Business of thy Soul or if thou hast who can tell whether that deceitful World which hath robbed thee of that time which was due to anothers Business may not with much more ease harden thy Heart and take up the whole time of thy Life though thou shouldest live many ages But if thou devote the first and choicest of thy endeavours to thy great Concernment grant that the residue of thy Life be not sufficient for thy Provisions for thy self or thy Posterity in this World thy exchange is happy thou hast secured an everlasting weight of Glory a Kingdom immortal and undefiled that fadeth not away in that time wherein perhaps thou mightest or it may be thou mightest not have gotten some small temporal Provision which by this time thou art ready to leave and thy immortal Soul left in an anxious unsatisfied unsafe Condition But this is not all though the gain of Eternity would infinitely over-weigh the loss of those Temporals which it may be in this time thou mightest have gotten yet thou must know thou servest such a Master that whilst thou obeyest him in seeking thy chiefest good in the chiefest place will not only give thee that Eternity which thou thus seekest but will add unto thee the things of this Life which yet thou neglectest And whiles he gives thee that great and everlasting Treasure which he commands thee to seek will not deprive thee of the Conveniences of this World though thou seekest them not All these things shall be added unto you And here learn a compendious and safe way of getting the external Conveniences of the World if thou labour first to be rich thou mayest lose thy labour and miss of being what thou labourest to be but thou art sure or at least likely to miss of being happy but if thou first endeavour after Peace with God in Christ thou art sure to attain Blessedness hereafter and shalt not want a convenient Competency here 2. As in the Order so in the Seasons or Times of seeking after Wealth when a Man shall encroach upon those times which either by the Command or Dispensation of God or thy own voluntary Consecrations are dedicated to the service of God or of his Neighbour It were but equal if he that is the Lord of our Times and of our Lives should require all our Time in his own immediate Service but when he allows us unto our own occasions the greatest part of our time wherein we may do all that we have to do and requires a small portion of our time for his immediate service and that also for our own everlasting advantage it is the highest sacriledge to God and injury to our selves to steal that from him which while we do it we rob our selves I thank God I ever found that in the strictest observation of the times of his Worship I ever met with the best Advantage to my worldly Occasions and that when ever my worldly Occasions incroached upon those times I ever met with disappointment though in things of the most hopeful and probable success And ever let it be so with me It hath been and ever shall be to me a Conviction beyond all Argument and Demonstration whatsoever That God expects the observation of his Times and that whilst I find my self thus dealt with God hath not given over his care of me It would be a sad presage unto me of the severe anger of my Maker if my inadvertence should cast me upon a temporal Undertaking upon his Day and that it should prosper The End of Wealth is to supply the Exigence of our Nature in Food and Raiment and when God did in an extraordinary way supply the latter without the assistance of the former to the Israelites by Manna the seventh Day was without Manna and the sixth Day supplied that defect with a double proportion Exod. 16.29 And I shall never doubt but the same Providence will in the six days of the Week improve my Endeavours one in seven though I rest upon a seventh day from my own Occasions for The earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof and it is he that gives power to get Wealth Isa 58.13 If thou turn thy foot from the sabbatb from doing thy pleasure upon my holy day and call the sabbath a delight the holy of the Lord honourable and shalt honour him not doing thine own ways nor finding thine own pleasure nor speaking thine own words then shalt thou delight thy self in the Lord and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Blessed Lord that requires but a portion of our time and that also for our own advantage and whilst thou thereby dost improve our everlasting Blessedness thou dost not deny our temporal Benefit but dost make even that portion of time that we spend in thy service an improvement of the rest of our time for our temporal Advantage And what we say concerning that portion of our time which we sequester to God from our outward Occasions the same we may say concerning that portion of our Wealth or Estate which we give either to his service or by his command When thou denyest either thou mayest look for much and it may come to little when thou bringest it home he will blow upon it Haggai 1.9 That which is detained from works of Piety or Charity will eat holes in thy Bag and let out it self and the rest which had it been daily bestowed it would have preserved the rest and returned with increase Malachi 3.10 Bring all the tithes into the store-house that there may be meat in my house and prove me now herewith saith the Lord of hosts if I will not open unto you the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it Prov. 28.27 He that giveth to the poor shall not lack Prov. 19.17 He that hath pitâ— on the poor lendeth unto the Lord and that which he hath given will he pay him again Thou owest all thou hast to thy Maker and if thou shouldest give him all thou hast thou givest him but his own 1 Chron. 