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
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
that feareth God discovereth it â—elf in this that it provides and lays up a good and safe store for the future and that â—n respect of these three kinds of futurities 〈◊〉 For the future part of his life 2. For the future evil days 3. For the future life that is to take place after this present short uncertain and transitory life 1. In respect of the future time of his life It is true our lives in this world are but short at best and together with that shortness they are very uncertain But yet the man fearing God makes a due and safe provision for that future portion of his life how short or how long soever it be I. By a constant walking in the fear of God he transmits unto the future part of his life a quiet serene and fair Conscience and avoids those evil fruits and consequences which a sinful life produceth even in the after time of a man's life The bruises and hurts we receive in youth are many times more painful in age than when we first received them Our lives are like the Husbandman's seed-time if we sow evil seeds in the time of our yourh it may be they may lye five ten or more years before they come up to a full crop and possibly then we taste the fruit of these evil ways in an unquiet mind or conscience or some other sowre effects of that evil seed All this inconvenience a man fearing God prevents and instead thereof reaps a pleasing and comfortable fruit of his walk in the fear of God namely a quiet Conscience and an even setled peaceable Soul 2. But besides this by this means he keeps his Interest in and Peace with Almighty God and makes sure of the best Friend in the world for the after time of his life to whom he is sure to have access at all times and upon all occasions with comfort and acceptance for it is an infallible truth That God Almighty never forsakes any that forsake not him first The Second futurity is the future Evil day which will most certainly overtake every man either the day of feeble and decrepit age or the day of sickness or the day of death and against all those the true fear of God makes a safe and excellent provision so that although he may not avoid them he may have a comfortable passage through them and in the midst of all these black clouds the witness of a good conscience fearing God and the evidence of the divine favour will shine into the Soul like a bright Sun with comfort when a man shall be able with Hezekiah Isa 38.3 to appeal to Almighty God Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and in uprightness of heart and â—ave done that which was good in thy sight this will be a cordial under the faintness of old age a relief under the pains of sickness and cure of the fear of death it self which to such a Soul will be only a gate and passage to a life that will be free from all pains and infirmities a life of glory and immortality 3. The third futurity is the Life and State after Death Most certain it is that such a state there will be and that it is but of two kinds a state of everlasting happiness or a state of everlasting miâ—â—ry and that all men in the World do most certainly belong to one of these two states or conditions and as it is most just and equal so it is most true that they that truly fear God and obey him through Jesus Christ shall be partakers of that everlasting state of blessedness and immortal happiness And on the other side they that reject the the fear of God contemn and disobey his will shall without true repentance be subject to a state of everlasting misery Now herein the truest and the greatest â—isdom of a man appears that he duly provides against the latter and to obtain the former all other wisdom of men either to get humane Learning Wealth Honour Power all wisdom of Statesmen and Politicians in comparison of this wisdom is but vain and trivial And this is the wisdom that the fear of God teacheth and bringeth with it into the Soul 1. It provides against the greatest of evils the everlasting state of misery and infelicity and eternal death 2. It provides for and attains an everlasting estate of blessedness and happiness of rest and peace of glory and immortality and eternal life a state of that happiness and glory that exceeds expression and apprehension for Eye hath not seen nor car heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man the things that God hath laid up for them that love him 1 Cor. 2. and they only truly love God that truly fear him Mal. 3.13 And they namely that fear God shall be mine saith the Lord in that day when I make up my jewels And now for the Conclusion of this whole matter let us now make a short Comparison between the persons that fear not God and those that truly fear him and then let any man judge who is the fool and who is the wise man A man hath but a very short uncertain time in this life which in comparison of eternity is less than a moment The great God of Heaven in his Word assures us that there is an estate of Immortality after this life and that that immortal estate is but of two kinds an estate of never-dying misery or an estate of endless glory and tells them If you fear me and obey those easie Commands that are contained in the Book of the Holy Scriptures which I have given you you shall infallibly attain everlasting life and happiness and even in this present life shall have the influence and presence of my favour to support to direct and bless you On the other side if ye refuse my fear and reject my commands and prefer the unlawful and vain delusions of this present life before the obedience of my will and persist impenitently in it your portion shall be everlasting misery And now everlasting life and everlasting death being set before the children of men there are a sort of men that rather choose to disobey the command of God reject his fear and all this that they may enjoy the pleasures of Sin for a season those pleasures that are fading and dying that leave behind them a sting that renders their very enjoyment bitter and that make even that very little life they enjoy but a life of discomfort and unhappiness in spight of all their pleasures or be they as sincere as their own hearts can promise them yet they are but for a season a season that in its longest period is but short but is uncertain also a little inconsiderable accident the breath of a vain ... an ill air a little ill digested portion of that excess wherein they delight may put a period to all those pleasures and to that life in a
