and cherisheth his deadly Enemy in his bosom it cannot be well with him in whom Selfness the morbifick Matter and root of all Distempers abounds Self-desires and Lusts are the diseases of the Soul they are the corrupt humours that disturb the inward man and till these be purged out there can be no health no soundness no joy no rest Inordinate Self-love breeds perpetual tumults and disorders in our breasts for having many appetites to be satisfied so long as any of them are crost or not fully pleased as they can never be they must necessarily be very troublesome but a sweet Calm and composure of Soul enters in with Self-Resignation and it must needs so do as it removes the cause of trouble and disquiet There is indeed pain in the first tearing off our Wills from those things they cleaved and stuck fast to As it is said of the Milch-kine that drew the Ark their Calves being shut up they went lowing all the way that they went to Beth-shemesh so it is with Souls in their passage to Resignation they then parting with what was dear to them fondly beloved and eagerly pursued by them with that which was their life and nature But they are no sooner arrived at this state but the bitterness of death is past the bitterness of the death of the Old corrupt man the hour of travel is over and they remember no more the anguish for joy that the New man created after the Image of God is born within them They have now broken through the difficulties in the way are got out of the Wilderness over Iordan and their feet are on the holy Land the Land of righteousness and rest The ways of Religion are not as before grievous but paths of peace and pleasantness flowry and sweet rosie and soft ways Religion is now become their temper constitution and life and sin is grievous strange and hard to them 'T is not so troublesome to them to be patient as to be passionate to forgive as to revenge Humility is more easie to them than Pride Sobriety than Intemperance Chastity and Purity are more sweet than Lust and Sensuality and the like may be said of the other Graces and Vertues It is no longer well with them than while they are true to Resignation when at any time they fail here they are sensible they take great hurt they find themselves immediately ill at ease To the Self-resigning Soul Christ's Commandments are so far from being grievous that the inward voice of such a Soul is I delight to do thy Will O my God the Divine Will is its just satisfaction its full content joy and pleasure And as the jugum legis the yoke of Christ's Law so the jugum crucis the yoke of his Cross is not grievous to the Self-resigned He saith with his Saviour the Cup which my Father giveth me to drink shall I not drink it Let God feed him with bitterness and wormwood yet his meditation of him is sweet his spirit is not imbittered against the Divine Providence he is still and silent before the Lord He possesseth his Soul with patience and often also with joyfulness It is sweet and pleasant to a Christian to find himself willing to be without that which he desired and to suffer that which he was most averse to and goes most against the hair when after his requests made known to God by Prayer and Supplication and making known his troubles and difficulties to others with desire of their help and other due means used it appears to be the Will of God that he should have such trialls and continue in such circumstances How sweet is such a temper of Patience to the Soul 't is far sweeter than the obtaining and enjoying of that we desire But as for the Unresigned his impatience and Self-willedness makes his Cup more bitter and his Cross whatever it is far heavier than it is in it self To such an one even the Grashopper is a burden and a light affliction intolerable He is sick for this or that as Ahab was for Naboth's Vineyard and will not be satisfied without it he is sowred with discontent and his spirit is embittered against Providence He would be carried through the world in a Sedan nor is he able to bear being jogged or disturbed in the way so distempered crazy and rotten is he I may in the close of this adde that Self-Resignation is the way to peace among men and that it is stiff Self-willedness which puts the world into Confusions and makes it so uncomfortable so unhabitable a place Men that are passionately carried out to please themselves are neither themselves at rest nor will they suffer others so to be These create differences heighten animosities blow the coals of strife are ready to set on fire the course of nature or the wheel of affairs and from the abounding of such comes complaining and crying in our Streets From this Self-will it is that we cannot sit down quietly under our own Vine and our own Fig-tree and from hence it is that the World is become a great Akeldama a Field of Bloud and a Vale of Tears Those that despise Government and speak evil of Dignities are such as are presumptuous and self-willed 2 Pet. 2. 10. They that make the times perillous are such as in the first place are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lovers of their own selves 2 Tim. 3. 1. CHAP. VI. That Self-Resignation is the way to true Liberty and Freedom of Spirit and the contrary to perfect Slavery and Thraldome VI. SElf-Resignation is the way to true liberty and freedom of spirit which confirms the former That which some call freedom and liberty namely to walk in the ways of their own heart and in the sight of their eyes is in truth straitness bondage and perfect slavery The Apostle Peter saith that of whom a man is overcome of the same is he brought in bondage But he that lives to the pleasing his own will is overcome of Pride Envy Covetousness unruly Passions fleshly or spiritual Lusts and therefore is in bondage to them Wicked men are described as serving divers lusts and pleasures not one but many Lords and these such as to be under the power of whom is a most ignominious and shamefull bondage But if the Son make us free we shall be free indeed free with a true and excellent freedom Now he makes men free by delivering them from their Self-will By bringing them to will as his Father and he willeth By uniting their wills with those things that are intrinsecally immutably and indispensably holy things which are in their own nature good By enabling them to act conformably to the Idea of everlasting and unchangable righteousness and goodness But those that would have nothing unchangably good or evil to them that would live as they list in giving indulgence to the flesh and fulfilling it in the lusts thereof they affect such a kind of freedom as God
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 boils or bubbles forth a good matter We are to judge thereof by the passionateness and earnestness of our desires not by any thing that is obvious to sense not by the loudness or length of Prayer be it without or with a form of words though it were as long as that prayer of Baals Priests from morning to noon or as that prayer among the Papists of fourty hours by which they amuse the weak and injudicious in spiritual things There may be as much yea more of the Spirit of Prayer when there are no words at all There are times when the Spirit maketh intercession with groanings that cannot be uttered affections too quick and strong for expressions and which would cool if put into words Thus Hannah spake in her heart to God her voice was not heard but she poured out her Soul before the Lord and God heard who knoweth the secrets of the heart and the mind of the Spirit These inward breathings of the Soul are ever very precious to God and find favour with him When a Soul prayeth out of a deep sense and feeling of its wants and is full of affectionate breathings after God and hath the most ardent and inflamed desires after Spiritual things this is true praying with fervency and in the Holy Ghost And the silence of the Soul is louder and much sooner reacheth the ears of the Almighty than the greatest loudness and volubility of speech If we would therefore obtain this best and most divine of all blessings let us pray for it with the greatest ardour of affection we may be assured that God will never cast away so rich a Pearl as this upon those that declare themselves insensible of its worth by asking it in a cold and formal manner And the more to excite and quicken our desires after it let us know that if God accepts our prayers and gives us this holy temper of Spirit he doth infinitely more for us than what Herod promised the daughter of Herodias If he gives thee this Empire over thine own Will he bestows that on thee which incomparably excells the greatest earthly Kingdom The Kingdom of God as hath been said is then within us here and we are thereby made meet for his Kingdom of Glory hereafter And who that duly considers this can be flat and heavy in his prayers for this Grace Secondly Our Prayers must be also in Faith Thus S. Iames tells us we must ask this Spiritual Wisdom in the following verse But let him ask in faith nothing wavering That is we must believe that as God is able so he is as willing and ready to give us what we ask if we ask according to his will as S. Iohn qualifies it 1 Ep. v. 14. And it is according to his Will and pleaseth him highly that we ask Spiritual Wisdom This Faith is the ground of all address to God Heb. xi 6. He that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him And this he will assuredly be in his own time which is always the best God may sometimes make as if he did not hear that we may seek him more diligently and pray more fervently that he may prove our patience and just valuation of his blessings and that we may be the more thankful for them when we have them prize them the more and improve them the better but if we persevere in earnest and believing praying we shall undoubtedly in due time obtain And as for such spiritual good things