unlike a meek Sheep am I may the proud Professor say Who strut and pride my self in the conceit of mine excellences reached above and beyond other men The Apostles advice is be not high-minded but fear and that is very plain though highly Elegant to cause proud plumes to fall Rom. 12. 3. g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to think more highly than he ought to think c. And that was no unseasonable caution of Isidore he that begins to grow better let him beware leâ—t he grow proud leâ—t vain-glory give him a greater overthrow than his former vices Much cause hast thou O my Soul to beware Swelling sores will break e're long the bulging wall will fall Sad experience in our days hath attested the truth of the Apostle's assertion 1 Cor. 8. 1. Knowledge puffeth up a Metaphor from a pair of bellows blown up and filled with wind and that knowledge that puffeth up will puff down to But O my Soul his Soul which is lifted up which swelleth like a Bubble and breaketh through its own weaknesses is not upright in him Habak 2. 4. i. e. is very corrupt and crooked stark naught and Gods Soul can take no pleasure in him but will surely punish him Alas why should I be lifted up at what I have of free-gift He that considers what he is by Sin and what he shall be in the Grave will find little cause of being lifted up with any thing And how unlike one of Christs For the complaining Christian Sheep am I may the querulous murmuring complaining Christian say who make a great noise at every akeing Finger and a great deal of complaint for every penny-loss As Jehu in a vain glory cryed out See my zeal for the Lord of Hosts do not I say see my sufferings for the Gospels sake This is not in my patience to possess my Soul Luk. 21. 19. When one is comfortable and cheerfull we say he enjoys himself So when one keeps himself quiet in crosses he possesseth himself in patience Could Paul and Silas sing and give Glory unto God in the stocks and do I repine and murmur at every abridgment of Liberty c. Did the Apostles glorifie God that they were so * Martyr etiam in catenâ gaudet Aug. graced as to be disgraced for his sake Act. 5. 41. Did Mr. Glover Martyr weep for joy of his imprisonment and shall I weep and fret for grief 'T is not being in tribulation but continuing patient in tribulation that answers the Apostles exhortations Rom. 12. 12. Was Christs suffering as a Sheep before the Shearer or Slayer And is it seemly for me to be like a wild Bull in a Net chaâ—ing and raging How little of a Sheep-like frame do I shew when I design and pursue For the injurious Christian evil with evil When I kick against every one that kicks at me and not only snarle at the stone but also fly at the hand that flings it Christians * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are advised to give none offence to be without offence to all 1 Cor. 10. 32. 2 Cor. 6. 3. to be * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without complaint Phil. 2. 15. both such as do not complain of others and on whom others do not complain To be harmless too though some render the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ex 〈◊〉 privat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 misâ—â—o veâ— ex 〈◊〉 privat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 corâ—u Greek word sincere without mixture yet others rather understand it without Hornes i. e. having no power to harm Christ would not have his pushers with the Horn and so doing hurt and shall I smite with the Tongue smite with the First and yet call my self a Christian as if one of Christs Sheep To do good for good hath something of humanity in it to do evil for evil is but meer bestial to do evil for good is devillish but to do good for evil is Christ-like and this alone is Christian The wrathful and revengeful Christian also may here see how far short For the revengeful Christian he comes of the duty and glory of a Christian whose heart is full of rancour and malice most diametrically opposite to a Christian Spirit Our passions are short madnesses how unadvisedly do they make us speak with the Tongue and how unrulily to act How ill a Counsellor What a worse Commander have I often found my Wrath Do I pretend to be a Follower of Christ and yet have got no more power over those unruly passions How am I outdone by Heathens Socrates when one gave him a box on the ear said only What an ill thing is it that men cannot foresee when they should put on an Helmet before they go abroad Another time being kickt by another If an Ass should kick me said he should I spurn him again The sense of Isa 42. 2. is by some made to be that Christ should be a pleasant Judge offering violence to none but by meek carriage and mild words seeking to draw all to him Christians also must put away all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and be kind c. Ephes 4. 