pious and profane And although the gracious God is sometimes pleased for ends best known to himself strangely to preserve and rescue as it were some out of a common calamity yet it is that which I do not know how any man can promise himself though otherwise never so pious and just because I find not that any where under the Evangelical dispensation God Almighty hath promised to any person any such immunity and common experience shews us that good and bad are oftentimes involved in the effects and extremities of the same common calamity and indeed it would be little less than a Miracle and somewhat above the ordinary course of the Almighty's regiment of things to give particular exemption in such cases If a man receive any such blessing from God he is bound eminently to acknowledge it as a signal if not miraculous intervention of the divine mercy but it is not that which a man can reasonably expect because although upon great and momentous occasions Almighty God is pleased not only to give out Miracles but even to promise them also as in the justifying of the truth of the Gospel in the first publication thereof yet it is not equal for any particular person to suppose that for the preservation of a particular interest or concernment God Almighty should be as it were engaged to put forth a Miracle or little less than a Miracle and the Reasons hereof are 1. Because under the Evangelical dispensation the rewards of goodness piety and obedience are of another kind and of a greater moment namely Eternal happiness and not exemption from temporal calamities if Almighty God grant such an exemption it is of bounty and abundance not of promise It is true under the Old Covenant with the people of Israel their Promises were in a great measure of temporal benefits and the Administration of that Church as it was in a great measure typical so the Divine Administration over them was very usually miraculous both in their blessings preservations and exemptions And there was special reason for it for they were to be a monument to all Mankind and also to future Ages of a special and signal Divine Regiment and consequently the obedient might upon the account of the Divine Promise expect blessings and deliverances even in publick calamities that might befall the People in general But we have no warrant to carry over those promises of Temporal benefits and exemptions to the obedience under the Gospel which as it is founded upon another Covenant so is it furnished with better Promises 2. Because the best of men in this life have sins and failings enow to justifie the Justice of Almighty God in exposing them to temporal calamities and yet his mercy goodness and bounty is abundantly magnified in reserving a reward in Heaven far beyond the merit of their best obedience and dutifulness So that though they are exposed to temporal calamities Almighty God still remains not only a true and faithful but a liberal and bountiful Lord unto them in their everlasting rewards What are light afflictions and but for a moment in comparison to an eternal weight of glory And the latter is the reward of their Obedience under the Gospel whiles the former may be possibly the punishment or at least correction for their Sins And therefore although at the intercession of Abraham the Lord was pleased to grant a relaxation of the destruction of Sodom for the sake of ten Righteous it was an act of his bounty and so it was when he delivered Lot and his Family Yet he had not been unjust if he had swept them away in that common temporal calamity because possibly the sins of Lot himself might have been such as might have acquitted the justice of God in so doing for the highest temporal calamity is not disproportionate to any one Sin And although he were pleased in mercy to spare Lot and his two Daughters yet neither was he wholly exempted from that great calamity for his House Goods and the rest of his Family perished in that terrible Conflagration And upon this consideration we have just cause to blame two sorts of persons namely 1. The rash censure of some inconsiderate persons that are too ready to censure all such as fall under a common calamity whether of Fire Sword or Pestilence as if so be they were therefore greater sinners than those that escape the errour reproved by our Saviour in the instance of the Galileans and those upon whom the Tower of Siloam fell 2. The mistaken apprehension of men concerning themselves that upon an opinion of their own righteousness or desert think themselves exempted from the stroke of common calamities or are ready to accuse the Divine Justice if they are not delivered from them If they truly considered the just demerit of any sin and their own sins or failings they would both acknowledge the Justice and Goodness of God if he reserve an eternal reward of their obedience though he expose them to the worst of temporal evils 1. Concerning Personal Evils they are of several kinds 1. such as befall the Body 2. such as befall the Estate 3. such as befall the Name 4. such as befall a man's Friends or Relations Touching the first of these Evils namely that befall the Body they are of two kinds 1. Some that are not so Epidemical or universal upon all men such as are casualties or accidental hurts diseases springing from the particular complexion or temperament of persons such as are hereditary diseases diseases incident to certain ages infectious diseases arising from contagion putrefaction ill disposition of the Air or Waters 2. Some diseases are incident unto every man in the World If a man lives to a great old age his very age is a disease and the decay of natural heat and moisture doth in time bring the oldest man to his end but if he live not to the attainment of old age most certainly as he meets with death in the conclusion so he meets with some disease or other that makes way for his dissolution So that upon the whole account though this or that man may not meet with this or that particular disease casualty or distemper that it may be attaques another yet as sure as he is mortal so sure shall some disease distemper casualty or weakness meet with him that shall bring him to the dust of death That person therefore that is subject to the universal Edict and Law of death is and must be subject sooner or later to those diseases sicknesses casualties or weaknesses that must usher in his death and dissolution And although one man may escape a chronical disease another an acute disease one man may escape a Contagion another a Consumption one man may escape this disease or casualty another that yet most certain it is that every man shall infallibly meet with some disease distemper or casualty that shall be sufficient to dissolve his composition and put a period to
