MOreovor where the world is Crucified A great deal of self-tormenting care and trouble of mind will be prevented You will not live such a perplexed miserable life as worldlings do Even in your outward troubles you will have less inward trouble of soul then they have in their abundance They are like a man that is hanged up in chains alive that gnaws upon his own flesh a while and then must famish What else do worldlings but tear and devour themselves with cares and sorrows and scourge themselves with vexatious thoughts and troubles If others did but the hundredth part as much to them against their wills as they wilfully do against themselves they would account them the cruellest persons in the world Paul saith of men that are in love with money that while they covet after it they do not only err from the faith but also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they pierced themselves through and through and stab'd their own hearts with many sorrows A worldly mind and a melancholly are some kin The daily work of both is self-vexation and they are wilfully set upon the stabbing and destroying of themselves But it is not thus with the Believer so far as he is mortified Will he vex himself for nothing Will he be troubled for the loss of that which he disregardeth The dead world hath not power thus to disquiet his mind and to toss it up and down in trouble When it hath power on his body it cannot reach his soul. As the soul of a dead man feeleth no pain when the corpse is cut in pieces or rotteth in the grave So in a lower measure the soul of a Believer being in a sort as it were separated from the body by faith and gone before to the heavenly inheritance is freed from the sense of the calamities of the flesh So far as we are Dead we are insensible of sufferings Benefit 7. ANother Benefit that followeth upon the former is this We shall be far better able to suffer for Christ because that sufferings will be much more easie to us when once we are truly Crucified to the world What is it that makes men so tender of suffering and startle at the noise of it and therefore conform themselves to the times they live in and venture their souls to save their flesh but only their over-valuing fleshly things and not knowing the worth and weight of things everlasting They have no soul within them but what is become carnal by a base subjection to the flesh and therefore they savour nothing but the things of the flesh All Life desireth a suitable food for its sustentation A Carnal Life within hath a Carnal appetite and is most sensible of the miss of Carnal commodities But a Spiritual Life hath a Spiritual appetite And as Carnal minds can easily let go Spiritual things so a spiritual mind so far as it is such can easily let go carnal things when God requireth it When you are Dead to the world you will easily part with it For all things below will seem but small matters to you in comparison of the things which they are put in competition with If you are scorned or accounted the off scouring of the Town you can bear it because with you it is a very small matter to be judged of man 1 Cor. 4. 3. If you must endure abuses or persecutions for Christ you can do it because you reckon that the sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed Rom. 8. 18. You can let go your gain and account it loss for Christ yea and account all things loss for the knowledge of him and suffer the loss of all things for him accounting them but as dung that you may win him Phil 3. 7 8. If you knew that bonds and afflictions did abide you yet none of these things would move you neither would you account your life it self dear to you so that you may finish your course with joy Acts 20 23 24. So far as you are dead to the world and alive to God it will be thus with you When they that are alive to the world are so far from being able to dye for God that every cross doth seem a death to them I have many a time heard such lamentable complaints from people that are â—aln into poverty or disgrace or some other worldly suffering that hath given me more cause to lament the misery of their souls then of their bodies When they take on as if they were quite undone and had lost their God and hope of heaven doth it not too plainly shew that they made the world their God and their heaven Benefit 8. MOreover if indeed you are Crucified to the world your hearts will be still open to the motions of the Spirit and the motions of further Grace And so you will have abundant advantage both for the exercise and encrease of the graces which you have received The earthly minded have their hearts locked up against all that can be said to them Never can the Spirit or his Ministers make a motion to them for their good but some worldly interest or other doth contradict it and rise up against it But what have you to stop your ears when the world is dead The word then will have free access to your hearts When the Spirit comes your thoughts are ready your affections are at hand and all are in a posture to entertain him and attend him and so the work goes on and prospers But when he comes to the worldly mind the thoughts are all from home the affections are abroad and out of the way and there is nothing for his entertainment but all in a posture to resist him and gainsay him O what work would the preaching of the Gospel make in the world if there were not a worldly principle within to strive against it But we speak against mens Idols against their Jewels and their Treasure and therefore against their hearts and natures And then no wonder if we leave them in the jaws of Satan where we found them till irresistible merciful violence shall rescue them But so far as you are mortified the enemy is dead contradictions are all silenced opposition is ceased the Spirit findeth that within that will befriend its motions and own its cause the soul lyeth down before the word and gladly heares the voice of Christ And thus the work goes smoothly on Benefit 9. MOreover when once you are Crucified to the world you are capable of the true spiritual use of it which it was made for Then you may see God in it and then you may savour the blood of Christ in it Then you may perceive a great deal of Love in it And that which before was venemous and did endanger your souls will now become a help to you and may be safely handled when the sting is thus taken out Before it was the road to Hell and now there is some taste
