never striketh us First but for our fault such is his justice nor Secondly such is his mercy but for our good And all this belongeth to that Obedience which the servant of God ought to manifest both by doing and suffering according to the will of his Master The third and last general duty is Fidelity Who is a faithful and wise servant Well done thou good and faithful servant as if the wisdom and goodness of a servant consisted in his faithfulness Now the faithfulness of a servant may be tried especially by these three things by the heartiness of his service by being tender of his Masters honour and profit and by his quickness and diligence in doing his business A notable example whereof we have in Abraham's servant Gen. 24. in all the three particulars For first being many miles distant from his Master he was no less solicitous of the business he was put in trust withal than he could have been if he had been all that while in the eye of his Master Secondly he framed himself in his speeches and actions and in his whole behaviour to such a discreet carriage as might best set forth the credit and honour of his Master Thirdly he used all possible diligence and expedition losing not any time either at first for the delivery of his message or at last for his return home after he had brought things to a good conclusion Such faithfulness would well become us in the service of God in all the aforesaid respects The first whereof is Heartiness in his service There are many servants in the world that will work hard and bustle at it lustily for a fit and so long as their Masters eye is upon them but when his back is turned can be content to go on fair and softly and fellow-like Such 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Apostle condemneth Col. 3. and elsewhere admonishing servants whatsoever they do to do it heartily and to obey their Masters not with eye-service but in singleness of heart Towards our heavenly Master true it is if we had but this eye-service it were enough because we are never out of his eye his eyes are in all corners of the earth beholding the evil and the good and his eye-lids try the children of men he is about our beds and about our paths and spieth out all our goings And therefore if we should but study to approve our selves and our actions before his sight it could not be but our services should be hearty as well as handy because our hearts are no less in his sight than our hands are We cannot content our Master nor should we content our selves with a bare and barren profession in the service of God neither with the addition of some outward performances of the work done but since our Master calleth for the heart as well as the hand and tongue and requireth truth in the inward parts no less rather much more than shew in the outward let us but joyn that inward truth of the heart unto the outward profession and performance and doubtless we shall be accepted Only fear the Lord and serve him in truth with all your heart 1 Sam. 12. Secondly We must shew our faithfulness to our Master by our zeal in his behalf A faithful servant will not endure an evil word spoken of his Master behind his back but he will be ready upon every occasion to vindicate his credit and to magnifie him unto the opinion of others He will make much of those that love his Master and set the less by those that care not for him And as to his credit principally so he hath an eye also in the second place to the profit of his Master He will have a care to save his goods the best he can it will grieve his very heart to see any of them vainly wasted or imbezeled by his fellow-servants yea and it will be some grief to him if any thing under his hand do but chance to miscarry though it be without his fault See we how far every of us can apply all this to our own selves in the service of God If we have no heart to stand up in our rank and place for the maintenance of Gods truth and worship when it is discountenanced or over-born either by might or multitudes If our blood will not appear a little when cursed miscreants blast the honour of God with their unhallowed breath by blaspheming oaths fearful imprecations scurrile profanations of Scripture licentious and bitter sarcasms against the holy Ordinances of God If a profound drunkard and obscene rimer an habituated swearer a complete roarer every loose companion and professed scorner of all goodness that doth but peep out with a head be as welcome into our company and find as full and free entertainment with us as he that carrieth the face and for any thing we know hath the heart of an honest and sober Christian without either profaneness or preciseness If we grieve not for the miscarriages of those poor souls that live near us especially those that fall any way under our charge what faithfulness is there in us or what zeal for God to answer the title we usurp so often as we call our selves the servants of God Thirdly If we be his faithful servants we should let it appear by our diligence in doing his businesses No man would willingly entertain an idle servant that is good at bit and nothing else one of those the old riming verse describeth Sudant quando vorant frigescunt quando laborant such as eat till they sweat and work till they freeze O thou wicked and slothful servant saith the Master in the Parable to him that napkined up his Talent Mat. 25. they are rightly joyned wicked and slothful for it is impossible a slothful servant should be good The Poets therefore give unto Mercury who is Interpres divûm the Messenger as they feign
