prooue a meere nullity a very vanity and we should be able not only to endure or holde out in such a hard time as we cannot shun as divers of Gods deare children haue done but with Moses rather make choyse of such a meane state and forsake a better to approue our obedience then to dwell in the tents and enjoy the delights of the vngodly vpon such tearmes as ordinarily their tenure is taken and holden betweene the divell and them here in this world Let no mans temporall condition then be the least occasion to call his spirituall or eternall state into question be it farre from every faithfull man to judge according Note to such owtward and vnceartaine appearance God never built his goodnes to vs nor our happines before him vpon such sand which will swell and sincke vpon the shift of every wynd and surges of every tyde the foundation of his loue is more firme and vnmooveable And know there is no happines in the whole earth good enough to be the least tokē of his true loue nor any earthly evill vnder heavē bad enough even at the worst to distemper the harts of his elect in the least yea though all the poyson and malignity thereof were possible to be emptyed vpon one man He that hath assured vs that our worst doth exceede the best of other men would haue vs harten our selues and solace our soules herein knowing that the true weight of this most worthy truth will overpoyze and beare downe all temporary affliction that hangeth on or presseth downe in this present evill world Be it graunted for it cannot be denyed that the worst end of the staffe is in the hand of Gods people and that it is ill with them when worse men fare well let the divell haue thus much yeelded if he will dispute the case truth is able giue error some advantage and yet conquer too well what will he herevpon inferre what shal be his forced and infernall conclusion of this our free concession why this that Gods people are in worse case then wicked wen well be it soe and what of that say they are will any thing follow to their true discomfort whose soules the Lord would not haue made sad if any thing more then this let the divell say his worst and produce and presse it to the vtmost but if this be all all is nothing Satan is confounded we are confirmed wicked men are befoold ' in all this for why though in some earthly and temporary sence we may say our case may be worse then theirs and theirs better then ours yet God hath given vs to know that in spirituall and heavenly consideration our worst is better then their best and this proposition we doe and dare avouch in the face of our feircest adversary the divell or the most furious of those tyrants which he provoketh against vs who thought to inferre some hydeous and hopeles consequence out of these poore premisses whereas nothing can issue from our perplexity and their peace by any sound evidence but that which wil be Glorious to the Lord Ioyous to his people Greivous to the vngodly and Mischeivous to the divell himself Who observing vs thus compleately armed against his mightiest engyne must now either with shame give over his olde trade of tempting or with sorrow giue over his jdle hope of prevayling and begin to thinke himself lesse able to conquer vs and every child of God who hath this hope to be more then a conquerour through Christ who hath loved them Ro. 8 3◠and in his loue made thus much knowne vnto them to make them most harty in their hardest estate And now beloved is the accuser of our bretheren and of our selues cast out and overcome we haue woone Rev. 18.10 he is downe for at the lowest he see 's that we know our selues to be farre aboue all his lymms even all the highest and happiest they can be in and seing he perceive's that we now vnderstand this truth what hope hath he to make vs by any meanes miserable seing we can beleeue that we are more happy then any of his can be in our greatest misery And that we may be the better enabled in our selues to overbeare him let vs descend from the generall notice herof vnto those particuler instances of all kinds of evill wherevnto we are incident and we shall finde true cause tryumphantly to out-face him in every of them from one to another as we may haue occasion to enquire into them in order Put the case where you please nay let Satan haue leaue if you will to particulate where he will in those miseryes which he imagine's may be most for his advantage and our damage whether poverty or captivity or infamy or tyranny or death it selfe we shall sufficiently solace our selues and silence him in each of these Let vs looke a litle into them severally Poverty Is not the poverty of a childe of God better then the wealth of the wicked let Lazarus and Dives be the men that shall decide the matter I dare say you haue read and heard of them both in Gods booke the one is described by his penury and want the other by his superfluity and abundance the one fared deliciously every day and was sumptuosly arayed in purple and fine lynnen the other had but rags and scarce them to cover him and desired but the offall or reliques of the rich mans table to refresh his hungry body and to fill his empty belly Now I pray you which of these two was in the better case and which of their two conditions would you chuse all things considered I suppose no man that hath heard all the truth that is tolde of them both but he had much rather be in Lazarus poore state then haue the riches of the other and soe the poverty of Gods child is happier then the vngodly mans abundance and that which was here but parabolically propounded Ps 37.16 Prov. 15 16. cap. 16.8 vnder these two persons wil be found really true betweene any two in the world in their condition Better is a litle saith David first and Salomon once againe that the righteous hath then the plenty store of a wicked man nay of many wicked mē Our least doth much exceede their most in every respect whether of money meats apparrell or watsoever Imprisonement Againe is not our restraint and jmprisonement better then their liberty and freedome Let Gods child be the prisoner and the jmpious person be free at pleasure a prison wil be found happier to him then a pallace to the other It may soone be tryed betweene Peter Act. 12. and Herod the one was in hard restraint even in chaynes the other might goe where he would yet I warrant you he that reade's the story of these two and count's the middle and both ends would rather be Peter in the loathsome dungeon then Herod in the highest admiration Base vermine
