shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewith shall we be cloathed but leave that wholy to their father to whose care it properly belongeth We are very meanly perswaded of our heavenly fathers affection towards us and of his care over us if we dare not trust him as securely for our daily provisions who knoweth that we stand in need of all these things about which we so needlesly trouble our selves Enough it is for us in all things by supplications and prayers for what we want and thanksgivings for what we have to let our requests be made known unto him and then to be careful for nothing any farther but to cast all our care and our burden upon him and doubtles he will not suffer us to lie and perish but will take us up take care of us and nourish us 31. Neither thirdly let us droop or be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow as if some strange thing had befallen us upon the faile of any earthly helps or hopes whatsoever If our Fathers and Mothers affection be not towards us as we think it should if they have entertained worse thoughts of us then we deserve if they have not discretion and foresight to give us meet and orderly education and to provide us means fortable thereunto if they be fallen into want or otherwise disabled from doing for us what formerly they intended or we expected if they be taken from us before we be growen up If our friends whom we trusted have proved unfaithful and shrunk from us when we had use of them if those proportions of wealth honour reputation liberty or whatsoever other worldly conveniencies and contentments we have formerly enjoyed be pared away to very little or even to nothing we have yet one reserve that we dare rest surely upon one anchor of hope that will hold in despight of all the World even the goodness and faithfulness of our gracious Lord God To him have we been left ever since we were born and he hath not hitherto failed nor forsaken us but hath preserved us in being in such a being as he who best knoweth what is fit hath thought fit for us It is our fault if this experience of the time past do not breed in us hope for the time to come and that a lively hope a hope that will never shame either him or us even this That he Will also be our guide unto death that he will not fail us or forsake us henceforth for ever but will preserve us still in such a condition as he shall see good for us Persecuted we may be and afflicted but forsaken we shall not be 32. We ought therefore to possesse our souls in patience whatsoever shall betide us in the World and not to consult with flesh and blood in seeking to relieve our selves in our distresses by engaging in any unworthy or unwarrantable practise or by siding partaking or but basely complying with the workers of wickedness that we may eat of their dainties Is it possible we should be so ill advised as to think to escape the storm when it approacheth towards us by making shipwrack of a good conscience If we go after lying vanities and such are all creatures all men lyers all things vanity do we not ipso facto forsake our own mercy and wilfully bring ruine upon us The short and sure way is when any danger any distress is upon us or maketh towards us to run to our heavenly Father as young birds do to their dam for succour He will gather us under his wings and we shall be safe under his feathers his faithfulness and truth shall be our shield and buckler If we commit our wayes to him cast our selves upon him by a through relyance resigne all our desires wills and interests into his hands he will certainly bring to pass aut quod volumus aut quod malumus either what we like best or what he knoweth is best 33 Only let us resolve to perform our part do faithfully what he commandeth shun carefully what he forbiddeth suffer patiently what he inflicteth and we may then be confident he will perform his part to the uttermost That when all the World forsaketh us he will take us up take us into his care and protection here and if by patient continuance in well-doing we seek it take us up at the last into the fellowship of that glory and honour and immortality and eternal life which his onely beloved Son hath purchased and his ever-blessed Spirit consigned to all them that love him and put their trust in his mercy To that onely beloved Son and ever-blessed Spirit together with the eternal Father three persons and one undivided Trinity be rendered by us and the whole Church all the kingdome the power and the glory for ever and ever Amen AD AULAM. Sermon XV. Luk. 16.8 For the children of this world are in their generation wiser then the children of Light 1. THe fore-going verses contain a Parable this the Application of it The Parable that of the unjust Steward a faithless and a thriftless man He had wronged his master without any benefit to himself as prodigals are wont to do other men harme and themselves no good The master coming at length and with the last to have some knowledge of his false-dealing dischargeth him his office and calleth on him to give in his accounts The Steward awakened with that short and unexpected warning began now to think in good earnest what before he never thought of to purpose what should become of him and his for the future he knew not which way in the world to turne himself to get a living when he should be turned out of service He had not been so provident a husband as to have any thing before hand to live upon He could not frame to handle a spade he had not been brought up with pains-taking And for him that had so long born sway in such a house and like enough with insolence enough now to run craving a small piece of money of every traveller by the high-way or stand at another mans door begging a morsel of bread shame and a stout heart would not suffer him to think of that Well something he must do and that speedily too or starve He therefore casteth about this way and that way and every way and at last bethinketh himself of a course and resolveth upon it to shew his Master a trick at the loose that should make amends for all and do his whole business He therefore sendeth for his Masters debtors forthwith abateth them of their several sums and makes the books a â—ree in hope that having gratified so many persons by such large â—batements some of them would remember it sure though others should prove ungrateful and make him some part of requital for the same The Master vexed to see himself so palpably cheated and knew
the sense if they be held neere to the Organ but they do also disperse the fragancy of their scent round about them to a great distance Of the sweetest herbs and flowers the smell is not much perceived unless they be held somewhat neer to the nostrill But the smell of a precious oyntment will instantly diffuse it self into every corner though of a very spacious room as you heard but now of the spiknard powred on our Saviours feet Ioh. 12. But see how in that very thing wherein the excellency of precious Oyntments consisteth a good Name still goeth beyond it It is more diffusive and spreadeth farther Of King Vzziah so long as he did well and prospered it is said that his name spread far abroad 2 Chron. 26. And the Prophet saith of the people of Israel in respect of her first comely estate before such time as she trusted in her own beauty and plaied the harlot that her name went forth among the Heathen for her beauty Ezek. 16. 