use thereof in which it is to be employed Let no man then repine at his own condition nor envy any other mans If it be but an handful of meal in a barrel and a little oyl in a cruse 1 King 17.16 why should we trouble our selves as long as it is sufficient If God rain down bread from heaven upon us as he did Mannah upon his people in the VVildernesse that is give us at once no more than the portion of the day which is as much as he warrants us to pray for so that we are filled to day though we know not where to dine to morrow Let it not disquiet us that we have not goods layed up in store for many years with that fool Luke 12.19 If other men fare better then we or are better clad Let us ask the question of our selves which our Saviour puts to his Disciples when they had neither purse nor scrip Do we lack any thing Luke 22.35 If we observe it well the wants whereof we complain are in our minds not in our estates our allowances may come short of our desires but shall never be found unanswerable to that condition which God in his wisdome hath thought best and most convenient for us These two Lights then are termed Great as exceeding the Stars although not in the true measure of their greatnesse yet in Outward glory and yet between these two we shall find great inequality both in their Greatnesse and in their Glory and such a difference we shall find in all the rest of the Creatures Whence 5. Observe Although all the Creatures are Perfect in their several Kinds yet they are Unequal in Degrees of Excellency Observ 5 THere is difference in degree between the brightnesse of the Firmament and of the Stars as is implyed Dan. 12.3 The Stars all of them shine yet one Star differs from another in glory 1 Cor. 15.4 and yet the most glorious amongst them shines not like the Sun in his strength Amongst the Creatures below some have a being some have life but not sense some have sense but no motion some have all these but have no understanding But amongst them all is not found a greater inequality then there is amongst men in their Outward estates in their Endowments either of body or mind and in their Uses for Employment Reasons 1. That God may shew himself Lord of all when no Creature can challenge any thing but must enjoy only that which God is pleased to bestow upon it See our Saviours Parable Matth. 20.13 2. To humble men in the sense of their own defects and make them thankful for what they enjoy above other Creatures Who and where are they that desire Parity Are we not all Creatures and consequently not to be Limited by our own wills but by the Will of Him that hath made and disposed us in our several ranks as it pleased Him And yet we see the greatest part of men are transported with that vain humour which we cannot but condemn in others To be unquiet in our own condition because we are not Matches with other men wherein if we could attain our desires we would be as much troubled because we are not their Superiours The Sun as we see being the greater light is designed by God to the more eminent office To rule the day and yet the Moon though lesser and inferiour hath an Office too although much inferiour To govern the night and is thereby made useful and serviceable to the Earth although in a lower place Whence 6. Observe Those which are of weaker abilities may notwithstanding be useful and serviceable for some kind of employment or other Observ 6 SUch as could not spin Purple or Scarlet or fine Linnen were employed notwithstanding in spinning Goats hair for the Tabernacle Exod. 35.26 Nay the very Gibeonites that could be admitted to no higher service did hew wood and draw water for it Josh 9.23 The foot may support and carry the body though it cannot direct it as the eye doth and the Creatures that cannot serve us to till our grounds or carry our burthens as Horses Oxen and Asses do yet may be made use of for some other service as dogs to keep the house or to be used for sport or the like even those that seem altogether uselesse or perhaps hurtful yet have this use at least by their variety to manifest the wonderful wisdome and goodnesse of the Creator As for men those that have not abilities for government may be made use of for servants if not in the greatest yet in the lowest offices wherefore despise none Seeing 1. we cannot comfortably subsist without the performance of the meanest offices about us 2. VVe know not to what degree of glory men of the lowest rank and meanest parts may be advanced hereafter The day as being of most use for the dispatch of mens affairs is first provided for and yet God neglects not the night but takes order that it should be governed too although by the Moon the lesser Light of the two Whence 7. Observe God takes care for the Government of the Night as well as of the Day Observ 7 INdeed both the Day and Night are Gods Psal 74.16 his Providence watcheth over both according to his promise Psal 91.5 6. 