fitted to the poor and give six pence or twelve pence to a certain Number of poor that hear it 2. As far as Law will enable you bind all your Tenants in their Leases to learn a Catechism and read the Scripture and be once a year at least accountable to the Minister of their Profiting If you cannot do this at least use your Interest in every Tenant you have to do it and to seek God and worship him in their families in which let your own families be eminently exemplary It is very much that Landlords might do for God if they had hearts Discountenance the ungodly Encourage the good Give them back some little when they pay their Rent to hire them to some duty And think not too much to go to their houses for such ends 3. Buy some plain and rowzing Books that tend to Conversion and are fittest for their Condition and give them to the families that most need them getting them to promise you to read them twice over at least and then to give their Teachers an account of the effect and receive Instructions from them for their further profit Many have this way received much good Or you may buy the Books and trust the Ministers to distribute them and engage the receivers to read them or to hear them read 4. Take the children of the poor and set them Apprentices to some honest trade and be sure you choose them Godly Masters that may take care of their souls as well as of their bodies Or if you are able settle a perpetual allowance for this use entrusting the Minister with the choice of a Godly Master for them and whom you see meet with the choice of the boies 5. In very great Congregations that have but one Minister nor are able and willing to maintain another it is a very good work to settle some maintenance for an Assistant without whom the flock must needs be much neglected Impropriations may be bought in to that use 6. To settle Schools in the more rude parts of the Countrey where they use not to teach their children to read or in Market Towns where people are numerous is a very good work 7. It is one of the best works I know within the reach of a mean mans purse to maintain Scholars in Sizers places at about 10. l. per annum charge till they are capable either of the Ministry or of some other station in order to it where they can maintain themselves As also to maintain some of the choiceest parts for some special studies There is an Intent of some to propound this work in a method fit for the whole Nation to concur in Tâ—ll that be done any Rich man that is willing to do Good may entrust some able Godly Ministers with the choice of the fittest youths which is the greatest matter and may allow them necessary maintenance How many souls may be saved by the Ministry of one of these And how can money be better husbanded 8. It will be a very Good work also conjunctly to encourage Manufactures or other trades and Piety too if in Cities and Corporations some yearly rents be given on these terms That several of the honestest tradesmen may have 5. l. or 10. l. a piece yearly of this Rent lent them freely for four or five years to trade with putting in security to repay it And so the stock will encrease and more Land may be bought by it after certain years to go on to the same use only let the Trustees have power to remit all or part where there is an extraordinary unexpected failing And that the fittest men may still receive it some godly Trustees may be chosen who may choose their successors the Minister being one as likest to choose the fittest subjects of this beneficence If Honest men be kept up they will better relieve the poor then if it were left to their own hands 9. It would be a blessed Work for our Rulers and some Rich men to erect a Colledge at Salop I think the only fit place for many Reasons for the education of Scholars for the use of Wales a Countrey whose present misery and antient honour and readiness to receive the Gospel and zealous profession of what they know should encourage all good men to help them Too few will send their sons to our present Universities and too few of those that come thither are willing to return But if this may not be done the next way will be to add some Charitable help for them in Oxford obliging them to return to the service of their Countrey 10. Were I to speak to Princes or men so Rich and Potent as to be able to do so good a Work I would provoke them to do as much as the Jesuites have done in seeking the Conversion of some of the vast Nations of Infidels that are possest of so great a part of the world viz. To erect a Colledge for those whom the Spirit of God shall animate for so great a Work and to procure one or two of the Natives out of the Countries whose Conversion you design to Teach the Students in this Colledge their language which its like might be effected And when they have learned the Tongues to Devote themselves to the Work where by the Countenance of Embassadors Merchants Plantations or any other means they may procure access and liberty of speech Doubtless God would stir up some among us to venture on the labour and apparent danger for so great a work If we be not better principled disposed and resolved to do or suffer in so good a cause then the Jesuites are we are much to blame And where we can but have opportunity we are like to do muâ—â— more good then they 1. Because they are so importunate every where for the Interest of the Pope that the People presently smell it to be but a selfish secular design 2. Because when they have taken them from their Heathenish Idolatry and taken down their Images they set up the Divine Worship of the Host and the Cross and the Religious worship of the Virgin Mary and the Saints with prayers to them in the stead with such abundance of Ceremonious additions that the people think it is as good be where they are as if it were but the taking down one Daimon or Divus to set up another in a kind of emulation and they think that every Countrey should continue the worship of their antient Patrons or Daimons Whereas if we went among them with the plain pure Gospel not sophisticated by these superstitions with a simple intention of their spiritual good without any designs of advantage to our selves its like we might do much more and might expect a greater blessing from God as Mr. Eliot and his helpers find of their Blessed labours in New England where if the languages and remote habitations or rather no habitations but dispersions of the inhabitants did not deny them opportunity of speech much more