20. Besides a good Name as it reacheth farther so it lasteth longer then the most precious Oyntments and so it excelleth it in the extension of Time as well as of Place As for Riches Pleasures Honours and whatsoever other delights of mortall men who knoweth not of what short continuance they are They many times take them wings and fly away from us leaving us behinde to grieve for the loss If it happen they stay with us to the last as seldome they do yet then is the parting uncomfortable we can neither secure them from the spoile of others nor can they secure us from the wrath of God However part we must if they leave not us whilst we live sure enough we shall leave them when we dye It may be when we are dead some pious friend or other may bestow upon our carkases the cost of embalming with spices odours and oyntments as we see the custome was of old both amongst the heathens and the people of God And those precious Oyntments may perhaps preserve our dead bodies some few moneths longer from putrifaction then otherwise they would have endured But at length howsoever the worme and the grave will prevail and we shall turne sooner or later first to dirt and then to dust And here is the utmost extention continuance and period of the most precious Oyntments literal or metaphorical the world can afford 21. But a good Name is a thing farr more durable It seldom leaveth us unless through some fault or neglect in our selves but continueth with us all our life long At the houre of death also it standeth by us and giveth some sweetning unto the bitterness of those last pangs when our consciences do not suggest to our expiring thoughts any thing to the contrary but that we shall dye desired and that those that live by us and survive us will account our gain by that change to be their loss Yea and it remaineth after death precious in the memories and mouths and ears of those that either knew us or had heard of us Surely no oyntments are so powerfull to preserve our bodily ashes from corruption as a good Name and report is to preserve our piety and vertue from oblivion Their bodies are buried in peace but their name liveth for evermore Eccles. 44. And upon this account expresly it is that the same Ecclesiasticus elsewhere as you heard before preferreth a good Name not only before the greatest riches because it will out-last a thousand great treasures of gold but even before life it self yea before a good life at least in this though in other respects it be below it as but an appurtenance thereunto that whereas a good life hath but a few days a good Name possibly may endure for ever 22. Now lay all together that hath been said that a good Name is a more peculiar blessing That it bringeth more solid content That it enableth us more and to more worthy performances That it is of greater extension both for place and time reaching farther and lasting longer then the most precious Oyntments either literally or metaphorically understood and then judge if what Solomon hath here delivered in the Text how great a Paradox soever it may sound in the ears of a worldling be not yet a most certain and clear Truth viz. That a good name is better then a precious oyntment and therefore in all reason to be preferred by every understanding man before Pleasures Riches Honours or whatsoever other outward delights of worldly men 23. But it is needful you should be here admonished lest what hath been hitherto said should be in any part either mistaken or misapplyed that all this while I have spoken but of material oyntments and such other contentments as the outward things of this world can afford The preheminence of a good name thus farr just beware you make not unjust by over-stretching For there is besides all these a spiritual Oyntment also an inward anointing the anointing of the inner man the soule and Conscience with the oyle of the spirit the saving graces and sweet comforts of the Holy Ghost that oyle of gladness wherewith the blessed son of God was anointed above his fellows and without measure and whereof all the faithful and elect children of God are in their measure his fellow partakers Ye have an unction from the holy one saith S. Iohn and again The anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you This is a singular and right precious oyntment indeed infinitely more to be preferred before a good name then a good name is to be preferred before other common and outward Oyntments The inseparable adjunct and evidence whereof is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we usually call a good Conscience God forbid any man should so far tender his good name as for the preservation of it to make shipwrack of the other Duae sunt res Conscientia Fama c. saith S. Augustine Two things there are saith he whereof every man should be specially chary and tender his Conscience and his Credit But that of his Conscience must be his first care this of his Name and Credit must be content to come in the second place Let him first be sure to guard his Conscience well and then may he have a due regard of his good name also Let it be his first care to secure all within by making peace with God and in his own brest that done but not before let him look abroad if he will and cast about as well as he can to strengthen his Reputation with and before the world 24. A very preposterous course the mean while is that which those men take that begin at the wrong end making their Consciences wait upon their Credit Alass that notwithstanding the clear evidence both of Scripture and Reason to the contrary after so many sharpe reprehensions by the Minister so many straight
feet or our wayes will not please the Lord. Deus non volens iniquitatem he is a God that hath no pleasure in wickednesse Ps. 5. 17. We have hitherto enquired into the Reasons why we should endeavour to please the Lord and into the Means how it may best be done There remains yet a third enquiry which concerneth the success or the Event and that is how it commeth about that such poore things as our best endeavours are should so far find acceptance with the Lord as to please him Likenesse indeed will please and Obedience will please But then it should be such a likenesse as will hold at least some tolerable proportion with the exemplar such Obedience as will punctually answer the command and such is not ours True it is if the Lord should look upon our very best endeavours as they come from us and respect us but according to our merit he might finde in every step we tread just matter of offence in none of acceptance If he should mark what is done amiss and be extreme in it no flesh living could be able to please him It must be therefore upon other and better grounds then any desert in us or in our wayes that God is graciously pleased to accept either of us or them The Apostle hath discovered two of those grounds and joyned them both together in a short passage in Heb. 13. Now the God of peace make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is pleasing in his sight through Iesus Christ. Implying that our good works are pleasing unto him upon these two grounds First because he worketh them in us Secondly because he looketh upon us and them in Christ. 18. First because he worketh them in us As we see most men take pleasure in the rooms of their own contriving in the engines and manufactures of their own devising in the fruits of those trees which themselves have planted Now the crooked wayes of evil men that walk according to the course of the world are indeed the works of the Devil he is the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience Ephes. 2. such works there fore may please the Devil whose they are But it is not possible they should please God who sent his Son into the world on purpose to destroy the works of the Devil And as for those strayings also and outsteppings whereof Gods faithfullest servants are now and then guilty although they be not the works of the Devil for he hath not now so much power over them as to work in them yet are they still the works of the flesh as they are called Gal. 5. such works therefore may be pleasing to the flesh whose they are but they are so far from being pleasing unto God that they rather grieve his holy Spirit The works then that must please God are such as himself hath wrought in us by that his holy Spirit which are therefore called the fruits of the spirit in the same Gal. 5. as it is said by the Prophet O Lord thou wilt ordain peace for us for thou also hast wrought all our works in us And again in the Psalm The Lord ordereth a good mans wayes and maketh them acceptable unto himself they are therefore acceptable unto him because they are ordered by him 19. That is one ground The other is because God looketh not upon us as we are in our selves neither dealeth with us according to the rigour of a legall Covenant but he beholdeth us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the face of his beloved one even Jesus Christ his onely son and as under a Covenant of Grace He is his