his creature to blessedness and the vision of his Creator 2. That he so ordered the means of man's Redemption that a greater glory came even by that Redemption that if man had never faln and a greater benefit to mankind For the latter it is apparent that if there had been no Mediator sent the least sin that any of the sons of men had committed had been inexorably fatal to them without any means of pardon And as Adam though in his full liberty and power was misled by temptation so might have he been or any of his posterity though he had stood that shock which now is admirably provided against by the satisfaction of Christ Jesus And as thus it is better with the children of men so the glory of God is wonderfully advanced by it for if man had stood in his innocence God had had only the glory of his justice in rewarding him or if he had faln the glory of his justice in punishing him but there had been no room for that glorious attribute of his Mercy in forgiving without violation to his Purity Truth and Justice that glorious attribute by which he so often proclaimeth himself Exod. 34.6 The Lord the Lord God Merciful Gracious Long-suffering abundant in Goodness and Truth keeping Mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity transgression and sin and yet that will by no means clear the guilty 3. That he so wonderfully ordered the Redemption of Man that all his Attributes were preserved inviolable His Truth The day thou eatest thou shalt dye his Justice yet his Mercy his Love to his creature yet his Hatred to Sin his Son shall dye to satisfie his Truth and Justice yet the sinner shall live to satisfie his Mercy the sin shall be punished to justifie his Purity yet his creature shall be saved to manifest his Love and Goodness And thus his Wisdom over-ruled Sin the worst of evils to the improvement of his glory and the good of his creature 4. His wisdom is manifested in this that by the redemption of man all those ways of his administration before the coming of Christ do now appear to be excellently ordered to the redemption of man and the making of it the more effectual The giving of a severe and yet most just Law which was impossible for us to fulfil shews us the wretchedness of our condition our inability to fulfil what was just in God to require shews us the necessity of a Saviour drives us to him and makes this City of refuge grateful and acceptable and makes us set a value upon that mercy which so opportunely and mercifully provided a Sacrifice for us in the Blood of Christ and a Righteousness for us in the Merits of Christ and a Mediator for us in the Intercession of Christ And by this means also all those Sacrifices and Ceremonies and Observations enjoyned in the Levitical Law which carried not in themselves a clear reason of their institution are now by the sending of Christ rendred significant 5. The wisdom of God is magnified and advanced in this in fulfilling the Prophecies of the sending the Messias to satisfie for the sins of Mankind against all the oppositions and casualties and contingencies that without an over-ruling wisdom and guidance might have disappointed it And this done in that Perfection that not one circumstance of Time Place Person Concomitants should nor did fail in it and so bearing witness to the infinite Truth Power and Wisdom of God in bringing about his Counsels in their perfection touching this great business of the Redemption of Man which was the very end why he was created and placed upon the earth and managing the villany of men and the craft and malice of Satan to bring about that greatest blessing that was or could be provided for mankind besides and above and against the intention of the Instrument Act. 2.23 Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain 6. The unsearchable Wisdom of God is manifested in that he provided such a Mediator that was fit for so great a work had all the world consulted that God must suffer it had been impossible and had all the world contrived that any man or all the men in the world should have been a satisfactory Sacrifice for any one Sin it had been deficient Here is then the wonderful Counsel of the most high God the Sacrifice that is appointed shall be so ordered that God and Man shall be conjoyned in one Person that so as Man he might become a Sacrifice for Sin and as God he might give a value to the Sacrifice And this is that great Mystery of Godliness God manifested in the flesh 2. The wonderful Love of God to Mankind I. In thinking upon poor sinful creatures to contrive a way for a Pardon for us and rescuing us from that Curse which we had justly deserved 2. Thinking of us for our good when we sought it not thought not of it 3. When we were enemies against God and against his very being 4. Thinking of us not only for a Pardon but to provide for us a state of Glory and Blessedness 5. When that was not to be obtained saving his Truth and Justice without a miraculous Mediator consisting of the divine and humane nature united in one person in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ here was Love and Goodness of the greatest magnitude that ever was or ever shall be heard of and sufficient to conquer our Hearts into admiration and astonishment But yet it rests not here As God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Joh. 3.16 so the only begotten Son of God was not behind in this wonderful Love No sooner as we may with reverence say was the Counsel of the Father propounded for the sending of his Son but presently the Son saith Lo I come Psal 40.7 Heb. 10.7 And now we will consider upon what terms he must come or else the redemption of mankind must dye for ever I. He must come and empty himself of his Glory of his personal Majesty and take our nature yet without sin he must go through the natural infirmities of infancy and childhood 2. And not only must he undergo this abasement but he must undergo the condition of a mean a low birth born of a poor Virgin in a Stable laid in a Manger under the reputation of a Carpenter's Son 3. And not only thus but as soon as he is born must use the care of his Mother to shift for his life away to Egypt to prevent the jealousie and fury of Herod 4. And when grown up to youth he must undergo the form of a Servant become a poor Carpenter to work for his living without any patrimony or so much as a house to cover him 5. He comes abroad into the World to exercise the Ministry and the Prologue to
me Let sweet Repose and Rest my portion be Give me some mean obscure Recess a Sphere Out of the road of Business or the fear Of Falling lower where I sweetly may My Self and dear Retirement still enjoy Let not my Life or Name be known unto The Grandees of the Times tost to and fro By Censures or Applause but let my Age Slide gently by not overthwart the Stage Of Publick Interest unheard unseen And unconcern'd as if I ne're had been And thus while I shall pass my silent days In shady Privacy free from the Noise And busles of the World then shall I A good old Innocent Plebeian dy Death is a mere Surprize a very Snare To him that makes it his lifes greatest care To be a publick Pageant known to All But unacquainted with Himself doth fall OF CONTENTATION AND The MOTIVES to It BOTH MORAL and DIVINE PHIL. IV. II. For I have learned in Whatsoever estate I am therewith to be content THere are Three excellent Virtues which especially refer to our condition in this life and much conduce to our safe and Comfortable passage through them 1. Equality of Mind or AEquanimity 2. Patience 3. Contentedness 1. Equality of Mind or Equanimity is that virtue which refers both to prosperity and adversity whereby in all conditions of that kind we carry an even and equal temper neither over-much lifted up by prosperity nor over-much depressed in adversity 2. Patience properly refers to crosses disappointment afflictions and adversity whereby we carry a quiet and submissive mind without murmuring passion or discomposure of spirit in all afflictions whether sickness loss of friends poverty reproach disgrace or the like 3. Contentation which differs from equality of mind because that respects as well prosperity as adversity this only adversity and in some respects differs also from Patience though this always accompanies it 1. In the extent of the object for patience respects all kinds of affliction contentedness in propriety of speech respects principally the affliction of want or poverty 2. In the act it self for patience in propriety of speech implyes only a quiet composed toleration of the evils of adversity but contentedness imports somewhat more namely not only a quietness of mind but a kind of cheerful free submission to our present condition of adversity a ready compliance with the Divine Providence and in effect a choice of that state wherein the Divine Dispensation placeth us as well as in bearing it These though they may in strictness give a distinction between Patience and Contentation yet we must observe that Contentation is never without Patience though it be something more and that in the common acceptation and latitude of the word Contentation doth not only extend to the condition or affliction of poverty but even to all other outward afflictions reached to us by the inflicting or permitting hand of Divine Providence and in this large acceptation I shall here apply and use it Content therefore in its large acceptation is not only a quiet and patient but also a free and cheerful closing with that estate and condition of life which the Divine Dispensation shall allott unto us whether mean or poor or laborious and painful or obscure or necessitous or sickly or unhealthy or without friends or with loss or absence of friends or unkindness of friends or any other state that seems ungrateful to our natures or disposition For we need not apply this virtue to a state of high prosperity in all things wherein though men are not ordinarily contented yet they have but small temptations to discontent from the estate it self wherein they so are This lesson of Contentation was learnt by this Apostle which imports these things 1. That it is a lesson that is possible to be learned for the Apostle had learned it 2. That it is a lesson that requires something of industry and pains to acquire it for he learned it before he attained it 3. That it is a lesson that deserves the learning for he speaks of it as of a thing of moment and great use well worth the pains he took to attain it And the truth is it is of so great importance to be learned that without it we want the comfort of our lives and with it all conditions of life are not only tolerable but comfortable And hence it is that this excellent Apostle doth very often inculcate and press and commend this lesson in many of his Epistles 1 Tim. 6.6 Godliness with contentment is great gain Heb. 13.5 Let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as ye have for he hath said I will not leave thee nor forsake thee Again 1 Tim. 6.8 And having food and rayment let us be therewith content I shall therefore set down those Reasons that may perswade and encourage us to contentation with our condition and likewise to patience under it for patience and contentation cannot be well severed And the Reasons are of two sorts 1. Moral 2. Divine and Evangelical Neither shall I decline the use of Moral Reasons considering how far by the help of these many Heathens that had not the true knowledge of God revealed in his Word and Son advanced in the practice of these virtues The Moral Reasons therefore are these 1. Very many of the external evils we suffer are of our own choice and procurement the fruits of our own follies and inadvertence and averseness to good counsel And why should we be discontented or impatient under those evils which we our selves have chosen or repine because these trees bear their natural fruit 2. The greatest part of evils we suffer are of that nature and kind that are not in our power either to prevent or help Some come from the very condition of our nature as sicknesses death of friends and of absolute necessity the more relations any man hath the more evils of this kind we may suffer And can we reasonably expect that the very natures of things should be changed to please our humour Again some come from the hands of men that it may be are powerful more subtil and malicious Why should we discontent our selves or be impatient because others are too strong for us Others again come by occurtences natural though disposed by the hand of the Divine Providence as losses by storms and tempests by unseasonable weather by intemperateness of the air or meteors Can we reasonably expect that the great God of Heaven and Earth should alter his setled Laws of Nature for the convenience of every such little Worm as you or I am It may be that storm or intemperate season that may do you or me some prejudice may do others as many and as good or it may be more and better a benefit that wind that strikes my Ship against the Rock may fetch off two or more from the Sands Let us be content therefore to suffer Almighty God to govern the World according to his wisdom and not our will