the lice or worms from eating him alive God useth to pour contempt upon Princes when they will not know and submit to the everlasting King He taketh himself as engaged to break down all that would usurp his honour and tumble down the Idols of the world therefore hath he alway so abhorred the two grand abominations Pride and Idolatry above other sins For he will not give his glory to another He will not with patience hear it spoken of an Idol These are thy Gods O Israel that brought thee out of Egypt The first Commandment is not meerly a precept for some particular act of obedience as are the rest but it is the fundamentall Law of God establishing the very Relations of Soveraign and Subject And as this is the first and great command and that which virtually containeth all Thou shalt have no other Gods before me or Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart So he that breaketh this is guilty of all When the Parent of the world would needs become as God he made himself the slave of the Devil You see then I hope sufficient reason why the world must be abhorred and crucified when it is made an Idol and would become our God and why this Crucifixion of it is of absolute indispensable necessity to salvation If it had kept its place and distance and would have been only a stream from the infinite power and wisdom and goodness and a Messenger to bring us the report of his excellencies and a book in which we might read his name and a glass in which we might see his face then might we have esteemed and magnified it But when the Devil and the flesh will make it their bait to draw away our hearts from God and to steal that love desire and care which is due to him and begin to tell us of Rest or Satisfaction or Felicity here its time to cry out Crucifie it crucifie it When it would insinuate it self into our bosom and get next our hearts and have our most delightfull and frequent thoughts and become so dear to us that we cannot be without it when it is the very thing that our minds are bent upon and that lifts us up when we have it and casts us down when we want it and thus disposeth of our affections and endeavours its time to lay such an Idol in the dust and to cast out such a Traytor with the greatest detestation As we our selves shall be exalted if we humble our selves and brought low if we exalt our selves so must we cast down the world when it would exalt it self in our esteem and the right exaltation of it is by the lowest subjecting of it unto God For whoever hath to deal with Infinite Power must think of no other way of exaltation 3. The world must be abhorred and crucified by us as it standeth at enmity to God and his holy waies It is become through mans corruption the great seducer and an impediment to our entertainment of heavenly Doctrine and a means of keeping the soul from God Yea it is become the Interest of the flesh and is set in fullest opposition to our spiritual Interest In what degree soever the world would turn your hearts from God or stop your ears against his word or take you off from the duty which he prescribeth you in that measure must you seek to crucifie it to your selves If Father or Mother would draw us away from Christ though as parents they must be honoured still yet as enemies to Christ they must be contemned When your honours would hinder you from honouring God and your credit doth contend against your conscience and your worldly business contradicteth your heavenly business and your gain is pleaded against your obedience it is time then to use the world as an enemy and to vilifie those honours and businesses and commodities A tender conscience that is acquainted with a course of universall obedience will take notice when these worldly interpositions and a vocations would interrupt his course and a soul acquainted with an holy dependance upon God and Communion can feel when these enticing and deluding things would interrupt his Communion and turn his eye from the face of God and therefore he can feel by the advantage of his holy experience when the world becomes his enemy and calleth him to the conflict 4. The world is to be crucified as it is the matter of our flesh-pleasing or the food of our carnal affections and the fuel of our concupiscence The grand Idol that is exalted against the Lord is Carnal Self This is the God of all the unregenerate This hath their hearts their care their labours The pleasing of this flesh is the end of the unsanctified and therefore the summary capital sin which virtually containeth all the rest Even as the Pleasing of God is the End of every Saint and therefore the summary capital duty which virtually containeth all other duties The world is an Idol subservient to the flesh as being the matter of its delight and the means by which its End is attained as in the contrary state the Mediator is subservient to the Father as being the matter of his delight in whom he is well-pleased and the means by whom he obtaineth his Ends in making his people also well-pleasing in his eyes The Devil also is an Idol of the ungodly but that is in a suberviency to the world and to the flesh as by the bait of worldly things he pleaseth the flesh as in the contrary state the Holy Ghost is in office subordinate to the Son and to the Father in that he bringeth us to Christ by whom we must have access to the Father In the Carnal Trinity then you may see that as the flesh is the Principall and Ultimate End and hath the first place so the world is the nearest means to that End and hath the second place and as there is no coming to the Father or Pleasing him but by the Son so is there no way of Pleasing the flesh but by the world So that by this you may perceive in what relation we stand to the sensual seducing world and on what grounds and how far it is necessary that we crucifie it The fixed determination of our Soveraign is that if we live after the flesh we shall die but if by the Spirit we mortifie the deeds of the body we shall live Rom. 8. 13. To live after the flesh is by loving the world and enjoying it as our felicity and to mortifie the deeds of it by the Spirit is by withdrawing this fuel and food that doth maintain them and by crucifying and killing the world as to such ends Our work is to put on the Lord Iesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof Rom. 13. 14. It is the world that is this provision for the fulfilling of our fleshly lusts So far therefore as the flesh must be mortified the