as are necessary to Salvation we are to pray for them with such a faith as to assure our selves that God will give them if we ask aright his most gracious nature and promises assuring us that he cannot deny them to such askers CHAP. III. That in order to our being entirely resigned to the Divine Will we must be willing pati Deum to suffer God and abide the power of his Spirit working in us III. THirdly Having poured out thy Soul before God in humble and earnest Prayer thou must be willing pati Deum to suffer God and abide the power of his Spirit working in thee To this purpose there is an observable passage in St. Austin on Psalm cli 3. Magni languores sed major medicus c. Be the maladies of thy Soul never so great yet there is a Physician that is greater and who never fails to cure for to an all-powerful Physician nothing is incurable onely thou must patiently suffer thy self to be cured Do not thrust back his hand when he begins to touch thy sores and search thy Souls wounds He well knows what he is a doing do not hinder and resist when it begins to pain be not so delicate and tender to thine own hurt but with a quiet patience bear for a while the anguish when he cuts and lanceth considering that the present pain makes way for thy future health and soundness Let not Christ and his holy Spirit have cause to say of thee as it was said of Babylon we would have healed him but he would not be healed Vt corpus redimas ferrum patieris ignes For the health and safety of the body in case of a Gangreen or other dangerous disease how do men endure a tedious course of Physick and much torment Vt valeas animo quicquam tolerare negabis And for the health of thy Soul infinitely more considerable than a little longer life and ease of the body which is all that Physick or Chirurgery can at any time effect but can never secure wilt thou not endure the pain of being cured of its diseases which let alone will make thee eternally miserable Let us be therefore entreated as ever we would obtain this Divine temper of Self-Resignation to take heed of quenching the Spirit of resisting the holy Ghost as the Jews did and paid dear for it Take we heed of stifling any of his Convictions and rejecting his Motions Let us not seek to shift off and put by serious and awakening thoughts working in us as the usual practice of sinners is by diverting to the vain entertainments and false pleasures of the world and the flesh nor endeavour to drown the voice of Conscience which is the voice of God and to be heard with a reverend regard If we would have Christ sit as a Purifier and refiner in the midst of us to purge us as gold and silver that we may offer our selves unto the Lord an offering in righteousness we must abide the day of his coming But alas I must needs observe by the way there are but few of the Christian Profession who are thus patient and will endure the refining and purifying work of the Spirit Most would with Simon Magus have the Holy Ghost in his Gifts such as may make them seem some great ones and procure admiration to them but few would have the renewing of the Holy Ghost and the Sanctification of the Spirit unto
This is the victory that overcometh the world even our faith I John 5. 4. Above all take the shield of faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked Eph. vi 16. Glorious things are spoken of thee O Faith who can recount the mighty acts and great atchievements of those holy Souls who have strongly confided in the gracious power of God and Christ Jesus for the subduing of sin as well as in God's mercy and Christ's merits for the pardon of it These through this Faith that I may borrow those expressions in the Eleventh to the Hebrews have subdued Kingdoms even the Kingdoms of divers lusts and pleasures and the Kingdoms of the Prince of this world to which they were once subject Through Faith they have wrought righteousness even the righteousness of God far excelling that outward slight and partial righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisee Through Faith they have stopped the mouths of Lions the impetuous and ravening solicitations and greedy desires of their selfish will Through Faith they have quenched the violence of fire or the Lusts of Passion Malice and Uncleanness which burned like fire within them out of weakness were made strong and turned to flight the armies of the Aliens Now there are many exceeding great and precious promises scattered through the Scriptures which are of soveraign force and virtue for the encouragement of our Faith and Hope in God for the strengthening of us against his and our enemies But there is abundantly enough in that one passage Luke xi 13. If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your Children how much more shall your heavenly Father give the holy Spirit to them that ask him What could our Saviour have spoken more plainly and fully for our encouragement to a dependance on God for Grace and Spiritual strength and to a quiet unsolicitous expectation of assistance from him This promise concerned not onely those Disciples that heard Christ preach then from the Mount but all his Disciples and Followers all that shall believe on his Name to the end of the world It is said to them that ask him without any limitation either to a certain age or people language or nation and therefore we may be as much comforted from these words as if we had been in the number of those in whose hearing our Saviour preached that best of Sermons wherein they were uttered For as there is the same need of the Holy Spirit for us as there was for them who were then present with our Saviour so there is now and ever will be the same benignity and philanthropy in God the same good will compassion and love to men that there was then and in former ages He is without variableness or shadow of turning the same yesterday and to day and for ever But this word of promise is so rich and precious that it deserves a more particular Consideration If ye that are evil Earthly Parents are too commonly envious and niggardly close hard and cruel to others being all for themselves and not caring for the good of others Know how to give good gifts unto your Children As backward as they are to give to others they cannot find in their hearts when their Children ask to withhold from them they will be free open-handed and bountiful to them And such is the tenderness of their affection to their Children that they will not give them any thing that they know to be evil and hurtful to them they will not give them Stones for Bread a Serpent for a Fish or a Scorpion for an Egg. How much more shall your heavenly Father He who being good cannot but do good He who is the Father of Mercies the God of Love and Goodness and Love it self He who best knows what is good and is best able to bestow whatsoever is so He who is as willing to do us good as he is able and as able as willing as no earthly Parent is He in whom is nothing of envy towards others and hath in himself all fullness is Infinite Almighty and All-sufficient Give the holy Spirit to them that ask him so saith one Evangelist and give good things saith another The greatest good that Omnipotence it self and infinite Goodness can do for us is the giving the holy Spirit and with him spiritual light to know and spiritual strength to do his Will and to subdue our own Wills and whatsoever is contrary to him in us To be indued with the holy Spirit doth import an accession both of light and strength knowledge and power So that our Saviour argues from the less to the greater from the drop of goodness and benignity in Creatures and those sinful Creatures too to that Fountain-fulness which is in God What good soever children may expect from their Parents that and infinitely more may God's Children expect from him And it is impossible to conceive that the infinitely good God will be more wanting to his Childrens Souls than are evil men to their Childrens Bodies All that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those affections and tendernesses which God hath implanted in all Parents for the good of their Offspring are but a little drop to that ocean of Love and Mercy that is in himself are but a dark and short representation of those unconceivable riches of Goodness and bowels of Compassion which are in him Nullus Pater tam Pater No Father is so fatherly so much a Father as God is said Tertullian He is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Clemens Alexandrinus stiles him out of Orpheus the tendernesses of both a Father and Mother are in God Can a woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb yea they may forget it is possible but very prodigious yet will not I forget saith God Isaiah xlix 15. God doth not take empty titles to himself but fills up the utmost of whatsoever relation he is set forth by in the Holy Scriptures Whatsoever the wisest most careful and loving Parents are to theirs God is such and incomparably more to his Children If the affections of ten thousand Parents were in one Father or Mother how secure would the Child be of their tender care who indeed is secure without such a supposal but all these in one person are far short of God's affection who is the Spring and Original of all the Fatherly tenderness which is dissused in the hearts of so many millions of Fathers as are in the world Let me adde this That the promise of the Spirit is the great promise of the Gospel the great priviledge of the Evangelical Dispensation or New Covenant Greater aids and supplies of Grace for the subduing our corruptions we are encouraged to hope for under the Gospel The Apostle saith Titus iii. 6. that the Holy Ghost is shed on us abundantly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a rich and plentiful manner through Iesus Christ our Saviour If