31 32. how unlike which am I whilst I prejudice others against the truths and waies of God by my wrathful carriage The morose Christian also may hence learn to check the peevishness and unsociableness For the morose Christian of his temper which makes him so unlike Christ's Sheep farr from that Gentleness which the Scripture so often presseth to which useth two words which both we translate Gentle the h 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cedo one signifying an yielding of our right rather than pressing utmost extremity the i H' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 delecto vel ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 verâ—um other such a placidness as to please and perswade all with his word his good Language Lastly Let all see how far Christ and the World differ the World looks on a Sheepish Spirit as a great disgrace which Christ calls for and delights in Believe it Christ likes better that his be Sheep than shrews though the Worlds proverb be contrary The World also calls revenge manhood which Christ esteems dog-hood rather much contrary to the temper which he requires and accepts CHAP. XI The harmless Sheep 's expos'd to dangers many Saints open lie to troubles more than any Observation SO inoffensive and harmless as the poor Sheep is yet few Creatures are so watcht against and prey'd upon as it is from above and below from the Heavens and the Earth dangers await it Beasts and Birds of prey glut themselves on these silly creatures Waving Lions and Bears unto which our Countries are strangers and of which we find what Enemies they are to Flocks as may be seen in that one story from David to multiply no other quotations 1
Philosophy says de guistibus non disputandum Men must not dispute of Tasts Divinity shews that God's feeding is pleasant beyond expression 'T is ever springing and fresh budding Though it boast not in effeminate Phrases yet is it full of Masculine eloquence and of such soul-refreshing sweetness that many have found strange operations by one word applied to and set home upon the heart It is ever fresh-springing Though many in all Ages of the Christian Church have spent time and pains in opening the excellency of those sacred Oracles yet still is there room enough for all succeeding ages Yet attentively and diligently is it seldome read but it affords continually new matter of admiration Fifthly for largness it is exceedingly surpassing Psal 119. 96. reaching all persons in all states and conditions b Omnem Ecclesiae mundi statum describit omne officium quicquid credendum vel faciendum est ad salutem non est eâ—go restrictum preceptum Câ—c Every duty in every state whatsoever is to be believed or done in order unto leif is here plainly to be found As a Poet of our own lately sang Though I thirst faint hunger pine Thy word me feeds In these my needs Thy word it self is Bread Milk Wine c Clark ' s Mirrour 1 Part. Chap. 121. §. 24. It brings down the stout and proud heart of the Sinner and raiseth it up when in the most drooping state It nips the younker bespeaking himself Rejoyce O young man in thy youth c. the Scripture I say nips him on the Crown with that stinging But But know that for all these things God will bring thee into Judgment Eccles 11. 9. this is a cooler for the young mans courage this marrs all his mirth is sowre sawce to his sweet meats lest he should surfeit And when the Soul is cast down and in heaviness it speaks refreshing to it that lifts it up above all discouragements and fears whatsoever Psal 119. 92 93. see Trap in loc Lastly for quantity who ever found a penury or any want here Though all Saints in all Ages since its pening have fed on it yet none in these daies find any lack their mouths cleave not to the dust because no biting for them in this pasture here is enough and enough for all Saints They that are straightned are not so in God but in their own Spirits Whilst men give heed to lying vanities they forsake their own mercies they that go out of Gods blessing into the warm Sun as they speak proverbially forsaking Divine Revelations and seeking Enthusiastical infusions find it an evil and a bitter thing and therefore many of such by the goodness of God have been brought back to an hearty acknowledgment that it is good for them to draw near to God Psal 73. 28. d Propingua cum Deo unio communio per verbi auditionem fidem c. confer Isa 58. 2 Gej viz. in his solemn Ordinances and Institutions by faith in the Gospel Ainsw Although every humble Soul may learn and receive from it what is absolutely sufficient for itself on all occasions with respect to its own duty and eternal welfare yet the whole Church of God neither joyntly nor severally from the beginning of the World to the end thereof have been are or shall be able to examine these stores to the bottom and to find out perfectly all the truths in all the dimensions concerns and extent that are contained herein saith e Dr. Owen on Hebr. 4. 