14. 12. So is it said of our conquest In all these things we are supervictors or more then Conquerors through him that hath loved us Rom. 8. 37. 2. Another wound that the world hath received by the Cross of Christ by him suffered is this By it satisfaction is made to God for the sin that the world had enticed man to commit and so quoad pretium the victory which the world had formerly obtained over us is nulled and its Captives rescued and we are cured of the deadly wounds which it had given us For he healeth all our diseases Psal. 103. 3. and his stripes are the remedy by which we are healed Isa. 53 5. So that it is a vanquishing of the world when Christ doth thus nullisie its former victories For thus he began to lead captivity it self captive which at his Resurrection and Ascension he did more fully accomplish Psalm 68. 18. Eph. 4. 8. 3. Another most mortal wound which the world received by the Cross of Christ was this By his Cross did Christ purchase that Glorious Kingdom which being revealed and propounded to the sons of men doth abundantly disgrace the world as a Competitor If there had been no greater good revealed to us or the revelation had been obscure and insufficient or no Assurance of it given us then might the world have easily prevailed For he that hath no hopes of greater will take up with this And he that looketh not for another life will make as much of the present as he can When the will of a man is the fort that is contended for the assault must be made by Allurement and not by force The competition therefore is between Good and Good and that which appeareth the Greater Good to us will carry it and have admittance If God had not set a Greater Good against the world it would have been every mans wisdom and duty to have been worldlings But when he revealeth to us another world of infinite value yea when he offereth us the fruition of himself this turneth the scales with wise men in a moment and shameth all competitors whatsoever Now it is the Cross of Christ that opened the Kingdom of heaven to all true Believers which sin had before shut up against all mankind This marrs the markets of the world It s nothing worth to them that have tasted of the blessedness of this Kingdom Were it not for this the temptations of the world and flesh might prevail What should we say to them or how should we repulse them Reason would say It s better have a small and unsatisfactory Good then none But now we have enough to say against any such temptation One argument from the everlasting Kingdom is sufficient where grace causeth a right apprehension of it to confound all the temptations by which the enemies of our happiness can assault us What I Shall we prefer a mole-hill before a Kingdom a shadow before the substance an hour before eternity Nothing before all things Vanity and Vexation before Felicity The world is now silenced It hath nothing to say which may take with right Reason It must now creep in at the back door of sense and bribe our bruitish part to befriend it and to entertain it first and so to betray our reason and lead it into the inner rooms The Cross of Christ hath set up such a Sun as quite darkeneth the light of worldly glory Who will now play so low a game that hath an Immortal Crown propounded to him Though earth were Something if there were no better to be had yet it is Nothing when Heaven stands by This therefore is the deadly blow by which the world is Crucified by the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. 4. Another mortall wound that the Cross of Christ hath given it is this The Cross hath purchased for us that Spirit of Power and all those Ordinances and Helps of Grace by which we our selves in our own persons may Actually Conquer and Crucifie the world as Christ did before us His Cross is the meritorious cause of his following Grace And as he hath there procured our Justification so also our Sanctification by which the world is renounced by us and contemned There shall a vertue flow from the Cross of Christ that shall give strength to all his chosen ones to go on and conquer and tread the world and all its glory under their feet and by the leaves of this Tree which seemeth dead to a carnal eye the Nations shall be healed And thus by it the world is Crucified 5. Lastly by the Cross of Christ a Pattern is given us for our Imitation by which we may learn how to contemn and so Crucifie the world If when ye do well and suffer for it ye take it patiently this is accceptable with God For even hereunto were ye called because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps who did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth who when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously 1 Pet. 2. 20 21 22 23. Let this mind be in you that was in Christ Iesus that made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and humbled himself and became obedient to death even the death of the Cross Phil. 2. 5 6 7. Let us therefore lay aside every weight and the sin that doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us looking to Iesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of God Heb. 12. 2. This leads us to the next 2. HAving shewed you how the Cross as suffered by Christ doth crucifie the world we are next to shew you how that same Cross as Believed in and considered doth Crucisie it to us They that look only to the Merit of the Cross and over-look the Objective use of it to the soul do deceive themselves and deprive themselves of the full efficacy of it and deal like a foolish patient that thinketh to be cured by commending the Medicine or by believing that it hath vertue to cure his disease when in the mean time he lets it lie by him in the box and never taketh it or applyeth it to himself The Believing Meditation of the Cross of Christ doth give the world these deadly wounds 1. It bringeth us under the actual promise of the Spirit For though there be a work of the Spirit which causeth us to Believe before our actual faith in nature yet the further gift of the Spirit for Mortification is promised upon Condition of our faith And upon the performance of that Condition we have right to the thing promised It is by faith that we fetch strength from Christ for the conquest of this and all other