the extreamest that they can be And herein I joy and will joy maugre all the divells in hell and hell hounds on earth Would not this or the like speach vnto this make the eares of tyrants to tingle and their harts to tremble would it not vexe and torture their very spirits within them to here these voyces sounding from the mouthes of those who are vnder their heaviest vexations Ceartainely it would worke one way or other with them if they could but beleeue it either it would cause repentance vnto salvation and make them weary of their wickednes and most willing to become as one of them whome they thus abuse or to frett and fume and gnaw owne their owne bowells to see themselues defeated in all the jmpious purposes which being to make the Lords people most miserable of all men cannot by the most and worst and all they can doe make them any way soe miserable as themselues who in their owne opinion are more happy then any Doe you thinke it would not make their harts to boyle yea to burne within them and chafe them soe throughly that they should be forced to foame at mouth with indignation and distemper Were a man but in their bosomes to see how they frett and vexe jnwardly when they perceive God himself to laugh them to scorne in heaven and his people to laugh at them on earth to see that all the mallice and villany the divell can arme them withall cannot make anothers estate at worst so bad then their owne at best then would something appeare as the effect and efficacy of this truth which we haue told them it may be they would cease their bloody hands against the blessed of the Lord and begin to lay them on themselues as Iudas and some other of their praedicessors haue done But our God the God of heaven 2 Cor. 4.4 doth suffer the Divell the God of this world to blyndefolde their eyes that they should not see or know or acknowledg this truth soe by the ignorance therof they worke out at once Their owne perdition Phi. 1.28 and Our salvation and make Vs blessed Martyrs Themselues accursed Malefactors in despight of all that they contrarily intend and her of if they might or could be perswaded no question were to be made but they would quickly become either better or worse But it is misery enough that they cannot be brought to beleeue the same oh what saith the Apostle if our gospell be hid 2 Cor. 4.3 it is hid to them that are lost A heavy sentence inasmuch as by ignorance especially wilfull of any truth more sin is multiplyed against God more service is done to the Divell more mischeife to men Rom. 2. and consequently more plagues heaped on and wrath stored vp against the day of wrath to be powered by the mighty arme of Almighty God vpon the heads of all those that haue thus encreased their jmpietyes before him who shall not escape the full poyson of all those his envenomed vyalls which he hath revealed from heaven to be reserved in hell for them But we will now leaue these men as men left of God and not soe happy as once to giue vs the hearing or the Lord the beleeving of this truth but given over to be drunke with their owne delusions to their owne damnation perswading themselues soe well of their owne evill estate and being so ill perswaded of the good and blessed condition of Gods children that they meane to continue as they are and to proceede in their jmpiety against the Lord oppression against his people till they haue wrought out their owne eternall confusion by both and provoked the dreadfull indignation of the Lord God to come vpon them to the vttermost through this double jniquity committed against his highest majesty Vse 3 And in our last vse we will turne our speech to all manner of persons endeavouring to doe our best Instruction to all men to giue them that true information which floweth from this point wherof we now treat and the premisses of the same which haue beene so particulerly and plentifully related at large vnto vs. And the consequence of this truth for matter of instruction looketh both at the saints of God themselues and also at all others that are not yet revealed to be such For the former viz those who haue beene already found and approoved to be faithfull whose happy interest is therefore vndeniable in this heavenly truth it call's for their constant continuall and perpetuall perseverance in that their estate of grace and holynes the worst whereof is so good as we haue heard For if our first being in grace while we are yet but babes or beginners therein doe giue vs assurance of so much consolation doubtles if we continue hold out to the end as we grow and goe on in grace soe doth the sweete savour of this happines encrease and multiply vpon vs. But I hope the discovery of the comforts aforesayd is such as may saue me the labour of any further pressing of this point vpon them and that their taste of the blessednes of them is so pleasant as they haue