motions and tendencies of our Sensual Appetite This sensual appetite is in it self good placed in us by the God of Nature for excellent ends viz. for the preservation of the individual nature as eating and drinking and those invitations of sense subservient thereunto or for the preservation of the species as the desires of sexes But they then become a sinful part of this inferior world 1. when they become inordinate 2. or excessive 3. or unseasonable or generally 4. when they are not subordinate in their actings to the government of reason enlightened by moral or religious light A Christian hath no such enemies without him as unruly and undisciplined lusts and passions within him and it is a vain thing to think of overcoming the world without us until this world within us be brought into subjection for without the corruptions and lusts within the world and the evil men of the world and the evil one of the world could not hurt us Non vulnus adactis Debetur gladiis percussum est pectore ferrum The wedge of gold was an innocent thing but Achan's covetous heart within gave it strength to do harm We come into the world as into a great shop full of all variety of wares accommodate to our senses lusts and affections and were it not for these those wares would lye long enough upon the hands of the prince of this world before they could get within us or corrupt us 2. The world without us is of three kinds 1. The Natural world which is the work of Almighty God most certainly in it self good and is not evil but accidentally by man's abuse of himself or it It doth contain a general supply of objects answerable to the desires of our vegetable and sensible nature and the exigences and conveniences of it is a great shop full of all sorts of wares answerable .... there is wealth and places and delights for the senses and it becomes an enemy to us by reason only of the disorder and irregularity of those lusts and passions that are within us and by reason of the over-value that we are apt to put upon them they are indeed temptations but they are only passive as the wedge of gold did passively tempt Achan but it was his own lust and covetousness that did him the harm the rock doth not strike the ship but the ship strikes the rock and breaks it self This world as it is not evil in it self so most certainly it is full of goodness and benevolence to us it supplies our wants is accommodate to the exigences and conveniences of our nature furnisheth us with various objects and instances of the divine goodness liberality bounty of his power and majesty and glory of his wisdom providence and government which are so many instructions to teach us to know and admire and magnifie him to walk thankfully dutifully and obediently unto him to teach us resignation contentedness submission and dependence upon him A good heart will be made better by it and if there be evil in it it is such as our own corrupt natures occasions or brings upon it or upon our selves by it and it is a great part of our Christian warfare and discipline to teach us to use it as it ought to be used and to subdue those lusts and corruptions that abuse it and our selves by it Again secondly there is another world without us the malignant and evil world the world of evil Angels and of evil Men Mundus in maligno positus and the great mischiefs of this world are of two kinds viz. 1. Incentives and temptations from it that are apt to bring the rest of mankind into the evil of sin and offence againft God such as are evil examples evil commands evil counsels evil perswasions and sollicitations 2. The troubles and injuries and vexations and persecutions and oppressions and calumnies and reproaches and disgraces that are inflicted by them And the evil that ariseth from these are of two kinds viz. such as they immediately cause which is great uneasiness and griefs and sorrow and again such as consequentially arise from these namely the evil of sin as impatience discontent unquietness of mind murmurings against the Divine Providence doubtings of letting go our confidence in God disturst unbelief and putting forth our hands to iniquity to deliver our selves from these inconveniences either by unlawful or forbidden means by sinful compliances with the sinful world by falling in with them to deliver our selves from their oppressions persecutions or wrongs by raising commotions engaging in parties and infinite more unhappy consequences And thirdly there is a third kind of world which is in a great measure without us namely the accidental or more truly the providential world in relation to man and his condition in this world and is commonly of two kinds viz. prosperous or adverse External or worldly Prosperity consists in an accommodate condition of man in this world as health of body comfort of friends and relations affluence or at least competency of wealth power honour applause good report and the like The dangers that steal upon mankind in this condition are pride haughtiness of mind arrogance vain-glory insolence oppression security contempt of others love of the world fear of death and desires of diversion from the thoughts of it luxury intemperance ambition covetousness neglect and forgetfulness and a low esteem of God the life to come and our duty 2. Adversity as sicknesses and diseases poverty loss of friends and estate publick or private disturbances or calamities and the like And though oftentimes these are occasioned by the evil or malignant world yet many times they seem to come accidentally and are apt to breed impatience discontent unquietness of mind distrust of Providence murmuring envy at the external felicity of others and that common discomposure which we ordinarily find in our selves and others upon like occasions IV. The fourth considerable is what is this Faith which thus overcometh the world which is nothing else but a deep real full sound perswasion of and assent unto those great truths revealed in the Scriptures of God upon the account that they are truly the word and will of the Eternal God who is truth it self and can neither deceive nor be deceived and herein these two matters are considerable 1. What are those divine truths which being really and soundly believed doth enable the victory over the world or the special objects of that victorious faith 2. What is that act of faith or belief of these excellent objects which thus overcometh the world 1. For the former of these although the whole body of divine truths is the adequate object of faith yet there seem to be certain special heads or parts of divine truths that have the greatest influence into this victory over the world I shall mention some of them namely 1. That there is one most Powerfyl Wise Gracious Bountiful Just and All-seeing God the Author of all being that is present in
indeed And the truth is these Writings do not obscurely speak their author being a most lively representation of him that is of his Mind and Soul and of that Learning Wisdom Piety and Virtue which is very eminent and conspicuous in him particularly that of the Great Audit which I use to look upon as his very picture wherein representing the Good Steward passing his Account it was impossible for him not to give a lively Representation of himself as every Character of a truly wise and virtuous person must needs agree with him who is really such and they who are eminently such can hardly be unknown and therefore it is not impossible that some even from the consideration of the work may discover the work man besides many other occasions of discovery which may happen But as I thought this too weak and insufficient so I could not but think it altogether needless and unworthy both the excellent Author and these his pious and excellent meditations to be made use of to that end and should much rather have abstained from publishing them at all than have relyed upon such a shift if I had thought that they had stood in any need thereof But as it was only their â—â—al worth and Excellence and Usefulness which moved me to desire their publication so I was verily perswaded and as well assured as I could be in any writings of my own and that not upon my own opinion only but upon the judgment of others also that nothing liable to exception doth occurr in them or any thing considerable that is questionable which hath not other approved authors who say the same and the truth is the subject of them is such as is not like to afford much matter of that nature these being Moral and Practical things whereas they are for the most part matters of Speculation and of curious I had almost said presumptuous and unnecessary if not undeterminable Specntation which make the great stirrs and are the matter and occasions of greatest controversie especially among them of the Reformed Religion And though these Writings never underwent the last Hand or Pencil of the Judicious Author and therefore in respect of that perfection which he could have given to them be not altogether so compleat as otherwise they might have been yet if we consider them in themselves or with respect to the Writings which are daily published even of learned men and published by the Authors themselves these will be found to be such as may not only very well pass in the croud but such as are of no vulgar or common strain The Subjects of them indeed are common Themes but yet such as are of most weight and moment in the Life of Man and of greatest concernment as in Nature those things which are of greatest use and concernment are most common But the matter of his Meditations upon these subjects is not common For as he is a man that Thinks closely and deeply of things not after a common rate so his Writings his most ex tempore Writings have a certain Genius and Energie in them much above the common rate of Writers And though these were written ex tempore and in such manner as hath been said before yet the matter of them is for the most part such as he had before well digested and as a Scribe instructed to the Kingdom of Heaven had treasured up in his heart and out of this good treasure of his heart and the abundance of it be produceth these good things things which be looked upon as of greatest concern and most worth his serious consideration and had accordingly weighed and considered And for the Stile it is suitable to the Matter Significant Perspicuous and Manly his Words are Spirit and Life and carry Evidence and Demonstration with them Moral and Experimental Demonstration Vox non ex ore sed ex pectore emissa And if we take these Writings all together and weigh them duly and candidly without any vain humour of critical and pedantick censeriâ—usness we may therein no less observe the worth and excellence of their Author especially considering in what manner they were written than in his more elaborate Works and being written and published in this manner they do more evidently demonstrate the reality of his Honest Virtuous and Pious Principles than had they been designed to be published and been published by himself which perhaps may render them not less acceptable to some Readers not of the lower rank So that considering the Writings themselves I could not think that there was any thing therein whether of matter or form which could render the publication of them injurious or prejudicial to the Author in the least in any of the respects afore mentioned Yet notwithstanding for the greater security I thought it might be fit and but just to give this true and ingenuous account both of the occasion and manner of his writing and of the publication of of them without his privity or knowledge And this I conceived might be a just and sufficient means to secure the Author against all exceptions as that which would wholly acquit him in the judgment of all reasonable men and transferr the blame if any should be to my self which yet was no more than what I must have resolved to have undergone had they been my own Writings which I had published It remained therefore only to consider how this might be done as without Injury in other respects so without Offence to the Worth Author And for this two things did not a littlâ— encourage me I. The Honesty of my Desigâ— and Sincerity of my Intentions in it and 2. Thâ— Candor and Goodness of the Author His Candor I knew to be such that I doubted not of 〈◊〉 fair and favourable construction of my Desigâ— and Intentions And I knew his Goodness Affection and Readiness to do Good to be such that he could not but approve my Design that is to do Good the doing whereof I knew to be a thing of greater weight with him than all hiâ— reasons against the Publication And that much good may be done by the publication of these writings I could assure him upon my own experience of the effects I had seen already produceâ— by them in Manuscript All which when hâ— should consider I was perswaded though perhaps he might at first be a little surprised with the unexpected publication of them yet he could not be much offended at it And then if I could publish them without either Injury or Offence to him I reckoned it all one in effect as if I had had his consent before to it And hereupon I â—â—â—â—zed at last upon it and upon these conâ—â—erations have made thus bold with this excelâ—â—â— person and my very good friend for the Gâ—od of others which I should not have done for any private advantage to my self whatsoever I doubt not but the Reader will be very desirous to know who the Author of these Excellent Meditations is