beloved Son in whom alone he is well pleased for his own sake and in whom and for whose sake alone it is if at any time he be well pleased with any of us or with any of our wayes For being by him and through faith in his Name made the children of God by adoption and grace he is now pleased with us as a loving father is with his beloved childe As a loving father taketh in good part the willing endeavors of his childe to do whatsoever he appointeth him though his performances be very small So the Lord is graciously pleased to accept of us and our weak services according to that willingness we have and not according to that exactness we want not weighing our merits but pardoning our offences and passing by our imperfections as our loving Father in Iesus Christ. That is the other ground 20. And we doubt not but the acceptance we finde with God upon these two grounds if seasonably applied will sustain the soul of every one that truly feareth God with strong comfort against two great and common discouragements whereunto he may be subject arising the one from the sense of mens displeasure the other from the conscience of his own imperfections Sometimes God and his own heart condemn him not and yet the world doth and that troubleth him Sometimes God and the world condem him not yet his own heart doth and that troubleth him more If at any time it be either thus or so with any of us Let us remember but thus much and we shal find comfort in it That although we can neither please other men at all nor our selves sufficiently yet our works may for all that be graciously accepted by our good God and so our wayes may please the Lord. 21. But I forbeare the amplification of these comforts that I may proceed from the Antecedent in those former words when a mans wayes please the Lord of which I have spoken hitherto unto the consequent in the remaining words he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him Wherein also as in the former part we have three things observable The Persons The effect The Author The Persons a mans enemies The effect Peace The author the Lord. He maketh a mans enemies to be at peace with him The words being of an easie understanding will therefore need the less opening Onely thus much briefly First for the persons they that wish him ill or seek to do him harm in his person estate or good name they are a mans enemies And Solomon here supposeth it possible that a man whose wayes please the Lord may yet have enemies Nay it is scarce possible it should be otherwise Inimici Domestici rather then fail Satan will stir him up enemies out of his own house 2. And these enemies are then said to be at pleace with him which is the Effect when either there is a change wrought in their affections so as they now begin to bear him less ill will then formerly they have done or when at leastwise their evil affections towards him are so bridled or their power so restrained as not to break out into open hostility but whatsoever their thoughts are within to carry themselves fairly and peaceably towards
not unusuall with him velut emblemate vermiculaâ—o to emblemish his Epistles upon fit occasions with supplications prayers intercessions and givings of thanks breaking off the course of his speech and that now and then somewhat abruptly witness 2 Cor 9.10 and some other places to lace in a Prayer a Blessing a Thanksgiving 5. Preachers by his example to Pray for the people as well as to instruct them So should their labours bring more comfort to themselves more profit to their hearers The kingdom of Heaven must suffer violence and our people will not ordinarily be brought unto it without some force But let me tell you it is not so much the violence of the Pulpit that doth the deed it were many times better if there appeared less violence there as the violence of the Closet Nor they only but all Governors and Superiors in every other kinde indeed generally all Christians whatsoever in their proportion to make use of this Example Think none of you you have sufficiently discharged your parts towards those that are under your charge if you have instructed them in what they are to do admonished them to do thereafter reproved or corrected them when they have done amiss encouraged or rewarded them when they have done well so long as your faithful and fervent prayers for them have been wanting In vain shall you wrestle with their stubbornness and other corruptions though you put to all your strength and wrestle with great wrestlings as Rachel said upon the birth of Nepthali so long as you do but wrestle with them only for so long you wrestle but with flesh and blood and alas what great matters can thereof be done Then or not at all shall you wrestle to purpose when you enter the lists with the father of spirits himself as Iacob did wrestling with him by your importunate prayers and not giving him over till you have wrung a blessing from him either for your selves or them or both For when you have done what you can the blessing must come from him or it will never come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which is the next Point 6. God grant As for himself the Apostle well knew by all those convincing Reasons and winning Insinuations he had used he could but work upon the outward sense and by the sense represent fit motives to their understandings it was God only that could bow and frame the heart to Peace and Unity You may wish yeace and do your good wills to perswade unto peace and you ought to do it but unless God set in with you it will not take effect Non persuadebis etiamsi persuaseris God shall perswade Iaphet to dwell in the tents of Sem. Gen. 9. Noahs perswasions will not do it nor Sems though they should speak with the tongues of men and Angels but let God perswade Iaphet and Iaphet will be perswaded He is not only a lover of Concord for such by his grace are we also but the author of peace likewise A thing so proper and peculiar to him alone that he sundry times taketh his stile and denomination from it The God of Peace The very God of Peace c. 7. For alas without him what can be expected from us whose dispositions by reason of that pride that aboundeth in us are naturally turbulent and self-willed The heart of man is a sowre piece of clay wondrous stubborn and churlish and not to be kindly wrought upon but by an Almighty power What man is able to take down his own pride sufficiently many a good man hath more ado with this one viper then with all his other corruptions besides But how much less then is any man able to beat down and subdue the pride of another mans spirit Only God with the strength of his arm is able to throw down every exalting thought and to lay the highest mountains level with the lower flats He can infuse a spirit into us to eat out by degrees that cankered proud flesh that breedeth us all those vexations He can make us so vile in our own eyes that whereas we are naturally prone to esteem better of our selves then of all other men we shall through lowliness of minde esteem every other man better then our selves 8. But in the mean time never marvail to see so many scandals and divisions every where in the world distractions and wranglings in the Church factions and convulsions in Common-wealths sidings and censuring in your Towns jarrings and partakings even in your private families so long as there is pride and self-love in every mans own bosome or indeed any other lust unsubdued For all these wars and fightings without what other are they then the scum of the pot that boyls within the ebullitions of those lusts that war in our members and the dictates of corrupt nature Saint Paul saith There must be heresies even as we use to say That that will be must be His meaning is there will be heresies there is no help for it the wit of man cannot hinder it Nay it were well if the wit of man did not sometimes further it Ingeniosi malo publico is none of the best commendations yet such as it is there are too many that deserve it but too well That employ their wit learning eloquence power and parts by the right use whereof they might do God and his Church excellent service to raise strifes foment quarrels and blow the coal of contention to make it blaze