121.6 Which he manifested to his people in delivering them by night out of Egypt and afterwards in their passage through the red Sea Exod. 14.22 As he did afterwards wonderfully manifest himself in destroying Senacherib's Host by night 2 King 19.35 yea many times he appears to his servants in visions of the night as they are termed Job 4.13 giveth songs in the Night Job 35.10 and makes their reines to teach them in the night Psal 16.7 Reasons 1. He can do it seeing the Light and darknesse to him are both alike Psal 139.12 2. And it is needful for him to do it that he may keep the world in Order which otherwise would soon be out of frame if there were no care taken of the Night which we find by experience to be so fit a vail for all manner of villany Let it appale the spirits of such as make that the Covering for their lewd practices Watching for the Twilight Job 24.15 Prov. 7.9 and endeavour to hide their Robberies Adulteries and Drunkennesse under a vail of darknesse as if God had onely reserved the day to himself and abandoned the night to the Devil and his Angels let all wise men walk with God in the dark as well as in the light as those that must give account to God of all their Carriage even of the very thoughts upon their beds in the night season as well as of their works in the day The Stars Moses names only that we may take notice of them also to be Gods workmanship but because they were ordained to no special use that men might take notice of they are only named though being Creatures in themselves worthy of admiration VERSES 17 18
God because it crosseth our carnal affections and condemns all our wayes and works John 3.20 Let no man then suffer his judgement to be swayed by the opinion of the world in any matter that concernes the grounds of Truth delivered in the Word seeing the world is guided by the wisdome of the flesh which is enmity against God Rom. 8.7 And therefore no marvel though it oppose his Truth which brings down the strong holds and high imaginations of the natural man to bring under every thought to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.5 and refuse to give credit to those that speak it as the Jewes dealt with our Saviour John 8.45 because the world lying in wickednesse 1 John 5.19 which the truth of God reproves John 16.8 cannot but hate that which disgraceth and opposeth it Now if we observe it well that which made the woman so apt to give credit unto Satans suggestions was that her heart was beforehand taken with some desire after the knowledge which the eating of that fruit would certainly bring as Satan had informed her and she was desirous to believe Whence 5 OBSERVE Men are easily drawen to believe and hope any thing of that which they affect and desire Observe 5 LOve as the Apostle tells us hopes and believes all things 1 Cor. 13.7 and we know that as our affection is towards the person that speaks unto us so we give credit to his words much more to a friend then to a stranger Thus we are apt to hope well of our children because we love them well much more are we apt to promise ourselves good of our own counsels which we love better then our children It must needs be so seeing love being grounded upon a perswasion of some worth in that which we love we are easily drawn by the experience of that which we know to be in it to hope for and expect that which we know not although it doth not yet appear And whatsoever we desire to have because we desire withal that it may be good we hope it will be so By this one mark it will evidently appear that the generality of men are greater lovers of Wealth of Men of Honours of Pleasures then of God Himself or his Sonne Christ because it is evident they expect and promise themselves more good by them then by God and all his Promises following them more earnestly rejoycing in the fruition of them more cordially preserving them more carefully and resting on them more securely then on Gods Promises of Grace and Glory of this life and of that which is to come which as their own wayes convince them to their faces they esteem little better then meer delusions Yea it is manifest that they have no desire towards any way or work of Godlinesse of which they promise themselves no good by them Job 21.15 but disgrace poverty danger losse of profit and pleasure besides much unquietnesse of minde Nay by the same mark the greatest part of men appear to be greater lovers and better friends to wicked men of whom they never speak nor patiently endure to heare any evil then they are unto the godly of whom themselves are alwayes willing to believe any ill report that can be raised upon them The woman had before her eyes this pleasant fruit but she had withal an Interdiction from God not to meddle with it under the fearful curse of dying the death if she tasted of it but her inordinate appetite stirred up by sense we see prevailes with her above the