29.14 He calls to thee but for a part of what he hath lent thee and yet he is pleased so far to accept thy chearful obedience herein that he is pleased to become thy debtor even for that which thou owest him This is thy honour and this will be thy profit thou shalt receive thy Loan with advantage I can safely and without vanity say I have hitherto found this Truth exactly fulfilled In those Weeks and Years wherein I have thus sowed sparingly I have even in Temporals reaped sparingly and I ever found when my hand was most liberal I never lost by it but found a return an hundred fold more than my expence And the Bread that I have thus cast upon the Waters I found it within a
and Moral And we may observe that even in this fundamental Truth That there is a God where these and the like Instructions are wanting Men that are naturally endued with the same Faculties of Reason and Understanding with us have not or not so clearly this Principle as among Atheists and Pagans 2. This Book sheweth us clearly the Essence Nature and Attributes of God as far forth as is comprehensible by our humane Understanding Many of these are by the help of natural Reason and Discourse legible in the things that are seen so far forth as to leave our Ignorance thereof unexcusable Rom. 1.20 yet as in the former so much more in this our Reason is helped and strengthened in our speedy discovery and firmer assent thereunto as likewise appears by the many Errors of Men of the same Faculties with us even concerning these Principles Herein we learn his Vnity Deut. 6.4 The Lord our â—â—d is one Lord. His Self-sufficiency and Subsistence of himself Exod. 3.14 I am that I am His Immâ—sity â— Kings 8.27 Behold the Heaven and the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain thee His Vbiquity Deut. 4.39 The Lord he is God in Heaven above and upon Earth beneath Psal 13.9 Whither shall I go from thy Spirit or fly from thy presence Jer. 23.24 Can any hide himself that I shall not see him Do not I fill Heaven and Earth His Eternity Psal 90.2 Before the Mountains were brought forth or ever thou hadst formed the Earth and the World even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God. His Omniscience and intellectual Nature Psal 94.10 11. The Lord knoweth the thoughts of Man that they are vanity Prov. 15.11 Hell and destruction are before the Lord how much more the Hearts of the Children of Men His Omnipotence Gen. 17.1 I am the Almighty God. Psal 145.3 His Greatness is unsearchable His Wisdom Jer. 10.12 He hath established the World by his Wisdom and hath stretched out the Heavens by his Discretion Psal 147.5 His Vnderstanding is infinite His Will the only motive of all his actions Prov. 16.14 The Lord hath made all things for himself Exod. 33.19 And will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will shew mercy to whom I will shew mercy Isa 43.25 I am he that blotted out thy transgressions for my own sake Himself the End of all de doth Prov. 16.4 The Lord hath made all things for himself Irresistibility Prov. 21.30 There is no Wisdom nor Vnderstanding nor Counsel against the Lord. Invisible Exod. 33.19 No Man can see my face and live Immutability Matth. 3.6 I am the Lord I change not Psal 102.6 Thou art the same and thy years have no end Isa 40.28 Hast thou not known hast thou not heard that the everlasting God the Lord the Creator of the ends of the Earth fainteth not neither is weary there is no searching of his Vnderstanding It is true in these and the like Expressions or Attributions unto the Divine Nature we are nevertheless to observe 1. That it is impossible for any thing below God himself fully and clearly to understand the Nature or Essence of God because he is actually Infinite and nothing besides himself hath or can have an Act of his Intellect spacious enough to comprehend what is actually Infinite Hand Arm Goings Ways wherein nevertheless the Scripture whiles it useth these Expressions to help our Understanding and excite our Affections it nevertheless provides Cautions to avoid grossness and mistakes that so it may appear that they are only helps to us not derogations to the incomprehensible Purity Perfection and Majesty of God and for that very reason not any one thing so much fenced out by it as Image-making and Worshiping 3. By this Book we are taught the manner of his Subsistence in three Persons the Father the Word and the Spirit and that these three are one The Plurality of Persons in one Essence is a Mystery that is not attainable by all the Reason in the World and is but obscurely hinted in the Old Testament Gen. 1.26 c. and therefore it seems not understood by the Jews but in the New Testament more plainly related the diversity of Persons of the Father and Son in one Essence John 14.9 John 17.5 22. The Spirit All three together Matth. 