consideratioâ— would have made them wise and prudentâ— avoid those great Apostasies which shouâ— occasion so terrible a desertion and rejectiâ—â— by God But certainly the words contain an evâ—dent truth with relation to every particulâ— person and to that latter end that is coâ—mon to all man-kind namely their latâ—end by death and separation of the Soul aâ—â— Body the due consideration whereof is great part of Wisdom and a great meaâ— to attain and improve it and very maâ— of the sins and follies of man-kind as thâ— do in a great measure proceed from tâ—â— want of an attentive and serious consiâ—â—ration of it so would be in a great measâ—cured by it It is the most certain known experienâ— truth in the World that all men must dâ—â— that the time of that death is uncertaiâ— that yet most certainly it will comâ—â— and that within the compass of no loâ— time Though the time of our Life migâ—â— be protracted to its longest period yetâ— is ten thousand to one that it will not exceâ— fourscore years where one man attaiâ— to that age ten thousand dit before it aâ—â— this Lecture is read unto us by the many casualties and diseases that put a period to the Lives of many in our own experience and observation by the many warnings and monitions of Mortality that every man finds in himself either by the occurrences of diseases and weaknesses and especially by the declinations that are apparent in us if we attain to any considerable age and the weekly Bills of Mortality in the great City where weekly there are taken away ordinarily three hundred persons The Monuments and Graves in every Church and Church-yard do not only evince the truth of it whereof no man of understanding doubts but do uncessantly inculcate the remembrance of it And yet it is strange to see that this great truth whereof in the theory no mans doubts is little considered or thought upon by the most of man-kind But notwithstanding all these monitions and remembrances of Mortality the living lay 〈◊〉 not to heart and look upon it as a buâ—â—ness that little concerns them as if they were not concerned in this common condition of man-kind and as if the condition of Mortality only concerned them that actually die or are under the immediate Harbingers of it some desperate or acute diseases but concerned not them that are at present in health or not under the stroke of a mortal sickness The Reasons of this Inconsiderateness seem principally these 1. That men are not willing to entertain this unwelcom thought of their own latter End the thought whereof is so unwelcom and troublesom a Guest that it seems to blast and disparage all those present enjoyments of Sense that this Life affords Whereby it comes to pass that as Death it self is unwelcom when it draws near so the thoughts and apprehensions of it becomes as unwelcom as the thing it self 2. A vain foolish conceit that the consideration of the latter End is a kind of presage and invitation of it and upon this account I have known many superstitiously and foolishly to forbear the making of their Wills because it seemed to them ominous and a presage of Death whereas this consideration though it fits and prepares man for Death it doth no way hasten or presage it 3. A great difficulty that ordinarily attends our humane condition to think otherwise concerning our condition than what at present we feel and find We are now in health and we can hardly bring our selves to think that a time must and will come wherein we shall be sick We are now in life and therefore we can hardly cast our thoughts into such a mould to think we shall die and hence it is true as the common Proverb is That there is no man so old but he thinks he shall live a year longer It is true this is the way of man-kind to put far from us the evil day and the thought of it but this our way is our folly and one of the greatest occasions of those other follies that commonly attend our lives and therefore the great means to care this folly and to make us wise is wisely to consider our latter end This Wisdom appears in those excellent effects it produceth which are generally these two 1. It teacheth us to live well 2. It teacheth us to die easily For the former of these the consideration of our latter end doth in no sort make our lives the shorter but it is a great means to make our lives the better 1. It is a great monition and warning of us to avoid Sin and a great means to prevent it When I shall consider that certainly I must die and I know not how soon why should I commit those things that if they hasten not my latter end yet they will make it more uneasie and troublesom by the reflection upon what I have done amiss I may die to morrow why should I commit that evil that will then be gall and bitterness unto me would I do it if I were to die to morrow why should I then do it to day perchance it may be the last act of my Life and however let me not conclude so ill for for ought I know it may be my concluding Act in this Scene of my Life 2. It is a great motive and means to put us upon the best and most profitable improvement of our time There be certain Civil and Natural actions of our lives that God Almighty hath indulged and allowed to us and indeed commanded us with moderation to use As the competent supplies of our own Natures with moderation and sobriety the provision for our Families Relations and Dependances without covetousness or anxiety the diligent and faithful walking in our Callings and discharge thereof But there are also other businesses of greater importance which yet are attainable without injuring our selves in those