sensible arguments within them sufficient both to perswade them to tarry where they are and to oppose and repulse all suggestions to the contrary And therefore I will not persue them with more words for whose sakes especially all that is past hath beene vttered and whose setled resolutions touching their state of grace are such and so vnmoveable as was the Apostles who sayd I am sure that neither death Rom. 8.38.39 nor life nor Angells nor Principalityes nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor heigh nor depth nor any other creature shal be able to separate me from the loue of God which is in Iesus Christ our Lord. This was his of himself and the Romans this is and ought to be ours of our selues of all true Christians therein we will rest and turno our last speech vnto those that yet are not turned to the Lord by any visible manifestation of that faith the vertue wherof doth giue them their part and portion in the saving peace and comfort of that which hath beene vttered And what can we vrge either more or lesse vpon them then that they should now at last learne to leaue their former sinfull and vngodly condition and cleave to the Lord in the power and truth of sincerity and sanctification that inasmuch as they are not yet cannonized of the Lord for saints nor haue their names written in the booke of life so farre as their life sheweth vnto men they might now once bethinke themselues what they are and come out of that estate wherein they cannot be happy And what more weighty or worthy argument can we vse then this which is soe powerfull to perswade if it be duely pondered of them For it is drawne from that which nature affecteth and desireth in all men aboue
devoure Herod in all his pompe magnificence and royallty the Angell of God guards Peter in restraint and bring 's him out miraculously and joyfully and this is left recorded of God to comfort vs inasmuch as nothing is more against nature then to be caged vp and kept in that we might know that our God can make that restraint more happy to his then another mans enlargement can be to him The byrd it is kept in a cage is safe and well provided for of all things meete to make him sing but the vulture and kyte often prey vpon those that fly in the open firmament of heaven Nay say it come to captivity Captivity which is a strayne of extraordinary restraint put case Gods childe be taken captiue and kept in slavery and that Gods enemy be the party in authority to detayne him there and to tyrannize over him in a strange land I make no question but the captivity of Gods people shal be found to be a condition more truly comfortable thē another mans eminency yea soveraignity though he were the King of that countrey wherein they are kept in bondage Daniell and Nebuchadnezzar shall decide it the one viz Daniell was the captive the other was the King let any man say who hath considered what is sayd of them both which of the two he would chuse to be Surely if the odd's had not beene extraordinary in the comparison and proportion of these estates Moses had made no good match in leaving to be a Courtier to become a Captive but he well knew that the meanest and most oppressed Israelite in Egypt was more happy then that mighty Monarch that kept them vnder Soveraignity in a Pagan is not comporable to slavery in a Christian Let God giue sentence by his revealed word and it wil be apparant to be a truth vndeniable and vndoubted A throne and a crowne cannot be so good to another as a cottage yea a dunghill to those that are the Lords Againe Persecution is not our persecution better then their pleasure and are not our very distresses beyond their delights I thinke the three children in the fiery fornace will soone satisfy vs for that Dan. 3. for they were in more comfortable plight in the midst of these feircest flames thē he was who cast them in and that the tyrant himself is forced to confesse also maketh decrees to confirme the same vnto others that out of his mouth all men may know the power and favour of the Lord to his owne in sweetening their extreamest bitternes and his wrath and vengeance against all vngodly ones in envenoming and poysoning their greatest sweetnes God hath many precious comforts for the persecuted but nothing but curses and plagues for persecutors The very infamy and reproach of such as suffer for the truth doth surpasse the honour and reputation of those that cast contempt vpon them for the Lord doth renowne the one and renounce the other Men fawne vpon mighty tyrants with glorious titles but God doth frowne vpon them as base and ignominious persons How many pages of his sacred booke are perfumed with the odour of their sweete names who haue beene disgraced for God and how many stories doe record the rotten and stincking memory of their oppressors the one goe for glorious martyrs the other for egregious and defamed malefactors And this made some who mockt the Apostles at the first Act. 2. when they had afterward better bethought themselues they left mocking and became disciples they gaue over reproaching and fell to professing the gospell and they had no reason thus to doe had they not knowne that it had beene more excellent to haue beene an infamous Christian then an honorable infidell But passing over all these and supposing the worst that can come Heb. 12.4 if the worst doe come to the worst if men must resist to blood and that Death must end all the foresayd afflictions of poverty jmprisonement captivity persecution infamy and whatsoever can be endured in this life Is not our Death better then their life yea God hath sayd it as it may appeare in that which he hath enforced from the mouth of a most wicked