terrour of the curse though denounced by God himself Whence 6 OBSERVE The terrours of wrath to come cannot prevâ—â—â— against strong and violent affections to things that are present Observe 6 IF the sense of an evil felt cannot withhold us in such a case as Prov. 23.34 35. much lesse can the feare of future evils work on our hearts The Prophet complaines that the peoples violent affection to rebellious courses thrust them forwards as an horse rusheth into the battel Jer. 8.6 of whom the Lord himselfe testifieth that he mocketh at feare and turnes not back from the sword Job 39.22 opposing their confirmed resolutions to evil against any shame or feare that stood in their way Jer. 2.25 26. Like Zimri and Cozbi that scorned the presence and tears of the Congregation and the apprehension of the future danger to fulfil their filthy lusts Numb 25.6 nay even the whole multitude of that rebellious people a little before were not deterred by the fearful judgement executed in their sight on Corah Dathan and Abiram from renewing their rebellion against Moses and Aaron the very next day Numb 16.4 The reason whereof is 1. Because such things as are present such as the pleasures of sinne are being apprehended by sense work more strongly upon the affections then things absent can do because they want that help of sense to conveigh them to the mindes which the affections are most moved by For as hope deferred maketh the heart sick because the thing desired is absent Prov. 13.12 so on the other side when the judgment is deferred and is not present the heart is not affected with the feare of it but hardened in men to mischief Eccl. 8.11 2. Because affections which things present raise up in us blinde our judgements so far that the evils threatened because they are not present are not believed so that men perswade themselves they will not come Deut. 29.19 Isa 28.15 and for that reason the feare of them restrains not men from evil because unto such persons they are esteemed as if they were not at all Let all men by this try their affections either to good or evil If our affections to that which is good be strong Much water will not quench love Cantic 8.6 7. as appears in the example of holy David whom though the proud derided Psal 19.51 Princes spake against him ver 23. the hands of the wicked robbed him ver 61. the proud digged pits for him ver 85. the wicked waited to destroy ver 95. yet all quenched not his love to Gods Law ver 97. nor his endeavours not to decline from his testimonies ver 157. Out of the same affection the Apostles were not deterred from preaching by all the menaces of the counsel and stripes that they laid upon them Acts 4.20 21. Thus Daniel continues his duty of making his request unto God despising the Lions Den Dan. 6.10 as the three children had done the flames of fire Dan. 3.17 On the other side to faint in the day of adversity argues small strength Prov. 24.10 or to take offence and be disheartened when tribulations arise Mat. 13.21 or mens displeasure threatens us as they do John 13.42 or much more when feigned terrours keep us off from our duty Prov. 26.13 That which prevailed so far with the woman or at least by which her minde already distempered by Satans suggestions was so far inflamed that it carried her on violently into this actual
rebellion was the delight somnesse of the fruit to her outward senses she saw that the tree was pleasant to the eye and good for food and took and did eate the great mischief that followed thereupon may then warrant us to 7 OBSERVE Outward sense is an ill and a dangerous guide Observe 7 AChans eye was it that drew him to take of the accursed thing and Davids eye drew him to adultery and Solomon tells us that the drunkards pleasing his eye with the colour of the wine in the cup may draw him to drunkennesse Prov. 23.31 to the beholding of strange women and the heart to the uttering of perverse things ver 33. Upon this ground it is that the Apostle calls wisdome according to sense divellish wisdom and the lust of the eye St. John tells us is of the world 1 John 2.16 That it must be so it stands with good reason 1. Sense was never given men for a Judge or Counsellour to determine and direct but only for an informer 2. Sense can shew us nothing but the outward formes of such things as it represents upon which we shall never be able to lay the ground of a right judgement wherefore judgement according to appearance is opposed to Gods true and infallible judgement 1 Sam. 16.7 wherefore the receiving of things meerly from sense cannot but mislead us in all that we so apprehend awakening and stirring up affections that distemper the minde and blinde the eyes of the understanding And yet is this judgement by sense the wisdom that guides all the world or at the least the greatest part of it as we see by experience It is added that the woman saw that the tree was good for food that is