they are animated by God then it is to ride a dead horse where you may spur long enough before you are one mile further on your way While your friend is living you may delightfully converse with him but when he is dead you will have little pleasure in his company the corpse of the most learned man will actively teach you no more then a block Were it the wiâ—e of your bosom who through prudence and beauty were never so lovely to you when her carkaise is left without a soul you will hasten to bury it out of your sight and would be loath so much as to keep it in your house much less in your bed and bosom as heretosore He that knoweth not that God is the Life and Soul of all our Blessings doth neither know what God is nor what a Blessing is They are but the empty casks and shells and not the Blessings themselves without him You have the Burden and not the Benefit You must carry them but they can do nothing to the supporting of you It s the absence of God that denominateth them Vanity and Vexation and it is he only that can make them strengthening and consolatory That must have some life in it that must be pabulum vitae and must sustain our lives Souls cannot feed upon meer terrene corporeal things any more then the body upon meer spirituals As we have both a soul and a body to be sustained so have we a sustenance suitable to them both even the creature animated by God or God in and by the creature How great then is your sin that destroy your blessings by depriving them of their Life and that in a sort destroy the world to your selves by separating it from its soul and so most â—ainously injure God and rob your selves of the comfort of all and turn your blessings into burdens and your helps into hinderances and snares to your souls Have you lived so long in the School of the world yea and of the Church too where you have not only the Library of Nature but supernatural Revelations to teach you to understand it and yet do you not know a word or letter You do but lose and abuse the creatures of God if you see him not in them and if you be not in the use of them led up to himself The heavens declare the Glory of God and the â—irmament sheweth his handy work Day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night sheweth knowledge there is no speech or language where their voice is not heard their line is gone out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world Psal. 19. 1 2 3. and yet poor carnal wretches will not understand them All the works of God do praise him for he is righteous in all his waies and holy in all his works Psal. 145. 10 17. and yet the wicked will not understand O how many talents must the ungodly be accountable for as having neglected them and perverted them from the prescribed use Every creature that you see is a Teacher of Divine things to you and you shall answer for your not learning by them Every creature is an Herald sent from heaven to proclaim the will of your Maker and your Duty and you gaze upon the Messenger and note his garb and hear his voice and never understand or regard his Message I would you did but consider what you lose by this your folly and what life and sweetness there is in creatures which the heavenly believer draweth forth and you have no taste of And till the Spirit of Sanctification have fitted you to such a work you are never like effectually to taste it For it is not every flie that can suck honey from the sweetest flower though the Bee can do it from that which we call a stinking weed An ignorant Country-man hath a Meadow that aboundeth with variety of herbs he can make no other use of them then to feed his cattle with them Or if he walk into his garden he can only smell the sweetness of a flower but a skilful Physitian that knows their use can thence fetch a medicine that may be a means to save his life But the Believing soul can yet go further and there find that which may further his salvation If you have a Lease of your Lands or a pardon for your life that 's written in an excellent character There 's a great deal of difference between another mans delight in viewing the character and yours in considering of the security you have by it for estate or life But the difference is much greater in our present case between those that have only the superficial sweetness and beauty of the creature to the pleasing of the flesh and those that have God in it to the spiritual refreshing of their souls Believe it Sirs it is not a small sin to pervert the whole creature that 's within our reach to a use so contrary to that which it was appointed to as foolish worldlings do not only to lose that use and benefit of the creatures which we might have but to turn all into poison and death to our selves Not only to rob God of that Love and Honour and Service which they should procure him but also to turn all this upon themselves I tell you this will prove no venial sin 5. And your Guilt herein is further aggravated in that you do hereby as much as in you lyeth frustrate the works of Creation and Redemption For God made all things for himself and you use nothing for him The Redeemer hath reprieved and restored the creature for its primitive use that God might yet have the Glory of his works and yet you will not give it him but when you pretend to know God you Glorifie him not as God but become vain in your imagination your foolish hearts being darkned as Paul tells them Rom. 1. 21. And what doth that man deserve that would as to the use destroy all the world and frustrate all Gods works both of Creation and Redempion 6. Herein also you are guilty of Enmity against God For this is the greatest wrong that an enemy can do him to rob him of the glory of his Goodness and Power and to preser his creatures as if they were more amiable then himself You cannot dethrone him from his glory but you may possibly deny him the preheminence in your hearts You may deny him the Kingdom within you but you cannot dispossess him of his Eternal Power or Kingdom without you The worst enemy that God hath can do him no harm but this is no thanks to you he will not be beholden to you for it You may as truly shew your Enmity by wronging as by hurting And what greater injury can you offer to the Almighty then to set up the silly creature in his stead and give it that Love and Service which is his due 7. Moreover you are guilty of wilfull self murder you choak your selves