common concerns of our Lives namely our knowledge of God and of His Will of the doctrine of our Redemption by Christ our Repentance of Sins past making and keeping our Peace with God acquainting our selves with Him living to His Glory walking as in His Presence Praying to Him learning to Depend upon Him Rejoycing in Him walking Thankful unto Him These and such like as these are the great Business and End of our Lives for which we enjoy them in this World and these fit and prepare us for that which is to come And the consideration that our Lives are short and uncertain and that Death will sooner or later come puts us upon this resolution and practice to do this our great work while it is called to day that we loiter not away our day and neglect our task and work while we have time and opportunity lest the night overtake us when we cannot work to gain Oyl in our Lamps before the door be shut And if men would wisely consider their latter Ends they might do this great business this one thing
moment I were bereft of all either by Fire or Depredation how were my mind fitted with humility and patience to submit to a poor strait wanting condition I have now a good Husband Wife Children many Friends that esteem me and are faithful to to me what if God should in a moment deprive me of all these what if my dearest Friends should become my bitterest Enemies how should I bear my self under these changes I have a great Name and Esteem in the World what if in a moment a black cloud of Infamy and Scorn and Reproach were drawn of it and that I should become a scorn and reproach with Job 30.8 among children of fools yea children of base men viler than the earth how were I fitted with humility and evenness of mind to comport with such a condition till it pleaseth God by his Providence and the manifestation of my Innocence if he think sit to scatter this black cloud of Calumny and Reproach or if not yet quietly under it to enjoy the testimony of a good conscience and my own integrity These and the like anticipations of troubled and afflicted conditions would habituate and fit our minds to bear them furnish us with suitable tempers for them render them casie to us when they come and keep our Souls in a due state of moderation and watchfulness before they come As the good Martyr Bilney before his martyrdom by often putting his Finger into the Candle made the Flames which he was after to endure more familiar and tollerable 3. The third Preparative against Affliction and calamitous seasons is to reason our selves off from over-much love and valuation of the World and the best things it affords Philosophy hath made some short essay in this business but the Doctrine of the Gospel hath given us far more noble and effectual topicks and arguments than any Philosophy ever did or can 1. By giving us a plain and clear estimate and valuation of this World and all that seems most valuable in it but this is not all but 2. by shewing us plainly and clearly a more valuable certain and durable estate after death and a way of attaining it with much more ease and contentation than we can attain the most splendid temporals of this World Certain it is that the weight and and stress of afflictions and crosses lyes not so much in the things themselves which we suffer in them or by them as in that overvaluation that we put upon those conveniences which afflictions or crosses deprive us of When news was brought to that noble Roman of the death of his Son it was a great pitch of patience that even that Moral consideration wrought in him Novi me genuisse mortalem though perchance it was not without a mixture of Stoical vain-glory We set too great a value upon our health our wealth our reputation and that makes 〈◊〉 unable to bear with that evenness and contentedness of mind the loss of them by sickness poverty reproach We set too great a rate upon our temporal life here because we set too great a rate upon this World to the enjoyment whereof this life here is accommodated and proportioned and that makes us fear death not only as the ruine of our nature but as that which puts a period to all our comforts Whereas had we but Faith enough to believe the Evangelical truths touching our future happiness it would make us not desire death because we might in the time of this life secure unto our selves that great and one thing necessary and it would make us not to fear death because we see a greater fruition to be enjoyed after it than all the glory of this present World can yield 4. The next Preparative against Afflictions is to keep Piety Innocence and a Good Conscience before it comes As Sin is the sting of death so it is the sting of affliction and that which indeed gives the greatest bitterness and strength unto affliction and the reason is this because it weakens and disables that part in man which must bear and support it This is that which the Wise man observes Proc. 18.14 The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmities but a wounded spirit who can bear which is no more than this It is the mind and spirit of man rightly principled that doth bear and carry a man through those difficulties and afflictions and infirmities under which he is but if that spirit or mind which should carry and bear those evils be hurt or wounded or faint or infirm what is there left in a man to bear that which indeed should be our support Innocence and a Good Conscience keeps the mind and spirit of a man in courage and considence and indeed it hath an influence and suffrage and attestation and support from the God of Heaven to whom a good conscience can