afresh when it lay in the ashes well nigh out Our comfort is the time will come but look not for it whilest this world lasteth when the son of man will cause to be gathered out of his kingdome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all things that minister occasion of stumbling or contention But in the mean time Sinite crescere must have place We must be content to want that peace which we desire but cannot have without God till he be pleased to grant it and possess our selves in patience if still something or other be amiss whereof we can see as yet no great likelihood that it will be better 9. By which Patience yet I mean nothing less then either in private men a stoical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a dull flegmatick stupidity that is not sensible of the want of so great a blessing or much less in publick persons or governours a retchless slothful connivence whereby to suffer men to run wilde into all kinde of irregularitie without restraint But such a well tempered Christian Patience as neither murmureth at the want nor despaireth of a supply but out of the sence of want is diligent to seek supply Praying with the Church Da domine Give peace in our time O Lord and endeavouring 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so far as is possible and to the uttermost of our power to have peace with and to make peace among all men For Almighty God useth not to cast away
time first estrange by little and little and at length quite alienate our affections one from another It is one thing to dissent from another to be at discord with our brethren Itâ— dissensi ab illo saith Tully concerning himself and Cato ut in disjunctione sententiae conjuncti tamen amiciâ—iâ maneremus It is probable the whole multitude of them that believed were but we are not sure they were and it is possible they might not be all of one opinion in every point even in those first and primitive times but St Luke telleth us for certain that they were all of one heart 26. Like-minded thirdly in a fair and peaceable outward conversation For albeit through humane frailty and amid so many scandals as are and must be in the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there be not evermore that hearty entire affection that ought to be between Christian men especially when they stand divided one from another in opinion yet should they all bear this minde and so be at least thus far like-minded as to resolve to forbear all scornful and insolent speeches and behaviour of and towards one another without jeering without censuring without provoking without causless vexing one another or disturbing the publick peace of the Church For the servant of God must not strive but be gentle unto all men and patient So gentle and patient that he must study to win them that oppose themselves not by reviling but instructing them and that not in a loud and lofty strain unless when there is left no other remedy but first and if that will serve the turn only in love and with meeknesse Our conversation where it cannot be all out so free and familiar should yet be fair and amiable Gods holy truth we must stand for I grant if it be opposed to the utmost of our strength neither may we betray any part thereof by our silence or softness for any mans pleasure or displeasure where we may help it and where the defence of it appeareth to be prudentially necessary Yet even in that case ought we so to maintain the truth of God as not to despise the persons of men We are to follow the truth in love which is then best done when holding us close to the truth we are ready yet in love to our brethren to do them all the rights and to perform unto them all those respects which without confirming them in their errours may any way fall due unto them 27. It is a perfect and a blessed Unity when all the three meet together unity of true Doctrine unity of loving affection and unity of peaceable conversation and this perfection ought to be both in our aims and in our endeavours But if through our own weakness or the waywardness of others we cannot attain to the full perfection of the whole having faithfully endeavoured it pulchrum est in secundis tertiâ—sve it will be some commendation and comfort to us to have attained so much as we could 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. 3. Nevertheless whereunto we have attained let us mind the same thing 28. To quicken us hereunto the duty being so needful and we withall so dull these few things following would be taken into consideration Consider first that by our Christian calling we are all made up into one mystical body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that by such a reall though mysterious concorporation as that we become thereby 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as all of us members of Christ so every one of us one anothers members Now the sympathy and supply that is between the members of the natural body for their mutual comfort and the good of the whole the Apostle elegantly setteth forth and applieth it very fully to the mystical body of the Church in 1 Cor. 12. at large It were a thing prodigiously unnatural and to every mans apprehension the effect of a phrensie at the least to see one member of the body fall a bearing or tearing another No! if any one member be it never so mean and despicable be in anguish the rest are sensible of it No termes of betterness are then stood upon I am better then thou or I then thou no termes of defiance heard I have no need of thee nor I of thee But they are all ready to contribute their several supplies according to their severall abilities and measures to give ease and relief to the grieved part 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the reason is given at verse 25. there that so there might be no rent no schisme no division or dis-union of parts in the body 29. Consider secondly That by our condition we are all fellow-brethren and fellow-servants in the same family of the houshold of faith all and these are obliging relations We ought therefore so to behave our selves in the house of God which is the Church of the living God as becometh fellow-brethren that are descended from the same Father and fellow-servants that live under the same Master We all wear one livery having all put on Christ by solemn profession at our holy Baptisme We are fed at one table eating the same spiritual meat and drinking the same spiritual drink in the holy Communion Every thing that belongeth to this house breatheth union One body one spirit one calling one hope one Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and Father of all as the Apostle urgeth it Ephes. 4. concluding thence that therefore we ought to be at one among our selves endeavouring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace Any of us would think it a very disorderly house and ill-governed if coming in by chance we should find the children and servants all together by the ears though but once How much more then if we should observe them to be ever and anon snarling and quarrelling one with another and beating and kicking one another Ioseph thought he need say no more to his brethren to prevent their falling out by the way in their return home-ward then to remind them of this that they were all one mans children And Abraham to procure an everlasting amnesty and utter cessation thenceforth of all debate between himself and his nephew Lot and their servants made use of this one argument as the most prevalent of all other for that end that they were Brethren Ecce quà m bonum I cannot but repeat it once more Behold how good and joyful a thing it is brethren to dwell together in unity 30. Consider thirdly how peace and unity forwardeth the work of God for the building up of his Church which faction and division on the other side obstructeth so as nothing more When all the workmen intend the main business each in his place and office performing his appointed task with chearfulness and good agreement the work goeth on and the building gets up apace But where one man draweth one way and
