his creature to blessedness and the vision of his Creator 2. That he so ordered the means of man's Redemption that a greater glory came even by that Redemption that if man had never faln and a greater benefit to mankind For the latter it is apparent that if there had been no Mediator sent the least sin that any of the sons of men had committed had been inexorably fatal to them without any means of pardon And as Adam though in his full liberty and power was misled by temptation so might have he been or any of his posterity though he had stood that shock which now is admirably provided against by the satisfaction of Christ Jesus And as thus it is better with the children of men so the glory of God is wonderfully advanced by it for if man had stood in his innocence God had had only the glory of his justice in rewarding him or if he had faln the glory of his justice in punishing him but there had been no room for that glorious attribute of his Mercy in forgiving without violation to his Purity Truth and Justice that glorious attribute by which he so often proclaimeth himself Exod. 34.6 The Lord the Lord God Merciful Gracious Long-suffering abundant in Goodness and Truth keeping Mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity transgression and sin and yet that will by no means clear the guilty 3. That he so wonderfully ordered the Redemption of Man that all his Attributes were preserved inviolable His Truth The day thou eatest thou shalt dye his Justice yet his Mercy his Love to his creature yet his Hatred to Sin his Son shall dye to satisfie his Truth and Justice yet the sinner shall live to satisfie his Mercy the sin shall be punished to justifie his Purity yet his creature shall be saved to manifest his Love and Goodness And thus his Wisdom over-ruled Sin the worst of evils to the improvement of his glory and the good of his creature 4. His wisdom is manifested in this that by the redemption of man all those ways of his administration before the coming of Christ do now appear to be excellently ordered to the redemption of man and the making of it the more effectual The giving of a severe and yet most just Law which was impossible for us to fulfil shews us the wretchedness of our condition our inability to fulfil what was just in God to require shews us the necessity of a Saviour drives us to him and makes this City of refuge grateful and acceptable and makes us set a value upon that mercy which so opportunely and mercifully provided a Sacrifice for us in the Blood of Christ and a Righteousness for us in the Merits of Christ and a Mediator for us in the Intercession of Christ And by this means also all those Sacrifices and Ceremonies and Observations enjoyned in the Levitical Law which carried not in themselves a clear reason of their institution are now by the sending of Christ rendred significant 5. The wisdom of God is magnified and advanced in this in fulfilling the Prophecies of the sending the Messias to satisfie for the sins of Mankind against all the oppositions and casualties and contingencies that without an over-ruling wisdom and guidance might have disappointed it And this done in that Perfection that not one circumstance of Time Place Person Concomitants should nor did fail in it and so bearing witness to the infinite Truth Power and Wisdom of God in bringing about his Counsels in their perfection touching this great business of the Redemption of Man which was the very end why he was created and placed upon the earth and managing the villany of men and the craft and malice of Satan to bring about that greatest blessing that was or could be provided for mankind besides and above and against the intention of the Instrument Act. 2.23 Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain 6. The unsearchable Wisdom of God is manifested in that he provided such a Mediator that was fit for so great a work had all the world consulted that God must suffer it had been impossible and had all the world contrived that any man or all the men in the world should have been a satisfactory Sacrifice for any one Sin it had been deficient Here is then the wonderful Counsel of the most high God the Sacrifice that is appointed shall be so ordered that God and Man shall be conjoyned in one Person that so as Man he might become a Sacrifice for Sin and as God he might give a value to the Sacrifice And this is that great Mystery of Godliness God manifested in the flesh 2. The wonderful Love of God to Mankind I. In thinking upon poor sinful creatures to contrive a way for a Pardon for us and rescuing us from that Curse which we had justly deserved 2. Thinking of us for our good when we sought it not thought not of it 3. When we were enemies against God and against his very being 4. Thinking of us not only for a Pardon but to provide for us a state of Glory and Blessedness 5. When that was not to be obtained saving his Truth and Justice without a miraculous Mediator consisting of the divine and humane nature united in one person in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ here was Love and Goodness of the greatest magnitude that ever was or ever shall be heard of and sufficient to conquer our Hearts into admiration and astonishment But yet it rests not here As God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Joh. 3.16 so the only begotten Son of God was not behind in this wonderful Love No sooner as we may with reverence say was the Counsel of the Father propounded for the sending of his Son but presently the Son saith Lo I come Psal 40.7 Heb. 10.7 And now we will consider upon what terms he must come or else the redemption of mankind must dye for ever I. He must come and empty himself of his Glory of his personal Majesty and take our nature yet without sin he must go through the natural infirmities of infancy and childhood 2. And not only must he undergo this abasement but he must undergo the condition of a mean a low birth born of a poor Virgin in a Stable laid in a Manger under the reputation of a Carpenter's Son 3. And not only thus but as soon as he is born must use the care of his Mother to shift for his life away to Egypt to prevent the jealousie and fury of Herod 4. And when grown up to youth he must undergo the form of a Servant become a poor Carpenter to work for his living without any patrimony or so much as a house to cover him 5. He comes abroad into the World to exercise the Ministry and the Prologue to