with an humble confidence appeal as Hezekiah did under a great affliction Isa 38. and this access to Almighty God doth give new supplies succours and strength to the Soul to bear it up under very great and pressing afflictions But on the other side Sin doth disable the Soul to bear affliction till it be throughly repented of 1. Because it doth in a great measure emasculate and weaken the spirit of a man makes it poor cowardly and unable to bear it self up under the pressure of afflictions 2. It doth in a great measure obstruct the intercourse between God and the Soul and that influence that might and would otherwise be derived to the spirit or mind of a man by the God of the spirits of all flesh Therefore the best preparative against affliction is to have the Soul as clear as may be from the guilt of Sin 1. By an innocent and watchful life in the time of our prosperity before affliction attach us 2. Or at least By a speedy sincere and hearty Repentance for Sin committed and this repentance to be speedy before affliction come For although it is true that many times affliction is the messenger of God to awaken a sinner to repentance and that repentance is accepted by the merciful God yet that repentance is most kindly and easie and renders afflictions less difficult and troublesom which prevents affliction and performs one great end and use of afflictions before it comes He that hath a Soul cleansed by Faith and Repentance from the guilt of Sin before the severity of affliction comes upon him hath but one work to do namely to fit himself with patience to undergo the shock of affliction But he that defers his repentance till driven to it by affliction his work is more difficult because it is double namely to begin his repentance and to bear his affliction And because in many things we offend all and the best have their failings and sins of daily incursion a daily revising and examining of our own failings and renewing of our repentance for our daily faults is of singular use to render afflictions easie because repentance
only both Evangelists Matthew and Luke testifie it was a cry with a loud voice to evidence to the world that in the very article of his giving up of the ghost the strength of nature was not wholly spent for he cryed with a loud voice 3. The comfortable resignation of his soul unto the hands of his Father Luk. 23. 46. Father into thy hands I commend my spirit And although but even now the black storm was upon his soul that made him cry out with that loud and bitter cry yet the cloud is over and with comfort he delivers up his soul into the hands of that God whom he thought but even now had forsaken him It is more than probable that that bitter cry was uttered at the very Zenith of all his pains and when he had taken the vinegar and proclaimed that it is finished though they were all wrapt up in a very small time about the end of the ninth hour yet now there remained no more but for him to give up his spirit which he instantly thereupon did Joh. 19.30 He said It is finished he bowed the head and gave up the ghost Now the things wonderfully observable in the death of our Saviour are many 1. That it was a voluntary delivering up of his spirit this is that which he said Matth. 10.18 No man taketh it from me but I lay it down I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again this commandment have I received of my Father And truly this voluntary delivering up of his soul was well near as great an evidence of his Divinity as his resuming it again so that this very delivering up of his soul converted the Centurion Mar. 15.39 When he saw that he so cryed and gave up the ghost he said Truly this man was the Son of God Now that he thus voluntarily gave up his spirit is evident 1. By the strength of nature that was yet upon him in the very article of his death he cryed with a loud voice 2. That the Thieves who were crucified at the same time dyed not till there was a farther violence used by breaking their legs Joh. 19.32 but he expired to prevent the violence of the Souldiers and to fulfill the type and prophecy Not a bone of him shall be broken Joh. 19.36.3 That the suddenness of his death caused admiration in those that well knew the lingring course of such a death in the Centurion Mar. 15.39 in Pilate Mar. 15.44 which might probably be the cause that the insolent Souldier to secure the assurance of his death pierced his side with a spear Job 19.34 and thereby fulfilled that other Scripture which he never thought of Job 15.37 Now the wonderful occurrences that accompanied our Saviour's death were very many and considerable 1. A strange and particular Fulfilling of the Prophecies and Types that were concerning our Saviour's death and the very individual circumstances that attended it and all to consirm our Faith that this was indeed the Messias and that he was thus delivered over to death by the most certain and pre-determinate Counsel of God The Time of his Death so exactly predicted by Daniel ch 9.v.25 26. the parallel circumstances with the Paschal Lamb in the nature of him a Lamb without spot Exod. 12.5 in the time of his delivery over to death at the Feast of the Passover and the very evening wherein the Passover was to be eaten In the Manner of his Oblation not a bone to be broken Exod. 12.46 again the Manner of his Death by piercing his hands and his feet Psal 22.16 the very Words used by him Psal 22.1 Matth. 27. 46. the Words used of him Psal 22.8 Matth. 