as hard to drive her Westward 35. Nor is it otherwise in the Church and Common-wealth when Superiours rule with moderation Inferiours obey with chearfulness all men keeping themselves within their own ranks and stations bend themselves with their utmost diligence to advance the publick welfare the worke commonly riseth apace and prospereth in their hands But if they that worke above shall strive only how to extend their Power and they that worke below shall strive as much how to enlarge their Liberty the one to impose the other to refuse what they list If those shall hold them stiffly at this point We may do it and therefore we will do it and these as stiffly at this We may chuse and therefore we will not do it when shall they meet where is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that yielding and condescension the Apostle so often requireth It were a blessed thing and till it be so in some measure the building will never rise to purpose if men would look not so much at their power what they may do or at their liberty what they may not do so to serve their own turns humours or ends as how to use both power and liberty with all due sobriety and charity to the glory of God in the good of others If we could once grow to that not to look every one on his own things but every man also on the things of others as S. Paul elsewhere exhorteth then should we also agree with one minde and heart to follow the work close till we had got it up That for dispatch 36. But hasle maketh waste we say It doth so and in building as much as in any thing It were good wisdom therefore to bring on the work so as to make it strong withal lest if we make false work for quicker dispatch we repent our over-hasty building by leisure To rid us of that fear know secondly that unity and concord serveth for strength too as well as dispatch Evermore virtus unita fortior but division weakneth A house divided against it self cannot stand and the wall must needs be hollow and loose where the stones stand off one from another and couch not close Now brotherly love and unity is it that bindeth all fast so making of loose heaps one entire piece I beseech you brethren saith the Apostle that there be no divisions among you but that ye be perfectly joyned together in the same minde and in the same judgement 1 Cor. 1. Like-mindedness you see is the thing that joyneth all together and in the well joyning consisteth the strength of any structure In Ephes. 4. therefore he speaketh of the bond of peace and in Colos. 3. he calleth love the bond of perfectness 37. In Phil. 1. he hath another expression which also notably confirmeth the same truth That I may hear saith he of your affairs that ye stand fast in one spirit with one minde They never stand so fast as when they are of one minde There is a Greek word sometimes used in the New Testament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the word which is commonly translated confusion and sometimes tumult Not unfitly for the sense either but in the literal notation it importeth a kinde of unstableness rather or unsetledness when a thing doth not stand fast but shaketh and tottereth and is in danger of falling And this S. Paul opposeth to peace 1 Cor. 14. God is not the author 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of confusion or unstableness but of peace By that very opposition intimating that it is mostly for want of peace that things do not stand fast but are ready to fall into disorder and confusion S. Iames speaketh out what S. Paul but intimateth and telleth us plainly that this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the effect of discord and that contention is the Mother of confusion For where envying and strife is saith he there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inconstancy unsetledness confusion and every evil work The builders make very ill work where the building is not like to stand but threatneth ruine and is ready to drop down again by that it be well up And yet such ill work doth envying and strife ever make it is concord only and unity that maketh good work and buildeth strong Let Ierusalem be built as a city at unity in it self and Ierusalem will be like to stand the faster and to stand up the longer 38. For a conclusion of all I cannot but once again admonish and earnestly entreat all those that in contending with much earnestness for matters of no great consequence have the glory of God ever and anon in their mouthes that they would take heed of embarquing God and his glory so deep in every trifling business and such as wherein there is not dignus vindice nodus But since it clearly appeareth from this and sundry other Texts of holy Scripture that peace and love are of those things whereby our gracious Lord God taketh himself to be chiefly glorified that they would rather faithfully endeavour by their peaceable charitable and amiable carriage towards others especially in such things as they cannot but know to be in the judgement of sundry men both learned and godly accounted but of inferiour and indifferent nature to approve to God the World and their own consciences that they do sincerely desire to glorifie God by pleasing their brethren for their good unto edification Which that we all unfeinedly may do I commend us and what we have heard to the grace and blessing of Almighty God dismissing you once again as I did heretofore with the Apostles benediction in the Text for I know not where to fit my self better Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one towards another according unto Christ Iesus That ye may with one minde and with one mouth glorifie God even the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ. To which God the Father and his Son Iesus Christ our Lord and the blessed spirit of them both three persons c. AD AULAM. Sermon XIV WOBVRNE 1647. August Psalm 27.10 When my Father and my Mother forsake me the Lord taketh me up 1. THings that have a natural weakness in them to bear up themselves do by a natural instinct lean towards and if they can finde it clasp about something that may sufficiently support them but in default of such will catch and twine about whatsoever is next them that may be any little stay to them for any little time So a Hop for want of a strong pole will winde it self about a Thistle or Nettle or any sorry weed The heart of man whilest it seeketh abroad for somewhat without it self to rest it self upon doth even thereby sufficiently bewray a secret consciousness in it self of its own insufficiency to stand without something to support it If it finde not that which is the onely true support indeed it will stay it self as long
we take leave so to speak sutably to our own low apprehensions for in the God-head there are properly no Qualities but call them Qualities or Attributes or what else you will there are foure perfections in God opposite to those defects which in our earthly Parents we have found to be the chief causes why they do so oft forsake us which give us full assurance that he will not faile to take us up when all other succours faile us Those are his Love his Wisdome his Power his Eternity all in his Nature To which foure adde his Promise and you have the fulness of all the assurance that can be desired 20. First the Love of our heavenly Father towards all mankinde in general but especially towards those that are his children by adoption and grace is infinitely beyond the Love of earthly Parents towards their children They may prove unnatural 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their bowels may be crusted up against the fruit of their own body But the Lord cannot but love his people He can as well cease to be as to love for he is love If he should deny that he should deny himself and that he will not do because he cannot and that he cannot do because he will not Potenter non potest It is impossible for him to whom all things are possible to deny himself The Church indeed out of the sense of her pressures letteth fall complaints sometimes as if she were forsaken But Syon said the Lord hath forsaken me and my God hath forgotten me Esay 49.14 But she complaineth without cause it is a weakness in her to which during her warfare she is subject by fits but she is checkt for it immediately in the very next verse there Can a woman