for Christians to follow And it is a passage which expresseth the great progress he had made in Self-Resignation both as to the active and passive part of it Both as it consists in a free and entire obedience to difficult commands and in patient bearing hard trials and sufferings The passage is that in Phil. iv 11 12 13. I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need I can do all things through Christ that strengthneth me Of which words I may say as Ausonius of the Emperours words O mentis aureae verba bracteata O plated or rich and most excellent words expressing a golden or most beautiful and goodly mind Yea such is the preciousness of this Wisdom to know how to be either abased or to abound to have learned in every condition to be content that it is not to be valued with pure gold with the precious Onyx or the Saphire the price of it is above Rubies To know how to abound and to be full and not deny God not to forget and forsake him in fulness not to be high-minded and trust in uncertain riches not to make the abundance of these outward things to administer to pride and haughtiness luxury and sensuality but on the contrary to be humble to trust in God and acknowledge him in all his Gifts to be moderate in abundance and strictly religious this is no easie thing 't is a lesson that few will learn but St. Paul had learnt it To know how to be abased how to want and to be kept short to look upon others full portions in this life without Covetousness or envying what they have to bear adversity to endure afflictions losses and difficulties of all sorts without impatience and murmuring at the allotment of Providence to be quiet and meek and much more to be chearful and rejoyce under all not to love God the less nor trust in him the less nor to flag or be discouraged by this means in his service this is also a difficult and uneasie lesson but holy Paul was likewise herein instructed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We glory in tribulations saith this great Apostle Rom. v. 3. Glorying is not mere joy but joy exalted to its utmost heighth And what a full expression is that he useth 2 Cor. vii 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I do more than abound with joy in all tribulation or I rejoyce with a superlative joy What a mighty Proficient was this blessed person in the School of Christ Yea he farther saith that he could do all things through Christ strengthening him And he had learned to be content not onely in some conditions but in whatsoever state He knew how to be abased and how to want not onely in some circumstances but every where and in all things Here was the power of Godliness indeed and the Kingdom of God not in word but in power And after all this he ascribes nothing to himself but gives Christ the glory of all He was he saith able to do all this through Christ strengthening him through the power of his grace which was sufficient for him This is somewhat of the much more that might be observed concerning this blessed Apostle who in resignation and submission to the Will of God was one of the best Copies and nearest the Original that ever was drawn by the finger of God the Holy Spirit And next to the Life of Christ the fairest picture of Purity and Holiness represented by the four Evangelists the life of Paul is set forth at large above one half of the Acts of the Apostles being spent in his Character Nor was it out of any vain-glorious design nor from any undue love or valuation of himself that he intreated others to be followers of him as he was of Christ but from the inward sense of the great sweetness peace and comfort and the many advantages he found in the imitation of him and from the absolute necessity of this Duty And these great reasons induced him to propound himself as a pattern particularly to the Corinthians 1 Cor. xi 1. Chap. iv 16. to the Thessalonians 2 Thess. iii. 7 9. and to the Philippians Chap. iii. 17. and Chap. iv 9. Those things which ye have both learned and received and heard and seen in me do and the God of peace shall be with you Now then O feeble and faint-hearted Christian take heart and courage from these great Examples up and be doing be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might Wait upon God and apply thy self heartily to him that thou mayest be clothed with the same Spirit and indued with power from on high And as Elisha said of old Where is the Lord God of Elijah So rouse up thy self and say Where is the God of Paul the God of Abraham Iob David and the rest The same God who wrought effectually in these to such an exemplary Resignation will be mighty in thee also if thou hast the same Spirit of faith the same sincerity and singleness of heart He that is mighty will magnifie thee will do great things for thee and in thee Iesus Christ the same yesterday and to day and for ever what he was to St. Paul and others like him heretofore he will be unto thee to day and to all believing Souls for ever such as walk in the same Spirit and in the same steps Hast thou not known hast thou not heard that the everlasting God fainteth not neither is weary Nor hath he forgotten to be gracious but his tender mercies are the same and the arm of his strength the same The same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him Rom. x. 2. Onely take heed of being wearied and fainting in your minds but wait on the Lord and he shall strengthen your heart wait I say on the Lord. You shall then be enabled to run the race that is set before you with patience though a long and an hard race you shall run it and not be weary you shall walk in the most difficult paths of obedience and not faint The arm of the Lord shall awake as in the ancient days in the generations of old As it did in the days of the forementioned Worthies And you shall be strengthened as they were with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience and long-suffering and that with joyfulness CHAP. XIV That the consideration of Christ crucified is a very effectual means for the crucifying of the old man XIV NInthly Let thy mind dwell much upon the meditation of Christ crucified Bring thy Self-will and inordinate affections to Mount Calvary and there nail them to the Cross of Christ. As Christ blotted out the hand-writing of ordinances that was against us and contrary
such as are commanded and appointed by God or be they mere arbitrary and voluntary tasks which have a shew of Wisdom and Holiness but indeed are a Holiness or their own framing and a self-chosen Righteousness But yet this is not spoken to lessen the repute of what is external with a design to make men regardless thereof but only to awaken them from resting in these externals to the minding of a greater strictness and holiness a righteousness which exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees who were men that were very observant of a many of the Outward parts of Religion and were strict as to several things that did not cross and prejudice their carnal interests but yet notoriously loose as to what was most strictly and mainly required by God And therefore our Saviour in the sixth of Matthew required his Disciples to beware of strengthning that Babel that false imaginary Holiness of the Pharisees who by their specious appearances of Austerity and the like grew into a great reputation among the people as if there were much of Religion in them Among the Externals of Religion some are of God's own requiring and suitable to our state and condition here as Praying reading preaching hearing the word discoursing of it c. now as for these not to mention such as men do voluntarily impose upon themselves we are not to value men as religious by any thing in the use of them which is common to the regenerate and unregenerate and may be performed and attained to by the Hypocrite or formal Christian who may make a fair shew in the flesh and outward part of Religion and yet be unacquainted with the spirit and power of it It is the doing these things from a resigned heart so to pray as in praying to have an humble submission to the Will of God so to read so to preach so to hear as to be willing to be formed into all that truth the good and acceptable will of God this is all in all this is that which doth distinguish the formal and the real Christian. Others can perform all that is outward in Religion and in such a way as to have the praise of men but to deny our selves to resign our wills entirely to the Divine Will this is proper and peculiar to the inward and sincere Christian. CHAP. III. That Self-Resignation is the most acceptable way of glorifying God and that he is honoured by no performances separated from this III. SElf-Resignation and a Conformity to the Divine Will is the most excellent the truest and most acceptable way of glorifying God and doing honour to him The greatest honour and respect we can express to an excellent and worthy person is to endeavour to be as like him as may be to imitate him in whatsoever accomplishment commends and represents him justly exemplary And the most excellent way of honouring God is to endeavour to be transformed into his likeness to have our will the same with his to will as he wills Indeed the mere outward Christian thinks that he doth God great honour and service when he gives him the fruit of his lips in goodly expressions and specious Praises when he gives him the fruit of a bodily Worship in multiplying external devotions and religious observances hereby he thinks he doth highly please God and oblige him to him as if God were such an one as himself and were apt to be taken with such words and shews and did seek and passionately thirst after such praises and respects But thus to judge of God and deal with him is really to dishonour him as much as thou pretendest by this means to honour him it is plainly called in Scripture a flattering God Psal. lxxviii 36. They remembred God their Rock and the high God their Redeemer nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth and they lied unto him with their tongues It was a good Maxim of the Pythagoreans Thou shalt then in the most excellent and becoming way glorifie and honour God when in thy mind thine inward man thou art like to God When thou art affected as God is affected when thou willest as he wills art willing to have that destroyed in thee which is contrary to the Divine Nature That which the Chaldee Paraphrast doth gloss on those words in Psal. l. ult whoso offereth praise glorifieth me is very pertinent viz. whoso subdues and destroys 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the principle of inordinate affection in him it shall be accounted to him as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sacrifice of praise The mortifying of earthly members the slaying undue desires corrupt interests and uncurbed affections is more infinitely more pleasing than all those costly and pompous Services under the Law than the utmost that the Lip-service and Tongue-devotion can make shew of That great bulk of Rites and Ceremonies those burthensome Services under the Law those multitudes of Sacrifices of Bulls Goats Lambs c. they did not they could not avail were but mean inconsiderable things and vain cost without the inward Sacrifice of an heart sweetly sincerely kindly and ingenuously affected towards God This this heart such a temper of Spirit did please the Lord better than a bullock that hath horns and hoofs Behold to obey is better than Sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of Rams the best of the Sacrifice Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams and ten thousands of rivers of oyl with multitudes of outward Services and bodily Austerities with long Fastings or Prayings or Prophesyings in his Name with large Discourses glorious Expressions vehement Disputings or the like these he shall have any thing shall be given rather than the Sin of the Soul the corrupt will should be destroyed But it is the walking with God in Humility and Resignation which is that good thing which God hath shewed thee O man and which the Lord thy God requireth of thee The Sacrifice of the wicked those whose wills are opposite to the Will of God is an abomination unto the Lord. And now under the Gospel-state wherein those Legal and Carnal Ordinances are ceased our more seemingly Spiritual Exercises of Religion our Prayings our Fastings our saying Lord Lord and naming the name of Christ and great Profession of Christianity and all other religious outward observances are but fruitless empty things of no account with God utterly unavailable except there be at the bottom of all a Resigned heart As St. Iames saith If any man seemeth to be religious and bridleth not his tongue so is it most true If any man seemeth to be religious and bridleth not his Will which is more hard that mans Religion is vain CHAP. IV. That Self-Resignation is the way to light even in the greatest difficulties and perplexities whether they be in reference to our duty or in reference to our condition and state IV. FOurthly Self-Resignation is the way to light and that in the greatest difficulties and darkest
perplexities There is a kind of Divine Oracle within the Self-resigning Soul which speaks clearly and plainly not darkly and ambiguously as that Oracle in Greece There is a Spiritual Priesthood which hath the Vrium and Thummim not upon the breast as Aaron had but within the breast Light and Integrity go together The secret of the Lord is with them fear him and he will shew them his Covenant or as it is better in the Margent and his Covenant to make them know it That is it is part of God's gracious Covenant not to conceal from them but to make them know his Will That which concerns them to know and practise God will not hide from the sincerely obedient God makes such to know Wisdom in the hidden part or in the hidden man of the heart to use St. Peter's phrase That may safely be understood and is most true of the Self-resigning Soul which the Son of Syrach doth affirm Chap. 37. 13. Let the counsel of thine own heart stand for there is no man more faithfull unto thee then it for a mans mind is sometime wont to tell him more than seven watchmen that sit above in an high tower But to speak more particularly Where this inward Principle of Self-Resignation is there are the fewest doubts and perplexities or in case of such doubts there are the speediest and surest resolutions Now the Doubts and Sollicitudes that perplex and disquiet Christians may be chiefly ranked under these two heads They are either about their Duty or about their State And in both Self-Resignation is the way to Light and affords the greatest advantages of knowing aright 1. Be the doubts and perplexities about our Duty what we are to do The Self-resigning Soul is in the best disposition to give a right judgement in this case is the best prepared to receive Divine Light and the guidance of God's Counsel 1. This Soul is best prepared to receive Divine Light Such a Soul is wholly made for Obedience and quiet Submission to the Will of God it is brought up at the feet of Christ sits there with Mary in the posture and Spirit and all the becoming qualities of a willing and obedient Disciple and the Teacher of Souls will not neglect to shew unto such the path of life God will write his Law in the humble and obedient heart the Laws and Rules of Life and Obedience shall be written within it by the Spirit of the Living God Those Eternal Characters of Goodness and Righteousness which are in the mind of God are copied out and transcribed in the Soul of a Resigned Christian. We have the mind of Christ saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 2. ult The meek shall he guide in judgment the meek shall he teach his way Psal. 25. 9. And those Letters are not dead Letters like those written with Ink on Paper but they are living Characters as they are in God and writ on living tables They are the Law of the Spirit of Life an inward living Principle in such Souls Again the Self-resigning Soul is still and silent before the Lord Lusts and corrupt Interests are here quelled and silenced which make a continuall noise and clamour in the unregenerate and unresigned by their importunate Sollicitations and fill them with din and tumult and therefore such a Soul is better prepared to hear God coming to it in the still small voice as once he did to Elias 1 Kings 19. Those soft and gentle Whispers of the Spirit Venae Divini murmuris as Prudentius calls them those inward manifestations of himself are best discerned and attended to in this solemn silence When the Wind is high and beats upon the windows and doors of the house it is hard to hear what is said within All tumultuous and boisterous passions must be calmed and the Soul be in a state of due stillness and tranquility to hear what God speaks to it And when this is the language of our hearts as it was of Samuel Speak Lord for thy servant heareth then it is that we hear a voice behind us saying this is the way walk in it And thus shall the path of the righteous be as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day Prov. 4. 18. 2 The Self-resigning Soul is in the best disposition to give a right judgment and to discern the Will of God When men are unresigned unwilling to be wholly God's and have some design and interest to serve contrary to the design of Christ and Righteousness and are passionately and eagerly carried out to it it is no wonder if they erre in their hearts and know not the way of God the way wherein he hath declared he will have them to walk For they are easily brought to fancy that to be right which they strongly will and to judge things to be thus from their impetuous willing them to be thus And it is just with God to give them up to an injudicious and undiscerning mind so that things appear to them not as they are but as they would have them to appear not according to their own inward form and nature but according to the lusts of their own heart Lusts and Passions cast such a mist before our minds that we cannot see our way nor well discern between good and evil It is easie to observe that the same men when they are free from Temptations and from under the power of Passions clearly see many things to be evil and condemn them which at other times they will not be convinc'd are so but pronounce the quite contrary concerning them Therefore the Self-resigning Christian having that subdued in him that would tempt him to judge amiss is in the ready way to the clearest discerning the Will of God What is said of Christ is according to his measure true of a faithfull Christian he is of a quick understanding in the fear of the Lord of a quick scent or smell as the Hebr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth import of a more sagacious spirit he hath a more exact 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his senses are spiritually exercised to discern both good and evil Such as are not conformed to this world but transformed by the renewing of their minds shall prove and discern what is that good acceptable and perfect Will of God Rom. xii 2. Unpurified reason and understanding is far from being a sure and safe guide and director about the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what ought to be done for it looks at what is profitable rather than at what is honest Though it may be quick enough to discern in matters meerely speculative and notional yet it is very apt to miscarry in Morals and matters of Practice But a good understanding have all they that do his Commandments a better light shines into holy and purged hearts and in this light they see light and the day-star is risen in their hearts This is the Priviledge of the Self-resigning Soul that