27.43 the crucifying of him between Malefactors Isa 53.12 the Whippings Isa 53.5 the Dividing of his Garments and casting Lotts upon his Vesture Psa 22.18 the Thirst of our Saviour upon the Cross and the giving him Vinegar and Gall Psal 69.21 2. A strange and miraculous Concussion of nature giving testimony to the wonderful and unheard of dissolution of our Saviour's body and soul Darkness from the sixth hour until the ninth hour And it is observable in the night wherein he was born by a miraculous light the night became as day Luk. 2.9 but at his death a miraculous darkness turned the day into night for three hours Matth. 27.45 at his birth a new Star was created to be the lamp and guide unto the place of his birth Matth. 2.9 but at his death the Sun in the firmament was masked with darkness and yielded not his light while the Lord of life was passing into the vail of death Again another prodigy that accompanied the death of Christ was an Earthquake that rent the rocks and opened the graves and strake amazement and conviction into the Centurion that was watching him Math. 27.52 53 54. When our Saviour was entring into the earth by death the earth trembled and so it did when he was coming out of it by his Resurrection Matth. 28.2 3. Again the Graves were opened and the dead bodies of the Saints arose As the touch of the bones of Elisha caused a kind of resurrection 2 Kings 13.21 so our Saviour's body new saln to the earth did give a kind of particular resurrection to the Saints bodies to testifie that by his death he had healed the deadliness of the Grave and that the satisfaction for Sin was accomplished when Death the wages of Sin was thus Conquered 4. Again the Vail of the Temple was Rent in twain from the top to the bottom Matth. 27.57 the Vail was that which divided the most holy place from the rest of the Tabernacle Exod. 26.33 and in that most Holy place were contained the mysterious Types the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy-Seat and within this Vail only the high Priest entred once a year when he made an atonement for the People and for the Tabernacle Levit. 16.33 Heb. 9.7 and now at our Saviour's death this vail was rent from the top to the bottom and it imported divers very great Mysteries 1. That now our great High Priest was entring into the most holy with his own blood having thereby made the atonement for us Heb. 9.12 By his own blood he entred once into the most holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us 2. That the Means whereby he entred into the most holy place was by the Rending of his Humanity his soul from his body typified by the rending of that vail and therefore his flesh that is his whole humane nature was the vail Heb. 10.20 Consecrated through the vail that is his flesh 3. That now by the death of Christ all those dark Mysteries vailed up formerly in the most holy the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy-Seat are now rendred open and their Mysteries unfolded Christ the Mediator of the Covenant and the Seat of Mercy and Acceptation unto all believers founded and seated upon him and thereby that Life and
that feareth God discovereth it â—elf in this that it provides and lays up a good and safe store for the future and that â—n respect of these three kinds of futurities 〈◊〉 For the future part of his life 2. For the future evil days 3. For the future life that is to take place after this present short uncertain and transitory life 1. In respect of the future time of his life It is true our lives in this world are but short at best and together with that shortness they are very uncertain But yet the man fearing God makes a due and safe provision for that future portion of his life how short or how long soever it be I. By a constant walking in the fear of God he transmits unto the future part of his life a quiet serene and fair Conscience and avoids those evil fruits and consequences which a sinful life produceth even in the after time of a man's life The bruises and hurts we receive in youth are many times more painful in age than when we first received them Our lives are like the Husbandman's seed-time if we sow evil seeds in the time of our yourh it may be they may lye five ten or more years before they come up to a full crop and possibly then we taste the fruit of these evil ways in an unquiet mind or conscience or some other sowre effects of that evil seed All this inconvenience a man fearing God prevents and instead thereof reaps a pleasing and comfortable fruit of his walk in the fear of God namely a quiet Conscience and an even setled peaceable Soul 2. But besides this by this means he keeps his Interest in and Peace with Almighty God and makes sure of the best Friend in the world for the after time of his life to whom he is sure to have access at all times and upon all occasions with comfort and acceptance for it is an infallible truth That God Almighty never forsakes any that forsake not him first The Second futurity is the future Evil day which will most certainly overtake every man either the day of feeble and decrepit age or the day of sickness or the day of death and against all those the true fear of God makes a safe and excellent provision so that although he may not avoid them he may have a comfortable passage through them and in the midst of all these black clouds the witness of a good conscience fearing God and the evidence of the divine favour will shine into the Soul like a bright Sun with comfort when a man shall be able with Hezekiah Isa 38.3 to appeal to Almighty God Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and in uprightness of heart and â—ave done that which was good in thy sight this will be a cordial