consideratioâ— would have made them wise and prudentâ— avoid those great Apostasies which shouâ— occasion so terrible a desertion and rejectiâ—â— by God But certainly the words contain an evâ—dent truth with relation to every particulâ— person and to that latter end that is coâ—mon to all man-kind namely their latâ—end by death and separation of the Soul aâ—â— Body the due consideration whereof is great part of Wisdom and a great meaâ— to attain and improve it and very maâ— of the sins and follies of man-kind as thâ— do in a great measure proceed from tâ—â— want of an attentive and serious consiâ—â—ration of it so would be in a great measâ—cured by it It is the most certain known experienâ— truth in the World that all men must dâ—â— that the time of that death is uncertaiâ— that yet most certainly it will comâ—â— and that within the compass of no loâ— time Though the time of our Life migâ—â— be protracted to its longest period yetâ— is ten thousand to one that it will not exceâ— fourscore years where one man attaiâ— to that age ten thousand dit before it aâ—â— this Lecture is read unto us by the many casualties and diseases that put a period to the Lives of many in our own experience and observation by the many warnings and monitions of Mortality that every man finds in himself either by the occurrences of diseases and weaknesses and especially by the declinations that are apparent in us if we attain to any considerable age and the weekly Bills of Mortality in the great City where weekly there are taken away ordinarily three hundred persons The Monuments and Graves in every Church and Church-yard do not only evince the truth of it whereof no man of understanding doubts but do uncessantly inculcate the remembrance of it And yet it is strange to see that this great truth whereof in the theory no mans doubts is little considered or thought upon by the most of man-kind But notwithstanding all these monitions and remembrances of Mortality the living lay 〈◊〉 not to heart and look upon it as a buâ—â—ness that little concerns them as if they were not concerned in this common condition of man-kind and as if the condition of Mortality only concerned them that actually die or are under the immediate Harbingers of it some desperate or acute diseases but concerned not them that are at present in health or not under the stroke of a mortal sickness The Reasons of this Inconsiderateness seem principally these 1. That men are not willing to entertain this unwelcom thought of their own latter End the thought whereof is so unwelcom and troublesom a Guest that it seems to blast and disparage all those present enjoyments of Sense that this Life affords Whereby it comes to pass that as Death it self is unwelcom when it draws near so the thoughts and apprehensions of it becomes as unwelcom as the thing it self 2. A vain foolish conceit that the consideration of the latter End is a kind of presage and invitation of it and upon this account I have known many superstitiously and foolishly to forbear the making of their Wills because it seemed to them ominous and a presage of Death whereas this consideration though it fits and prepares man for Death it doth no way hasten or presage it 3. A great difficulty that ordinarily attends our humane condition to think otherwise concerning our condition than what at present we feel and find We are now in health and we can hardly bring our selves to think that a time must and will come wherein we shall be sick We are now in life and therefore we can hardly cast our thoughts into such a mould to think we shall die and hence it is true as the common Proverb is That there is no man so old but he thinks he shall live a year longer It is true this is the way of man-kind to put far from us the evil day and the thought of it but this our way is our folly and one of the greatest occasions of those other follies that commonly attend our lives and therefore the great means to care this folly and to make us wise is wisely to consider our latter end This Wisdom appears in those excellent effects it produceth which are generally these two 1. It teacheth us to live well 2. It teacheth us to die easily For the former of these the consideration of our latter end doth in no sort make our lives the shorter but it is a great means to make our lives the better 1. It is a great monition and warning of us to avoid Sin and a great means to prevent it When I shall consider that certainly I must die and I know not how soon why should I commit those things that if they hasten not my latter end yet they will make it more uneasie and troublesom by the reflection upon what I have done amiss I may die to morrow why should I commit that evil that will then be gall and bitterness unto me would I do it if I were to die to morrow why should I then do it to day perchance it may be the last act of my Life and however let me not conclude so ill for for ought I know it may be my concluding Act in this Scene of my Life 2. It is a great motive and means to put us upon the best and most profitable improvement of our time There be certain Civil and Natural actions of our lives that God Almighty hath indulged and allowed to us and indeed commanded us with moderation to use As the competent supplies of our own Natures with moderation and sobriety the provision for our Families Relations and Dependances without covetousness or anxiety the diligent and faithful walking in our Callings and discharge thereof But there are also other businesses of greater importance which yet are attainable without injuring our selves in those common concerns of our Lives namely our knowledge of God and of His Will of the doctrine of our Redemption by Christ our Repentance of Sins past making and keeping our Peace with God acquainting our selves with Him living to His Glory walking as in His Presence Praying to Him learning to Depend upon Him Rejoycing in Him walking Thankful unto Him These and such like as these are the great Business and End of our Lives for which we enjoy them in this World and these fit and prepare us for that which is to come And the consideration that our Lives are short and uncertain and that Death will sooner or later come puts us upon this resolution and practice to do this our great work while it is called to day that we loiter not away our day and neglect our task and work while we have time and opportunity lest the night overtake us when we cannot work to gain Oyl in our Lamps before the door be shut And if men would wisely consider their latter Ends they might do this great business this one thing
annexed to this Consideration We are to know that although Death be thus subdued and rendred rather a benefit than a terrour to good men yet 1. Death is not to be wished or desired though it be an object not to be feared it is a thing not to be coveted for certainly life is the greatest temporal blessing in the World It was the passion not the virtue of that excellent Prophet Elijah that desired to dye because he thought himself only left of the true worshippers of God 1 Kings 19.4 We are all placed in this World by Almighty God and a talent of life is delivered to us and we are commanded to improve it a task is set every one of us in this life by the great Master of the Family of Heaven and Earth and we are required with patience and obedience and faithfulness to perform our task and not to be weary of our work nor wish our day at an end before its time When our Lord calls us it is our duty with courage and chearfulness to obey His call but until He calls it is our duty with patience and contentedness to perform our task to be doing of our work And indeed in this life our Lord hath delivered us several tasks of great importance to do as namely 1. To improve our graces and virtues our Knowledge and Faith and those works of piety and goodness that he requires the better and closer we follow that business here the greater will be our reward and improvement of glory hereafter And therefore as we must with all readiness give over our work when our Master calls us so we must with all diligence and perseverance continue our employment out till he calls us and with all thankfulness unto God entertain and rejoyce in that portion of life he lends us because we have thereby an opportunity of doing our Master the more service and of improving the degrees of our own glory and happiness 2. And besides the former he hath also set us another task namely to serve our Generation to give an example of virtue and goodness to encourage others in the ways of virtue and goodness to provide for our Families and Relations to do all good offices of Justice Righteousness Liberality Charity to others cheerfully and industriously to follow our Callings and Employments and infinite more as well Natural Civil Moral employments which though of a lower importance in respect of our selves yet are of greater use and moment in respect of others and are as well as the former required of us and part of the task that our great Lord requires of us and for the sake of which he also bestows many Talents upon us to be thus improved in this life and for which we must also at the end of our day give our Lord an account and therefore for the sake of this also we are to be thankful for our life and not be desirous to leave our post our station our business our life till our Lord call us to Himself in the ordinary way of His Providence for He is the only Lord of our lives and we are not the Lords of our own lives 2. A second Caution is this That as the business and employments and concerns of our life must not estrange us from the thoughts of death so again we must be careful that the overmuch thought of death do not so much possess our thoughts as to make us forget the concerns of our life nor neglect the businesses which that portion of time is allowed us for As the business of fitting our Souls for Heaven the businesses of our callings relations places stations Nay the comfortable thankful sober enjoyments of those honest lawful comforts of our life that God lends us so as it be done with great sobriety moderation as in the presence of God and with much thankfulness to Him for this is part of that very duty we owe to God for those very external comforts and blessings we enjoy Deut. 28.47 A wise and due consideration of our latter ends is neither to render us a sad melancholy disconsolate people nor to render us unfit for the businesses and offices of our life but to render us more watchful vigilant industrious soberly cheerful and thankful to that God that hath been pleased thus to make our lives serviceable to Him comfortable to us profitable to others and after all this to take away the bitterness and sting of death through Jesus Christ our Lord. OF VVISDOM AND The Fear of GOD That that is True WISDOM JOB XXVIII 28. And to man he said Behold the fear of the Lord that is wisdom and to depart from evil is understanding THe great preheminence that Man hath over Beasts is his Reason and the great preheminence that one man hath over another is Wisdom though all men have ordinarily the priviledge of Reason yet all men have not the habit of Wisdom The greatest commendation that we can ordinarily give a man is that he is a wise man and the greatest reproach that can be to a man and that which is worst resented is to be called or esteemed a fool and yet as much as the reputation of wisdom is valued and the reputation of folly is resented the generality of mankind are in truth very fools and make it the great part of their business to be so and many that pretend to see◠after wisdom do either mistake the thing or mistake the way to attain commonl◠those that are the greatest pretenders 〈◊〉 wisdom and the search after it place it i◠some little narrow concern but place i◠not in its true latitude commensurate to th◠nature of mankind And hence it is tha◠one esteems it the only wisdom to be 〈◊〉 wise Politician or Statesman another t◠be a wise and knowing Naturalist anothe◠to be a wise acquirer of Wealth and th◠like and all these are wisdoms in their kind and the World perchance would be much better than it is if these kind of wisdom were more in fashion than they are bu◠yet these are but partial wisdoms the wisdom that is most worth the seeking and finding is that which renders a man a Wise Man This excellent man Job after a diligen◠search in the speech of this Chapter after Wisdom what it is where to be found doth at length make these two Conclusions viz. 1. That the true root of wisdom and that therefore best knew where it was to be found and how to be attained is certainly none other but A mighty God vers 23. God understandeth the way thereof and knoweth the place thereof and 2. As he alone best knew it so he best knew how to prescribe unto mankind the means and method to attain it To man he said to fear God that is wisdom that is it is the proper and adequate wisdom sutable to humane nature and to the condition of mankind and we need not doubt but it is so because he that best knew what was