done and then especially when we are solicited by the Tempter within or without to sin Let us then say with holy David Thy vows are upon me O God I have sworn and I will perform it that I will keep thy righteous judgments Neither hopes nor fears neither the terrours nor allurements of the world shall disswade me from a faithful obedience to them Vows prudently mannaged are of great use to secure us to Religion and this is the onely end of them To vow saith Cajetan is nothing else but to fix the mind and make it immoveable that it may not start back from the practice of Religion And as for those that are shye or slack thus to engage and devote themselves to God which I fear in most proceeds from a too dear affection to some sin or sins let them know that God's Vows are already upon them they are under the Obligation of the Baptismal Vow to renounce the Devil and all his works the vain pomp and glory of the world the covetous desires of the same and the carnal desires of the flesh so as not to follow nor be led by them So much is implied in being baptized in or into the Name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost And besides those that have received the Lord's Supper have thereby virtually renewed their Vow in Baptism In this other Sacrament we make a Profession that we offer and present unto God our selves our Souls and Bodies to be a Holy and Lively Sacrifice to him Than which there is nothing more due or reasonable considering the great Love of God in giving his Son for us the great Love of our Saviour Christ in his Death and Sufferings represented in this Sacrament and the great Blessings procured for us by the Bloud of that spotless Lamb. So that all of us young or old have already bound our Souls with a Bond as to vow is described Numb xxx being under the engagement of either one or both these Sacramental Vows and therefore in exhorting you to oblige your selves by solemn Vows to the duties of Religion I do not advise you to a new thing but onely to repeat what you have already done and if you intend to stand to the Vows you have made what should deter you from reiterating them whilst you have need of them But always remember when you vow to the Lord to do it with a trust and faith in his power and all-sufficient Grace and with a distrust of your own natural ability to perform your Vows And when at any time you have failed in the performance of them be deeply humbled before God and renew your Engagements with a greater sense of your weakness and falseness of heart and be more watchful over your selves and let your falls make you more narrowly look to your feet for the time to come 5. Fasting is another means to be used for the mortification of the body of Sin It is of great consequence and necessary to the health of the inward man to keep under the body to humble chastise and bring it into due subjection This was the practice of St. Paul himself who had not such unruly passions and appetites to tame as we have Religious Fasting is of great use to the subduing of the Body to the Spirit and to the starving of corruptions by cutting off their provision as the ungovernable beast is made tame by taking away his provinder And there are a sort of Devils that will not go out without Fasting added to Prayer and other means but 't is most especially of force for the casting out the Vnclean Devil And according as we find we stand in more or less need of this remedy we should oftener or seldomer make use of it CHAP. V. Of the great power and efficacy of Faith in God Faith in his Power and Goodness V. FIfthly The next Direstion I shall give in order to subduin gour Wills to the Will of God is that of our Saviour Have Faith in God Mark xi 22. Have faith in his Power and Goodness this will adde life to our prayers this will animate and strengthen all our endeavours Take heed of doubting whether the Lord's hand be not shortned that it cannot save whether his ear be not heavy that it cannot hear or his bowels shut up that he is not ready to help Take heed of questioning whether thine own Will and selfish desires be not stronger than can be subdued of entertaining suspicious thoughts that after all thy endeavours to win the Spiritual Canaan there will be no arriving at that Land of Rest but that at last thou shalt die in the Wilderness that there is none or but little hope of overcoming 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Giant-like mind as the expression is in Ecclesiasticus xxiii 4. and those sons of Anak that thou findest vigorous and strong in thee For by this thine unbelief or weakness of faith thou greatly dishonourest either the Power or Goodness of God who is able and as willing as able to save the Soul that trusteth in him And by this means will the Chariot-wheels of thy Soul be taken off thou wilt extreamly discourage and infeeble thy self and blunt the edge of those weapons wherewith thou art to encounter thy Spiritual Enemies If thy Soul be upright in thee if thou art sincere and hearty in imploring the aids of God's Grace and the assistances of his Spirit and hast faith to be healed and delivered from the Lusts that fight against thee thou shalt undoubtedly see the salvation of the Lord. He will teach thine hands to war and thy fingers to fight he will gird thee with strength and thou shalt be more than conquerour through Christ that loveth thee Though thou hast no might against that great company that cometh against thee against flesh and bloud principalities and powers yet if thou waitest on the Lord and art of good courage he will strengthen thine heart he will strengthen thee with strength in thy soul and through him thou shalt do valiantly and tread down thine enemies He that is in thee will be greater than they that are in the world viz. the lust of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride of life Take heed therefore of all such reasonings suggestions and principles as tend to beget a despondency and fainting of Spirit but lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees To the Soul that believes all things are possible Let Faith say unto any mountain of difficulty be thou removed and it shall be done Who art thou O great mountain before this blessed Grace and in the exercise of it thou shalt become a plain Thy Self-will and Lusts are therefore strong because thy Faith is weak and thou in that regard makest but a faint resistance But if thou wert strong in the Lord and in the power of his might if thou didst resist stedfast in faith thou shouldest see thine Adversaries flye before thee
therefore we be not stronger if we are not better it is because we resist or at least neglect the Holy Spirit It is because we have not faith in God not because he is unwilling to help and assist us For what saith St. Iames chap. iv 5 6. The Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy such but giveth more grace He gives grace in such a measure as to overpower that spirit that lusteth in us So that for that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abundance of wickedness as the expression is Iames 1. 21. there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an abundance of grace as the phrase is Rom. 5. 17. which the regenerate and believing Soul receiveth by Jesus Christ. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell that of his fulness all might receive even grace for grace And this grace shall reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Iesus Christ our Lord. Thus you see what abundant encouragement we have to have faith in God for the supplies of his Grace and Spirit and what reason we have to take heed of unbelief if ever we would master our sinful affections and bring our wills into compliance with the Will of God And there is a double unbelief we are to beware of as very hurtful to our Souls First An Unbelief in relation to the mercy of God for the pardon of Sin Secondly An Unbelief in relation to the power and goodness of God for the subduing of Sin Now it is much to be lamented that whereas the former sort of unbelief is much taken notice of and condemned in Sermons and Books the latter is but little mentioned But if the evil of this were no less clearly and powerfully represented than the evil of the other and men were as effectually warned to beware of this as of that Unbelief it would through the blessing of God be an excellent means to make more sincere strong and healthy Christians Whereas alas the spirits and lives of the generality of Professors do now too plainly declare that they had rather have sin pardoned than subdued that they had rather sin should not be imputed to them than destroyed in them But the compleat Faith is this in opposition to that twofold Unbelief First To believe that Christ came to make expiation for sin so that it shall be pardoned to those that do truly repent That is to those that being sensible of their sins and are affected with a godly sorrow for them and an holy hatred and abhorrence of them desire and purpose above all things to walk before God in newness of life Which conditions of pardon and non-imputation of sin are by too many either not at all or but slightly insisted on while they press the duty of recumbence and relying on Christs merits for Justification and Salvation Secondly To believe that as Christ came to make atonement for sin so he was manifested also for this purpose that he might destroy the works of the Devil And to procure grace for us whereby sin may have no more dominion over us But this part of faith I say is little urged in comparison of the other whereas it is of as great concernment to our eternal happiness to have Faith in the Power of Christ as to have Faith in his Bloud Nay as appears from what hath been said to have sin mortified and to be enabled to will after the Will of God is far more than to be meerly pardoned for willing otherwise than God doth will Now their defect in this latter part of Faith is a great cause of