wonder if the house be robbed where the doors stand alwaies open and all is common to every passenger Be sure therefore to keep a constant guard upon your eyes your appetites and every sense or else the world will not be Crucified Let not your eye move but by the conduct of your reason at least let it not fix upon any object till reason give it leave Taste not a bit of meat or a cup of drink till you have advised with right informed Reason and be able to justifie what you do Take an account of all that entereth at the door of any of your senses For he that must give an account to the living God had need to keep account himself 2. Keep also a constant guard upon your Thoughts as well as upon your senses As the Thoughts will tell you what is in your hearts so they will let in whatsoever bribeth them to consent The fancies of men are the garden of the Devil where he soweth and watereth the plants of impiety Yea they are a principall room in which he doth inhabite It s certain that the Devil hath readyer access to the fantasie then to the heart and that it is his shop in which he forgeth most vices and doth a very great part of his work An unclean spirit possesseth the fantasies of the unclean so that their thoughts are running upon lustful objects and they are guilty of the filthyest cogitations within when they seem to be of the chastest behaviour without and do frequently commit fornication in the heart when fear or shame doth restrain the outward practise and cover their iniquity The malicious person is possessed by a spirit of maliciousness that dwelleth in his fantasie and sets him on contrivances of cruelty and revenge and filleth his mind with thoughts of hatred and disdain The same spirit reigneth in the fancies of the Proud and setteth them upon contrivances for the advancing of their names and causeth them to thirst after the reputation of the world and filleth them with the troubled malicious thoughts of Haman when they miss of their expectations The earthly spirit possesseth the fantasies of the covetous and setteth them on contrivances for the increase of their estates Do you not feel by sad experience how many of Satans assaults are made upon your cogitations and how much of his interest lyeth there and how much of his work is there done As ever you would be Crucified to the world then set a watch upon your thoughts and keep a daily and hourly account of them and see that they be alway under the Government of faith and reason Your thoughts should be kept chast as the entrance into your hearts and not be as common harlots entertaining every comer If you feel your thoughts stepping out upon Lust or Malice look after them betime and call them in and check them sharply and lay a charge on them hereafter to be more pure If you find that they are running with Geheza after the prize and are making out after the provisions for the flesh recall them and correct them and bewail this evil before the Lord and let your watch be stricter for the time to come Believe it your hearts will be such as are your thoughts The flies that lye upon sores or dung or carrion and the worms that are bred in them will be of the nature of that corruption themselves If you would have your hearts clean and humble and heavenly let your Thoughts be clean and humble and heavenly If you will let your Thoughts run on the objects of Lust you will be Lustful And if you will Think on the enticements of Pride you will be Proud And if you will let out your thoughts on the Profits of the world no wonder if it steal away your hearts saith the Lord to the covetous and unmerciful Deut. 15. 7 8 9. If there be among you a poor man of one of thy Brethren within any of thy gates thou shalt not harden thy heart nor shut thy hand from thy poor Brother but thou shalt open thy hand wide unto him and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need in that which he wanteth Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart saying The seventh year the year of release is at hand and thy eye be evil against thy poor Brother and thou givest him nought and he cry unto the Lord against thee and it be sin unto thee Thou shalt surely give him and thy heart shall not be grieved when thou givest to him because that for this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto For the poor shall never cease out of the Land therefore I command thee saying Thou shalt open thy hand wide unto thy brother to thy poor and to thy needy in the Land Besides the main drift of the Text mark how we are commanded to beware that a Thought of unmercifulness enter not into our hearts And when Christ doth so vehemently disswade his followers from this damning sin he doth it by setting a Law upon their Thoughts Why take ye Thought c. Take no thought c. Mat. 6. 25 27 28 31 34. Luke 12. 22 26. If the unrighteous man forsake not his thoughts he will not forsake the evil of his way Isa. 55. 7. As you love your souls then look to your Thoughts and keep them under the Government of the Lord. Would you be free from a vain and sensual mind How long then shall your vain thoughts lodge within you Ier 4. 14. 3. And see also that you make not worldly minded men your companions While they savour nothing but earth and flesh they will have no savoury discourse of any thing else And their discourse is like to be infectious to your minds As a Stews is not the best place to preserve you from uncleanness nor an Alehouse the best place to preserve you from drunkenness so the company of worldlings is not the best place to preserve you from worldliness Where you shall see or hear little but earthly things and heavenly matters can find no room It s not the safest place to fight against the Devil in the midst of his own Army but in the Army of Christ. On the contrary side be sure that you keep under mortifying means Attend to the lively preaching of the word which will disgrace the world to you and be still drawing your hearts another way Be much with God in secret prayer and be much above in Heavenly Meditation and dwell upon those Thoughts which lay the world naked to you and shew it you in its own complexion If death and judgement be seriously in your minds it will waken you from these fleshly dreams and prick the bladder of your aery minds and let out that wind which puft you up and kept out the things of God and Glory Converse also as much as you can with the most Heavenly people