under the faintness of old age a relief under the pains of sickness and cure of the fear of death it self which to such a Soul will be only a gate and passage to a life that will be free from all pains and infirmities a life of glory and immortality 3. The third futurity is the Life and State after Death Most certain it is that such a state there will be and that it is but of two kinds a state of everlasting happiness or a state of everlasting miâ—â—ry and that all men in the World do most certainly belong to one of these two states or conditions and as it is most just and equal so it is most true that they that truly fear God and obey him through Jesus Christ shall be partakers of that everlasting state of blessedness and immortal happiness And on the other side they that reject the the fear of God contemn and disobey his will shall without true repentance be subject to a state of everlasting misery Now herein the truest and the greatest â—isdom of a man appears that he duly provides against the latter and to obtain the former all other wisdom of men either to get humane Learning Wealth Honour Power all wisdom of Statesmen and Politicians in comparison of this wisdom is but vain and trivial And this is the wisdom that the fear of God teacheth and bringeth with it into the Soul 1. It provides against the greatest of evils the everlasting state of misery and infelicity and eternal death 2. It provides for and attains an everlasting estate of blessedness and happiness of rest and peace of glory and immortality and eternal life a state of that happiness and glory that exceeds expression and apprehension for Eye hath not seen nor car heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man the things that God hath laid up for them that love him 1 Cor. 2. and they only truly love God that truly fear him Mal. 3.13 And they namely that fear God shall be mine saith the Lord in that day when I make up my jewels And now for the Conclusion of this whole matter let us now make a short Comparison between the persons that fear not God and those that truly fear him and then let any man judge who is the fool and who is the wise man A man hath but a very short uncertain time in this life which in comparison of eternity is less than a moment The great God of Heaven in his Word assures us that there is an estate of Immortality after this life and that that immortal estate is but of two kinds an estate of never-dying misery or an estate of endless glory and tells them If you fear me and obey those easie Commands that are contained in the Book of the Holy Scriptures which I have given you you shall infallibly attain everlasting life and happiness and even in this present life shall have the influence and presence of my favour to support to direct and bless you On the other side if ye refuse my fear and reject my commands and prefer the unlawful and vain delusions of this present life before the obedience of my will and persist impenitently in it your portion shall be everlasting misery And now everlasting life and everlasting death being set before the children of men there are a sort of men that rather choose to disobey the command of God reject his fear and all this that they may enjoy the pleasures of Sin for a season those pleasures that are fading and dying that leave behind them a sting that renders their very enjoyment bitter and that make even that very little life they enjoy but a life of discomfort and unhappiness in spight of all their pleasures or be they as sincere as their own hearts can promise them yet they are but for a season a season that in its longest period is but short but is uncertain also a little inconsiderable accident the breath of a vain ... an ill air a little ill digested portion of that excess wherein they delight may put a period to all those pleasures and to that life in a
2. To manifest unto Men and Angels the Glory and infinite Perfection and Excellence of all his blessed Attributes The glory of his Wisdom in contriving and of his Power in effecting such a deliverance for the children of men by a way that exceeded the disquisition of Men and Angels the glory of his Mercy that could not have been possibly so conspicuous to mankind if man had never faln In the Creation of Man he manifested the glory of his Goodness that communicated a â—â—ing to him that so he might communicate his goodness to him But in the Redemption of Man he manifested his Mercy in forgiving and healing a rebellious and miserable creature the glory of his Justice that would not pardon the Sin till he had a Satisfaction for the sin that would not spare the Son when he chose to be the surety for the sinner 2. In reference to Man and so the ends of our Lord's suffering were principally these 1. To absolve and deliver him from guilt the consequence of sin and misery the fruit of guilt Eph. 1.7 In whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins and surely had the fruit of Christ's death rested here it had been a great degree of mercy if we rightly weighed the heaviness of the burden of guilt the severity of the wrath of God and the extremity of that misery that doth and must attend it If a man under the guilt and horror of some hideous Treason under the severe and inexorable sentence of the Law against him under the imminent infliction of most exquisite and continuing torments should but hear of a Pardon and discharge from this how welcome would it be though the residue of his life were to be spent in exile But our Lord's purchase rests not here 2. To Reconcile God unto his Creature So that it doth not only remove the effects of the anger of God which is punishment which may be removed and yet the anger continuing nor doth it only remove the anger of God and leaves a man in a kind of state of indifferency as it is between persons that never were acquainted one with another But it is a state of Reconciliation Eph. 2.16 That he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross having slain the enmity thereby 2 Cor. 5. 19. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them And certainly this is a great addition unto the former that God in Christ should hot only pass by our sins but should no longer look upon us as strangers but as persons reconciled unto him And surely a soul sensible of the unhappy condition of being estranged from God how highly would he prize a state of reconciliation though it were in the meanest and lowest relation Luk. 15.19 I am no more worthy to be called thy son make me as one of thy hired servants So that I may not be estranged from thee reconcile me unto thy self though in the condition of thy meanest servant But neither doth the happy fruit of â—ur Lord's suffering rest here 3. To restore unto us that near and blessed relation of being Sons of God Gal. 4.5 That we might receive the adoption of sons 1 Joh. 3. 2. Behold now we are the sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be This was that dear expression of our Lord after his resurrection Joh. 20.17 Go to my brethren and tell them I ascend unto my Father and your Father to my God and to your God he seems to interess them in this blessed relation in a kind of equality with himself my Brethren my Father and your Father and the sweet and comfortable consequents of this are incomparable Is he my Father then I know he can pity me as a Father pitieth his Children Psal 103.13 he can pardon and spare me as a Father spareth his Son that serves him Mal. 3.17 Is he my Father then whither should I go but to him for protection in all my dangers for direction in all my difficulties for satisfaction in all my doubts for supply in all my wants This I can with confidence expect from a poor earthly Father according to the compass of his abilities If ye then being evil know how to give good things unto your children how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask him Matth. 7.11 Mercy and Compassion and Love is a virtue in a man in an earthly Father a piece of that image of God which at first he imprinted in man and yet passion and humane infirmity as it hath much weakened the habit thereof in us so it may suspend the exercise thereof to a near relation But in Almighty God these virtues are in their perfection and nothing at all in him that can remit it Mercy and tenderness are attributes which he delights in mercy pleaseth him it was that great attribute that he proclaimed his name by Exod. 34.6 and so diffusive is his mercy that it extends to all he is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works Psal 145.9 and not only to the just and good but even to the unkind causing his Sun to shine upon the evil and the good and surely he that hath Mercy and Goodness for an Enemy cannot deny it unto a Child Can a mother forget her sucking child c. Yea she may forget yet will I not forget thee saith the Lord. Isa 49.15 4. To restore us to a most sure everlasting and blessed inheritance in heaven Gal. 4.7 If a son then an heir of God through Christ and here is the complement of all not only absolved from the guilt of sin reconciled to God put into the relation of a Child of God but after all this to be everlastingly and unchangeably stated in a blessed condition unto all Eternity and all this from the condition of a most vile sinful lost creature and by such a price as the Blood of Christ More need not cannot be said 5. And by what hath been said it is easie to see what the Fruits and Effects of all this are God will not be disappointed in the end of so great a work and therefore we cannot be disappointed in the fruit of it and those are either such as are enjoyed in this life or principally appropriated to that which is to come 1. Those Benefits that naturally arise from Christ crucified and are enjoyed in this life are these 1. Justification and Acceptation in the sight of God he looks upon us as those that have satisfied his justice when his Son suffered and as those that performed his will when his Son performed it So that as our Lord imputed our fins to our Redeemer so he imputes his righteousness unto us and as he was well pleased with him so he was well pleased in him with as many as are received into this Covenant 2. Peace with God This is the natural consequence of
whom I owe myself and whose will I pray daily may be done It was an adorable instance of this humility in David when to add to his present sad condition Shimei cursed him so bitterly and although he had power and opportuleft him to revenge it yet he forbad it for it may be the Lord hath bid Shimei curse And again 2. What am I that I must not be crossed or reproached or contemned or disappointed Alas a poor weak sinful man I cannot be made lower in the esteem of the world than I am in my own If the world reproach spoil me of what I have if I am poor or scorned it is but what I deserve and less than I deserve for my sins at the hand of God Though perchance I am slandered or falsly accused by them yet I know ill enough of my self to make me bear patiently even a false accusation and they cannot make me more low and vile in the esteem of others than I am in my own And thus Humility breaks and quenches the passions and keeps the