Christians continuing so low and weak lazy and faint in a sickly and even bed-rid condition and of their fancying that they honour and please God by complaining of their impotence and infirmities whereas the true way to please and honour him is confiding in his omnipotent grace to get up and be doing But I fear I may also adde another reason why most of those that will confess their sins and pray for grace and strength against them are still as impotent as if there were no grace or assistance promised namely their not being heartily desirous of grace as well as their want of faith in the promises of it Their unwillingness whatsoever they pretend to have some lust or other mortified and to be throughly purified Their secret fear of the searching and purging work of the Spirit and of that light and grace that would disquiet them and not let them alone in some sins to which they are fondly and tenderly devoted It was one of St. Austin's Confessions I when I was a young man begged of thee that thou wouldest indue me with the grace of Chastity and said Give me Chastity but not yet for I feared lest thou shouldest presently hear me and immediately heal me and I had rather satisfie lust than have it extinguished If this be thy case whosoever thou art that readest these lines if this be the state and temper of thy Soul then in thy complaining of weakness and that the sons of Zervia are too hard for thee and in thy praying for the assistance of God's grace against them thou dost no better than add sin to sin the sin of false dealing with God and wicked hypocrisie to that of Unbelief thy heart is not right with God and thou lyest unto him with thy tongue But to conclude this Let us take heed lest there be in any of us an evil heart of Unbelief and so we fall short of the Spiritual Canaan and entring into the rest of God as it befell the unbelieving Israelites who perished in the Wilderness and none of all that came out of Egypt entred into Canaan but Caleb and Ioshuah men of another Spirit and that followed God fully who were full of Faith and encouraged the people to believe and prosper And it is observable that Caleb asked for the mountainous Countrey where the Anakims dwelt and the Cities were great and fenced by the news of which the evil Spies dismayed Israel but Caleb gave proof of the strength of his Faith in freely chusing to expose himself to the hard and seemingly impossible service of gaining this Countrey and was rewarded with success answerable to so great a faith for we read that he drave out the three sons of Anak notwithstanding that it was commonly said Who can stand before the sons Anak He made it manifest that Faith could stand before them and overcome them And if we have Calebs Faith in the power and goodness of God in fighting with the Spiritual Anakims we may be most undoubtedly assured of Calebs success Let the Spiritual Israel therefore encourage themselves in the Lord their God and they may be certain that it shall be unto them according to their faith his grace shall be sufficient for them and when the enemy shall come in like a floud the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against them CHAP. VI. Of the
dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the spirit of the contrite ones Isaiah lvii 15. Humility disposeth to gratitude and gratitude fits us to receive more from God for a grateful Soul will set a high value upon his blessings and most gladly give him the glory of his grace The humble Christian thinks himself with Iacob less than the least of all God's mercies and consequently he will be heartily thankful for the least and by being thus affected he becomes meet for the greatest and therefore cannot fail of it It is to be observed that when Iacob was in this humble and self-abasing temper it was that he saw God face to face at Peniel Then it was that he was honoured with the name Israel and as a Prince had power with God and men and prevailed But on the contrary Pride and Self-fulness which is ever accompanied with unthankfulness makes men uncapable of receiving the Divine Grace And therefore the Pharisees who gloried in themselves that they were righteous and despised others that were not sick but whole and healthy in their own conceit died of their diseases notwithstanding the great Physician of Souls was so long among them Now there are two graces that Humility gives a peculiar fitness for two of the first magnitude and greatest influence of the greatest use and consequence in a Christians life viz. The Love of God and Faith or Trust in him 'T is evident that Humility hath a peculiar fitness to cherish and increase the grace of Love for the more sensible any one is of his great unworthiness and ill-deservings the more he must needs love God for having so gracious a regard to him the more will he admire and adore the riches of his Grace And 't is as evident that Humility affordeth the like advantage for the Grace of Faith or trust in God for the more sensible a Christian is of his own impotence the more will he rely upon the Divine Power and Goodness for the supply of his wants having so many promises to encourage him The sense of our own weakness will make us distrust our selves the more we distrust our selves the more shall we stay our Souls on God and confide in his Wisdom Power and Grace Now we have particularly shewn of how great efficacy both these Vertues are to enable us to this Duty of Self-Resignation CHAP. VIII That the serious observation of the great Examples of Self-Resignation which are recorded in the Scriptures is of great use and advantage And first of the Example of ABRAHAM VIII EIghthly Look to those lively Patterns and Examples of Self-Resignation set before us in the Holy Scriptures These are of singular use and advantage to be seriously considered For they plainly shew this holy disposition of spirit to be attainable and that God requires herein nothing of us that is impossible Could they do thus and cannot we by the same divine help and power do the like which we have shewn is attainable by us as well as them They were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 subject to like passions with us they were flesh and bloud as we are and naturally as weak and infirm as our selves and God is the same in Power and Goodness now that ever he was And this may commend to us the fulness of the Scriptures that besides the best Precepts and Rules we have the best Patterns and Examples recorded in them of every grace and virtue So that by the guidance and assistance of the Holy Spirit the Christian man may be perfected throughly furnished unto every good work The best Rules of the best life are laid down in the divinely inspired Writings and they are plain and intelligible especially to those that have the good and honest heart but Examples superadded to Rules and Patterns to Precepts make both more instructive and as well encourage as direct our Practice And we having a many worthy Examples upon record of this Self-Resignation the Lesson becomes neither too high nor hard for us to understand or practice How many Precepts have we in Scripture to engage us to Chastity and Purity Meekness and Patience Faith and Charity to an holy resolvedness in owning of God and adhering to his ways and unweariedness in doing good and to every other grace and virtue And have we not besides others the Example of Ioseph for Chastity Moses for Meekness Iob for Patience Abraham for Faith Dorcas and Cornelius for Charity Daniel for an holy resolvedness of spirit in owning God S. Paul for an unwearied Zeal and above all that Example of all Examples for every thing that is holy pure and lovely our Lord Jesus Christ Take we heed then that we be not found ingentium exemplorum parvi imitatores small imitators of mighty examples as Salvian expresseth it But let it be our serious care and holy ambition to transcribe their vertues to write after those fair Copies they have set us to be followers of those blessed Souls wherein they were followers of God and Christ. But our present argument determining us to Self-Resignation let us consider some Examples hereof for our guidance and encouragement First I will present you with that of Abraham Faithful Abraham as he is stiled by the Apostle St. Paul There were ten trials wherewith God was pleased to exercise this good man as they are collected out of his Story by the Hebrew Writers The first and last of which ten were the sorest of all The first was his being called and commanded of God Genesis the twelfth to leave his own Countrey his House and Lands his Friends and Kindred and to go to a place he knew not This Command as unpleasant and grievous as it must needs have been to his flesh and bloud he did not in the least demurr upon obeying But by Faith Abraham when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance obeyed and he went out not knowing whither he went Heb. xi 8. The last was his being commanded to take his onely Son Isaac and to slay and offer him for a Burnt-offering than which there could not be a greater trial We have the Command in Genesis xxii 2. every word of which hath a singular Emphasis and deserves attention Take now thy son thine onely son Isaac whom thou lovest and get thee into the land of Moriah and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of Take now thy Son Not a Beast for Sacrifice not any of the best of his great store of Cattle but his Son Take him now forthwith without any delay Thy Son Isaac Not Ishmael but Isaac his and his Mothers delight and joy as the name signifies Thine onely Son He and Sarah had no other to solace themselves in nor were they ever like to have any other And besides there