and disappointment of Almighty God in the â—nd and design of his mercy to us which is to make us really better more dutiful more capable of greater and everlasting mercies to make us better Examples to others who may thereby be invited to follow us in piety and goodness A man that hath received great and signal mercies and deliverances becomes a great and efficacious Example and of much good or much evil according as he carries himself after eminent mercies received If he become more pious virtuous just sober than before he becomes a forcible motive and encouragement to others to be like him again if he either remain or degenerate into impiety vanity or vice he discourageth goodness and becomes a great temptation to others to be like him 3. Take beed lest after great deliverance thy Heart be lifted up into presumption upon God pride and vain-glory and a conceit of thy own goodness and worth This is the common temptation that grows upon much mercy received and therefore the wise Law-giver did very frequently caution the people of Israel against this Deut. 9.4 Speak not in thy heart after the Lord thy God hath cast them out saying For my righteousness the Lord hath brought me to possess this land c. Let thy afflictions find thee humble and let thy afflictions-make thee more humble but let thy deliverance yet increase thy humility the more mercy God shews to thee the more humble ever let thy Heart be upon a double account 1. Thy deliverances doth or should make thee know Almighty God the more and the more thou knowest him the more humble it should make thee Job 42.5 I have heard of thee by the hearing of the car but now mine eyes have seen thee wherefore I abhor my self in dust and ashes 2. Thou hast need to double thy guards of humility because upon great deliverance thou must expect that the temptation and assaults of pride and vain glory will be most busie with thee And if in all thy preparations for afflictions thou hast studied humility if under all thy afflictions thou hast improved thy humility yet if now upon thy deliverance thou art lost in pride and vain-glory thou hast lost all the benefit both of thy preparations and of thy afflictions and of thy deliverance also thou art like an unhappy Ship that hath endured the Sea and born the Storm and yet sinks when she is come into the Harbour 4. And upon the same account be vigilant and watchful It is true thou hast weathered a great Storm out of which by the mercy of God thou art delivered but still be upon thy guard thou knowest not how soon thou shalt meet with another take heed it surprize thee not unprovided Though thou hast endured it may be a long and dark storm of affliction and God hath mercifully delivered thee yet thou hast no promise from Almighty God that thou shalt meet with no more These three Consider ations should keep thee watchful and vigilant notwithstanding great deliverance from great afflictions 1. Thou art thereby better fitted and prepared to receive it if it come it shall not surprize thee unaware nor find thee sleeping 2. Most certainly if any thing be a more likely means as to preserve thee under so from affliction it is a prepared watchful vigilant mind for if I may so speak afflictions have no great business with such a man for he is already in that posture and and frame of Heart that affliction is ordinarily sent to give a man 3. There is nothing more likely to procure affliction than security and unpreparedness of mind And that First in respect of the goodness mercy and justice of God who though with most unblameable justice yet with singular mercy is very likely to send affliction to awaken him and amend him and to recall him from that tendency to Apostacy that security is apt to bring upon him Secondly in respect of the malice and vigilancy of the great Enemy of mankind who as he never wants malice so he often gets a permission to worry a man whom he hath under this disadvantage of unpreparedness and security 5. Be careful to keep as great afflictions so also great deliverance in memory Most men upon the fresh receipt of mercy and deliverance have a quick and lively apprehension of it and accordingly their affections of thankfulness and practices and purposes of Obedience are lively and diligent but in process of time and as the man is further distant from his deliverâ—nce so the memory of it doth gradually and possibly suddenly vanish and decay and as the remembrance of the deliverance decays and grows weaker and weaker so do these affections or dispositions of the Soul that are before mentioned The thankfulness grows faint and so doth the obedience and so doth the humility and so doth the watchfulness and as the water that hath been heated being removed from the fire grows by degrees colder and colder till at last it comes to its old coldness that it first had so in a little time the affliction is forgot and the deliverance is forgot and the man is grown into the very same state as if he had never felt either and possibly worse Therefore keep deliverances and afflictions too fresh in thy memory call thy self frequently to account for them use some expedient that may frequently remind thee of them with all their circumstances set them down in writing mention them often recollect them often and recollect what thoughts purposes temper of mind and spirit was then upon thee when thy afflictions were upon thee or thy deliverances freshly given to thee Cast with thy self how if these were now as fresh to thee as they were then with what motions or dispositions of Soul thou shouldest receive them and reason thy self into the same temper and habitude of thankfulness as then thou hadst By this keeping thy memory of these afflictions and these deliverances fresh under all its circumstances thou wilt with them and in the same degree as thy remembrance is of them revive and excite and preserve and keep alive and quick and active the same gratitude the same humility the same obedience the same vigilance that these afflictions or these deliverances wrought in thee when they were freth with thee or upon thee The vigorous perpetuating of the remembrance of them will be an effectual means to perpetuate the due fruit of them in their life vigour and intention JACOB's VOW OR The Modesty and Reasonableness OF JACOB'S Desire GEN. XXVIII 20. And Jacob Vowed a Vow saying If God will be with me and will keep me in the way that I go and will give me bread to eat and rayment to put on so that I come again to my father's house in peace then shall the Lord be my God c. THE only thing that I intend to consider upon this place of Holy Scripture is the Modesty and Reasonableness of Jacob's Desire He doth not desire greatness of