28.19 1 John 5.7 The Manner of the Subsistence in Unity of Essence and Trinity of Persons is of that transcendent and incomprehensible Nature that as it could never be discovered without an immediate revelation from God himself so being discovered it is scarce conceptible by us The Disputes concerning it farther than it is there revealed are groundless and dangerous for it is utterly impossible that the Notion of Personality or Subsistence as we take it up from these inferiour Beings can fit that which is the highest and most arcane Mystery of the infinite Being and consequently those Disputes which are built upon those disproportionable Notions are not without a necessity of erring CHAP. II. Of the Acts and Works of God and 1. Of his Eternal Counsel 4. THE next great Point that we learn in this Book is concerning the Acts or Works of God 1. His Eternal Counsel 2. The Execution of that Counsel 1. Creation 2. Providence 1. General Concerning all things 2. Special Concerning Man. 1. Concerning the Eternal Counsel of God whereby he did predetermine all things that should be from all Eternity This as it evidently appears in all the Prophecies of the Old Testament which were fulfilled in their times so by divers Affirmations even of God himself by his Spirit The Creation Prov. 8.27 When he prepared the Heavens 29. When he appointed the Foundations of the Earth Job 38.4 When I laid the Foundations of the Earth 10. and brake up for it my decreed place The Redemption of Man by Christ 1 Pet. 1.20 Who was foreordained before the Foundation of the World. Acts 2.23 Him by the determinate Counsel and foreknowledge of God ye have taken c. Election of his Church and People Rom. 9.11 The Purpose of God according to Election The Successes of Nations and Kingdoms Isa 14.26 27. This is the Purpose that is purposed upon the whole Earth c. For the Lord hath purposed and who shall disanul it Dan. 4.35 The Extorted Confession of Nebuchadnezzar The particular and voluntary motions of Men Isa 10.5 O Assyrian the Rod of mine Anger c. yet he thinketh not so Jer. 10.23 The way of Man is not in himself Prov. 20.24 Man's goings are of the Lord. Prov. 21.30 There is no Wisdom nor Counsel against the Lord. The most contingent and inconsiderable Events that are the casting of a Lot Prov. 16.33 The falling of a Sparrow Matth. 10.29 Now touching the Counsel of the Almighty we are to distinguish between the act of Counsel and the act of Knowledge the first is properly an act of his Will predetermining what shall be the latter an act of his infinite understanding which foresees what shall be
in his Friend scorn and oppression from his Superiour supplanting from his Equal envy and mischief from his Inferiour falsness and temptation from the Wife of his Bosom rebellion from his Children vanity and disappointment in his Purposes Diseases Distempers and infections in his Body madness and blindness in his Understanding perverseness in his Will tumult and confusion in his Affections guilt and preapprehensions of terrour in his Conscience Death and dissolution of Body and Soul and Judgment Vengeance Hell and yet Eternity after all this Then let Man know that in all this and that which is all this and more than this the Aversion of the Favour and Light of the Countenance of God he eats but the Fruit of his own ways and thou O God art just when thou thus judgest and whatsoever is better than the worst of all this to any of the Children of men is meer Mercy and more than their due But if now in the midst of Judgment God remembers Mercy and Mankind being now condemned and concluded under sin if the merciful God that at first gave Being and Blessing shall after we had spent that Patrimony and lost our selves provide for our Restitution that when we of Free-Men had made our selves Slaves and Vessels of Wrath shall provide a Means for our Deliverance This engageth us to a higher degree both of Admiration and Duty than even our first Creation did This then is the next thing considerable viz. The means and way of Man's Restitution CHAP. V. Of the Restitution of Man by Christ ALL Mankind lay by the Fall under Guilt which is an Obligation to Punishment both of loss of Happiness and everlasting subjection both to temporal and eternal Curse And this estate of Man and his Posterity even to the end of the World was present in the infallible Foresight of God from all Eternity In that consideration he had a Kingdom but over Rebels and Traitors and had everlasting cause of the execution of his Justice and the Power of his Wrath but nothing to deserve or draw out his Mercy among all the Sons of Men who were all present and stood up together in his Eternal Foresight Thus Man had as far forth as was in him disappointed the End of God in his Creation insomuch that in the outward dispensation of God's Providence it seemed that he repented that he had made Man on the Earth Gen. 6.6 But though Man as much as in him lay had made himself an useless Creature and interrupted the possibility of attaining an End answerable to his Being yet God's Counsel was not disappointed But the great Lord of his own free