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
his own Tragedy still poor despised of his own Countreymen and of those that were of reputation for Learning and Piety scandalized under the name of an Impostor a Winebibber a friend to Publicans and sinners a worker by the Devil mad and possessed with a Devil These and the like were his entertainments in the World and which is more often put to shift for his life and in sum what the Prophet predicted concerning him fulfilled to the uttermost Isa 53.3 Despised and rejected of men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and all this to befall the Eternal Son of God under the vail of our flesh And all this voluntarily undertaken and cheerfully undergone even for the sakes of his Enemies and those very people from whom he received these indignities 3. But all these were but like small velitations and conflicts preparatory to the main Battel We therefore come to the Third Consideration Christ Jesus and him Crucified there is the account of the Text As Christ Jesus is the most worthy subject of all knowledge so Christ Jesus under this consideration as Crucified is that which is the fullest of wonder admiration love And therefore let us now take a survey of Christ Jesus crucified as that is the highest manifestation of his love so it is the eye the life of the Text Christ above all other knowledge and Christ Crucified above all other knowledge of Christ And now a man upon the first view would think this kind of knowledge so much here valued were a strange kind of knowledge and the prelation of this knowledge a strange mistake in the Apostle 1. Crucified Death is the corruption of nature and such a kind of death by crucifixion the worst the vilest of deaths carrying in it the punishment of the lowest condition of men and for the worst of offences and yet that death and such a death should be the ambition of an Apostle's knowledge is wonderful 2. Christ crucified carries in it a seeming excess of incongruity that he that was the Eternal Son of God should take upon him our nature and in that nature annointed and consecrated by the Father full of Innocence Purity Goodness should dye and that by such a death and so unjustly Could this be a subject or matter of knowledge so desireable as to be preferred before all other knowledge which should rather seem to be a matter of so much horrour so much indignation that a man might think it rather fit to be forgotten than to be affected to be known 3. Jesus crucified a Saviour and yet to be crucified it seems to blast the expectation of Salvation when the Captain of it must dye be slain be crucified it carries in it a kind of victory of death and hell over our salvation when the instrument thereof must suffer death and such a death When the Birth of Christ was proclaimed indeed it was matter of joy and worthy the proclamation of Angels Luke 2.12 To you is born this day a Saviour which is Christ the Lord and can the death of that Saviour be a thing desireable to be known The Birth of Christ seemed to be the rising Sun that scattered light hope and comfort to all Nations but can the setting of this Sun in so dark a cloud as the Cross be the choicest piece of knowledge of him which seems as it were to strangle and stifle our hopes and puts us as it were upon the expostulation of the dismay'd Disciples Luke 24.21 But we trusted it had been he which should have redeemed Israel But for all this this knowledge of Christ Jesus crucified will appear to be the most excellent comfortable useful knowledge in the world if we shall consider these Particulars 1. Who it was that suffered 2. What he suffered 3. From whom 4. How he suffered 5. For whom he suffered 6. Why and upon what Motive 7. For what End he suffered 8. What are the fruits and Benefits that accrew by that suffering All these Considerations are wrapt up in this one subject Christ Jesus and him crucified 1. Who it was that thus suffered It was Christ Jesus the Eternal Son of God cloathed in our flesh God and Man united in one Person his manhood giving him a capacity of suffering and his Godhead giving a value to that suffering and each nature united in one person to make a compleat Redeemer the Heir of all things Heb. 1.2 the Prince of Life Acts 3.15 the Light that lighteneth every man that cometh into the world Joh. 1.9 as touching his Divine nature God over all blessed for ever Rom. 9.5 and as touching his Humane nature full of Grace and Truth Joh. 1.14 and in both the beloved Son of the Eternal God in whom he proclaimed himself well pleased Math. 3.17 But could no other person be found that might suffer for the sins of Man but the Son of God Or if the business of our Salvation must be transacted by him alone could it not be without suffering and such suffering as this No. As there was no other Name given under Heaven by which we might be saved nor was there any found besides in the compass of the whole World that could expiate for one sin of man but it must be the Arm of the Almighty that must bring Salvation Isa 63.5 So if the Blessed Son of God will undertake the business and become the Captain of our Salvation he must be made perfect by suffering Heb. 2.10 and if he will stand in the stead of man he must bear the wrath of his Father if he will become sin for man though he knew no sin he must become a curse for man And doubtless this great mystery of the person that suffered cannot choose but be a very high and excellent subject of knowledge so full of wonder and astonishment that the Angels gaze into it And as it is a strange and wonderful thing in it self so doubtless it was ordained to high and wonderful ends bearing a suitableness unto the greatness of the instrument This therefore is the first Consideration that advanceth the excellency of this knowledge the person that was Crucified 2. What he suffered Christ Jesus and him crucified though all the course of his life was a continual suffering and the preamble or walk unto his death which was the end of his life yet this was the completing of all the rest and the tyde and waves of his sufferings did still rise higher and higher till it arrived in this and the several steps and ascents unto the Cross though they began from his Birth yet those which were more immediate began with the preparation to the Passover The Council held by the chief Priests and Scribes for the crucifying of our Saviour was sate upon two days before the Passover Matth. 26.2 Mark 14.1 and this was the first step to Mount Calvary And doubtless it was no small addition to our Saviour's Passion that it was hatched in the Council of the chief
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