so as that we give the Glory to God and not to our own corrupted wills 6. And when we are called hereto we must do it very cautelously as Paul doth 1 Cor. 4. 4. I know nothing by my self yet am I not hereby justified Signifying that we do it with holy intentions for the good of the hearers and the honour of God as he doth 1 Cor. 4. 1 2 6 8. to the end And 2 Cor. 2. 5 6 c. 1 Cor. 9. throughout 2 Cor. 3. 1 2 c. And we must so do it as to confess it is like to folly it being the custom of proud fools to be boasters of themselves And so Paul when he is called to mention his priviledges calls it his folly in this sense 2 Cor. 11. 1 17 19 23. lest others should be encouraged to sinfull boasting by his example if he did not brand it by the way with the note of folly though it was but materially so in him being the matter that folly is by others exprest in but formally in the proud 2 HAving told you How we may Glory in our own Mortification I shall next give you the proof of the point that we may so do And first it is proved by the example of Paul himself both here in my Text and in many other places 2 Cor. 5. 11 12 13. 2 Cor. 11. throughout 2 Cor. 12. throughout Vers. 5 6. Of such a one will I glory yet of my self I will not glory but in mine infirmities that is not in any thing that seemeth to advance me in the eyes of the world lest it should seem a carnal Glorying or men should be drawn thereby to overvalue me but in such things as men rather pitty or villifie for even my worldly meanness and contemptibleness and sufferings for Christ though before God these are honourable and therefore I will glory in them openly as secretly I may do in all other graces So it followeth For though I would desire to Glory I shall not be a fool for I will say the truth But now I forbear lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be or that he heareth of me And so Vers. 9 10 11. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me that is that my Glorying may magnifie that Power of Christ that is manifest in sustaining me and not my self therefore I take pleasure in infirmities in reproaches in necessities in persecutions in distresses for Christs sake for when I am weak that is in the flesh and the eye of the world then am I strong that is in the Spirit and the work of Christ I am become a fool that is like a fool in Glorying Ye have compelled me For I ought to have been commended of you For in nothing am I behind the very chiefest Apostles though I be nothing Yea 1 Cor. 9. 15. he saith he had rather die then any should make his glorying void concerning his self-denyal for the advantage of the Gospel 2. I also prove it thus We may and must glory in the blessed effects of the blood of Christ. Or else we shall not give him his honour But our own Mortification is one of the blessed effects of the blood or Cross of Christ therefore we may must glory in it 3. We may and must glory in the certain tokens of the Love of God But our own Mortification is one of the certain tokens of the Love of God therefore we may and must glory in it 4. We may and must Glory in Christ dwelling in us and the effects of his indwelling For if we may glory in Christ Crucified then also in Christ as our Head to whom we are united and from whom we receive continual influence and communication of graces But our own mortification is the certain fruit of Christ dwelling in us therefore we may glory in it 5. We may glory in the image of God upon our souls For as it is our glory so it is the livelyest representation of God himself But our Mortification is part of Gods Image upon us therefore we may glory in it 6. We may glory that we are the temples of the Holy Ghost and that the Spirit of Christ is in us and we may glory in his fruits and works But our Mortification is a principal fruit of the Spirit which sheweth that he dwelleth in us therefore we may glory in it 7. There is no doubt but Christians may glory in the cessation of their sin against God and that as to the dominion of sin they do not dishonour him by breaking his Laws abusing his Son his Spirit and his Mercies as formerly they did But all this is conteined in our Mortification therefore we may glory in it 8. No doubt but we may glory in the Honour of God when his wisdom and goodness and power are demonstrated to the confusion of his foes and the encouragement of his people but this is done in the Mortification of his Saints In them he conquereth and in him that loveth them they are super-victors Rom. 8. 37. If we must glorifie the workman as such then must we also glorifie the work If Moses and all Israel must sing such a song of praise to God for overthrowing Pharaoh and his Hoast in the red Sea much more must we sing his praise that conquereth Satan and all our corruptions And the work it self must be magnified in order to the Conquerours praise If Deborah must sing Gods praises for the conquest of weak men much more must we for the conquest of the world by faith and for subduing the powers of darkness to us There is more of Gods love and power seen in the Spiritual victories of a poor mortified Christian that is taken no notice of or despised in the world then in the bodily conquests of the famous Princes of the world who most of them perish everlastingly after all because they are conquered by the world and their own flesh Though it be the design of the Devil and the slanderous world to obscure or villifie the work of grace on the souls of the sanctified yet must it be the care of Believers to counter-work them and maintain and manifest the lustre of that grace to the glory of the author He that magnifieth the Cure doth honour the Physitian but he that slighteth or disregardeth it doth dishonour him To debase the work of Creation is a reproach to the Creator yea to over-look it and not admire and magnifie it is an injury to him To villifie the work of the Redeemer is horrible insidelity and ingratitude and to slight it and not to magnifie it is damnable And must it not be so then to villifie or not to magnifie the works of the Sanctifyer Why should it not be our duty to magnifie the work of Sanctification as well as the work of Creation and Redemption Especially when it is the end which the other
