meer mercy and benevolence This humility is the greatest ornament and the fairest of all the graces in Gods sight We never look more beautiful then when we blush at our own defects and dare not cast our eyes confidently upon God The highest act of Faith is a piece of the lowest humility When we rely most upon Gods mercy we utterly disclaim all our own merits But as that act of Faith whereby we cast our selves on Gods mercy is not all the acts of it but supposes many others foregoing even so it is in this act of humility whereby we acknowledge our selves unworthy to receive any reward from Gods hand It is so far from being all the humility that God requires that there must precede all the other acts which I have mentioned before this can take its place Many men can easily disclaim all trust in their own righteousness because they have none to trust in But they are truly humble men that are just and righteous and yet trust not in that for their acceptance with God to salvation You cannot say that a man is wise because he holds his peace when he is dumb and tongue-tyed But he is a wise person who can speak well and yet silently hearkens No more can he be deemed poor in spirit who hath no riches nor treasures in his soul to brag of but he only who is enriched with knowledge and faith and love and all good works and yet is lowly in heart poor in his own thoughts and acknowledges that he is but an unprofitable servant Now all this is but just The justice and goodness of all this because of our dependance on God his superiority over us and his excellency above us On all which when we look we must say with Job 42.5 6. Now mine eye seeth thee and therefore I abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes And it is no less good then it is just For first He that lyes low lyes safe He cannot fall far who stands on the ground but whether can he fall who lyes already upon it We shall not be in danger to tumble down from great hopes and expectations if we be so humble as to have no high opinion of our selves and deservings The lowest valleys are the safest from wind and storms and God hath promised to preserve the meek and that they shall inherit the earth Who will harm modest and submissive persons that had rather put up an injury then do any that are loving peaceable and quiet in the Land None but those against whom no men be defended And secondly He that lyes low is most fruitful The mountains are commonly barren and the valleys are most richly laden For the Lord resists the proud but he gives grace to the humble And thirdly He that lyes low is blessed from above with all that is good for him The less he expects the more he shall have the more unworthy he judges himself to be the more fit he is to have his emptiness filled The showres that run of from the high heads of mountains run down into the bosom of valleys Most of heavens plenty falls into the lowest places and so do most of Gods favours and blessings fall into humble souls They that behave themselves as it becomes them in meekness moderation obedience modesty c. God will make good his Word unto them The meek shall eat and be satisfied and praise the name of the Lord They shall lye down and none shall make them afraid He will keep them in perfect peace in a sweet serenity and quiet of Spirit He will exalt them in due time and open even the gate of heaven unto them not to pour down blessings on them as now he doth but to receive them up to his blessings This discourse would swell too much if I should particularly show the goodness of every one of the fore-mentioned acts of humility and therefore it shall suffice to have given these light touches upon some of them NOW if these things be so as I have discoursed Application then first let us begin to put in practice a part of the duty last mentioned Be humbled for sins against these commands by being deeply humbled for all our sins against these plain and familiar commands Let every man search into himself how far he hath gone along with the stream for it is manifest that covetousness and oppression hard heartedness and cruelty pride and irreligion have come in like a flood upon us in this Nation and born many away before them As for Justice we may take up the complaint of Petrarch concerning the Age wherein he lived that hunters and fowlers use not greater cunning in laying their nets and snares for wild beasts and fowls then crafty men do to inveigle and insnare the simple and plain-meaning people Or we may say with one of his Countrey-men which is now become a proverb in Italy That by deceit and cunning men live half the year and by cunning and deceit the other half And Mercy is such a stranger to mens hearts that we count him a person of great tenderness that will not deceive us at all and a very merciful creature who will not deceive us as much as he can So little kindness and good nature is stirring that we are apt to suspect them of designs who make much of us and we dare scarce receive mens courtesies And what is a great deal of our Religion but an humoursom kind of devotion a proud self conceited pleasing of our selves with a fastidious contempt of all others Where is that awefulness in mens countenances when they converse with God that tenderness of heart at the mention of any of his commands that bewailing of their sins that patience peaceableness acceptance of the punishment of their iniquities that ought to appear We may almost say with this Prophet in the next Chapter The good man is perished out of the earth Mic. 7.2 and there is none upright among men For could there be so much spoil think you committed in the midst of us and no injustice Such estates so quickly gotten and no covetousness So much blood shed and no hatreds So many contentions quarrels and hot disputes and no uncharitableness So many vain opinions and no pride Such unsteadiness in the wayes of God and no self-conceitedness in mens hearts Such contempt of the Ministry and all that is sacred and no irreligion We must begin therefore to amend by acknowledging these sins and seriously bemoaning them either in our selves or others But our amendment must not end here Amend in all these things nor must we think by blubbered eyes and lamentable groans to draw God to be a party with us in these sins No we must sincerely proceed to a practice of all these duties which the Prophet and our own consciences loudly call for and the rather because they have been so much laid aside and neglected or at least some of them set up to