analogical ratiocination which they find in brutes but define a man by his Religion Homo est animal religiosum because in this they find no communication or similitude of natures or operations between men and brute beasts for man iâ— the only visible creature that expresseth any inclination to Religion or the sense of a Deity or any exercise of it I do not stand to justifie this Opinion in all particulars only those things are most certain 1. That only the Humane nature seems to have any sense or impression of any regulary Religion upon it 2. That the sense of a Deity and Religion resulting from it is the great ennobling and advance and perfection of the Humane nature 3. That take away the fear of God all sense and use of Religion falls to the ground So that the Fear of God is the great foundation of Religion and consequently the great ennobling and advance of Humane nature that seems almost as great a prelation of a man truly religious above an irreligious man as to operations and use as there is between an irreligious man and a brute As Religion advanceth so Irreligion embaseth the Humane nature 2. Justice is of two kinds Distributive which is the justice of a Magistrate or Judge distributing rewards and punishments favour and displeasure and due retribution to every man according to the merits of his cause 2. Commutative which is in all Civil contracts and dealings between persons as dealing honestly keeping promises and using plainness sincerity and truth in all a man sayeth or doeth and both these kinds of Justice are effects of excellent Wisdom without these States and Societies and persons fall into disorder confusion and dissolution and therefore those very men that have not this justice and righteousness yet honour and value those that have it and use it And the fear of Almighty God is that which begetteth and improveth both these kinds of Justice Hence it was that Moses in his choice of Judges directs that they should be men fearing God and hating covetousness Jehosaphat in his Charge to his Judges thought this the best expedient to contain them within the bounds of Justice to put them in remembrance before whom and for whom they are to judge And the very Heathens themselves were some of them used to set an empty Chair in the place of Judicature as an Emblem of the presence of God the invisible and yet all-seeing God as present in the Courts of Justice observing all the Judges do and this they esteemed an excellent means to keep Judges to their duty by representing to them the glorious God beholding them And as thus in distributive Justice the fear of God is a great means to keep and improve it so in commutative Justice the fear of God gives a secret and powerful Law to a man to keep and observe it And hence it is that Joseph could give no greater assurance to his Brethren of his just dealing with them than this Gen. 42.18 This do for I fear God and on the other side Abraham could have no greater cause of suspition of ill and unjust dealing from the People with whom he conversed â—han this that they wanted the fear of God Gen. 20.11 Because I thought the fear of God was not in this place c. The sense of the Greatness and Majesty and Power and Justice and all-seeing Presence and Command of Almighty God lays a greater obligation and engagement upon a Heart fearing God to deal justly and honestly than all the terrours of Death it self can do And if any one say How came it to pass that the Heathen that knew not and therefore feared not the true God were yet great assertors maintainers and practisers of all Civil Justice and Righteousness between man and man I say though they knew not the true God they knew there was a God whom though ignorantly they feared And this imperfect and broken fear of God was the true cause of that Justice and Righteousness that was sincerely and not for ostentation practised among them and though they mistook the true God yet in this they were not mistaken that there was a God and this truth had that great prevalence upon them to do justly And if that imperfect fear of God in them did so much prevail as to make them so just how much more must the true knowledge and the fear of the true God prevail to advance Righteousness and Justice in them that have that fear of God in their Hearts 3. It is a great part of Wisdom that concerns a person in the exercise of the Duties of his Relations and indeed it is a great part of Justice and Righteousness Now thâ— fear of Almighty God hath these two great advantages therein First the will of God instructs exactly all relations in their Duties of these reciprocal relations and this will of God is revealed in his Word which contains excellent Precepts of all kinds suitable to every several relation Secondly the fear of God sets these Directions close upon the Heart and is a severe and constant obligation to observe them And so this fear of God doth effectually fit habituate guide and oblige a man to the Duties of his several relations it makes a good Magistrate a good Subject a good Husband a good Wife a good Father a good Child a good Master a good Servant in all those several kinds of goodness that are peculiar and proper to the several relations wherein a man stands 4. Sincerity Uprightness Integrity and Honesty are certainly true and real Wisdom Let any man observe it while he will an hypocrite or dissembler or double-hearted man though he may shuffle it out for a while yet at the long run he is discovered and disappointed and betrays very much folly at the latter end when a plain sincere honest man holds it out to the very last so that the Proverb is most true that Honesty is the best Policy Now the great Priviledge of the fear of God is that it makes the Heart sincere and upright and that will certainly make words and actions so For he is under the sense of the inspection and animadversion of that God that searches the Heart and therefore he dares not lye nor dissemble not flatter not prevaricate because he knows the pure all-seeing righteous God that loves truth and integrity and hates lying and dissimulation beholds and sees and observes him and knows his thoughts words and actions It is true that vain-glory and ostentation and reputation and designs and ends may many times render the outward actions specious and fair when the Heart runs quite another way and accordingly would frame the actions if those ends and designs and vain-glory and ostentation were not in the way but the fear of God begins with the Heart and puriâ—â—fies and rectifies it and from the Heart thus rectified grows a conformity in the life the words the actions 5. The great Occasion and Reason of the Folly of
superadd this advantage also for opportunity thereby of humane prudential considerations which otherwise by haste and precipitance in actions or words would be lost and it habituates the mind to a temper of caution and advertence and consideration in matters as well of smaller as of greater moment and so make a wise attentive and considerate man 7. It mightily advanceth and improveth the worth and excellency of most Humane actions in the World and makes them a nobler kind of thing than otherwise without it they would be Take a man that is employed as a Statesman or Politician though he have much wisdom and prudence in commonly degenerates into craft and cunning and pitiful shuffling without the fear of God but mingle the fear of Almighty God with that kind of wisdom it renders it noble and generous and staid and honest and stable Again take a man that is much acquainted with the subtiler kind of Learning as Philosophy for instance without the fear of God upon his Heart it will carry him over to pride arrogance self-conceit curiosity presumption but mingle it with the fear of God it will ennoble that knowledge carry it up to the honour and glory of that God that is the Author of Nature to the admiration of his Power Wisdom and Goodness it will keep him humble modest sober and yet rather with an advance than detriment to his knowledge Take a man industrious in his Calling without the fear of God with it he becomes a drudge to worldly ends vexed when disappointed overjoyed in success mingle but the fear of God with it it will not abate his industry but sweeten it if he prosper he is thankful to God that gives him power to get wealth if he miscarry he is patient under the will and dispensation of the God he fears it turns the very employment of his Calling into a kind of religious duty and exercise of his Religion without damage or detriment to it 8. The fear of God is certainly the greatest wisdom because it renders the mind full of tranquility and evenness in all states and conditions for he looks up to the great Lord of the Heavens and Earth considers what he commands and requires remembers that â—e observes and eyes all men knows that his Providence governs all things and this keeps him still even and square without any considerable alteration whatever his condition is Is he rich prosperous great yet he continues safe because he continues humble watchful advertent lest he should be deceived and transported and he is careful to be the more thankful and the more watchful because the command of his God and the nature of his condition requires it is he poor neglected unsuccessful yet he remains still patient humble contented thankful dependent upon the God he fears And surely every man must needs agree that such a man is a wiser man than he who is ever changed and transported with his condition that if he be rich or powerful there is nothing more vain proud insolent than he and again let his condition become poor loâ— despised there is nothing under Heavâ— more despondent dispirited heartless dâ— contented and tortured than such a maâ— and all for the want of the fear of Almighâ— God which being once put into the Heaâ— like the Tree put by Moses into the Water cures the disorder and uneasiness of 〈◊〉 conditions 9. In as much as the true fear of God always mingled with the knowledge of thâ— Will of God and that Will is containâ— most fully in his written Word it muâ—â— needs be that a man that truly fears thâ— Lord must be instructed in the word of God and the Precepts thereof must needs bâ— deeply digested into his mind Now aâ— this Word is the Word of the ever-wiâ— God and therefore certainly must be fuâ— of most wise Directions So let any maâ—â— but impartially and deeply consider thâ—â— Precepts contained in the word of God hâ—â— shall assuredly find the best directions in thâ—â— in the world for all kind of moral and divine Wisom And I do confidently say that in all other Books of Morality there aâ—â— not so sound deep certain evident Instructions of Wisdom yet most strictly joyned with Innocence and Goodness as there are in this one Book as would be easily demonstrable even to a reasonable judgeâ—ent but this is too large a Theme for â—â—is place 10. But besides all this there is yet a â—cret but a most certain truth that highly â—proveth that wisdom which the fear of â—â—e Lord bringeth and that is this That â—â—ose that truly fear God have a secret â—â—idance from a higher wisdom than what 〈◊〉 barely humane namely by the Spirit of Truth and Wisdom that doth really and truly â—ut secretly prevent and direct them And 〈◊〉 no man think that this is a piece of â—â—anaticism Any man that sincerely and â—â—uly fears Almighty God relies upon him â—â—alls upon him for his guidance and direâ—â—ction hath it as really as the Son hath â—he counsel and direction of his Father â—nd though the voice be not audible nor â—he direction always perceptible to sense â—et it is equally as real as if a man heard â—he voice saying This is the way walk in it And this secret direction of Almighty God â—â—s principally seen in matters relating to the good of the Soul but it may be also found â—â—n the great and momentous concerns of this I se which a good man that fears God and â—egs his direction shall very often if not at all times find 2. Besides this direction a good man fearing God shall find His Blessing upon him It is true that the portion 〈◊〉 men fearing God is not in this life ofteâ— times he meets with crosses afflictions and troubles in it his portion is of a highâ—â— and more excellent state and condition that this life yet a man that fears God hatâ— also his blessing in this life oven in â—â—lation to his very temporal condition for either his honest and just intentions anâ— endeavours are blessed with success anâ— comfort or if they be not yet even hiâ— crosses and disappointments are turned into a blessing for they make him more humble and less esteeming this present World and setting his Heart upon a better For it is an everlasting truth That 〈◊〉 things shall work together for the best to them that fear and love Almighty God and therefore certainly such a man is the wisest man 11. But yet further certainly it is one of the greatest evidences of Wisdom to provide for the future and to provide for those things for the future that are of greatest moment importance and use Upon this account the Wise man Prov. 30. 25. admires the wisdom of the Ant that little creature that yet provides his meat in the Summer and we esteem it the folly of Children and Prodigals in this that they have no prospect for the future how they shall subsist hereafter Now the wisdom of a man