man to witnes it What say you to Balaams wish and that vpon his best thoughts when he had but the taste and seene as yet but the glympse of the happines and glory of Gods people even Balaam who came of purpose to curse and maligne them and therefore vnto him it may well be thought the life of Gods people was as bad as a death and worthy of his vtmost excecration yet noe sooner had God shyned a litle vpon him only with some litle light without all life of this truth but the man is more in loue with the death of the righteous then with his owne life and would gladly cease to liue as he did to dye as they doe his wish shewe's enough to make this good with advantage how earnestly doth he vtter it Num. 23 10. Let my soule dye the death of the Righteous let my last end be like vnto his and no man in common sence can wish any thing but that which either is indeede or in his apprehension for his owne welfare Moreover how many singuler respects are there wherein the death of Gods childe is to be preferred to the life of a wicked man Our death is precious Psa 116.15 Psa 15.4 Phi. 1.23 2 Pet. 2.10 1 Cor. 15. Their life is vile Our death desiderable Their life abhominable Thus in the last enemy which is death we overgoe the vngodly and are or ought to be soe farre from changing liues with them that we will not giue our death which is the worst that can befall vs in this world for their life which is the only darling they desire beyond all other to enjoy vpon the earth And soe we haue seene in all these particulers severally how the odd's is ours in all respects there 's more to be got by our greatest evills then by all their best good instance where you will it 's evident in every thing which can be named or conceited I will now speake but once more and that shal be of all and every of our evills summ'd vp together and gathered into a totall that as in the Items before soe now in them all at once it may appeare that the whole masse of our misery or the greatest measure therof that can be powred in pressed downe even till it run over vpon vs is more happy and much better then all the good things that can be cast vpon wicked persons yea though the whole world should empty all her fullnes and excellency to giue them the largest contentment that could be wished And we will giue you sufficient security for the truth herof in one that is beyond all exception to wit Iesus Christ who was a man of sorrowes a mirrour of miseryes in whome all kinde of calamity did combyne and settled it self
in this world that being so thynne and leane so poore and bare for Christ they might the better even for that cause come to be partakers of this celestiall blessednes with Christ. And this is the fift difference and the saints fift advantage and it is no meane but a mighty odd's that we haue of them herein Our temporall misery preventeth our eternall their temporary happines doth hasten their everlasting misery What man in his right mynde would not soone say which of the two he would take whether the worst of this world with assurance of no evill in that which is to come or that which may be best here with ceartainety of the worst that hell can yeelde him afterward Alwayes we see a childe of God at his worst hath his best estate be hynde and a wicked mans worst is to come when he hath had the best this world could affoord him This earth is our hell even all the hell we shall haue heaven shall surely follow it It is their heaven even all the heaven they can haue and hell must shall surely ensue and succeede it And this is our fist advantage The sixt and last followeth and that is this 6. Advantage 6. That a child of God at his worst even in all his evill whatsoever is evermore in actuall posession of all his excellencyes but a wicked man hath nothing but ignominy and basenes at his best even in all this honours Take a childe of God and conceit him to be cloathed with all the calamity and contempt you can jmagine suppose him vnder all the reproach and misery that is possible to be put vpon him yet now in Gods account he is A childe of God An heire of heaven A coheire with Christ A King and more then a conquerour And jndeede more then can be vttered by vs or conceived by himselfe according to that of the Apostle 1 Ioh. 3.2 we are now the sons of God but it doth not appeare what we shal be as if he should say we know we haue a state to come whose excellency cannot be knowne here all the world cannot devise a name good enough to declare it the vtmost here is to be called the sons of God but what we shal be is such a state as can be called by no name on earth we haue a life which is hid with Christ in God and till he be revealed from heaven Gol. 3.3 at his second comming the glory of this our condition cannot be discovered But on the other side how base worthlesse contemptible and contumelious is every vngodly man in the middest of all his glory and renowne and all the applause the world putt's vpon him he that take's notice by what tearmes the Holy Ghost doth enstile them cannot but say we say the truth at least in part for their full infamy being infinite that is also reserved till the infinite honour of the elect shal be manifested In the meane time are the not called Children of hell Slaues of Satan Vile persons Dogs swyne vypers yea divells With many other more of the like loathsome kinde inspired by the Lord penned by his secretaryes recorded in his scriptures preached by his messengers and remayning for ever as the righteous brands and most proper appellations that God himself hath put vpon them and which they must beare from him who is too great and too good to vnsay one jot or tittle of that he hath spoken To