to them if they do not shine so bright in contradiction to their lives that they are offended at it The Church of God is called the pillar and ground of truth 1 Tim. 3.15 because it doth hold forth the truth to men and support it in the world even as a pillar doth a proclamation which is affixed to it so that all that pass by may read it And this it doth not only by preaching and outward profession but by the sincere practice of a multitude of professors So that it is as easie for men to know their duty as to know what a Kings proclamation is which is not only cryed but likewise posted up in the market-place that all may read it Let us not then be so dull as to think on the one hand to plead Ignorance or weakness of parts or insufficiâ—ncy of light in excuse for neglect of our duty or so wild We cannot then plead Ignorance we need not be Seekers as on the other hand to turn Seekers in Religion as though no body could yet find the way to heaven The Lord hath shewed thee O man what thou hast to do and therefore thou shalt not be able to pretend that thou wantedst the means of knowledge and hadst no body to inform thee in thy duty And he hath shewn it so long ago that the world cannot be at this day to seek how to please God as if no body could tell what his mind was To pass by the former let it be considered concerning the latter that they he shrewdly to be suspected to believe no God or else not to know what they mean by the name who are to seek what Religion to be of For no man can be rationally perswaded of the being of a God and not be perswaded that he governs the world And if he govern the world it must be by Laws And if those Laws are incertain they are no better then none And if they be made for all his subjects they must be plain because many of them understand but little It is an easie thing to find what Gods will is if we be but impressed with such a sense of our dependance on him as begets that reverence and fear of him and that love and affection to him which easily and naturally flows from the sense of our dependance Gods mind is laid before us we need only open our eyes and look no further The way is plain though it be narrow the gate is open though it be strait You may easier find the way then walk in it you may sooner see the gate then enter in at it It is to be feared that they who seek for some new way find this too strait and narrow which they have been in and they would have a greater liberty to themselves then formerly their consciences durst let them take And then the Devil may soon shew them the way wherein they should walk and by a new light discover to them the paths of darkness But I dare say if any man have a mind to live godly to deny himself to walk humbly with his God he need not go to seek any further then this book There he may behold so much to be practised that if he will seek no further till he hath done that I may warrant him from being of the number of any other seekers then those that seek the Lord continually that they may walk in all his commandments blameless They are exceeding broad they are to have an influence into the whole life so that if the doing of those be our end we need seek for no more for they will hold us at work all our dayes THE third observation is The third observation proved That Gods demands are not unequall or that he doth not exact of us any duty that is hard and rigorous They are not Draco's Laws cruell and tyrannicall nor the heavy yoke of Moses grievous and painfull but the gracious commands of Jesus Christ the Laws that God himself lived by when he was in the flesh Coâ—in germans to those that rule in heaven Two things in the text likewise speak this besides that which is mainly intended First the Prophet calls it Good which the Lord shews to us He requires nothing that is for our harm or our reall damage or which a man should refuse if he was left to himself did he rightly understand And secondly the question likewise speaks it What doth the Lord require of thee As if he should have said what great matter doth he look for what canst thou except against it is it any thing strange and uncouth that was never before heard of Did thy mind never give thee notice of it Is it some monstrous task that the mind of man could never conceive it nor think of it No. 1. 1 God exacts not things impossible God requires nothing impossible as is apparent from two things which the text suggests to our thoughts 1. He doth not bid men offer their children to him which perhaps they have not He doth not bid them buy them as the Heathen sometime were fain to do for perhaps they are not able He doth not exact of men as the Prophet before said a thousand rivers of oyl which a whole Town or Countrey cannot afford But as Moses saith The commandment is not hid from thee neither is afar off It is not in heaven that thou shouldst say who shall go up to heaven and bring it to us that we may hear it and do it Neither is it beyond the sea that thou shouldst say who shall go over the sea for us and bring it unto us that we may hear it and do it But the word is very nigh unto thee in thy mouth and in thy heart that thou maist do it Deut. 30.11 12 13 14. He doth not bid us all be Schollars and understand all the books of nature He bids us not to climb up to heaven and follow the chariot of the Sun and track the paths wherein the Moon walks and number all the heavenly bodies things which all mens parts and employments will not reach but he saith plainly do justly love merty walk humbly with God things within us which we know well enough he requires of us And secondly you may observe that he saith What doth the Lord require or thee O man He doth not bid us make other men do justly and love mercy c. He doth not command us to quell other mens passions but our own nor govern other mens desires and lusts but those that are in our selves He exacts not of us their duties whether it be of our children or servants or any such impossible task but our own duty toward God and them When we have done what we can to make them understand and do their duty then saith the Scripture God will not require their blood at our hand But the soul that sinneth that shall die and every soul shall bear its own iniquity 2. Nor