that she was perswaded and believed it to be so and that upon that opinion she did take and eate the forbidden fruit so that which deceived the woman was the false opinion that she entertained of the goodnesse of the fruit Whence 8. OBSERVE A man cannot naturally desire any thing but under a shew and appearance of good Observe 11 THis is all that they seek and enquire after Psal 4.6 Who will shew as any good and as their endeavour is to do well unto themselves so they applaud only those that do so Psal 49.18 Nay the enquiry of all those which have been renowned for their wisdome amongst men hath been especially to finde out what is mans chiefest good And their errour hath been not in chusing evil as evil but in mistaking evil for good Yea although some have been so far blinded by Satan as to become instruments of their own destruction which appears manifestly to be evil notwithstanding even therein they may be conceived to choose that at least which is lesse evil esteeming a speedy death to be better then a miserable and uncomfortable life This firme adherence of the heart of man to that which is good from which it cannot be drawen unlesse it be by mistaking without the destruction of nature it selfe God hath planted in all mens hearts not only that it might be a meanes of their own preservation which all creatures bend unto some by a natural others by a sensitive and Man by a rational inclination but besides for an higher end that Man choosing God above all things to depend on and his will to submit unto and to place all his happinesse in him might thereby give a clear testimony and set to his seale that he esteems God as the chiefest good because his heart which carries him on with a restlesse desire to seek that above all things and desires no more when they do enjoy him with the Prophet Psal 73.25 and 116.7 Hence then appears not only the folly of men of this world who so greedily seek after Wealth Honours Pleasures and the favour of men as if all their happinesse lay in them but more their sacrilegious impiety in robbing God of his due honour to bestow it not only on the creature whom they advance above the Creator Rom. 1.25 when they seek their chief good in that rather then in him besides on our own base lusts by which we guide our selves rather then by the Will of God as if there were more good to be found in them then in God Himself so that the A postle justly censures them to be lovers of pleasures more then lovers of God 2 Tim. 3.4 which must needs be acknowledged to be true when we seek after them more earnestly and constantly and rejoyce and satisfie our selves with them more cordially and contentedly then we do with the favour and love of God this taking away from God the chiefest flower of his Crown which is to be good alone Mat. 19.17 to adorne with it the basest creatures is an abomination not to be expiated but with the pouring out of the wrath of God to the uttermost as the Apostle speaks 1 Thes 2.16 especially when they do not only call evil good and good evil upon whom the Prophet pronounceth that fearful woe Isa 5.20 but seale to it too by their deeds and actions Thus then the woman moved by Satans faire and large promises seconded with the strong outward allurement of a fruit so pleasant to the eye conceiving that she could not be but a great gainer by so rich a purchase without any more ado takes the fruit and eates it But how grosly she was mistaken therein the fearful event of the ruine of her self and her husband in the issue sufficiently declares So that comparing the successe of this action with the hopes upon which it was undertaken upon Satans word We may 9 OBSERVE Man is an ill chooser of his own good Observe 9 ADam we see even in this state of Innocency though endowed with so much wisdom yet as we shall see anon chooseth death instead of life And Solomon the wisest of all Princes either before or after him is faine after his long enquiry and travel in seeking after mans chiefest good Eccl. 2.3 when he looked advisedly back upon all his labours and the fruits of them to acknowledge that they were vanity and vexation of spirit Eccl. 2.11 17. and this he found not to be his own errour alone but that generally the wayes that seem right to a man are found at last in the issues of them to be wayes of death Prov. 14.12 The reason whereof is First mans ignorance by nature is such that he knows nothing as he ought not God the chiefest good of whom we may acknowledge with Bildad that it is a little portion that is heard of him Job 26.14 and that of those that know him best 1 Cor. 13.12 but of the generality of men we may say with Zophar that man is borne like a wilde assâ—es colt Job 11.12 and therefore no marvel if those that know him not desire him not seeing it is the knowledge of things that move us either to desire them or to depend upon them See Psal 9.10 As ignorant are we of the inward