moment I were bereft of all either by Fire or Depredation how were my mind fitted with humility and patience to submit to a poor strait wanting condition I have now a good Husband Wife Children many Friends that esteem me and are faithful to to me what if God should in a moment deprive me of all these what if my dearest Friends should become my bitterest Enemies how should I bear my self under these changes I have a great Name and Esteem in the World what if in a moment a black cloud of Infamy and Scorn and Reproach were drawn of it and that I should become a scorn and reproach with Job 30.8 among children of fools yea children of base men viler than the earth how were I fitted with humility and evenness of mind to comport with such a condition till it pleaseth God by his Providence and the manifestation of my Innocence if he think sit to scatter this black cloud of Calumny and Reproach or if not yet quietly under it to enjoy the testimony of a good conscience and my own integrity These and the like anticipations of troubled and afflicted conditions would habituate and fit our minds to bear them furnish us with suitable tempers for them render them casie to us when they come and keep our Souls in a due state of moderation and watchfulness before they come As the good Martyr Bilney before his martyrdom by often putting his Finger into the Candle made the Flames which he was after to endure more familiar and tollerable 3. The third Preparative against Affliction and calamitous seasons is to reason our selves off from over-much love and valuation of the World and the best things it affords Philosophy hath made some short essay in this business but the Doctrine of the Gospel hath given us far more noble and effectual topicks and arguments than any Philosophy ever did or can 1. By giving us a plain and clear estimate and valuation of this World and all that seems most valuable in it but this is not all but 2. by shewing us plainly and clearly a more valuable certain and durable estate after death and a way of attaining it with much more ease and contentation than we can attain the most splendid temporals of this World Certain it is that the weight and and stress of afflictions and crosses lyes not so much in the things themselves which we suffer in them or by them as in that overvaluation that we put upon those conveniences which afflictions or crosses deprive us of When news was brought to that noble Roman of the death of his Son it was a great pitch of patience that even that Moral consideration wrought in him Novi me genuisse mortalem though perchance it was not without a mixture of Stoical vain-glory We set too great a value upon our health our wealth our reputation and that makes 〈◊〉 unable to bear with that evenness and contentedness of mind the loss of them by sickness poverty reproach We set too great a rate upon our temporal life here because we set too great a rate upon this World to the enjoyment whereof this life here is accommodated and proportioned and that makes us fear death not only as the ruine of our nature but as that which puts a period to all our comforts Whereas had we but Faith enough to believe the Evangelical truths touching our future happiness it would make us not desire death because we might in the time of this life secure unto our selves that great and one thing necessary and it would make us not to fear death because we see a greater fruition to be enjoyed after it than all the glory of this present World can yield 4. The next Preparative against Afflictions is to keep Piety Innocence and a Good Conscience before it comes As Sin is the sting of death so it is the sting of affliction and that which indeed gives the greatest bitterness and strength unto affliction and the reason is this because it weakens and disables that part in man which must bear and support it This is that which the Wise man observes Proc. 18.14 The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmities but a wounded spirit who can bear which is no more than this It is the mind and spirit of man rightly principled that doth bear and carry a man through those difficulties and afflictions and infirmities under which he is but if that spirit or mind which should carry and bear those evils be hurt or wounded or faint or infirm what is there left in a man to bear that which indeed should be our support Innocence and a Good Conscience keeps the mind and spirit of a man in courage and considence and indeed it hath an influence and suffrage and attestation and support from the God of Heaven to whom a good conscience can with an humble confidence appeal as Hezekiah did under a great affliction Isa 38. and this access to Almighty God doth give new supplies succours and strength to the Soul to bear it up under very great and pressing afflictions But on the other side Sin doth disable the Soul to bear affliction till it be throughly repented of 1. Because it doth in a great measure emasculate and weaken the spirit of a man makes it poor cowardly and unable to bear it self up under the pressure of afflictions 2. It doth in a great measure obstruct the intercourse between God and the Soul and that influence that might and would otherwise be derived to the spirit or mind of a man by the God of the spirits of all flesh Therefore the best preparative against affliction is to have the Soul as clear as may be from the guilt of Sin 1. By an innocent and watchful life in the time of our prosperity before affliction attach us 2. Or at least By a speedy sincere and hearty Repentance for Sin committed and this repentance to be speedy before affliction come For although it is true that many times affliction is the messenger of God to awaken a sinner to repentance and that repentance is accepted by the merciful God yet that repentance is most kindly and easie and renders afflictions less difficult and troublesom which prevents affliction and performs one great end and use of afflictions before it comes He that hath a Soul cleansed by Faith and Repentance from the guilt of Sin before the severity of affliction comes upon him hath but one work to do namely to fit himself with patience to undergo the shock of affliction But he that defers his repentance till driven to it by affliction his work is more difficult because it is double namely to begin his repentance and to bear his affliction And because in many things we offend all and the best have their failings and sins of daily incursion a daily revising and examining of our own failings and renewing of our repentance for our daily faults is of singular use to render afflictions easie because repentance
cleanseth the Soul and renders a man in God's acceptation as if he had not offended 5. The next preparative against affliction is to gain an humble Mind When affliction meets with a proud heart full of opinion of its own worth and goodness there ariseth more trouble and tumult and disorder and discomposure in the contest of such a heart against the affliction than possibly can arise from the affliction it self and the strugling of that distemper of pride with the affliction galls and intangles the mind more than the severest affliction and renders a man very unfit for it and unable to bear it The Prophet describes it her Sons at the head of every street were like a wild Bull in a net But on the other side an humble lowly mind is calm and patient and falls with ease upon an afflicted condition for the truth is the great evil of suffering is not so much in the thing a man suffers as in the mind and temper of spirit of the man that meets with it an humble mind is a mind rightly prepared with the greatest facility to receive the shock of any affliction for such a mind is already as low as affliction can ordinarily set it And certainly if any man consider aright he hath many important causes to keep his Mind always humble 1. In respect of Almighty God the great and glorious King of Heaven and Earth whom if a man contemplate he will put his mouth in the dust acknowledge himself to be but a poor worm and therefore unworthy to dispute the Divine dispensations providences or permissions 2. In respect of himself He that considers aright himself his sins and failings and corruptions will have cause enough to humble himself and reckon that he is justly obnoxious to the severest crosses and afflictions Why doth the living man complain a man for the punishment of his sin 't is mercy enough that the affliction extends not yet so â—â—r as his life a living man to complain carnes a reprehension in it self of the complaint 6. Another most singular prâ—paration against affliction is a steady resolved Resignation of a man's self to the will and good pleasure of Almighty God and that upon grounds of the greatest reason imaginable For 1. it is a most sovereign will for his will must be done whether we will or not therefore it is the highest piece of folly imaginable to contest with him that will not cannot may not be controlled It is true we have commission to pray to him to deliver us from evil but when we have so done we must withal desire that his will may be done this pattern the Son of God hath given us Matth. 26.39 Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me yet not my will but thy will be done Willingly therefore submit to that will which whether thou wilt or no thou must thou shalt endure for his will is the most sovereign will the will of the absolute Monarch of Heaven and Earth 2. As it is the most sovereign will so it is the most wise will what he wills he wills not simply prâ—â—â—mperio but his will is founded upon and directed by a most infinite wisdom and since thou canst not upon any tollerable account judge thy will wiser than his it becomes thee to resolve thy poor narrow inconsiderate will into the will of the most wise God 3. As it is a most wise will so the will of God is most certainly the most benificent and best will what reason hast thou to suspect the benificence of his will whose will alone gave thee thy being that he might communicate his goodness to that being of thine which he freely gave thee It is true it may be thou dost not see the reason the end the use of his Dispensations yet be content with an implicit submission to resign thy self up to his disposal and rest assured it shall be best for thee though thou yet canst not understand what it means If he hath given thee an Heart to resign up this will unto his be confident he will never mislead thee nor give thee cause to repent of trusting him It was a noble pitch of a Heathen's mind namely Epictetus Enchirid. cap. 78. In quovis incepto haeâ— optanda sunt Due me ô Jupiter tâ— fatum eo quo sum à vobis destinatus sequar enim alacriter quod si noluero improbus ero sequar nihilominus Which may be thus better Englished In every Enterprize this ought to be our Prayer Guide me O God and thou Divine Providence according to thine own appointment I will with chearfulness follow which if I shall decline to do I shall be an undutiful man and yet shall nevertheless follow thy appointment whether I will or not But Christians have learned a Reason of a nobler descent namely That all things shall work together for good to those that love God and certainly there can be no greater evidence of thy love to him than to make the Will of God the guide rule and measure of thine own 7. I shall conclude with that great Preparative which is indeed the completion of all that is before said and in a few words includes all Labour to get thy Peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord when this is once attained thou art set above the love of the World and the fear of afflictions because thou hast the assurance of a greater Treasure than this World can give or take away a Kingdom that cannot be shaken a hope and most assured expectation that is above the region of afflictions and that renders the greatest and forest afflictions as they are namely light and momentany And yet because thou art notwithstanding this glorious expectation yet in this lower region and subject to passions and perturbations and fears the merciful God hath engaged his promise to support thee here under them to better and improve thee by them to carry thee through them by his all-sufficient grace and mercy The strokes thou receivest are either managed and directed or at least governed and ordered by him that is thy Father and that in very love and faithfulness doth correct thee that hath a heart of compassion and love to thee even when he seems in his Providences to frown upon thee that while thou art under them will make them work together for thy good and that will never take from thee those everlasting mercies which are thy portion that hath all thy afflictions crosses troubles whatever they are or may be under the infallible conduct of his own wisdom and power And that as on the one side he will never suffer thee to be afflicted beyond what he gives thee grace to bear and improve so on the other hand he will so manage order and govern thy light afflictions which are here but for a moment that in the end they shall be a means to bring thee a far more exceeding and eternal