6 pag. 244. a Reverend worthy of our own Reflections How farr have I been from that high esteem that David and others For the Scripture-Slighter of his Spirit have had of the Scripturesof Truth How have they been to me worse then the heathy Mountains or the Rockie clifts Is it not because I have too much of the Goat too little of the Sheep in me How have I not only with that Ancient thought the Scriptures unworthy to be compared with the Ciceronian Eloquence but also with profane Politian prefer'd one of Pindar's Odes before David's Psalms With Bishop Bonnet's Chaplain have I not in scorn called it your pretty little God's book or with the Bohemian Blasphemer who for Biblia called it Vitlia which in the Bohemian Language signifieth f Visa est mihi indigna quam Tullianae dignitati compararem Aug. Confes lib. 3. cap. 5. Vomit Julian the Apostate is infamous among other things for his contempts of the sacred book and am not I fair in that way to be notorious also Shall David account it sweeter than Honey which I esteem as a dry Chip and with the Israelites of old say my Soul is dryed up with this light Manna Did David account it richer than Gold than much fine Gold and Solomon prefer it before Rubies and precious Gems and shall I account it as the dirt of the Street and that which is most vile Shall Job preferr it before his dayly food the bread of his dayly allowance and shall I prefer every base song and every wordy Romance before it But consider O my soul are they not magnalia Legis the great things of his Law which God hath written for thee Hos 8. 12. shouldst thou account them as a strange thing as not concerned at all in them or as if of no concernment at all to thee Luther somewhere saith he did tremble to think of the former Age wherein many Nicknamed Divines spent so much time in readivg Aristotle and Averroes and so little in reading the book of God and have not I much cause to tremble who have spent more hours in Machiavels Polititian or Hobs's Leviathan than in the Bible that Book of Books Know O my Soul that they shall have one day sad cause of mourning and complaint who are better read in St. Philip than in St. Peter more acquainted with Mounsier Balzac's Letters than in St. Paul's Epistles that spend more time in the Academy of Complements than in that in that book which teacheth Charity which is the Complement of the Law and the supplement of the Gospel And what may I think of my self in whose esteem the written Word For the Enthusiastical contemner of the Scripture runs low in comparison of the dictates of my Spirit if not a worse Fanatical pretenders to great heights First cast off all other books as useless useless save the Bible and then at last it also under the notion of being a dead Letter in comparison of their quickning Spirit At best it was but a Revelation of God's will to them of old and is nothing to these till thus revealed As though O my Soul that might not be a word against thee which is not a word to thee Melancthon reports that he heard some preach taking their Texts out of Aristotle's Ethicks and we have lived to see days in which men take Texts and discourses and all out of the fancies of their own brains esteeming
themselves by so much the more excellent and Divine Preachers by how much the more immethodically and rambling they are Besides others who from the Holy Gospel read only Lectures of Morality yea and would perswade the World there is nothing in sanctifying Grace beyond this Some have started up of late daies who first have discharged Solomon's works from the said Canon under pretence of over-zeal against his Apostasies to Adulteries and Idolatries and at length are not farr from casting off the whole Canon as being but a dispensation fit only for those times and not comporting with our high attainments The tertium Evangelium so long since but talkt off in Germany is now currant in England and Ireland and they branded as Sons of reason only as so of ruine who subject not all to these Dictates But O my Soul that is a safe word believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits Now if ever false ones are abounding in these parts of the World So much the more need is there of heedfulness and care That is good advice of the Apostle Rom. 12. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that too 1 Cor. 4. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not be wise upon what is written Are the Scriptures of truth such refreshing and strengthening For the unprofitable hearer and reader of the Scriptures pastures how little have they been such to me have I not continued poor and lean under all the means of growth and fattening which I have enjoyed what cause have I to cry out my leanness my leanness Isa 24. 16. yea may I not say in reference to my Soul what Job spake of his body chap. 16. 