forget her sucking childe c. Yea they may forget yet will not I forget thee 21. Again their Love may be alienated by needless jealousies or false suggestions and so lost But his Love is durable he loveth his own unto the End He knoweth the singleness of their Hearts and will receive no accusation against them Quis accusabit Who dare lay any thing to the charge of his Elect when he standeth up for their Iustification They alas are negligent enough unthankful undutiful children nay confest it must be other while stubborn and rebellious But as Davids heart longed after Absolon because he was his son though a very ungracious one so his bowels yearn after those that are no wayes worthy but by his dignation only to be called his sons Forgiving all their by-past miscarriages upon their true repentance receiving them with gladness though they have squandred away all their portion with riotous living if they return to him in any time with humble obedient and perfect hearts and in the mean time using very many admonitions entreaties and other artifices to win them to repentance and forbearing them with much patience that they may have space enough to repent in And if upon such indulgencies and insinuations they shall come in he will not onely welcome them with kinde embraces but do his part also to hold them in when they are even ready to flie out again and were it not for that hold would in all likelyhood so do So as unless by a total wilful renouncing him they break from him and cut themselves off nothing in the world shall be able to separate them from the love of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. 22. Yet again Parents affections may be so strongly byassed another way as we heard that in the pursuit of other delights they may either quite forget or very much dis-regard their children But no such thing can befal our heavenly Father who taketh pleasure in his people and in their prosperity whose chiefest delight is in shewing mercy to his children and doing them good The Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love them Deut. 10. And whereas the Church as we also heard is apt to complain that she is forsaken and desolate the Lord by the Prophet giveth her a most comfortable assurance to the contrary Esay 62. Thou shalt no more be called forsaken c. But thou shalt be called Hephzibah It is a compound word and signifieth as much as My delight is in her and so the reason of that appellation is there given For the Lord delighteth in thee That for his Love the first Attribute 23. His Wisdom is the next Fathers and mothers through humane ignorance cannot perfectly understand the griefs of their children nor infallibly know how to remedy them if they did But God who dwelleth in light nay who is light knoweth the inmost recesses the darkest thoughts and secrets of all mens hearts better then themselves do He perfectly understandeth all their wants and what supplies are fittest in their respective conditions with all the least circumstances thereunto belonging When all the wits and devices of men are at a loss and know not which way in the world to turn them to avoid this danger to prevent that mischief to effectuate any designe the Lord by his infinite wisdom can manage the business with all advantage for the good oâ— his children if he see it behoveful for them bringing it about suaviâ—er fortiter sweetly and without violence in ordering the means but effectually and without fail in accomplishing the end 24. Which wisdom of his observable in all the dispensations of his gracious providence towards his children we may behold as by way of instance in his fatherly corrections As the Apostle Heb. 12. maketh the comparison between the different proceedings of the fathers of our flesh and the Father of spirits in their chastisements They do it after their own pleasure saith he that is not alwayes with judgement and according to the merit of the fault but after the present disposition of their own passions either through a fond indulgence sparing the rod too much or in a frantick rage laying it on without mercy or measure But it is not so with him who in all his chastisements hath an eye as to our former faults such is his justice so also and especially to our future profit such is his mercy and ordereth all accordingly His blessings are our daily food his corrections our physick Our frequent surfetting on that food bringeth on such distempers that we must be often and sometimes soundly physickt or we are but lost men As therefore a skilful Physitian attempereth and applieth his remedies with such due regard to the present state of the Patient as may be likeliest to restore him to a good habit of body and consistency of health so dealeth our heavenly Father with us But with this remarkable difference The other may erre in judging of the state of the body or the nature of the ingredients in his proportions of mixture in the dose and many other wayes But the Lord perfectly knoweth how it is with us and
what will do us good and how much and when and how long to continue c. and proceedeth in every respect thereafter 25. Thirdly whereas our earthly parents have a limited and that a very narrow power and cannot therefore do their children the good they would our heavenly Fathers power is as his wisdom infinite Not limited by any thing but his own blessed will quicquid voluit fecit as for our God he is in heaven he hath done whatsoever pleased him Not hindred by any resistance or retarded by any impediments quis restitit Who hath resisted his will Rom. 9. Not disabled by any casualties occurrences or straitness of time adjutor in opportunitatibus Psal. 9. Even a refuge in due time of trouble That is his due time commonly dominus in monte when it seemeth too late to us and when things are grown in the eye of reason almost desperate and remediless The most proper time for him to lay to his hand is when to our apprehensions his law is even quite destroyed when men have fallen upon most cursed designes trampled all lawes of God and men under their feet and prospered And here indeed is the right tryal of our faith and whether we be the true children of faithful Abraham if we can hope beyond and against hope That is if we can rest our faith intirely upon the power and providence of God not staggering through unbelief at any promise seem it never so unlikely and continue stedfast in our holy obedience to the will of God not staggering through disobedience at any command seem it never so unreasonable Abraham did both and out of this reason as the Apostle rendereth it Rom. 4. because he was firmly grounded in this perswasion of the power of God that what he had promised he was able also to perform 26. The last attribute proposed is Gods Eternity Our Fathers and Mothers where are they and do Prophets or Princes or any sort of men live for ever They all pass like a shadow wither as grass and are driven away as the Grashopper When they must go they cannot help themselves and when they are gone they cannot help us They are mortal men he the immortal God they are dying men he the living God Life is one of his prerogatives Royall All other things that partake of life in any degree have but a derived life and â—uch as either shall have an end or at least had a beginning God alone hath life in and of himself and his life alone is measured not by Time but Eternity He is therefore said to inhabit Eternity He lifteth up his hand when he sweareth by himself having no greater to swear by and saith Behold I live for ever His remembrance endureth throughout all generations and his years fail not 27. And therefore when our Fathers and Mothers and friends forsake us because either their Love faileth or their skil faileth or their power faileth or their life faileth our heavenly Father who wanteth neither love nor wisdome nor power nor life but is infinite in all we may rest assured is every way accomplished to succour us at all assayes and to take us up And that he will engage all these for our relief if we will but cast our selves wholy upon him we have his gracious promise in the last place to fill up the measure of our assurance Whereby he hath obliged himself not only to give us all spiritual