wealth or honour or power or splendour or great equipage in this World but all that he demes in reference to this World is 1. That the comfortable presence and sense of the favour and love of God should be with him If God will be with me 2. That the Protection of the Divine Providence may be continually over him and will keep we in the way that I go 3. That he would supply him not with curiosities or delicacies but with necessaries and will give me bread to eat and raâ—ment to put on And the truth is this should be the Rule und Measure of every good man in reference to this life and the enjoyments of it and the desires of them until he come to his Father's house in peace that house wherein there are many mansions that the great Father of whom all the Family in Heaven and Earth is named hath provided for such as fear and love and obey him Indeed the two former of these though they be no more than what the bountiful God freely affords to all that truly love him and depend upon him are of a strange and vast extent First the comfortable presence of God supplies abundantly all that can be desired by us and abundantly countervails whatsoever else we seem to want it is better than life it self And when the Ancients would express all that seemed beneficial or prosperous in this life they had no suller and comprehensive expression of it than that God was with him Joseph Gen. 39. 3. And when his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper 1 Sam. 18. 14 28. the wisdom and courage and success of David is resolved into this one thing The Lord was with him But certainly though the Divine presence should not manifest it self in external successes and advantages the very sense of the savour and comfortable presence of God carries with it an abundant supply of all other deficiences Psal 4. 6 7. The light of the countenance of Almighty God is the most supereminent good and occasions more true joy and contentment than the redundance of all external advantages Secondly the Divine protection and providence is the most sure and safe protection and supplies the want of all other The munition of Rocks is thy defence and all other desences and refuges without this are weak impotent and failing defences Except the Lord watch the city the watchman watcheth but in vain That therefore which I shall fix upon is the last of his three desires If he shall give me meat to drink and rayment to put on The desires of a good man in relation to the things of this life ought not to be lavish and extravagant not to be of things for grandeur or delicacy or excess but to be terminated in things of necessity for his present subsistence convenient food and rayment If Almighty God give more than this it is matter of the greater gratitude as it was to Jacob Gen. 32. 10. I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies c. for with my staff I passed over this Jordan and now I am become two bands But if he gives no more we have enough for our contentation Almighty God who is never worse than his word but most commonly better hath not given us any promise of more neither hath he given us commission to expect or ask for more If he gives more than necessary he exalts his bounty and benificence and yet if he gives no more it is bounty that he gives so much and is matter both of our contentation and gratitude This the wise man Agur made his request Prov. 30. 8. Give me neither poverty nor riches seed me with food convenient for me This our Lord teacheth us to ask in his excellent form of Prayer Give us this day our daily bread and this is that which the Apostle prescribes for the Rule of our contentation 1 Tim. 6.8 And having food and rayment let us be therewith content And truly if it pleaseth God to allow us a sufficiency and competency for the necessity of our nature we have very great Reason to be contented with it not only as it is a duty enjoyned unto us but upon most evident conviction of sound Reason both in regard unto Almighty God in regard of our selves and in regard of others I shall mingle these Reasons together 1. It becomes us to be contented because whatsoever we have we have from the free allowance bounty and goodness of God he owes us nothing but what we have we have from free gift and bounty If a man demands a debt of another we think it just he should be paid what he demands but if a man receive an alms from another we think it reasonable he should be content with what the other gives without prescribing to the measure of his bounty But the case is far stronger here we are under an obligation of duty to be charitable to others wants by virtue of a Divine Command but Almighty God is under no other law of conferring benefits but of his own bounty goodness and will 2. It becomes us to be content because our measure and dole is given unto us as by him that is absolute Lord of his own bounty so by him that is the wisest dispenser of his own benefits he knows far better than we our selves what proportion is fittest for us he hath given us enough for our necessity and we are desirous to have somewhat more the wise God knows it may be that more would do us harm would undo us would make us luxurious proud insolent domineering forgetful of God The great Lord and Master of the great Family of the World knows who are and who are not able to bear redundancy And therefore if I have food convenient for me I have reason to be content because I have reason to believe the great and wise God knows what proportion best sits me it may be if I had more I were ruined 3. We must know that we are but Stewards of the very external blessings of this life and at the great Audit we must give an account of our Stewardship and those Accounts will be strictly perused by the great Lord of all the Family in Heaven and Earth Now if our external benefits be but proportionable to our necessities and necessary use our Account is easily and safely made Imprimis I have received so much of thy external blessings as were necessary for my food and clothing and for the feeding and clothing of my Family But on the other side where there is a superfluity and redundance given over and above our necessary support the account is more difficult where much is given much will be required There will be an account required how the redundant overplus was employed how much in Charity how much in other good works and God knows that too too often very pitiful accounts are made of the surplusage and redundancy
enemies and unintermitted dangers and difficulties that our light afflictions which are here but for a moment work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Our afflictions and incoveniences in this world 1. are light in comparison of that exceeding far more exceeding weight of glory 2. As they are but light so being compared with that eternal weight of glory they are but for a moment The longest life we here live is not ordinarily above threescore and ten years and though the more troublesom and uneasie that life is the longer it seems yet compared with the infinite abyss of Eternity it is but a moment yea less than a moment if less can be yet such is the longest stay in this life if compared with Eternity And the gracious God hath presented this greatest and most important truth to us with the greatest evidence and assurance that the most desponding and suspitious Soul can desire 1. He hath given his own Word of Truth to assure us of it 2. He hath given his own Son to seal it unto us by the most powerful and convincing evidence imaginable by his mission from Heaven on purpose to tell us it by his Miracles by attestations from Heaven by the laying down his own Life in witness of it by his Resurrection and Ascention by the miraculous Mission of his Holy Spirit visibly and audibly Again 3. He hath confirmed it to us by the Doctrine and Miracles of his Apostles by their Death and Martyrdom as a Witness of the Truth they taught by the numerous Converts and Primitive Christians and godly Martyrs who all lived and dyed in this Faith and for it who made it their choice rather to suffer afflictions with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season declaring plainly that they sought a better City and Countrey that is a heavenly Heb. 11.15 25. and this Countrey and this City they had in their Eye even whiles they lived in this troublesom world And this prospect this hope and expectation rendred this lower world of no great value to them the pleasures thereof they esteemed but low and little and the troubles and uneasiness thereof they did undergo patiently cheerfully and contentedly for they looked beyond them and placed their hopes their treasure their comfort above them And even whiles they were in this life yet they did by their faith and hope anticipate their own happiness and enjoyed by faith even before they actually possessed it by fruition for Faith is the substance of things hoped for Heb. 11. and makes those things present by the firmness of a sound perswasion which are in themselves future and to come And this is that which will have the same effect with us if we live and believe as they did and be but firmly and soundly perswaded of the truth of the Gospel thus admirably confirmed unto us This is the victory that overcometh the world even our faith Heb. 10.38 The just shall live by faith 2 Cor. 5.7 We live by faith and not by sight and excellent is that passage to this purpose 2 Cor. 4.16 17 18. For which cause we faint not but though our outward man perish yet our inward man is renewed day by day For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory while we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal And therefore if we do but seriously believe the truth of the Gospel the truth of the life to come the best external things of this world will seem but of small moment to take up the choicest of our desires or hopes and the worst things this world can inflict will appear too light to provoke us to impatience or discontent He that hath but Heaven and everlasting glory in prospect and a firm expectation will have a mind full of contentation in the midst of the lowest and darkest condition here on Earth Impatience and discontent never can stay long with us if we awake our minds and summon up our faith and hope in that life and happiness to come Sudden passions of impatience and discontent may like clouds arise and trouble us for a while but this faith and this hope rooted in the Heart if stirred up will like the Sun scatter and dispell them and cause the light of patience contentation and comfort to thine through them And as we have this hope of immortality and blessedness set before us so the means and way to attain it is easie and open to all no person is excluded from it that wilfully excludes not himself Isa 51.1 Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters and he that hath no money come ye buy and eat without money and without price Rev. 22.17 Whosoever will let him take of the waters of life freely Matth. 11.28 Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest The way to everlasting happiness and consequently to contentation here is laid open to all It was the great reason why God made mankind to communicate everlasting happiness to them and when they wilfully threw away that happiness it was the end why he sent his Son into the world to restore mankind unto it And as the way is open to all so it is easie to all his yoak is easie and his burthen light The terms of attaining happiness if sincerely endeavoured are easie to be performed by virtue of that grace that God Almighry affords to all men that do not wilfully reject it namely to believe the truth of the Gospel so admirably confirmed and sincerely to endeavour to obey the precepts thereof which are both just and reasonable highly conducing to our contentation in this life and consummating our happiness in the life to come And for our encouragement in this obedience we are sure to have if we desire it the special grace of the Blessed Spirit to assist us and a merciful Father to accept of our sincerity and a gracious Saviour to pardon our failings and deficiencies So that the way to attain contentation in this life and happiness in the life to come as it is plain and certain so it is open and free none is excluded from it but it is free and open to all that are but willing to use this means to attain it And I shall wind up all this long Discourse touching Contentation with this plain and ordinary Instance I have before said that our home our Countrey is Heaven and Everlasting Happiness where there are no sorrows nor fears nor troubles that this World is the place of our travel and pilgrimage and at the best our Inn Now when I am in my journey I meet with several inconveniencies it may be the way is bad and foul the weather tempestuous or stormy