instance particuler persons were to litle purpose all that are mentioned by name or comprehended and meant in that peereles catalogue which we haue in this chapter though they were exposed to the worst and vtmost contempts that could be for infamy and to the most tyrannous and villanous torments that could be for extreamity ver 13.39 ver 38. yet the worst word we heare of them is this All these dyed in the faith and obtayned a good report and againe Of whome the world was not worthy loe a world nay more then a world of honour in two or three words for the whole world to wit of worldly and vngodly persons is not valued at the worth of one childe of God no not by God himself who hath bought them at a high price yet gaue no more for them then he thought them worth and hath made knowne their worth to the world by the price he bestowed on them viz the most precious blood of his only son which it pleased him not to thinke too good to be given for the purchase of their redemption glory So that they are not overvalued at this invaluable rate seing the most wise God out of his owne wisdome and loue hath set thus much vpon them and in not accounting the world worthy of them hath also pleased through the meritts of the Lord that bought them to account them worthy of the world to come Reu. and of all that glory jmmortality life and belessednes there which all the witt reason and vtmost reach of mortall man is not so much as able once to gresse at for it being soe absolutely infinite it doth in finitely surpasse all possibility of man to ayme at it much lesse comprehend On the contrary now where shall the vngodly and the sinner appeare or what shal be accounted of them if the Lord come to giue sentence vpon them at the very best of their estate what are they worth how are they esteemed before him why nothing vanity Psal Isa 40. yea lesse then nothing lighter then vanity more vile then the basest vermyne they tread vpon yea more vile then the earth which harboureth both them and all base vermyne whatsoever no creature so bad as they vpon the whole earth only the Divell in hell he is somewhat worse and by how much he is worse then they because he made them naught by so much are they worse then all other creatures who were by them and for their sakes accursed To be entituled dogs swyne vypers and such like is only to shew their basenes as these creatures seeme to vs Iob. not as they are in themselues for soe saith Iob they are not to be compared to the dogs of my flock for these creatures God made them exceeding good only sin their sin hath made them soe naught as we vsually account them to be in themselues they haue no sin nor ought els that is bad but only by them by whose sins they are corrupted and degenerate from that noble excellency and those notable qualityes of their nature which once they had when they had an estate as pure in nature as we our selues in our created condition Now therefore as the Divell only is worst of all because he made wicked men so bad soe they next him are the worst in the world because all other things are jmbased by them Besides take the mightiest among the men of the world haue not their names pilaished with them and are beome as rotten as their bodyes yea
worse because whereas the carkase is consumed in the earth anoye's none their name liue's like carryon aboue ground vnburyed and stinks more and more strongly from one age to another and shall liue to rott through all generations to come for ever till they shal be againe raysed out of rottennes to liue and meete their living loathsome names before the Lords judgments seate who shall then and there put an end to both by throwing both into the bottomlesse pitt of endles perdition they being the men that must rise to fall to everlasting shame and contempt To particulate Cayne Saul Ahitophell Ahab Iudas or the rest of that beaad-role of branded persons whome the living and most glorious God hath marked for remarkeable infamy were not to much purpose and we haue had occasion to note them before it sufficeth to know that their glory is with shame and that all the reputation they haue had with men at the greatest hath but made their reproach greater with God Men haue heaped honourable titles of greatnes vpon them to dignify and renowne them which haue beene but the poore vapours of their ayery words breathed out either for feare or for flattery and haue vanished in the very vtterance and God hath laden them with heavy and most ignominious appellations which his mouth having spoken and his pen having written must remayne to cleaue for ever vnto that most vnworthy miserable memoriall which the world hath of them who knowe's them by no names or titles but only by those that are worse then none at all And touching both in this last difference it may be well and safely observed that the worse words the world hath given Gods saints the better and more glorious titles are given them of God himself and the more men haue renowned the other the more hath the Lord abhorred them and made them abhominable to all eyes and eares His owne son our saviour when in the dayes of his flesh he dwelt among vs had as bad yea and farre worse language given him then any that ever lived he that reades his life knowe's how oft he was abused and most basely vilyfied he was a Samaritane he was mad he had a divell c but the Lord God his father Ioh. 20.17 Phil. 2.9 and our father hath given him a name aboue all names and honor and glory aboue all principalityes and powers and so much the more gloriously exalted him by how much among men he was become the scorne and contempt of the people And in like manner doth he deale with Christians as he did with