you whether all must be referred and how little you are beholden for it to your selves Meet every thought of self-exalting with abhorrenceâ— and give it no other entertainment in your souls then you would give the Devil himself who is the Father of it For casting down Christ will prove the casting down of your selves and he that exalteth himself shall be abased SECT XXVII I Come now to the third and last branch of the Observatition viz. that To Glory in any thing save the Cross of Christ and our Crucifixion thereby is a thing that the soul of a Christian should abhor Here I shall shew you what it is that is not excluded from our glorying in these words And then what it is that is excluded and conclude with some Application 1. It is none of the Apostles meaning in these words that we may not Glory in God the Father For his love to the world was the cause of their Redemption And his pleasure and glory is the end of Redemption and was intended by Christ and must be intended by us As Iustine Martyr saith he would not have believed in Christ himself if he had led them to any but the true God So I may say Christ had not done the work of Christ if he had intended any End but God and had not brought up all to God 2. When it is said that we must Glory only in the Cross of Christ the meaning is not that we must not also Glory in his Incarnation and holy Life and Resurrection and Intercession and every part of his Mediatorship For the Cross is not here put as Contradistinct from these but all these are implyed in his Cross as having their share as well as it in the work of our salvation 3. Nor is it the meaning of the Apostle to forbid us to Glory in the promise that Christ hath made us and in the glad tidings of the Gospel For this brings the blessed news to our ears this is the joyful sound the voice of Love the Charter of our inheritance and therefore sweet to all the sons of Life 4. Nor is it any of the Apostles sense that we may not Glory in the Spirit of Christ as magnifying him for the work of illumination and Sanctification As it was an high sin in Ananias and Sapphira to lye to the Holy Ghost and as it is the unpardonable sin to blaspheme the Holy Ghost So it must be a great duty to honour and magnifie the Holy Ghost And therefore it should make us tremble to hear some prophane men abuse the Holy Ghost in deriding his works saying These are the Holy Brethren these are the Saints these have the Spirit 5. Nor yet are we forbidden to Glory in the effects of the Cross of Christ upon us for these you find are included in the Text even our Crucifixion to the world thereby And the other effects of it even our Justification Adoption and the rest may be Gloried in as well as this that is here named as the Apostle doth Rom. 8. 30 31 32 33. to the end yet still referring all to God in Christ. 6. Nor are we forbidden to Glory in the helps of our salvation the Ordinances of God and means of Grace so we give no more to them then their due and look at them but as the appointed means of God that can do nothing but by him 7. No nor is it unlawfull so far to Glory in our Teachers as God hath sent them and qualified them for our good and as they are the Messengers of God and instruments of the Spirit So did Cornelius glory in Peter Acts 10. and when the Apostles brought the Gospel to Samaria there was great joy in that City Acts 8. 8. And the Apostle commandeth the Churches to know them that are over them in the Lord and submit themselves and esteâ—â— them highly in love for their works sake 1 Thes. 5. 12. 8. Nay we may Glory even in honour and riches and other outward things as they are the effects of the Love of God and the blood of Christ and as they reveal God to us or furnish us for his service and the relief of his people and any way further the Ends of our holy Faith In a word we may glory in any thing that is good as it stands in its due subordination to Christ ascribing to it no more then belongs to it in the relation and not separating it in our thoughts or affections from Christ but carrying all the Glory ultimately to God and making the creature but the means thereto And thus we may not only praise the Physitian but the Medicine the Apothâ—caâ—y the handsom administration the glass that it is brought in the silver spoon in which we take it and all this without any wrong to the Physitian or danger of displeasing him if we respect every thing but as it stands in its own place So much to shew you what is not exexcluded 2. But what is it then that we may not Glory in As I told you in the beginning not in our selves or any creature as opposite to Christ or separate from him or any way pretending to be what it is not or do what it cannot But let us enter into some particulars 1. Have you dignities and honours and high places in the world Do others bow to you and have you power to crush them or exalt them at your pleasure Glory not in it as any part of your felicity A horse is stronger then a man The great Mogal and the Turkish Emperour and many another Infidel Prince is a thousand fold beyond the greatest of you in Power and earthly dignity and yet what are they but miserable wretches Your power will not conquer death nor keep off sickness nor keep the stoutest of your Carkasses from corruption When a man shall see you gasping for breath and yielding your selves prisoners to unresistible death and closing those eyes that look so haughtily then who can discern the Glory of your greatness Who then will fear you or honour or regard you further then your deserts or their interests lead them Your flatterers will then forsake you and seek them a new Master When they are winding your Carkass and laying it up for rottenness in the dust what signs of your power will then appear Will your corpse have any reverend aspect How many have been spurned when they were dead that were bowed to while they were alive There are many in Hell and there will be for ever that were greater men then you on earth The higher you clime the lower you have to fall If the breath of a thousand applaud you now perhaps a million may reproach you when you are dead However it is not the applause of men that will carry you to heaven or abate the least of your pain in Hell Glory not then in worldly honours or greatness But rather rejoyce that you have enough without all this in God How well thinks the