precious must needs be a more noble useful precious Knowledge and accordingly more to be desired There have been doubtless many excellent understandings that have been conversant about an exact disquisition of some particular truths which though as truths they agree in a common value with all others yet in respect of their nature use and value are of no great moment whether known or not As concerning the precise time of this or that passage in such a prophane History the criticism of this or that Latin word and the like which though by accident and by way of concomitance they may be of considerable use when mixed with or relating to some other matter of moment yet in themselves have little value because little use Others have spent their thoughts in acquiring of the knowledge in some special piece of Nature the fabrick of the Eye the progression of generation in an Egg the relation and proportion of Numbers Weights Lines the generation of Metals and these as they have a relative consideration to discover and set forth the wisdom of the great Creator or to publick use have great worth in them but in themselves though they have this excellence of truth in them and consequently in their kind feed and give a delight to the understanding which is a power that is naturally ordained unto and greedy of and delighted in truth though of a low or inferiour constitution yet they are not of that eminence and worth as truths of some other either higher or more useful or durable nature As once our Saviour in relation of things to be done pronounced One thing only necessary Luk. 10.42 so the Apostle among the many things that are to be known fixeth in the same One thing necessary to be known Christ Jesus and him Crucified There are three steps 1. Not to know any thing Not as if all other knowledge were condemned Moses learning was not charged upon him as a sin Paul's secular learning was not condemned but useful to him to be knowing in our calling in the qualities and dispositions of persons in the Laws under which we live in the modest and sober inquiries of Nature and Arts are not only not condemned but commended and useful and such as tend to the setting forth the glory of the God of Wisdom Even the discretion of the Husbandman God owns as his Isa 28.26 for his God doth instruct him to discretion and doth teach him But we must determine to know nothing in comparison of that other knowledge of Christ Jesus as the Apostle counted what things were gain yet to be loss for Christ Phil. 4.7 so we are to esteem that knowledge of other things otherwise excellent useful admirable yet to be but folly and vile in comparison of the knowledge of Christ And this requires 1. A true and right Estimate of the Value of the Knowledge of Christ Jesus above other knowledge and consequently an infinite preferring thereof before all other knowledge in our judgments desire and delight and the preponderation of the knowledge of Christ above other knowledges excells most knowledge in all the ensuing particulars but excells all knowledge in some and those of most concernment 1. In the Certainty of it Most other knowledge are either such as we take in by our Sense and Experience and therein though it is true that the gross part of our knowledge that is nearest to our sense hath somewhat of certainty in it yet when we come to sublimate and collect and infer that knowledge into universal or general conclusions or to make deductions ratiocinations and determinations from them then we fail and hence grew the difference between many Philosophers Again the knowledge that we elicit from sense is but very narrow if it staid there for the forms of things the matter or substance which is the subject of Nature are not easily perceptible by sense we see the colour and the figure and the variations of that but we do from thence only make conjectures concerning the forms â—â—bstances and matter Or they are such as we receive by Tradition whether historical or doctrinal and the former depends upon the credit of the relator which most an end depends upon another's credit and so vanisheth into much incertainty unless the authors be very authentical and eye-witnesses and as to matters doctrinal still that depends upon the opinion of a man it may be deduced upon weak convictions crossed by persons of as great judgments and so breeds uncertainty distraction and dissatisfaction in the knowledge But in the knowledge of Christ we have greater certainty than can be found in any of all these other Knowledges 1. A constant tradition and reception by millions before he came that the Messias was to come and since he came that in truth he is come 2. The Apostles Evangelists and Disciples that were purposely chosen to be witnesses of Christ his Miracles Doctrine Suffering and Resurrection 3. The Miracles he did that are witnessed to us by a greater consent of testimony than any one part of any History of that antiquity 4. The Purity Sanctity and Justness of his Doctrine which was never attained unto in the teaching of the Philosophers nor ever any could in the least measure unpeach or blame 5. The Prophecies stiled most justly by the Apostle a more certain evidence than the very vision of his Transfiguration and a Voice from Heaven 2 Pet. I. 19 and so in truth is a more undeniable argument than any is for it is not capable of any fraud or imposture 6. The wonderful prevailing that the knowledge of Christ had upon the World and this not only de facto but backed with a Prophecy that it should be so 7. The admirable concordance and symmetry that this mystery of Christ makes in the whole method of the proceeding of God in the World as will be casily observable upon the collation of these things together The Creation the Fall the Law the State of the Jews the Immortality of the Soul the Necessity of a Satisfaction for Sin if pardoned the Types and Sacrifices the Prophecies the Rejection of the Jews the Calling of the Gentiles the Progress of the Gospel to the new discovered parts of the World successively as discovered that a due collection being made of all these and other Considerations it will appear that the doctrine of Christ Jesus and him crucified is that which makes the dispenstation of God towards the children of men to be all of a piece and one thing in order to another ther and Christ the Mediator in whom God hath gathered together all things in one Eph. 1.10 made it as one System Body-fabrick 8. Besides the undeniable Prophecies there bears witness to this truth the secret powerful witness of the Spirit of God convincing the Soul of the truth of Christ beyond all the Moral perswasions in the world beyond the conviction of demonstration to believe to rest upon to assert it even unto the loss of
God it must be operative according to the nature of the things believed which are in order to working and therefore if it have not that effect it is not faith nor assent if it have it but weakly and imperfectly it is evident that the assent is weak and fluctuating if it have that effect at some times but not at others it is evident that the assent is suspended or intermitted or not actually exercised at these intermissions If a man were really and fully perswaded that if he take such a journey to morrow he should certainly break his leg he would as certainly not go or if he were under a certain perswasion that if he took such a drink he should certainly recover his lost health it were as certain he would drink it and if a man were actually and fully perswaded that if he used such a means he should attain everlasting happiness or if he should commit such a sin he should certainly lose it it were scarce morally possible that a reasonable man in his wits would omit the one or commit the other And to say this is but an historical faith and that the devils have as much they believe and tremble and they do as fully assent to divine truths as any can do yet it avails them not concludes nothing the reason is evident because the salvation to be attained the faith which is the instrument to attain it concerns them not neither are they in a state to be advantaged by it but it is otherwise with men If I should acquaint a stranger that if my Son doth such a thing I will give my Son five pound though the stranger believes it as really true as any thing in the world it puts not him upon the action because as he is not concerned in the reward so he is not concerned in the means but according to the belief that my Son hath it will or will not put him upon the action if he believe me not he will not do it at all if he believe it faintly and doubtingly he will perform the action accordingly but if he believe it truly and fully and set any value upon the reward he will perform it cheerfully for he is concerned in the reward and in the means to attain it Faith therefore is a firm assent to the sacred truths whether the truths relate to things past as that God made the world that Christ the Messiah is come in the flesh c. or to things present as that Almighty God beholds all I do and knows all I think or that he is a reconciled Father unto me in Christ Jesus or things to come which principally excite those two great movers of the Soul Hope and Fear the future life of rewards and punishments V. I come to the fifth thing viz. How Faith overcometh the World which takes in these two Considerations 1. How that is in what degree 2. How that is by what method or means Touching the former of these touching the degree of the victory that faith gives it is a victory but not a victory to utter extermination The Captain of our Salvation indeed overcame the world totally perfectly Joh. 16.33 our victory is not complete nor perfect on this side death but it is such a victory as leaves still an adversary to contest with us though not to subdue and conquer us It is a victory but yet not without a continued warfare 2. Touching the Method whereby our faith overcometh the world I shall say something in general something more particularly with relation to the world under the former acceptations In general therefore the great method whereby faith overcometh the world is by rectifying our judgments and removing those mistakes that are in us concerning the world and our own condition 1. Some things there are in the world which we set an esteem and value and love upon which deserve rather our hatred and detestation As our sins the irregulaâ—â—es of our lusts and passions and those degenerate plants that arise from them as pride ambition revenge intemperance c. these we account our right hands and our right eyes in our state of natural darkness Faith rectifies this mistake of our judgment by shewing us the Law and will of God revealed by Christ whereby we find that these are our diseases distempers and sicknesses repugnant to the will image and command of God that they are our loss and our danger and our ruine and therefore not to be entertained but mortified and crucified 2. Some things there are in the world that we may allow somewhat of our affections unto but we over-value them We reckon wealth and honours and powers the greatest happiness imaginable and therefore intensly desire them sicknesses and afflictions and injuries and losses the greatest misery imaginable and therefore we fear them excessively we are intollerably discontented under them Faith rectifies our mistake herein gives us a just value of these things shews us the Law of God checking and forbidding immoderate affections or passions to be exercised about them assures us that we are as well under the view and observation as under the care and regiment of the great Lord of heaven and earth and therefore expects our great moderation in relation to externals 3. And principally for the most part the children of men esteem this life the uttermost term or limit of their happiness or misery and therefore make it their whole business by all means possible to make their lives here as splendid and glorious as delightful and pleasurable as is possible and use all means whether honest or dishonest fit or unfit to secure themselves in the good they have and to avoid any thing that is grievous or troublesom and if they cannot compass it they sink and despond and murmur and dye under it as the only Hell imaginable or if they have any thoughts of a future estate after death yet they are but languid faint and searce believed in any tollerable degree and suspected rather as the impostures of Politicians or fables of Poets than having any real truth in them Faith rectifies this mistake and assures us there is a judgment to come a state of rewards and punishments of a far higher nature than this world can afford or indeed apprehend that the happiness of that life out-bids all the greatest and most glorious entertainments that this world can afford and will infinitely exceed the greatest losses or crosses that this world can yield And on the other side the punishments of that life will infinitely over-ballance all the pleasures and contentments that this life here can yield and the memory of them will but enhance the rate and degree of those torments and that accordingly as men spend their lives in this short transitory life either in obedience or disobedience unto the divine will accordingly the retribution of everlasting rewards and punishments will be there given This view of the future state presented by faith to the Soul will have