converse with him to have a perpetual care in all things to please him by conforming our wills to him are things so necessary that we are but nominal Christians without them And secondly to walk humbly signifies more then an inward perswasion and denotes something outward that is to be seen by the world God will not accept of that which people call a good heart a pious resolution and right meaning but he will have us walk before all men in the way of his commandments and publiquely appear in opposition to the wickedness that is in the world If we think one thing and do another the greater is the sin the greater will be the condemnation because we know so well and do so ill Not to mention any thing besides that may be included in the phrase I beseech you put these things in practice These things must be done and not only praised I have perswaded you enough do but perswade your selves All men commend justice yet they do unjustly Vertue hath every ones good word though they live ungodlily The proud man commends humility and the covetous man praises Charity and the unrighteous man speaks for honesty Men complement with godliness and they court vertue but none will have her She is poor and will not consent to their base desires and so though they extoll her beauty they will none of her So in Italy they have a proverb among the husbandmen laudandos esse montes sed à planitie non recedendum Commend the mountains but live in the vallies It is fine sweet air that breaths on the top of hills and affords a pleasant wholsome dwelling but keep there where most profit dwells and that is in the bottom It is sad that men should extend such a proverb as far as heaven and commend the holy hill of God and all the graces and pleasures that stand on the top of it but resolve still to dwell below and love the things that are beneath better then all those that are above Yea though it be a meer dunghill they will embrace it if it be but fat and will yield them plenty of worldly increase They like goodness when they consider it alone but when they consider it with other things they take their ease and profit to be much better So Sophâ—cles said in that advice which too many follow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Praise righteousness but stick fast to thy gain Let it have thy good word but do as thou seest good for thy self But I beseech him that readeth these things that by what hath been said he would rise above approbations and commendations of godliness and heartily subject himself unto the power of it or if he love a softer word let him embrace it and marry himself to it let the match now be made up if he be yet but a complementer in Religion and not really wedded to it I will only add They must not be divided from each other that all those three are so linked and chain'd together that they are inseparable and we cannot take one but we must have all He cannot walk humbly with God who observes not all the rules of justice and common honesty with mercy also towards men God will give him no thanks that goes against his conscience and known Laws to do him service as they are pleased to stile it No 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato in Critone c. Let neither thy children saith Plato or thy life nor any thing else be deerer to thee then justice that thou mayst have wherewith to answer for thy self when thou comest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the other world Else we say the Laws which he there introduces speaking their part shall be thy enemies and more then we 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Brethren will be against thee the Laws in that world will not courteously receive and treat thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And then on the other side we cannot be just and mercifull to men unless we walk humbly with God Justice it self should spring from a sense that we are under a divine Law and are subjects to the heavenly Soveraign And true godliness is but a piece of justice toward God as honest dealing in affairs of the world is justice toward men We do a manifest wrong to God and deal dishonestly with him if we detain from him solemn and constant worship of him We are base cheaters defrauders when we let our worldly business though never so justly managed rob God of our best thoughts and affections And what high-way robbers then and notorious felons are those who suffer their sports and pleasures if not their more beastly lusts to do violence to all religious duties Many of this sort are so highly injurious to God that they not only steal all they can from godliness and piety but they wound and stab it with the sword of their tongues and if they were able would strike it dead as they oft-times leave it gasping for life And this they do with an high hand and great insolency as if those who most humbly submit themselves to all Christs commands and are most fearfull of doing any wrong to God were to be esteemed our greatest enemies and those that should suffer all wrong from men That Noble Philosopher I just now mentioned hath a lesson for them as well as for the former if they will be so just either to God or themselves as to learn it In my opinion saith he piety and holiness about the service and worship of God is one part of justice and the other part of it is concerned in the serving of men Let no man therefore pride himself in this that he is not lyable to the charge of any creature when God hath so much to say against him for neglect of praying to him Plato in Euthyprone 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. reading his word praising him for every good thing he receives if not mocking at all these And let this be esteemed true excellency which we should have the fortitude to maintain in the worst of times not to blush at Christian vertues nor to boast of moral ones 3. And when we have done what we can upon our selves and those under us then let us pray for others especially those that rule us Let us pray for others and principally for our Rulers that they may do these things that we may have just mercifull and religious Governours Our prayers will be the more acceptable for them when we pray but for that which we do our selves in our own places and their justice and goodness will be the more sweet to us when it is the fruit of our earnest prayers Let us beseech therefore the great Lord and Governour of the world who rules the Nations in righteousness and truth that all those who do or shall bear any part in the government of these Lands may be such as will