an usual Metaphor in the Scriptures called The ways of a man And of these Ways Solomon speaketh rather than of his person Because it is possible the Lord may graciously accept some mans person and yet take just exception at some of his Ways 1. For thus it is when a man walketh in the beaten track of the World without ever turning his feet into Gods Testimonies neither that man nor his ways can please the Lord. 2. Again When a man walketh conscionably and constantly in the good ways of God without turning aside either on the right hand or on the left both that man and his ways are pleasing unto God 3. But then again thirdly when a man in the more constant course of his life walketh uprightly and in a right way but yet in some few particularities treadeth awry either failing in his judgment or transported with passion or drawn on by the example or perswasion of others or miscarrying through his own negligence incogitancie or other subreption or overcome by the strength of some prevalent temptation or from what other cause soever it may proceed I say when a man thus walking with God in the main hath yet these out-steppings and deviations upon the bye neither acted presumptuously nor issuing from a heart habitually evil although the person of such a man may still be accepted with God in Christ and his ways also be well-pleasing unto God in regard of the main bent thereof yet in regard of such his sinful deviations those particular passages in his ways do not at all please but rather highly displease the Sacred Majesty of God 3. That for the Subject The Act is Pleasing and Pleasing hath reference to Acceptation Wherein the Endeavour is one thing and the Event another For tuitum est placere we use to say A man may have a full intention and do his best endeavour to please and yet fail of his end the Event not answering his Expectation Which is most apparent when we have to deal with men For not only mens dispositions are various one from another and so there is no possibility of pleasing all because what would please one man perhaps will not please another But even the same man is not alike disposed at all times and so there can be no certainty of pleasing any Because what would please him at one time perhaps will not please him at another Now in propriety of speech to please signifieth rather the Event in finding acceptance than the Endeavour in seeking it But when it undergoeth a moral Consideration it is quite contrary Then it importeâ—h not so much the Event which being not in our power ought not to be imputed to us either to our praise or dispraise as the Intention and Endeavour So as he may besaid to please in a moral sense that doth his best endeavour to please however he speed As S. Paul saith of himself that he pleased all men in all things which in the event doubtless he neither did for we know he had many Adversaries neither could do the thing it self being altogether impossible But he did it in his intention and endeavour as he sundry times expoundeth himself If it be demanded whether of the two is rather meant in the Text I answer both are meant the Endeavour principally and consequently also the Event For by reason of Gods goodness and unchangeableness there may be a good assurance of the Event where the desire of pleasing is unfeigned and the Endeavour faithful As it was told Cain in Genesis If thou doest well shalt thou not be accepted We may do well and not find Acceptance with men But was there ever any thing in the World well done and the Lord accepted it not That for the Act Pleasing 4. But Act us distinguuntur secundum Objecta Whatsoever the ways are it is a part of every mans intention to please howsoever it is the Object especially that maketh the difference All men strive to please but some to please themselves some to please other men and some few to please the Lord. There be that regard not either the displeasure of God or man so they may but please themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in S. Peters word it signifieth as much as Self-pleasers Translations have well rendred it self willed men that will have their own way in every thing that will speak their pleasure of every man that will say what they list and do what they list let who will take offence at it S. Peter in the same place where he hath given us the Name hath also given us part of their Character Presumptuous are they saith he and they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities For commonly you may observe it they that love to please themselves seldom please themselves better than when they have with most petulancy of spleen vented their disaffection towards them that are in authority Which for the most part proceedeth from an over-weaning conceit they have of their own either wisdom or wit although in S. Augustine's judgment they are quite devoid of both whose censure of them is sharp Valdò stulto homini placet qui sibi placet He that casteth to please himself casteth to please a very fool Nor are they only void of wisdom in his but in S. Paul's judgment also of Christianity who voucheth against them Christ's Example For even Christ pleased not himself Rom. 15. 