these two great effects in order to the subduing and conquering of the world without us by rendring it poor inconsiderable contemptible in comparison of those everlasting joys and happiness of the next life and the world within us by chaining up our exorbitant lusts and passions under the fear of the judgment to come and by ordering composing and regulating them in contemplation of the great reward annexed to our dutiful obedience unto God in this life But I shall come to particulars and follow that tract that is before given in the distribution of the world as well within as without us and consider the particular method of faith in the subduing and conquering them 1. Therefore in reference to the world within us namely 1. our Passions 2. our Lusts 1. As to our Passions 1. Faith directs their due placing upon their proper objects by discovering what are the true and proper objects of them out of that large and comprehensive law of God which presents them as such to the soul and to be observed under the pain of the displeasure of the glorious and Almighty God 2. Upon the same account it teacheth our passions and affections moderation in their exercise even about their proper objects and due subordination to that supreme love a man owes to the supreme good God Almighty 3. Upon the same account it teacheth us under our obligation of duty to God to cut off crucifie and mortifie the diseases and corruptions of passions as malice envy revenge pride vain-glory ostentation 2. In reference to our Desires 1. Natural it teacheth us great moderation temperance sobriety it tells us these very natural propensions are apt to grow unruly and consequently hurtful and therefore that we are to keep them in subjection and under discipline both to Religion and to Reason And this it doth by assuring us that such is the will and law of our Creator by assuring us that the same Almighty God is the constant observer of all our most intimate deportments it assures us that the Son of God died to redeem us from the captivity of our lusts that if we be kept still in servitude under them we make an ungrateful return to his love and what in us lyes disappoint him of the end of his sufferings It shews us the great falseness deceit and treachery of these lusts that they are ready upon every occasion to rebell against God and his Law placed in our souls that they are upon every occasion ready to betray us to our worst enemy and if they once get loose from discipline and subjection they are hard to be reclaimed and therefore must be kept under a careful vigilant and austere discipline that if we do so order them we are safe in a great measure from the temptations of the world and the devil who could not hurt us without the compliance inordinateness treachery and correspondence of these close enemies within us 2. As touching those degenerate and corrupt lusts as Covetousness Malice Envy faith doth first of all in general shew us that they are prohibited by the great Lord and Law-giver of heaven and earth and that under severe penalties again secondly it shews us that they are the great depravers and embasers of our nature the disturbers of the peace serenity and tranquility of our minds again thirdly if shews us that they are vain impertinent and unnecessary perturbations such as can never do us any real good but feed our vain imaginations with deceits instead of realities But particular instances in relation to these several lusts will render these truths more evident 1. Therefore for Covetousness or immoderate desire of wealth ambition the immoderate desires of honour or power we shall see how faith or true assent to the truths of God revealed in his Word doth correct and crucifie this lust and that principally by these ensuing Considerations 1. Faith discovers to us that the great Lord of heaven and earth to whom we owe a most universal and indispensible obedience hath forbidden this lust hath told us we must not be over-sollicitous for the things of this life and we have no reason to suspect his wisdom in such prohibitions for he is infinitely wise and knows best what is fittest for us to do or not to do neither have we cause to suspsect his love to us or to think he envies us in his commands either to enjoyn what might be hurtful for us or to forbid what might be beneficial to us for it was his free and immense love that gave us at first our being and therefore certainly can never envy us any thing that might be good or convenient for that being which he at first freely gave and still freely continues to us 2. Faith shews us the vanity and lowness of such desires re-minds us that when death comes all these objects will be utterly insignificant that they are transient incertain objects such as are not only fitted barely for the meridian of this life but such as oftentimes take wings and fly away from us before we leave them such as in their very enjoyment satisfie not but instead of satisfaction are oftentimes vexations and thorns to afflict us 3. Faith presents us with better things more safe to be desired more easily to be attained more securely to be kept namely our peace with God and the firm and sound assurance of everlasting happiness 4. Faith presents us with an assurance of the divine particular Providence which gives and takes away and grants or denies the things upon which our desires are thus fixed and therefore renders our immoderate cares and thoughtfulness for the businesses of this life either needless or vain Your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things commands us to cast our care upon him for he careth for us that knows what is fittest for us if abundance he is able to supply us without torturing our selves with care or sollicitousness if the contrary either we covet in vain and our endeavours shall be disappointed or at least they shall be given but a curse and vexation with them given us in anger given us to our hurt and the same may be said in all points in relation to ambition and desire of honours or power 2. Again in relation to malice or envy against the prosperity of others faith shews us how vain and foolish a thing it is and the rather because the wise and great God is the dispenser of all things hath the absolute and unlimited propriety in them disposeth them according to his own good pleasure What reason hath any man to envy that disposal which the God of heaven makes Again 3. For revenge the great Lord of the world hath reserved that as a branch of his own supreme Prerogative vengeance is mine saith the Lord what have you or I to do to invade his prerogative it is his own right and he best knows when and where and in what degree to exercise it 2. I come
reason is apparent for it is not the Tempestuousness or Tranquillity of Externals that creates the trouble or the quietness of the Man but it is the Mind and that state of composure or discomposure that the mind is put into occasionally from them and since there is nothing in the world that conduceth more to the composure tranquillity of the mind than the Serenity and Clearness of the Conscience keep but that safe and untainted the mind will enjoy a calm and tranquillity in the midst of all the storms of the World and although the Waves beat and the Sea works and the Winds blow that mind that hath a quiet and clear Conscience within will be as stable and as safe from perturbation as a Rock in the midst of a Tempestuous Sea and will be a Goshen to and within it self when the rest of the world without and round about a man is like an Egypt for Plagues and Darkness If therefore either before the access or irruption of troubles or under their pressure any thing or person in the world sollicite thee to ease or deliver thy self by a breach or wound of thy Conscience know they are about to cheat thee of thy best security under God against the power and malignity of troubles they are about to clip off that Lock wherein next under God thy strength lieth What-ever therefore thou dost hazard or lose keep the integrity of thy Conscience both before the access of troubles and under them It is a Jewel that will make thee Rich in the midst of Poverty a Sun that will give thee Light in the midst of darkness a Fortress that will keep thee safe in the greatest danger and that is never to be taken unless thou thy self betray it and deliver it up 4. The next Expedient is this namely an Assurance that the Divine Wisdom Power and Providence doth Dispose Govern and Order all the things in the world even those that seem most confused irregular tumultuous and contumacious This as it is a most certain truth so is it a most excellent expedient to compose and fettle the mind especially of such a man who truly loves and fears this great God even under the blackest and most dismal Troubles and Confusions for it must most necessarily give a sound present and practical Argument of Patience and Contentation For even these black dispensations are under the government and management of the most Wise and Powerful God Why should I that am a foolish vain Creature that scarce see to any distance before me take upon me to censure these Dispensations to struggle impatiently with them to disquiet and torment my self with vexation at them Let God alone to govern and order the world as he thinks fit as his Power is infinite and cannot be resisted so is his Wisdom infinite and knows best what is to be done and when and how 2. As it gives a sound Argument of Patience and Contentedness so it gives a clear inference of Resignation of our selves up unto him and to his will and disposal upon the account of his Goodness It is the mere Bounty and Goodness of God that first gave being to all things and preserves all things in their Being that gives all those Accomodations and Conveniencies that accompanie their Being why should I therefore distrust his Goodness As he hath Power to do what he pleaseth Wisdom to direct and dispose that Power so he hath infinite Goodness that accompanies that Power and that Wisdom As I cannot put my will into the hands of greater Wisdom so I cannot put my will into the hands of greater Goodness His Beneficence to his Creatures is greater than it is possible for the Creatures to have to themselves I will not only therefore patiently Submit to his Power and Will which I can by no means resist but chearfully Resign up my self to the disposal of his Will which is infinitely best and therefore a better rule for my disposal than my own will 5. The next Expedient is Faith and Recumbence upon those Promises of his which all wise and good men do and must value above the best Inheritance in this World namely that he will not leave nor forsake those that fear and love him Heb. 13.5 How much more shall your Heavenly Father give good things to them that ask him Matth. 6.30 Matth. 7.11 He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things Rom. 8. 32. All things shall work together for good to them that love God Rom 8. 28 Upon the assurance of these Divine Promises my heart may quiet it self in the midst of all the most dark and tumultuous concussions in the world Is it best for me to be delivered out of them or to be preserved in or under them I am under the Providence and Government of my Heavenly Father who hath said He will not leave me nor forsake me who takes more care of me and bears more love to me than I can bear to my most dutiful Child that can in a moment rescue me from the calamity or infallibly secure me under it that sees and knows every moment of my condition and a thousand expedients to preserve or relieve me On the other side do I fall in the same common calamity and sink under it without any deliverance from it or preservation under it His will be done I am sure it is for my good nay it is not possible it should be otherwise For my very death the worst of worldly evils will be but the transmission of me into a state of Blessedness Rest and Immortality for Blessed are they that die in the Lord they rest from their labours and their works follow them 6. The next Expedient is Prayer The glorious God of Heaven hath given us a free and open access to his Throne there to sue out by Prayer those Blessings and Mercies which he hath promised It is not only a Duty that we owe in recognition of the divine Soveraignty a Priviledge of greater value than if we were made Lords of the whole Earth but a Means to attain those Mercies that the Divine Wisdom and Goodness knows to be fittest for us by this means we may be sure to have deliverance or preservation if useful or fit for us or if not yet those favours and condescentions from Almighty God that are better than deliverance it self namely Patience and Contentedness with the Divine Good Pleasure Resignation of our wills to him great Peace and Tranquillity of mind Evidences and Communications of his Love and Favour to us Support under our weaknesses and despondences and many times Almighty God in these Wildernesses of distractions and confusions and storms and calamities whether publick or private gives out as a return to hearty and faithful prayer such Revelations of his Goodness and Irradiations of his Favour and Love that a man would not exchange for all the external