Goodness did in his Eternal Counsel fore-appoint some of lost Men to Remission of their Sin and eternal Happiness in Christ by such Means as he had before ordained to be effectual for that purpose And this is the great Discovery of the Scripture and contains that great Business which Man hath to do in this World because it is that which concerns his great and everlasting End without which his very Being is not only unprofitable but miserable and now comes to be consider'd This then is the sum of all That Almighty God out of his own Free-will and Goodness did in his Eternal Counsel fore appoint some of lost Mankind to Remission of sin and guilt and Reconciliation and Eternal Happiness in Christ by such Means as he had before ordained in the same Counsel to be effectual for that purpose In this description we have these Particulars to be sifted and we have done our Business 1. What the Motive of this Purpose God's meer good Will 2. What the Object of it some of Mankind 3. What the End of this Counsel Remission of sin and Restoration to Happiness 4. What the Hand or immediate Instrument of effecting it Christ 5. What those subordinate Means of attaining it 6. What the Consequents of it 1. Touching the Motive nothing at all meritorious in Man but only the good will of God thus to select some out of the lost multitude of Men to be Vessels of Mercy And this is that which is so often inculcated in the Book of God in all the successions of it Exod. 33.19 I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will shew mercy to whom I will shew mercy So Deut. 9.5 Moses's sad Admonition to the Jews who in all things were typical Vnderstand therefore that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land for thy righteousness for thou art a stiff-necked people Ezek. 16.6 When I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thy own blood I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood Live yea I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood Live. Isaiah 43.25 I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins Luke 10.21 And hast revealed them to babes even so Father for so it seemed good in thy sight Ephes 2.3 When we were by nature children of wrath even as others But God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he hath loved us even when we were dead in sins hath quickned us together with Christ by grace are ye saved 2 Tim. 1.10 Who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ before the world began but now made manifest by the appearing of Christ 1 John 4.10 Here is love not that we loved God but that he loved us Ibid. 19. We love him because he loved us first Rom. 5.8 God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us And indeed it is impossible it should be otherwise for the Scripture hath concluded all under sin Galat. 3.22 And we have shewed before an utter impossibility in Man to extricate himself The fore-appointing therefore of any to Eternal Life could not be from any Cause in the Creature meritoriously moving God to this Mercy The Freedom and Liberality of this Purpose of God. 1. In respect of the Elect to take away all matter of boasting Ephes 2.8 To keep them humble and to keep them thankful that God may be all in all It pleaseth the great God to order the Execution of his Counsels touching Man that they are brought about as with a powerful and irrisistible Hand so they are brought about by such means as is naturally suitable to the nature of Man Rationally and Freely Psal 110. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy Power Now there cannot be a more engaging Argument to Humility and Thankfulness than the consideration of this Free Goodness of God that when I had thrown away my Happiness lay in the common lump of condemned Men God should freely single me out among thousands that he passed by and make me a Vessel of Mercy And this doth most sweetly and effectually win upon the Heart So
the Flesh justified in the Spirit seen of Angels preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the world received up into Glory 1 Tim. 3.16 The Mystery of Faith 1 Tim. 3.9 CHAP. VI. Predictions and Types of Christ YET this great Mystery of Christ was not kept so secret but that as the fruit of his Mediation preceeded his coming in the Flesh as shall be after shewn so some glimpses of this Truth were discover'd to former Generations 1 Pet. 1.10 Of which Salvation the Prophets have enquired Ephes 2.20 Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Christ the Corner-stone We shall therefore for the settling of our Minds in this Cardinal Point observe those Predictions concerning Christ in the Old Testament and we shall find the Old and New Testament like the two Cherubims upon the Mercy Seat their Faces looking one toward another yet both of them toward the Mercy Seat and as we have before noted the Old Testament unriddling the difficulties of Nature so the New Testament unriddling the Old The Predictions of Christ in the Old Testament were of two kinds Prophetical and Typical The Prophetical Predictions to follow them in order of time 1. The first and great Publication of the Gospel though dark and mysterious was that by God himself in Paradise Gen. 3.15 I will put enmity between thee and the woman between thy seed and her seed it shall break thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel This was not only fulfilled in that mystical Woman the Church and here see Revel 12.17 but also in Christ 1. He was the Seed of the Woman and not of the Man Luke 1.34 He sent his Son made of a Woman Gal. 4.4 The Parallel observable By the Woman Sin first came into the World and Salvation 2. It shall break thy head He came to destroy the works of the Devil in his Temptation In his Life he bound the strong Man Heb. 2.14 destroyed him that had the power of Death that is the Devil Matth. 