Christ according to the eminency of their piety for which the greater it is they suffer greater reproach he giue 's them more excellent glory even in the eyes of men as we might shew in many examples And this is our sixt and last Advantage And now beloved and longed for in the Lord what shall we say to these things here we haue had a short and summary survey of those singuler and celestiall advantages that the Lords people haue even at their worst of all vngodly men at their best I say a short and summary survey of them for if we should enlarge our selues in the discovery of them so farre as we might when should we haue done or where should we end or if we could manifest them as they are which mortality cannot doe there could be neither end nor measure of our discourse nay it might be truly sayd of these excellent things as the Evangelist speaketh of the rest of the acts and sayings of Christ which are vnwritten Ioh. 21.25 that the whole world would not contayne the bookes c that must contayne the full declaration of those infinite things wherein the true comfort of the saints doth consist for they are in truth vnvtterable nay indeede vnsearchable as the Apostle doth plainely signify when he saith he heard being wrapt into the third heaven things not to be vttered And if of the mysteryes and secrets of the gospell which elswhere he speaketh of much more may it be most truly sayd of the consolation benefit and reward of the faithfull and persecuted professors of the same that they are such as eye hath not seene 1 Cor. 2.9 eare hath not heard nor haue entred into the hart of man to apprehend the naturall man is meant in the former the spirituall may be vnderstood in the latter For grace is as vnable mixt with infirmity to comprehend heavenly things that are glorious as nature voyd of grace is to conceive aright and reach those that be holy and gracious Why then what shall we say to these heavenly things thus heaped vp together to make vs wholy happy if the Lord haue layd them vp in his booke should not we lay them vp in our bosomes blesse him abundantly who hath soe over abundantly blessed vs with these benedictions which are sent vs soe to sweeten the bitterest cup of our calamity that we might drinke the bottome of it with all cheerfullnes and rejoycing what sayd the good Prophet of God once in a case of this kinde Rejoyce O heaven and be joyfull O earth breake forth into prayses O yee mountaines for the Lord hath comforted his people and shewed mercy vpon his afflicted and even this may and ought all Gods people now to speake considering the pemisses in the particulers that we haue revealed How came the good Christians of the primitiue times when persecution was soe sore and extreame not only as was noted before to rejoyce but even to glory in tribulation Ro. 5.3 Heb. 10.34 Act. 5.40 41. to suffer with joy yea with much joy the spoyling of their goods to goe from the consistory with bloody shoulders yet glad harts rejoycing that were accounted worthy to vndergoe the worst for Christ And the Apostle who was so abundant aboue all the rest not only in the labours but in the suffrings of the gospell 2 Cor. 7.4 also telleth vs playnly Great is my rejoycing I am full of comfort I haue not only abundant joy but joy over-abundant in all my tribulations These are strange words yet true and such as he saith he hath already in posession and not only in some lighter afflictions but in his heavyest distresses even in all his tribulations To haue Great joy To be full of comfort yea To be over-full or to over-abounde is such a strayne of speech as never fell from man by any sence or reason of flesh and blood but only from the spirit of God and the power of his grace which had perswaded his soule of the sweetnes of this saving truth that we teach that a man at his worst should not only be full but overflow with comfort and joy which is more then any wicked man can say of his best for all the happines vnder heaven cannot fill much lesse over-fill the hart of man he cannot be satisfyed much lesse can he be glutted indeede or surfett intruth
and there he comprehend's the worst things the world can yeeld worke together for the best the conclusion then come's in of it selfe And soe the first ground is cleare For the second thus 2. Conclusion Prooved That estate which doth soe harden mans hart that he becometh thereby least capable of mercy and most lyable to justice and soe furthereth his vtmost confusion and eternall overthrow must of necessity be the worst for a man that may bee But a wicked mans best estate doth thus Therefore even his best estate is miserable to him No man can with any colour question the first proposition and God giue 's vs sound confirmation of the second Pro. 1.32 where he saith ease stayeth the foolish and the prosperity of fooles destroyeth them here by the foole we must vnderstand the vngodly man and by prosperity all that which he judgeth most happy to himself in this life Now if nothing bring a wicked man sooner to destruction then that which he most affecteth and desireth surely the same is worst of all for him Againe that must neede 's be a mans worst estate which is most accursed of God to a man But a wicked mans best estate is most accursed of God vnto him Therefore his best estate cannot be but worst vnto him The first proposition is easy and evident of it self to be beleeved Deu. 28.17.18 The second is avouched by Moses where he curseth in the name of the Lord all the encrease and store and fruit of a wicked man whether of his body or beast or ground now if his encrease be accursed then the more he hath the more accursed he is and as either himselfe or any thing