5. Beside S. Peter's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these Self-pleasers there are also S. Paul's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Men-pleasers And what is that a fault too To please other men out of a Christian indulgence by condescending to their weakness and gratifying them in the exercise of that liberty and power we have in things of indifferent nature is so far from being a fault that it is rather a commendable Office of Christian Charity which every man ought to practise Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good unto edification but that must be only in lawful things and so far forth as may tend to Edification and subordinately to a greater care of pleasing God in the first place But if we shall seek to please men beyond this by doing for their sakes any unlawful thing or leaving undone any necessary duty by accompanying them in their sins or advancing their designs in any thing that may offend God then are we 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Men-pleasers in an evil sense and our ways will not please the Lord. S. Paul who in one place professeth men-pleasing even as I please all men in all things taking it in the better sense protesteth against it as much in another place If I yet pleased men I should not be the servant of Christ taking it in the worse sense 6. To draw to a Head then We may please our selves and we should seek to please our brethren where these may be done and the Lord pleased withall But when
answer the Command and such is not ours True it is if the Lord should look upon our very best Endeavours as they come from us and respect us but according to our merit he might find in every step we tread just matter of offence in none of acceptance If he should mark what is done amiss and be extreme in it no flesh living could be able to please him It must be therefore upon other and better grounds than any desert in us or in our ways that God is graciously pleased to accept either of us or them The Apostle hath discovered two of those grounds and joined them both together in a short passage in Heb. 13. Now the God of peace make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is pleasing in his sight through Iesus Christ. Implying that our good works are pleasing unto him upon these two grounds First Because he worketh them in us Secondly Because he looketh upon us and them in Christ. 18. First Because he worketh them in us As we see most men take pleasure in the Rooms of their own contriving in the Engines and Manufactures of their own devising in the Fruits of those Trees which themselves have planted Now the crooked ways of evil men that walk according to the course of the World are indeed the Works of the Devil he is the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience Eph. 2. such works therefore may please the Devil whose they are But it is not possible they should please God who sent his Son into the World on purpose to destroy the Works of the Devil And as for those strayings also and outsteppings whereof Gods faithfullest servants are now and then guilty although they be not the Works of the Devil for he hath not now so much power over them as to work in them yet are they still the Works of the flesh as they are called Gal. 5. Such works therefore may be pleasing to the flesh whose they are but they are so far from being pleasing unto God that they rather grieve his holy Spirit The works then that must please God are such as himself hath wrought in us by that his holy Spirit which are therefore called the fruits of the Spirit in the same Gal. 5. As it is said by the Prophet O Lord thou wilt ordain peace for us for thou also hast wrought all our works in us And again in the Psalm The Lord ordereth a good mans ways and maketh them acceptable unto himself they are therefore acceptable unto him because they are ordered by him 19. That is one ground The other is because God looketh not upon us as we are in our selves neither dealeth with us according to the rigour of a legal Covenant but he beholdeth us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the face of his beloved One even Jesus Christ his only Son and as under a Covenant of Grace He is his beloved Son in whom alone he is well pleased for his own sake and in whom and for whose sake alone it is if at any time he be well pleased with any of us or with any of our Ways For being by him and through faith in his Name made the children of God by adoption and grace he is now pleased with us as a loving Father is with his beloved Child As a loving Father taketh in good part the willing Endeavours of his Child to do whatsoever he appointeth him though his performances be very small So the Lord is graciously pleased to accept of us and our weak services according to that willingness we have and not according to that exactness we want not weighing our merits but pardâ—ning our offences and passing by our imperfections as our loving Father in Iesus Christ. That is the other ground 20. And we doubt not but the acceptance we find with God upon these two grounds if seasonably applied