graces and comforts necessary for the everlasting salvation of our souls but also to provide and furnish us with all the good things and to preserve deliver us from all the evils of this life so far as in his excellent wisdom he shall see it conducing to his glory the weal of his Church and the salvation of his chosen 28. The particular promises are many and lie scattered every in the holy Scriptures whence every man may gather them for his own use as his occasions require I shall mention but that one general Promise which though delivered first to Iosua in particular yet was afterwards applied to other persons also and alledged Heb. 13. as a ground of such general duties as are common to all Christians and fitteth as properly as any other to the present argument namely this I will not fail thee nor forsake thee He promiseth that whosoever else faileth us yet he will not all one with what is here presumed in the Text by David And having promised it we were very Infidels if we should doubt whether he will perform it or no. It were to question his wisdom as if he had not considered what he promised when he passed his word to question his Love as if he would not be as good as his word to question his Power as if he could not be as big as his word 29. Having therefore such Promises dearly beloved it behoveth us to be very wary when troubles lie long and heavy upon us that we complain not too distrustfully as if God had quite forsaken us And the rather because it is an infirmity incident to very good men but yet an infirmity and so confest by them Hath God forgotten to be gracious c. Davids complaint in Psalm 77. But presently acknowledging it an Errour he correcteth himself for it in the immediate following words And I said it is mine infirmity We by his example early to silence all tumultuous thoughts and secret murmurings of our evil hearts which are so ready to charge God foolishly and to break out into unseasonable complaints against his most wise and holy dispensations and that by meditating effectually upon the Attributes and Promises aforesaid Who so confidently professeth himself to trust in God as almost all do and yet repiningly complaineth as if God had forsaken him as very many do either maketh God a liar or bewrayeth himself in some degree an Hypocrite He maketh God a liar if he say God hath forsaken him when he hath not and he bewrayeth some Hypocrisy in himself if he say he puteth his trust in God when he doth not 30. And as it becometh us not to be too querulous for the present so neither secondly to be too solicitous for the future I forbid not to any but require rather in every man a moderate provident care for the getting keeping and disposing of the things of this life in an industrious and conscionable use of lawful means still leaving the success intirely to the good pleasure of our heavenly father But sure did we firmely beleeve that his care over us is no whit lesser but rather infinitely greater then that of our earthly Parents we would not suffer our selves to be disquieted with perplexed thoughts nor our spirits to be vexed with distrustfull anxieties about the future successe of our affairs Children whilest they are in their fathers house and at their finding use not to trouble themselves with such thoughts as these What
do but look upon some general considerations only we shall see reasons enough why the Apostle notwithstanding his approving of their former carriage might yet be jealous over them with a godly jealousie in this matter 25. First he knew not persecutions ever attending the Church as her lot but they might and Christ having foretold great tribulations shortly to come upon that nation it was very like they should meet with more and stronger trials then they had ever yet done It was indeed and by the Apostles confession a great trial of afflictions they had undergone already and they had received the charge bravely and were come off with honour and victory so that that brunt was happily over But who could tell what trials were yet behinde These might be for ought they knew or he either but the beginnings of greater evils to ensue You have not resisted unto blood saith he in the very next words after the Text as if he had said You have fought one good fight already and quit your selves like men I commend you for it and I bless God for it Yet be not high-minded but fear you have not yet done all your work your warfare is not yet at an end What if God should call you to suffer the shedding of your blood for Christ as Christ shed his blood for you you have not been put to that yet but you know not what you may be If you be not in some measure prepared even for that also and resolved by Gods assistance to strive against sin and to withstand all sinful temptations even to the shedding of the last drop of blood in your bodies if God call you to it you have done nothing He that hateth not his life as well as his house and lands for Christ and his kingdom is not worthy of either Sharp or long assaults may tire out him that hath endured shorter and easier But he that setteth forth for the goal if he will obtain must resolve to devour all difficulties and to run it out and not to faint or slug till he have finished his course to the end though he should meet with never so many Lions in the way 26. Secondly so great is the natural frailty of man so utterly averse from conforming it self entirely to the good will and pleasure of Almighty God either in doing or suffering that if he be not the better principled within strengthened with grace in the inner man he will not be able to hold out in either but every sorry temptation from without will foil him and beat him off Be not weary of well-doing saith the Apostle Gal. 6. for in due time we shall reap if we faint not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the same word again Weariness and faintness of minde we are subject to you see in the point of well doing But how much more then in the point of suffering which is of the two much the sorer trial 27. Marvel not if ordinary Christians such as these Hebrews were might be in danger of fainting under the Cross when the most holy and eminent of Gods servants whose faith and patience and piety are recorded in the Scriptures as exemplary to all posterity have by their failings in this kinde bewrayed themselves to be but men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 subject to passions of fear and distrust even as others Abraham the father of the faithful of so strong faith and obedience that he neither staggered at the promise of having a son though it were a very unlikely one at that age through unbelief nor stumbled at the command of sacrificing that son though it were a very hard one having no more through disobedience yet coming among strangers upon some apprehensions that his life might be endangered if he should own Sarah to be his wife his heart so far mis-gave him through humane frailty that he shewed some distrustfulness of God by his doubting and dissimulation with Pharaoh first and after with Abimelech Gen. 13. and 20. 28. And David also so full of courage sometimes that he would not fear though ten thousands of people whole armies of men should rise up against him and encompass him round about though the opposers were so strong and numerous that the earth should be moved and the mountains shake at the noise thereof yet at some other times when he saw no end of his troubles but that he was hunted like a partridge upon the mountains day after day and chased from place to place perpetually that he could rest no where his heart began to melt and to faint within him And although he had a promise from God of succeeding in the kingdom and an anointing also as an earnest to confirm the promise yet it ran strongly in his thoughts nevertheless that he should perish one day by the hands of Saul Insomuch that in a kinde of distrust of Gods truth and protection he ventured so far upon his own head never so much as asking counsel at the mouth of God as to expose himself to great inconveniences hazards and temptations in the midst of an hostile and idolatrous people The good man was sensible of the imperfection acknowledgeth it an infirmity and striveth against it Psal. 77. 