he hath aboundeth soe doth the curse of God abound with it if he grow from hundreths to thousands soe also doe his curses multiply from the Lord who hath cursed the blessings of every vngodly person Mal. 2.2 And it is to be marked as a most remarkeable curse that he is not cursed in the want of fruit Note or barrennes of his body beasts or ground for that would every common man account a curse indeede but he is accursed in the posession and prosperity and growth of these things and this is a more wofull by how much it is a more wonderfull curse that a man should haue soe much and be soe much the more vnhappy by having it So then if thus it be then is a wicked mans best estate worst for him because it is most accursed to him And thus these two conclusions stand vpon cleare and vnquestionable grounds and are jmpregnable truthes and being soe our mayne doctrine must needes issue from them both as naturally as water from a fountaine and that thus If no estate can be evill vnto a good man but even his worst is good vnto him and on the contrary if no estate can be good to a wicked man but even his best is evill to him why then it must needes come to passe that the worst estate of Gods childe is better then the best of any wicked man But both these haue beene abundantly prooved and therefore the truth we teach is fully confirmed for can any man soe much as once doubt at all whether the meanest good estate be to be preferred to the greatest that is evill or demurre whether he should chuse of the two if he were put to it a poore and perplexed condition which may helpe him to heaven or a prosperous and opulent estate which would hasten him to hell Ceartainely this question would soone be assoyled if it were put to any man had he but common sence to be determined for even naturall reason would giue quick resolution that the worst of that whereby a mā might be happy were to be chosen and preferred before the best of that which will procure a mans misery Why then the worst of the one being soe good and the best of the other soe bad we cannot but yeeld to our doctrine being overcome by vndeniable evidence both of example in him that hath tryed both estates by his owne experience and of reason approoving that which he vpon tryall had practised in refusing the best of the one to choose the worst of the other So that if we will beleeue either Moses who is the man that hath done it to evidence the truth of his faith or God who hath magnifyed Moses in that which he hath done to be truly faithfull our myndes must be throughly setled in the assured perswasion of what we haue soe plainely propounded and prooved soe plentifully and hold it fast vnto our owne harts as our duty to doe the like if the Lord shall cast any the like occasion vpon vs and call vs forth to try and declare our faith by being put to the practise of this truth to see whether we will soe esteeme the reproach of Christ and the persecution of the saints that we will giue over and abandon the riches of the earth and the pleasures of sin to embrace the bitternes of those that are beloved of God before the sweetest delicates of those who are abhorred of him A time may come when it may be our turne either to avouch this doctrine by our conformity therevnto or deny the Lord who hath avouched it to be his truth And cursed are they who stand convinced in conscience of any truth of God wherevnto they refuse to yeelde obedience We should doe well then to doe as the wise man saith all wise men doe to wit Pro. 10.14 lay vp knowledg even the knowledg of this particuler to bring it into practise that our good works suitable to it may make good this word of God which hath shewed it to vs and that therein every man may become a Moses to be thus faithfull before the Lord as he was in this thing And that we may be the better brought vnto it and haue our naughty harts the more happily provoked to the holy purpose of this heavenly practise let vs now proceede from the apparant proofe of the point to the powerfull application of the same vnto all such vnto whome it doth or may any way appertaine that is all sorts of men both good and bad saints and sinners something it hath to say vnto either of them severally a sunder and something to them both joyntly together There is very litle truth if any at all that God revealeth but it looke's every way and is of some jmportant consequence to all persons whatsoever if the sappe and juyce of it be pressed and wrung out as it ought to be Vse 1 Let vs then in the first place consider of what vse it is to Gods owne people Comfort to Gods children and what fruit of comfort his blessed and beloved ones doe receiue from the sacred truth which we haue sowen for nothing but heavenly joy sweete consolation can be reaped and carryed in to them from any thing which the Lord hath revealed from