reason is apparent for it is not the Tempestuousness or Tranquillity of Externals that creates the trouble or the quietness of the Man but it is the Mind and that state of composure or discomposure that the mind is put into occasionally from them and since there is nothing in the world that conduceth more to the composure tranquillity of the mind than the Serenity and Clearness of the Conscience keep but that safe and untainted the mind will enjoy a calm and tranquillity in the midst of all the storms of the World and although the Waves beat and the Sea works and the Winds blow that mind that hath a quiet and clear Conscience within will be as stable and as safe from perturbation as a Rock in the midst of a Tempestuous Sea and will be a Goshen to and within it self when the rest of the world without and round about a man is like an Egypt for Plagues and Darkness If therefore either before the access or irruption of troubles or under their pressure any thing or person in the world sollicite thee to ease or deliver thy self by a breach or wound of thy Conscience know they are about to cheat thee of thy best security under God against the power and malignity of troubles they are about to clip off that Lock wherein next under God thy strength lieth What-ever therefore thou dost hazard or lose keep the integrity of thy Conscience both before the access of troubles and under them It is a Jewel that will make thee Rich in the midst of Poverty a Sun that will give thee Light in the midst of darkness a Fortress that will keep thee safe in the greatest danger and that is never to be taken unless thou thy self betray it and deliver it up 4. The next Expedient is this namely an Assurance that the Divine Wisdom Power and Providence doth Dispose Govern and Order all the things in the world even those that seem most confused irregular tumultuous and contumacious This as it is a most certain truth so is it a most excellent expedient to compose and fettle the mind especially of such a man who truly loves and fears this great God even under the blackest and most dismal Troubles and Confusions for it must most necessarily give a sound present and practical Argument of Patience and Contentation For even these black dispensations are under the government and management of the most Wise and Powerful God Why should I that am a foolish vain Creature that scarce see to any distance before me take upon me to censure these Dispensations to struggle impatiently with them to disquiet and torment my self with vexation at them Let God alone to govern and order the world as he thinks fit as his Power is infinite and cannot be resisted so is his Wisdom infinite and knows best what is to be done and when and how 2. As it gives a sound Argument of Patience and Contentedness so it gives a clear inference of Resignation of our selves up unto him and to his will and disposal upon the account of his Goodness It is the mere Bounty and Goodness of God that first gave being to all things and preserves all things in their Being that gives all those Accomodations and Conveniencies that accompanie their Being why should I therefore distrust his Goodness As he hath Power to do what he pleaseth Wisdom to direct and dispose that Power so he hath infinite Goodness that accompanies that Power and that Wisdom As I cannot put my will into the hands of greater Wisdom so I cannot put my will into the hands of greater Goodness His Beneficence to his Creatures is greater than it is possible for the Creatures to have to themselves I will not only therefore patiently Submit to his Power and Will which I can by no means resist but chearfully Resign up my self to the disposal of his Will which is infinitely best and therefore a better rule for my disposal than my own will 5. The next Expedient is Faith and Recumbence upon those Promises of his which all wise and good men do and must value above the best Inheritance in this World namely that he will not leave nor forsake those that fear and love him Heb. 13.5 How much more shall your Heavenly Father give good things to them that ask him Matth. 6.30 Matth. 7.11 He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things Rom. 8. 32. All things shall work together for good to them that love God Rom 8. 28 Upon the assurance of these Divine Promises my heart may quiet it self in the midst of all the most dark and tumultuous concussions in the world Is it best for me to be delivered out of them or to be preserved in or under them I am under the Providence and Government of my Heavenly Father who hath said He will not leave me nor forsake me who takes more care of me and bears more love to me than I can bear to my most dutiful Child that can in a moment rescue me from the calamity or infallibly secure me under it that sees and knows every moment of my condition and a thousand expedients to preserve or relieve me On the other side do I fall in the same common calamity and sink under it without any deliverance from it or preservation under it His will be done I am sure it is for my good nay it is not possible it should be otherwise For my very death the worst of worldly evils will be but the transmission of me into a state of Blessedness Rest and Immortality for Blessed are they that die in the Lord they rest from their labours and their works follow them 6. The next Expedient is Prayer The glorious God of Heaven hath given us a free and open access to his Throne there to sue out by Prayer those Blessings and Mercies which he hath promised It is not only a Duty that we owe in recognition of the divine Soveraignty a Priviledge of greater value than if we were made Lords of the whole Earth but a Means to attain those Mercies that the Divine Wisdom and Goodness knows to be fittest for us by this means we may be sure to have deliverance or preservation if useful or fit for us or if not yet those favours and condescentions from Almighty God that are better than deliverance it self namely Patience and Contentedness with the Divine Good Pleasure Resignation of our wills to him great Peace and Tranquillity of mind Evidences and Communications of his Love and Favour to us Support under our weaknesses and despondences and many times Almighty God in these Wildernesses of distractions and confusions and storms and calamities whether publick or private gives out as a return to hearty and faithful prayer such Revelations of his Goodness and Irradiations of his Favour and Love that a man would not exchange for all the external