8. my leanness rising up in me beareth witness to my face testifieth against me my rottenness that I am not sound within because of the non-improvement of the means of thriving afforded me How can I read or hear that story of Pharaoh's dream Gen. 41. 2 3 4. with vers 21. and not to be confounded in my self The lean as well as fat kine came up out of the River viz. Nile which causeth the fruitfulness of Egypt and they devoured the fat and yet were still ill favoured a fit Hieroglyphick of my sad state others are fat and grown in knowledge and in obedience by the same means which to me are of none advantage nor profit at all yea when I have devoured all I continue in my former state ill favoured still It must sure be some more than ordinary distemper interposing that must hinder my growth and profit thus To hear the word and not grow thereby is a sad sign how little appetite I have to it to receive showers from Heaven in the Doctrines of the Gospel and yet to bring forth nought but Briars and Thorns shews me neer unto cursing O my Soul awake out of this dead sleep away with this spiritual sloth labour to have purged out these obstructions that hinder thy profiting lest that be to thee the savour of death which to others is of peace and life What cause of joy have I can I but clear up my Relation to the For the humble profiting hearer Lord If the Lord be my Shepherd I shall not want he will provide pastures of budding grass for me The Sheep care not for his leas troubles not himself where he shall get it that is the Shepherds care let me but secure and continue my Relation and mercy shall follow me all my days Christ's Sheep shall lack no good thing they shall go in and out and find pasture He that reckons meamong his gains will see to it that I have what may keep me up that I may be more useful and serviceable to him Only O my Soul take this hint with thee thou must lie down in those pastures What do the Sheep when they lie down they chew the cud and thereby turn all they eat into nourishment so must thou do on the word heard or read ruminate on it this will turn it into nourishment to thee And if thy delight be in the Law of thy Lord Thou wilt meditate in it day and night CHAP. IV. From Sun and storms the Shepherd saves his Sheep In persecution's storms Christ doth his keep Observation THE Expression of making to lye down in green pastures speaks something more than bare feeding yea than feeding liberally and to the full 'T is an expression suited to those Eastern hotter Countries where the Sun having great power the Sheep were apt to be annoied with the fervency of the heat thereof especially about the middle of the day wherefore one great piece of the Shepherds care was to provide at that time of the day some suitable shelter there against and to drive together and cause their Flocks to rest in some shady place which might allay that heat of the Sun g Solent pastores in calidis istis locis meridie iuxta fontes rivos aut dumeta suas oves continere in umbrâ donec sol deservescat Menoch Unto which is an allusion Ezek. 34. 14 15. and plainly Cant. 1. 7. we in these our Northern Countries find how the Sheep in the heat of the day will lie panting seeking to cool themselves in paths c. and hiding themselves from the scorching heat under Banks Hedges and Bushes But the Shelter in our cold countries are mostly from the storms and winds the driving of the Snow and beating of the Rain against which the shelter of a good Hedge or the lee of a rising hill we find of what singular use it is under which the poor Cattle will creep and there preserve themselves from the fury of the weather Application Now of what are these scorching blasts and beating storms significative in reference to our purpose but the rage of persecution which the wrath of men is apt to raise against to destroy if it were possible the poor ones of God For the heat of the Sun-shine ye have Christ's interpretation Mat. 13. 6 with 21. and for the storms of wind and weather the Scriptures especially the Prophets are full see Isa 29. 6. Amos. 1. 14. hence tossed with Tempests Tempests for much afflicted and persecuted Isa 54. 11. from or in these doth Christ preserve his Flock Sometimes he keeps them from persecution When the rage of men hath even swallowed them up in their imaginations when it flows down upon them like a torrent threatning to carry all before it God by some Providence or other diverts the Enemie and so creats peace for his Thus when David and his men were compassed round about by Saul and were even as devoured in their apprehensions the Philistines invade the Land which diverts Saul from his pursuit 1 Sam. 23. 26 27 28. The Vul. Lat. reads vers 26. fully to our sense h Porro David desperahat se posse evadere a facie Saul itaque Saul viri ejus in modum coronae cingebant David viros ejus ut caperent eos David despaired that he could