heaven for it is written light is sowen for the righteous Ps 97.11 and joy for the vpright in hart And to speake as the truth is what childe of God can speake of this truth or heare of it being spoken without solace to his very soule if he haue faith to beleeue the same ceartainly if we be not comforted by it it is only because we are not confirmed in it were we well resolved of it we could not but rejoyce in the assurance therof For why what is it that trouble 's and perplexe's a childe of God but his present estate of misery and distresse and the worse a mans misery is the more wofull is our distraction through the same and when it come's to the worst many times we grow from distraction to desperation and begin to throw our selues into forlorne and hopeles and infernall conceits touching our present condition and to giue over both our selues and all expectation of ever being any more happy the present clowd of our calamity is so thick and darke that we can see no sun-shyne through it nor dreame of any more good dayes during our lives but make account to be perpetually miserable and vnhappy and to be in soe bad case as none can be in worse nor many nay scarce any as we thinke in the like Now in this case what can be more truly sayd to the saints then that of Christ to the Sadduces Mat. 22.29 yee erre not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God it is only your ignorance that make's you ill conceited of the state you are in and to mistake both it and your selues soe much as you doe did you vnderstand the scriptures and the power of this truth of God as we haue made it plaine it would soone be seene how wyde you were from the truth of your estate for whereas you thinke now you are at worst it's scarce possible that any body should be soe bad this truth will tell you and teach you to know both that you are now no worse then any child of God may be as also that no wicked man is or can be soe well at his best as you are and shall ever be at your worst And indeede soe much the more sweete and heavenly is the benefit of this doctrine by how much it expell's the deadly venyme and poyson of one of the most heavy and hellish temptations that doth vsually sursprize the soule of them that are affected and humbled of God And that is the ayme and estimation they haue taken of themselues and their estate not considered in it selfe but compared Note with others who are wholely free and feele no such sorrow or extreamity as they doe And commonly the divell carrye's the eye and settle's the observation of Gods children only vpon such jmpious and prophane persons as escape the misery wherein to they are fallen and having fastned them vpon such an object he then turmoyle's the mynde and tyrannizeth over the thoughts and double's yea multiplye's the vexations of their soules not soe much that they are in distresse but most of all that others are out who are notoriously vngodly and herevpon their thoughts doe offer to fly in Gods face as if he were nothing soe gratious or righteous as he is magnifyed to be seing he lett 's his owne children fare soe ill and suffer's his enemyes who are rebells against him and no better then dogs or swyne in his account to be as well as hart can wish and it is kindnes or justice in any earthly father to vse his children worse then his cattell and if not how much lesse loue and more wrong must it be in him that is heavenly who make's himself the mirrour of all mercy and favour and then as God is thus censured soe are wicked men applauded and the generation of the just condemned Satan hath not set vpon a few with this suggestion and there are not many who haue beene assaulted but they haue beene foyled The stoutest of Gods army haue shrunke shrewdly and well neere fainted through frailty a man would wonder to see such mighty champions soe miserably dishartened and discontented when they haue taken notice how themselues haue beene afflicted and other most vngodly persons exempted from the evills wherewith they haue beene heavily laden so long David was soe deeplely discomfited hereat that he began to conceit well of wicked mens estate and to question yea and condemne his owne and all the people of God concerning this thing when he saw the prosperity of sinners and the misery of himself Let himself giue vs evidence how he was gastard and like to haue gone quite beside himself yea to haue fallen right downe the divell had so mislead him and trip't vp his keeles that he was even gone and ready to giue over all Psal 73.1.2.3.4 we haue the particulers related by himself at large in the seaventie third Psalme where he tell 's vs how this very thing had like to haue cost him an jrrecoverable fall and had wounded him almost incurably and how much a-doe he had to bring his hart to the due consideration of this matter and to temper his mynde which was soe mightily distempered with doating on his owne distresses and dreaming of their happines and when he compared these together to wit their welfare and his owne affliction he was in a heavy taking and growing toward a hydeous resolution even as it were to hang his religion on the hedge and to joyne himself to such as were hellishly jrreligious because at the present they were in better case then he Neither was this temptation for a litle time nor did it during the time it helde him trouble him a litle but it stuck long by him and bitt by the bone insomuch that he could not either easily or quickly come to settle himself into better or sounder thoughts that he might stay himself vpon the truth And why I pray you did his owne bad and their good estate trouble and puzzle him soe much was it not because he was not either at all informed or not well advised of this truth we teach from God who hath avouched vnto vs as we haue heard that the worst estate of his owne people is incomparably beyond the best prosperity of wicked persons Had David learned this lesson well all this labour and danger had beene spared and he had beene well able to haue waded happily through the deepest temporary vnhappines the world could haue brought vpon him Nor was David the only man in this conflict but good Ieremiah a man of no meane piety or ordinary parts he was also very sorely put too'te in this particuler and never soe neere a conquest in any combate as in this his owne mouth shall say how he was amazed and put to a pittifull non-plus when he considered Ier. 12.1 2.3 the course of Gods dispensation of these owtward favours That God was righteous he durst not deny he knew