Exod. 20. And likewise you may take notice of the ordinary style of Moses when he speaks of these things which runs thus These are the Commandments the Statutes and the judgements Deut. 6.1 or keep his Commandments his Statutes and judgements Deut. 30.14 the like to which you may read Mal. 4.4 In all which places and many other Commandments are put first which word comprehends the moral and everlasting precepts and then follows Statutes which denotes the Ordinances and institutions about Gods Worship and after that Judgements which signifies the Laws about matters of civil right both which were alterable and not eternal Yea the whole book of Deuteronomy or the second Law as the word signifies seems to be added after the other to teach them that it was obedience to his voice in all things that God did most regard And therefore Nazianzen reckoning up the priviledges of the Jews saith that they had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a double giving of the Law Orat. 13. one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Letter the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Spirit Which may be interpreted of that in mount Sinai and of the other in the plains of Jordan 3. And so after the Law was given And from the succeeding Ages all the people of God understood that the things chiefly intended by him were their inward mortification their purity and integrity of soul a spiritual worship and a life of temperance sobriety justice mercy humility and all other vertues To this there are a multitude of places in holy Writ that will testifie and bear witness Hath the Lord as great pleasure saith Samuel in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord Behold to obey is better then sacrifice and to hearken then the fat of ramms For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubborness is as iniquity and idolatry 1 Sam. 15.22 23. Samuel a witness of it Saul thought that God was delighted if they feasted him with a multitude of sacrifices and that nothing distasted him if they had a care not to entertain Idols with the good chear at the Altar and therefore Samuel tells him that God took the greatest pleasure in an hearty obedience to his commands which was better then all the outward worship that he had appointed and that rebellion against Gods commands was as bad as Idolatry and worshipping of stocks and stones From the Prophet Samuel let us go to Asaph And Asaph who lived not long after and he tells us Psal 50.7 8 9 c. that God did not hunger after the flesh of beasts and foul nor thirst after the blood of Bulls and Goats nor did he fall out with them for the neglect of this kind of service but that which he required of them was to pray to him and praise him and perform all their vows promises to him which was the best of offerings ver 14 15. And that which he reproves and chides them for was that they hated instruction and made nothing of all his commands for the regulating of their words desires and actions ver 16 17 18 c. He asks them how they dare be so impudent as to pretend be in covenant with him though they brought him never so many fat sacrifices seeing they could not indure any of his counsels but were unjust unclean lyers swearers slanderers and backbiters As long as their evil affections and desires were unmortified he cared not for the death of so many of his creatures And so you may read the sense of David in the next Psalm Psal 51.15 16 17. And David O Lord open my lips and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise For thou desirest not sacrifice else would I give it thou delightest not in burnt-offerings The Sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise There were no Sacrifices indeed appointed for murder and adultery to which he hath a particular respect but they made a man obnoxious to death by Moses his Law Yet he saith in General that God did not delight in burnt-offerings and so his words may be extended farther than that one case of his That which pleased God was holy praises and the sacrifices of a broken heart and contrite spirit There may be an allusion to the ceremonial worship in the words broken contrite the former of which may refer to the sacrifice of beasts the latter to the perfume that was put before the testimony of the Tabernacle of the Congregation Exo. 30.35 36. And the words may signifie as if he had said that brokenness of heart and an holy shivering of the spirit in pieces so that it shall never be set together in the same frame wherein it was before is far better then the cutting and chopping of the flesh of beasts in pieces And as spices when they are beaten smell the sweetest so when your hearts are thus bruised and laid in their own dust by sincere contrition it is a more gratefull perfume to me then the beaten spices which were called most holy If you look likewise into Psal 69.30 31. You shall find that to praise God with a song and magnifie him with thanksgiving please the Lord better then an Ox or Bullock that hath horns and hoofs From him pass to Solomon his son who is of the same judgement for he saith expresly That to do justice and judgement is more acceptable to the Lord then Sacrifice And Solomon Prov. 21.3 Yea that the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord especially when he bringeth it with a wicked mind v. 27. And therefore in Eccles 5.1 he bids us be more ready to hear i. e. to obey then to offer the sacrifices of fools A fool is one that hath a body without a soul and such a carkass of religion are all sacrifices without obedience A meer skin and husk of devotion which God can no more be pleased with then we are with the gifts of a fool who knows not what he doth If from thence you pass to the Prophet Isaiah And all the Prophets he speaks so fully to my purpose in the first chapter from the eleventh verse to the twenty-first that I need not gloss upon his words And chap. 63.1 2 3. the Lord tells that people who boasted so much that they had provided him with an house and furnished his table continually with sacrifices I need no house nor am I beholden to you for a dwelling for the heavens and the earth are mine And I tell you there is no man loves me like to him that is poor in Spirit humble and obedient to my word Though you think that you please me mightily by the large provision you make at my house believe it without this contrition poverty and holy trembling at my commands he that kills a whole Ox is so far from doing me any service that it is as bad as an act of