will sustain the soul of every one that truly feareth God with strong comfort against two great and common discouragements whereunto he may be subject arising the one from the sense of mens displeasure the other from the conscience of his own imperfections Sometimes God and his own heart condemn him not and yet the World doth and that troubleth him Sometimes God and the World condemn him not and yet his own heart doth and that troubleth him more If at any time it be either thus or so with any of us let us remember but thus much and we shall find comfort in it that although we can neither please other men at all nor our selves sufficiently yet our Works may for all that be graciously accepted by our good God and so our ways may please the Lord. 21. But I forbear the amplification of these comforts that I may proceed from the Antecedent in those former words when a mans ways please the Lord of which I have spoken hitherto unto the Consequent in the remaining words he maketh even his Enemies to be at peace with him Wherein also as in the former part we have three things observable The Persons the Effect the Author The Persons a mans Enemies the Effect Peace the Author the Lord. He maketh a mans Enemies to be at peace with him The words being of an easie understanding will therefore need the less opening Only thus much briefly First for the Persons they that wish him ill or seek to do him Harm in his Person Estate or good Name they are a mans Enemies And Solomon here supposeth it possible that a man whose Ways please the Lord may yet have Enemies Nay it is scarce possible it should be otherwise Inimici Domestici rather than fail Satan will stir him up Enemies out of his own house 2. And these Enemies are then said to be at peace with him which is the Effect when either there is a change wrought in their Affections so as they now begin to bear him less ill-will than formerly they have done or when at least-wise their evil Affections towards him are so bridled or their power so restrained as not to break out into open hostility but whatsoever their thoughts are within to carry themselves fairly and peaceably towards him outwardly so as he is at a kind of peace with them or howsoever sustaineth no harm by them Either of which when it is done it is thirdly Mutatio dextrae excelsi it is merely the Lords doing and it may well be marvellous in our Eyes It is he that maketh a mans Enemies to be at peace with him 22. The scope of the whole words is to instruct us that the fairest and likeliest way for us to procure peace with men is to order our ways so as to please the Lord. You shall therefore find the favour of God and the favour of men often joined together in the Scriptures as if the one were and so usually it is a consequent of the other So
first of the Limitation in respect of the person that a man rest satisfied with his own estate 15. The very thing to my seeming principally intended in the last Commandment of the Decalogue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which forbiddeth expresly the coveting of our Neighbours House his Wife his Cattel and proportionably the coveting of his Farm his Office his Honour his Kingdom and generally the coveting of any thing that is anothers Which is as much in effect as to require every man to rest fully satisfied with that portion of outward things which God hath been pleased by fair and justifiable ways in his good providence to derive upon him without a greedy desire of that which is anothers They who conceit the thing in that Commandment properly forbidden to be the Primi motus those first motions or stirrings of sin which we call Concupiscence arising in the sensual Appetite corrupted through Adam's fall as all other faculties of the soul are before any actual deliberation of the understanding thereabout or actual consent of the Will thereunto I must confess do not satisfie me For those motions or stirrings supposing them sinful are according to their several objects so far as they can be supposed sinful forbidden in every of the Ten Commandments respectively even as the Acts are to which they refer and from which they differ not so much in kind as in degree I much rather incline to their judgment who think the thing properly and principally there forbidden to be an inordinate desire after that which by right or property is Anothers and not Ours 16. And then these words of the Apostle Heb. 13. may serve for a short but full Commentary upon that last Commandment both in the Negative and in the Affirmative part thereof Let your Conversation be without Covetousness the Negative and be content with such things as ye have the Affirmative When we endeavour or desire to get from another that which is his by any fraudulent oppressive or other unjust course we are then within the compass of the Eighth Commandment Thou shalt not steal as is evident from the Analogy of our Saviours Expositions upon the other Commandments wherein Murther and Adultery are forbidden Mat. 5. But the last Commandment Thou shalt not Covet cometh more within us condemning every inordinate desire of what is not ours albeit we have no actual intention to make it ours by any unlawful either violent or fraudulent means The bare wishing in our hearts that what is our Neighbours were