mind serene and undisturbed under all external occurrencies But to descend to particulars more distinctly 2. Humility gives Contentation in any condition or station And the reason is because an humble mind is never above that station or condition of life that the Divine Providence orders but rather under or below it or at the most holds pace with it When the mind runs beyond the condition of a man it is like a spend-thrift that lives beyond his Estate and therefore becomes necessarily poor and never enjoys what it hath because it busies it self evermore in anxious pursuit of what it hath not And that mind that in relation to the things of the world runs beyond its station can never be contented nor quiet and though he attain this year what he anxiously pursued the last year yet still his mind will be running farther and still keep before his acquests as the fore-wheel of the Coach will still run before the hinder-wheel But an humble man is ever contented with what the Divine Providence and Honest Industry allotts him and enjoys it comfortably and thankfully and can sit down with a narrow fortune with this contenting contemplation That which I have is given by the Bountiful God of liberality not of debt if I had less it were more than I could deserve for I can with Jacob say out of the sense of my own unworthiness I am less than the least of all thy mercies blessed therefore be his name 3. Humility gives always Patience under all Adversity of what kind soever it be and this is always an effect and companion of true humility upon these ensuing Considerations 1. The greatest cause of Impatience is not so much from the pressure and force of any external cross or calamity as from the great disturbance and reluctance of the mind of him that suffers it and this it is that raiseth up the waves and billows within the cross or calamity it may be is rough and beyond the power of him that suffers it to extricate or control And on the other side when it meets with a mind as tumultuous and contumacious as the calamity or cross it raiseth a storm as when the wind and tide are contrary or like that state of Paul's voyage in the Adriatick Sea where two Seas met Act. 27. which oftentimes endangers the vessel He that violently and impetuously contends against a calamity is like one bound with a strong yoak or bond his strugling like a wild Bull in a net galls him more than the yoak it self otherwise would do and a proud and haughty spirit commonly miscalled courage contributes more to his own uneasiness than his cross doth But an humble lowly mind is naturally more able to bear his cross with more patience because it is evident that the softness humility and quietness and calmness of his mind breaks the force of the calamity and renders it more easie by submission to it 2. Again every true humble man looks upon the worst condition that he is under to be less than he deserves As long as a man lives in the world there is no condition so troublesom and painful and uneasie but it may be worse and an humble man always thinks that that condition or circumstance of his life which may be worse is not the worst that he deserves It may be I am poor but yet I am well esteemed I deserve both poverty and disesteem it may be I am poor and under a cloud also of ignominy and reproach yet I have my health of body and composedness and steadiness of mind and this is more than I deserve It may be I am with Job under a confluence and complication of calamities loss of Estate of Children and Relations censured by my very friends as an hypocrite and one under the displeasure of Almighty God my body macerated with diseases yet I have life and where there is life there is hope Wherefore doth the living man complain a man for the punishment of his sins Lam. 3.39 the living man hath no cause to complain because although he suffer the loss of all other things yet his life is spared and given him for a prey The humble man is patient therefore under his sufferings of any kind because he carries with him the due sense of his own unworthiness and demerit and upon a judicious account looks upon his meanest lowest worst condition as better than he deserves at the hand of God 3. The humble man is patient under all conditions because he always bears a mind entirely subject and submitting to the will of the great Sovereign Lord of Heaven and Earth and whom he knows to be the Sovereign Lord of all his Creatures to be the great dispenser or permitter and rector of all the events in the world to be the most Wise Just and Gracious God and therefore he doth not only submit to his will as an act of Necessity which we cannot control or as an act of Duty in obedience to his Sovereign but as an act of Choice of Prudence and because the will of his Maker is wiser than his own and more eligible than his own and therefore he makes the will of his Maker his own choice and upon the account of true judgment concludes that whatsoever the most Powerful and Irresistible the most Wise and Prudent the most Just and Merciful Will of God appoints for him is not only fit for him to submit unto but also to choose and as well cheerfully and thankfully as patiently and quietly to follow and elect And therefore since he well knows that all the successes of his life are under the regiment government and providence of the most Glorious Sovereign Wise and Merciful God even those that seem in themselves most troublesom uneasie and grievous he patiently and cheerfully comports with the Divine Will in the tolleration of them and waits upon his All-sufficiency and Goodness in his due