that in Hebron too the very place where his Father was first anointed by the men of Iudah and seven years and an half after by the Tribes of Israel And now Absolom endeavours to confirm himself in his usurped dominion by the best arts of power and policy he could imagine He gains Achitophel to be of his side who was the King's Counsellor a man of that venerable esteem for his great wisdom that his Counsel is said to be as if a man had enquired at the Oracle of God Chap. xvi 23. He is busie in preparing a great Army against his Father the Conspiracy was strong and the people increased continually with Absolom which made him cry out as he did in the third Psalm ver 1 2. a Psalm penned upon this occasion Lord how are they increased that trouble me many are they that rise up against me many there be which say of my soul there is no help for him in God And that these many were not the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philistims Moabites Amalakites Amonites and other Heathens but his own Subjects was a more afflicting trouble And that among these should be found Achitophel his Friend and Counsellor that his head and hand should be in all this this made it more afflicting still as he complaineth 55. 12. It was not an enemy that reproached me then I could have born it Neither was it he that hated me that did magnifie himself against me then would I have hid my self from him But it was thou a man mine equal my guide and my acquaintance we took sweet counsel together and walked unto the house of God in company And that the General he that headed the Army against him should be Amasa the son of his sister Abigail and therefore so near to him as that David saith of him that he was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh this was another aggravation of his affliction And lastly This made the affliction most sharp of all that he that was at the head of all that animated this rebellious body should be Absolom That the Son should thirst after the Fathers bloud that he which came forth of his bowels should seek his life as he complains Chap. xvi 11. And that he should be the son whom he loved most passionately even so passionately that after his three years absence from Court it is said Chap. xiii 39. That the soul of David longed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was consumed to go forth unto Absolom And then all this to befall him in his old age too and after he had by his valour and prudent conduct saved his people out of the hands of their enemies Put all these sad circumstances together and was not David in sore troubles and trials But how doth he behave and acquit himself herein Doth he quarrel with Providence and the instruments of his trouble Nothing less But his disposition and carriage was all composed of meekness and submission to the Will of God Being sensible of the eminent danger he was in he prudently provides for his security by removing from Ierusalem which he and his servants did with all speed lest Absolom should suddenly overtake them and thrust or push evil upon them as the word is For his enemies were most quick and active in their preparations against him which therefore he calls the stormy wind and tempest Psal. lv 8. Of his hasty fleeing he speaks Psal. lv 6 7. which refers to this occasion as appears by ver 14. where he cries Oh that I had wings like a dove for then would I flee away and be at rest Lo then would I wander far off and remain in the wilderness Selah I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest Being gotten out of the City in haste he and his Guard they tarry in a place that was far off v. 17. to refresh themselves not knowing whither to go or where to be at rest as he then told Ittai the Gittite who was come to him resolving to fare as he did v. 20. Having made a little pause here he passeth over the Brook Kidron ver 23. a Brook between the City and Mount Olivet the Countrey weeping with a loud voice at this sad Procession As also when they were going up Mount Olivet they went weeping as they went up every one covering his had after the manner of mourners ver 30. And in the midst of these hardships and sorrowful sympathizings of the people which could not but much affect his heart having given order to Zadok the Priest to return back to the City with the Ark of God which thus far accompanied him desiring that that Monument of God's Glory and Presence might not wander up and down with him in his desolate condition but be placed again in the City of God he thus expresseth the humble and quiet resignation of his spirit Ch. xv 25 26. If I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord he will bring me again and shew me both it the Ark and his habitation Ierusalem the City of the great King but if he thus say I have no delight in thee behold here am I let him do unto me as seemeth good unto him Though I be brought to excessive straits though I be deprived of all my glory in this my old age after all the good services I have done for Israel and Iudah yet here am I let him do as seemeth good to him not as seemeth good to me Thy will O Lord shall be my will thy pleasure I will rest satisfied with and acquiesce in Thou shalt chuse for me and to thy choice will I accommodate my self Be it so as thou wouldest have it to be O thou most holy and wise and the Lord of all who dost whatsoever pleaseth thee both in heaven and earth My heart is ready O God my heart is ready it is fixed and resolved to drink of that Cup which thou hast appointed me And his humble disposition of Soul discovered it self immediately after in his penitential behaviour already mentioned as he went up the Mount He wept as he went up and had his head covered and he went barefoot which were the most significant expressions of a great humiliation and submissness of spirit And this meek frame of Soul in reference to God's disposals did dispose him to a rare meekness and patience in reference to men There happened a little after he was past Mount Olivet a very provoking occasion For Shimei a Benjamite threw stones at him and his men and cast dust at them all along in the way and added to this indignity curses and revilings of the person of the King Abishai one of his three chief Commanders was so incensed at the horrid insolence of this dead dog as he called Shimei that he prays the King that he might go over to him and take off his head But David was so far from permitting this that he was more offended at Abishai's Zeal
that there never was a Love like the Love of Christ comparable to that Love he exprest in giving himself an Offering and a Sacrifice to God for us Now not to part with our Lusts for him who parted with Life it self for us not to put our selves to some smart and pain in crucifying the Lusts of the Flesh in denying our Self-will and taking up the Cross and following him who hath to amazement denied himself and taken upon him the greatest of Sufferings for our sakes this would be an instance of the unworthiest and vilest ingratitude and the greatest unkindness imaginable done to Christ. This will be more grievous to him than all his Sufferings from the Iews and Romans it being a frustration and disappointment of him in the great design which we shewed he had in submitting to those Sufferings But a Soul truly sensible of the Love of Christ in giving himself for us can think nothing too dear and precious to part with for him cannot look upon his Commands of Self-denial and Self-Resignation as grievous and unsufferable I will adde that the particular circumstances of Christ's last Sufferings have a special force to the enabling a Christian against such and such particular sins as prevail most among men and which are the fruitfullest sprouts and branches that grow out of that cursed stock of Self-will As 1. Self-esteem An over-dear valuing a man's self his fame and regard in the world a seeking the praise and respects of men and being disturbed at their disrespects Now of how great efficacy must it needs be to the subduing this corruption to consider him who endured such contradictions of sinners against himself and how he was exercised with all manner of scorns and derisions all sorts or abuses reproaches injuries and indignities that the wit and malice of his enemies could devise to render him base and despicable before men He was called a blasphemer a deceiver an enemy to Caesar or traiterous person a seditious stirrer up of the people and all this about the time of his last Passion as before he was called a Samaritan or Heretick and Beelzebub And as an expression of their contempt they spit upon his Face that sacred Face which the glorious Angels delighted to look upon which Abraham and many Kings and Prophets and righteous persons did desire to see What indignity like to this Then they smote him on the Face adding father contempt accompanied with pain to the disgrace of having his Face besmeared with their filthy spittle And withall they covered his Face saying Prophesie unto us thou Christ who it is that smote thee Thus contumeliously did they use the Anointed of the Lord and as in the last passage they mockt at his Prophetical so did they afterwards at his Kingly Office putting on him a gorgeous Robe platting Thorns into the form of a Crown and putting it on his head and a Reed for a Sceptre into his hand and then bowing the knee before him saying Hail King of the Iews These are some few instances of the many dishonours and disgraceful indignities done unto him I might adde that the kind of Death he suffered was as ignominious as painful the death of slaves and vile offenders and to adde to the disgrace they crucifie him between two Thieves Yea even when he was bleeding upon the Cross they would not forbear to deride and revile him expressing their scorn both in words was gestures Nor were they that did thus the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the rude rabble onely but the chief Priests Scribes and Elders Now consider this O Christian how it fared with Christ thy great Lord and Master what affronts what dishonours and reproaches he endured and how unconcernedly and undisturbedly he bare them how he despised the shame how little he cared either for the applause or contempt of the world how he chose rather to be reputed and dealt with as the most abject and basest of men than to be glorious in the world and to shine in its vain honours And will not this prevail with thee to set thy self against thy Pride and Self-esteem Surely it is not possible that thou who art infinitely beneath thy blessed Saviour shouldest set a high value on thy self and affect the praises of men or be greatly concerned at the contemptuous behaviour and affronts of the world when thou seriously considerest how Christ was used reproached contemned and despised and with what calmness and sedateness of spirit he bore it The disciple is not above his master nor the servant above his Lord Matth. x. 24. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master and the servant as his Lord ver 25. 2. As for that lust of Self-pleasing the love of ease and pleasure an averseness to endure hardships a studious care to gratifie the cravings of our fleshly appetites is there not enough in the consideration of Christ crucified to cure also this distemper of the Soul Did not Christ out of dear compassion towards men leave his Fathers house where was all fulness and all joy and humbled himself to become man and took upon him the form of a servant He endured cold and heat hunger and thirst wearisome labours long fastings and faintness he bare our griefs and carried our sorrows and as hath been shewn endured inexpressibly worse griefs and sorrows than any of ours Now how can we consider this and be any longer dearly affected to our Carkasses sollicitous for the pleasing of our appetites and pampering our Bodies curious about Meats and Drinks and studious for that which is most delicious and grateful to the flesh And as for the impure pleasures of the world no consideration can be more powerful to extinguish in us all desires to them than that of Christ upon the Cross. 3. Revenge and Hatred Who can harbour these Lusts in his Soul that considers that Christ laid down his life for his enemies And that almost the last words he spake on the Cross amidst that shame and torment they put him to were a prayer for them Father forgive them for they know not what they do Luke xxiii 34. 4. Covetousness or the Love of Money Who that considers that though Christ was rich yet he became poor that we through his poverty might be rich and that it was this lust that betrayed the Lord of Life to his merciless enemies can find it difficult to mortifie and subdue his inclinations to it To conclude this To the serious Christian the word of the Cross of Christ is sharper than any two-edged sword to the destroying all our evil and corrupt affections But I fear that it is not considered as it ought by most of us Christians generally consider the Sufferings of Christ onely as they were designed to expiate sin and in reference to what he hath done for them without them not to the extirpation of sin not to the crucifying the flesh with the affections and lusts And hence it is that
their consideration thereof is no more available to this great end CHAP. XV. That the frequent consideration of the great Recompence of Reward is a mighty help to the attaining of Self-Resignation 15. TEnthly and lastly In order to the attaining of Self-Resignation let us look to the great recompence of Reward Let us with an eye of faith frequently look upon the promise of eternal life the prize that is set before us the Crown of Life and Glory that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for all obedient and resigned Souls It is said of Iesus Heb. xii 2. that for the joy that was set before him he endured the Cross as exquisitely painful as it was and despised the shame all the mockings and insultings of his enemies over him and the vile ignominy and infamy of his Death And in conformity to him a Christian may be enabled to endure the inward Cross in being crucified to the world in dying to sin and his own corrupt will by eying stedfastly the joy and glory set before him by often contemplating the future Reward which is infinitely above all the labours that accompany Self-Resignation and the pains and sorrows that do attend it The Great Apostle of the Gentiles who was acquainted not onely with the greatest sufferings from the world and the labours and pains of Mortification and Self-denial but also with this blessed Reward having been rapt up into Paradise where he saw and heard unutterable things he I say having well weighed both doth thus pronounce Rom. viii 18. I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared bear no proportion with the glory that shall be revealed in us If the sufferings be laid in one ballance and the glorious Reward in the other the Glory will unspeakably out-weight them For it is a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory in comparison of which our heaviest afflictions are but light and our longest but for a moment That God is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him is the first principle to be believed in Religion without which all our motions and endeavours therein will be weak and feeble And the End of our Faith Obedience being much in our eye the excellency and infinite desireableness thereof will sweeten all that sowrness and take away all that unpleasantness which may be in the means A firm Belief and frequent fixed thoughts on the heavenly Reward would fill our hearts with joy and strength and carry us with great ease through whatsoever difficulties lye before us in the way of entire Obedience and Self-Resignation None of the Divine Commandments can can be grievous to the heavenly minded no trials over-burdensome The serious believing thoughts of the glory to be enjoyed will put such life spirit and vigour into us as will cause us to run the race set before us not onely with patience but with delight and joyfulness So that we shall sing in the ways of the Lord as the expression is Psal. cxxxviii 5. and glorifie him even in the jires Esay xxiv 15. We shall be enabled to submit to God's Will under great afflictions as without murmuring so with thankfulness They that grudge to give God more than the fruit of their lips than some good words wishes or intentions or some formal ceremonious observances or some reformation in lesser and easier matters and think they have done as became those that sought God's Kingdom surely these have a very mean esteem of and miserably undervalue the glory and felicities of the life to come They never spent so many thoughts on Heaven as to have any true and worthy conception of the happiness of it otherwise they could never imagine the doing and suffering no more than this comes to to be fit to be recompenced with such a Reward or that God will ever reward such a shadow of Religion with so real and substantial a Happiness their withering leaves of outward profession with such a Crown of Glory as shall never fade But those that frequently affect their Souls with the thoughts of that bliss which is promised in the Gospel to those who deny themselves and take up their Cross and follow Christ in spiritual Obedience and Resignation can never think much of any pains or trouble this may put them to If the Devil can prevail and perswade as he doth by those aiery and imaginary satisfactions he promiseth what influence would God's promises of fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore and an everlasting Kingdom have upon all those that duly consider them How will men deny themselves what labours will they undergo what hardships will they suffer for some worldly advantages which fall far short of a Kingdom for some petty principality and dominion over others for a preferment that hath some little authority in it or brings in some profit But had any such ambitious ones hopes of a Kingdom how would they be transported with all excesses of joy what difficulties dangers and painful labours would they go through and think them nothing And can we grudge to do or suffer as much if it were necessary for an infinitely more glorious Kingdom than any in this world if we really believed it attainable by us If we were promised a great earthly reward upon condition we would abstain from such and such things as are very pleasing and grateful to us would we not do it And shall not the eternal blessedness which God who is as faithful as able to perform hath promised be of like power and force with us Nay shall it not be of far greater force proportionable to the quality of the Reward When all that we can do is but very little and utterly unworthy to be compared with this glorious Reward is it possible we should do less than we can for the obtaining of it if we consideratively and believingly thought of it Know ye not saith the Apostle that they which run in a race run all but one receiveth the prize so run that ye may obtain And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things Now they do it to obtain a corruptible Crown but we an incorruptible 1 Cor. ix 24 25. If they in the Isthmian Games were so careful to observe an accurate diet for the preparing and enabling them to those exercises if they were temperate and continent in all things denying themselves in their sensitive desires if they were willing to weary and spend themselves in the race to endure blows and wounds in their combat and thought no diligence no labour no pains nor hazards too great for but a flowery or leafy a fading and corruptible Crown a short and perishing Reward would not Christians much more run their race with patience fight the good fight of faith endure hardship deny themselves and their fleshly desires while an exceeding and eternal weight of Glory is in their eye If the men of this world shall think no pains too great for