Ours his Wife House Servant Beast or his any thing Ours without considering whether he be willing to part with it or no or whether it be meet for him so to do or no is a cursed fruit of corrupt self-love a direct breach of the holy Law of God in that last Commandment and flatly opposite to that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or self-sufficiency wherein true contentment consisteth 17. Ahabs sin was this when first his teeth began to water after Naboth's Vinâ—â—ard He went indeed afterwards a great deal farther He brake the Eighth Commandment Thou shalt not steal and he brake the Sixth Commandment also Thou shalt not kill when he took Naboth's both Life and Vineyard from him by a most unjust and cruel oppression All this came on afterwards But his first sin was meerly against the last Commandment in that he could not rest himself satisfied with all his own Abundance but his mind was set on Naboth's plat and unless he might have that too lying so conveniently for him to lay to his demesnes he could not be at quiet He had not as yet for any thing appeareth in the Story any setled purpose any resolved design to wrest it from the owner by Violence or to weary him out of it with injust Vexations So he might but have it upon any fair terms either by way of Sale he would give him full as much for it as it could be worth of any mans money or by way of Exchange he would give him for it a better plat of ground than it was either way should serve his turn Naboth should but speak his own Conditions and they should be performed Many a petty Lord of a Hamlet with us would think himself disparaged in a Treaty of Enclosure to descend to such low Capitulations with one of his poor Neighbours as the great King of Israel then did with one of his Subjects and to sin but as modestly as Ahab yet did Here was neither Fraud nor Violence nor so much as Threatning used but the whole carriage outwardly square enough and the proposals not unreasonable All the fault as yet was within The thing that made Ahab even then guilty in the sight of God was the inordinacy of his desire after that Vineyard being not his own which Inordinacy upon Naboth's refusal of the offered Conditions he farther bewrayed by many signs the effects of a discontented mind For in he cometh heavy and displeased taketh pet and his bed looketh at no body and out of sullenness forsaketh his meat Had he well learned this piece of the lesson in the Text to have contented himself with his own both his body had been in better temper and his mind at better quiet and his conscience at better peace than now they were 18. Abraham it seemeth had learnt it Who was so far from all base desire of enriching himself with the King of Sodom's Goods that he utterly refused them when he might have taken them and held them without any injustice at all He had or might have had a double Title to them They were his Iure belli by the Law of Arms and of Nations having won them in the field and in a just war and they might have been his jure donationis by the Kings free donation Give me the Persons take the Goods to thy self if he had been minded to accept the offer But Abraham would none contenting himself with what the Lord had blessed him withal he did not desire neither would he take from a thread or a shooe-latchet of any thing that appertained to the King of Sodom 19. But what need we seek any other indeed where can we find a better Example to instance in as to the matter we now treat of than this our Apostle if we do but recall to mind that Protestation of his once before mentioned made before the Clergy of Asia in his Visitation at Miletum Acts 20. I have coveted no mans Silver or Gold or Apparel Brave and noble was the challenge that Samuel made in a full Assembly of the whole people of Israel Behold here I am witness against me before the Lord and before his Anointed Whose Oxe have I taken or whose Ass have I taken Or whom have I defrauded Whom have I oppressed Or of whose hands have I received a Bribe Possibly there are Iudges and Officers in the World that would be loth to make so bold a Challenge and venture
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
Moses and Aaron and that upon every occasion and for every trifle so do we Every small Disgrace Injury Affront or Loss that happeneth to us from the forwardnesâ— of our Betters the unkindness of our Neighbours the undutifulness of our Children the unfaithfulness of our Servants the unsuccessfulness of our Attempts or by any other means whatsoever any sorry thing will serve to put us quite out of patience as Ionas took pet at the withering of the Gourd And as he was ready to justifie his impatience even to God himself Dost thou well to be angry Ionas Yea marry do I I do well to be angry even to the death so are we ready in all our murmurings against the Lords corrections to flatter our selves as if we did not complain without cause especially where we are able to charge those men that trouble us with unrighteous dealing 11. This is I confess a strong temptation to flesh and blood and many of Gods holy Servants have had much ado to overcome it whilest they looked a little too much outward But yet we have by the help of God a very present remeâ—â—y there-against if blind Self-love will but