29. But of all the rest S. Peter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Chrysostome often stileth him a man of great boldness and fervency of spirit betrayed the greatest weakness Who after so fair warning so lately given him and his own so confident profession of laying down his life in his masters quarrel yet within not many hours after when he began to be questioned about his Master and saw by the malicious and partial proceedings against the Master how it was like to goe with him if he were known to have such a near dependance upon him became so faint-hearted that contrary to his former resolutions and engagement he not only dis-owned him but with oaths and imprecations forswore him Such weakness is there in the flesh where there is yet left some willingness in the spirit that without a continual supply of grace and actual influence of strength from above there is no absolute stedfastness to be found in the best of the sons of men 30. Yet is not our natural inability to resist temptations though very great the cause of our actual faintings so much because of the ready assistance of Gods grace to relieve us if we would but be as ready to make use of it as a third thing is To wit our supine negligence that we do not stand upon our guard as it concerneth us to do nor provide for the encounter in time but have our armes to seek when the enemy is upon us As Ioseph in the years of plenty laid in provision against the years of dearth so should we whilest it is calm provide for a storm and whilest we are at ease against the evil day It is such an ordinary point of wisdom in the common affairs
it is there laid down as the great foundation of our Christian hope and the very strength of all our consolation Quod scripsi scripsi What he hath written in the secret book of his determinate counsel though it be counsel to us and uncertain until either he reveal it or the event discover it yet is it most certain in it self and altogether unchangeable We follow our own devices many times which we afterwards repent and truly our second thoughts are most an end the wiser But with God there is no after-counsel to correct the errours of the former he knoweth not any such thing as repentance it is altogether hid from his eyes He is indeed sometimes in the Scriptures said to repent as Genesis 6. and in the business of Niniveh and elsewhere But it is not ascribed unto God properly but as other humane passions and affections are as grief sorrow c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to import some actions of God eventually and according to the manner of our understanding like unto the operations which those passions produce in us but have nothing at all of the nature of those passions in them So that still that is eternally true which was spoken indeed by a false Prophet but whose spirit and tongue was at that time guided by the God of truth Numbers 23.19 God is not a man that he should lye Neither the son of man that he should repent His Counsell therefore standeth ever one and the same not reversed by repentance or countermanded by any after-counsel 18. Followeth the third Difference which consisteth in their Efficacy and is expressed in the Text by their different manner of Existing Many devices may be in a mans heart but it is not in his power to make them stand unless God will they shall never be accomplished But in despight of all the world the counsel of the Lord shall stand nothing can hinder or disappoint that but that it shall have the intended effect 19. The Heart although sometimes it be put for the appetitive part of the soul only as being the proper seat of the desires and affections as the Head or Brain is of the conceptions or thoughts yet is it very often in Scripture and so it is here taken more largely so as to comprehend the whole soule in all its faculties as well the apprehensive as the appetitive and consequently taketh in the Thoughts as well as the Desires of the Soule Whence we read of the thoughts of the heart of thoughts arising in the heart of thoughts proceeding from out the heart and the like The meaning then is that multitudes and variety of devices may be in a mans head or in his heart in his thoughts and desires in his intentions and hopes but unless God give leave there they must stay He is not able to bring them on further to put them in execution and to give them a real existency They imagined such a device as they are not able to perform Psalm 21. Whatsoever high conceits men may have of the fond imaginations of their own hearts as if they were some goodly things yet the Lord that better understandeth us then we doe our selves knoweth all the thoughts of men that they are but vain Psalm 94. And this he knoweth not only for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it is so by his omniscience and prescience but for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 too which is the most perfect kinde of knowledge why it is so even because his hand is in it to render them vain It is he that maketh the devices of the people ey and of Princâ—s too as it is added in some translations to be of none effect Psalm 33. 20. Possibly the heart may be so full that it may run over make some offers outward by the mouth for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh and the tongue may boast great things and talk high It may so indeed but that boasting doth not any thing at all to further the business or to give the thoughts of the heart a firme bottom or base whereon to rest it many times rather helps to overturn them the sooner We call it vapouring and well may we so call it For as a vapour that ariseth from the earth is scattered with the winde vanisheth and cometh to nothing So are all the imaginations and devices that are conceived in the heart of man blasted when the Lord bloweth upon them and then they come to nothing 21. But as for the Counsels of his heart they shall stand Rooted and established like the mountains The foundation of God standeth firme though spoken by the Apostle in another sence is most true in this also What he hath purposed either himself to doe or to have done by any of his creatures shall most certainly and infallibly come to pass in every circumstance just as he hath appointed it It is established in the heavens and though all the powers in earth and hell should joyn their forces together set to all their shoulders and strength against it and thrust sore at it to make it fall yet shall they never be able to move it or shake it much less to remove it from the place where it standeth or to overthrow it His name is Iehovah it signifieth as much as essence or being 1. Not only because of the eternity of his own being and that from himself and underived from any other 2. Nor yet because he is the author of being to all other things that are 3. But also for that he is able to give a beeing reality and subsistence to his own will and word to all his purposes and promises Da voci tuae vocem virtutis What he hath appointed none can disappoint His counsel doth shall must stand My Counsel shall stand and I will doe all my pleasure Esay 46.10 22. The consideration of these differences hath sufficiently discovered the weakness frailty and unsuccessfulness of Mens devices on the one side and on the other side the stability unchangablenesse and unfailingnesse of Gods Counsels Whereof the consideration of the Reasons of the said differences will give us yet farther assurance and those Reasons taken from the Soveraignty the Eternity the Wisdome and the Power of God 23. First God is the prima causa the soveraign agent and first mover in every motion and inclination of the Creature Men ey and Angels too who far excel them in strength are but secondary agents subordinate causes and as it were instruments to doe his will Now the first cause hath such a necessary influence into all the operations of second causes that if the concurrence thereof be with-held their operations must cease The providence of God in ordering the world and the acting of the creatures by his actuation of them is Rota in rota so represented to Ezekiel in a vision like the motion of a Clock or other