suffer us to be so wise as to make use oâ— it and that is no more but this to turn our eye inward and to examine our 〈…〉 not how well we have dealt with other men who now requite us so ill 〈◊〉 we our selves have requited God who hath dealt so graciously and â—â—â—â—â—tifully with us If we thus look back into our selves and sins we shall soon perceive that God is just even in those things wherein men are unjust and that we most righteously deserved at his hands to suffer all those things which yet we have no ways deserved at their hands by whom we suffer It will well become us therefore whatsoever judgments God shall please at any time to lay upon us or to threaten us withal either publick or private either by his own immediate hand or by such instruments as he shall employ without all murmurings or disputings to submit to his good will and pleasure and to accept the punishment of our iniquity as the Phrase is Lev. 26. by humbling our selves and confessing that the Lord is righteous as Rehoboam and the Princes of Iudah did 2 Chron. 12. The sense of our own wickedness in rebelling and the acknowledgment of Gods justice in punishing which are the very first acts of true humiliation and the first steps unto true repentance we shall find by the mercy of God to be of great efficacy not only for the averting of Gods judgments after they are come but also if used timely enough and throughly enough for the preventing thereof before they become For if we would judge our selves we should not be judged of the Lord 1 Cor. 11. But because we neglect it and yet it is a thing that must be done or we are undone God in great love and mercy towards us setteth in for our good and doth it himself rather than it should be left undone and we perish even as it there followeth When we are judged we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with â—he world And it is that faithfulness of God which David acknowledgeth in the latter Conclusion whereunto I now pass 12. And that thou of very faithfulness hast caused me to be troubled In which words we have these three points First David was troubled Next God caused him to be so troubled Last and God did so out of very faithfulness No great news when we hear of David to hear of trouble withal Lord remember David and all his troubles Psal. 132. Consider him which way you will in his condition natural spiritual or civil that is either as a man or as a godly man or as a King and he had his portion of troubles in every of those conditions First troubles he must have as a man Haeâ— est conditio nascendi Every mothers child that cometh into the world hath a childs part of those troubles the world affordeth Man that is born of a woman those few days that he hath to live he shall be sure to have them full of trouble howsoever In mundo pressuram saith our Saviour In the world ye shall have tribulation Never think it can be otherwise so long as you live here below in the vale of misery where at every turn you shall meet with nothing but very vanity and vexation of spirit 13. Then he was a Godly man and his troubles were somewhat the more for that too For all that will live godly must suffer persecution and however it is with other men certainly many are the troubles of the righteous It is the common lot of the true Children of God because they have many out-flyings wherewith their holy Father is not well-pleased to come under the scourge oftner than the Bastards do If they do amiss and amiss they do they must smart for it either here or hereafter Now God meaneth them no condemnation hereafter and therefore he giveth them the more chastening here 14. But was not David a King And would not that exempt him from troubles He was so indeed but I ween his troubles were neither the fewer nor the lesser for that There are sundry passages in this Psalm that induce me to believe with great probability that David made it while he lived a young man in the Court of Saul long before his coming to the Crown But yet he was even then unct us in Regem anointed and designed for the Kingdom and he met even then with many troubles the more for that very respect And after he came to enjoy the Crown if God had not been the joy and crown of his heart he should have had little joy of it so full of trouble and unrest was the greatest part of his Reign I noteit not with a purpose to enter into a set discourse how many and great the troubles are that attend the Crown and Scepters of Princes which I easily believe to be far both more and greater than we that stand below are capable to imagine but for two other reasons a great deal more useful and therefore so much the more needful to be thought on both by them and us It should first wâ—rk in all them that sit aloft and so are exposed to more and stronger blasts the grâ—ater care to provide a safe resting place for their souls that whensoever they â—hall meet with trouble and sorrow in the flesh and that they shall be sure to do oftner than they look for they may retire thither there to repose and solace themselves in the goodness of their God saying eftsoons with our Prophet Return unto thy rest O my soul. It was well for him that he had such a a rest for his soul for he had rest little enough otherwise from continual troubles and cares in his civil affairs