12.29 In his Preaching Luk. 10.17 18. Satan like Lightning falling down from Heaven in his Death and Resurrection spoiling Principalities and Powers and made a shew of them openly and triumphing over them in it Colos 2. â—5 In his Ascension Ephes 4.8 When he ascended up on high he led Captivity captive this Captive taker is the Devil 2 Tim. 2.26 In his Members Ephes 6.12 We wrestle against Principalities and Powers and it is our Business to stand against the Wiles of the Devil Ibid. Vers 11. To resist him stedfastly in the Faith 1 Pet. 5.9 In the Dispensation of his Government in his Church and Members Revel 12.7 Michael and his Angels fight with and overcome the Dragon and his Angels In his last and great Judgment Revel 20.10 The Devil cast into the Lake of Fire 1 John 3.8 For this purpose was the Son of God manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil 2. The next great Promise of Christ was that which was made to Abraham That in him Gen. 12.3 Gen. 18.18 That is in his Seed Gen. 22.18 all Nations of the Earth should be blessed This is applied to Christ Galat. 3.16 And afterwards to Isaac the Son of the Promise was the same Promise renewed and entailed Gen. 26.4 And so exact was the great God of Heaven in the fulfilling of his Promise that until by a civil Investiture the right of Primogeniture was translated from Esau to Jacob first by the sale of his Birth-right Gen. 25.33 and then by the Blessing though surreptitiously by Jacob yet providentially by God Gen. 27.29 This Promise was not actually entailed upon Jacob's Line Gen. 28.14 This Patria potestas Jacob likewise used upon his three eldest Sons Reuben for his Incest Simeon and Levi for their Murder Gen. 49.34 56. Whereby Judah became as it were the first-born and therefore Judah continually after had the preheminence of Primogeniture Viz. in the division of the Land Numb 34.19 Judah's Commissioner first named so in the alotment of the Land of Canaan Joshua 15.1 Judah had the preheminence in compleating the Victory of Canaan by the Suffrage of God. Judges 1.2 And by the decision and Prophecy of dying Jacob the Regality a right of Primogenture and the Messiah entailed to that stock Gen. 49. The Scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a Law-giver from between his feet until Shiloh come and unto him shall the gathering of the People be And hence he is called the Lion of the Tribe of Judah Revel â— 5 This Gathering of the People to him was the Calling of the Gentiles to the knowledge of God in Christ And this was the Star of Jacob which Balaam inspired against his will prophesied of Numb 24.17 And this that great Prophet which God promised by Moses to raise up to stand between the Majesty and Glory of God and the frailty of Humane Nature Deut. 18.15 John 5.46 The Redeemer of Job Job 19.25 From the time of Moses the Prophecies of Christ are interrupted and his time not specified but in him God was pleased to evidence it first in his Promise to him 2 Sam. 7.16 Thy throne shall be established for ever And this Covenant touching Christ therefore called the sure Mercies of David Isaiah 55.3 again Isa 11.1 10. In that day there shall be a root of Jesse which shall stand for an ensign of the people To it shall the Gentiles seek and his rest shall be glorious And this was a known Truth even among the unbelieving Jews Matth. 22.42 The learned Doctors confessed that Christ was to be the Son of David This fulfilled in Christ Acts 13.23 Of this man's seed hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour Jesus Revel 5.5 The Root of David The Place of his Birth Mich. 5.2 And thou Bethlehem c. out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel whose goings forth have been from old from everlasting this Bethlehem the City of David 1 Sam. 17.22 notoriously confessed among the Jews to be the place of the Messias's Birth Matth. 2.5 The Manner of his Birth A virgin shall bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel Isa 7.14 fulfilled Matth. 1.25 And as in his Name the union of the Divine and Humane Nature is discovered so more plainly Isa 9.6 His name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor the mighty God the Everlasting Father the Prince of Peace of the increase of his Government and Peace there shall be no end Peace proclaimed at his Birth Luke 2.14 On earth peace good will towards men his Business Peace 2 Cor. 5.1 God in Christ reconciling the World to himself Ephes 2.14 Christ our Peace his Gospel the Gospel of Peace Rom. 10.15 Ephes 6.15 Peace his Legacy John 14.27 Peace his Command Matth. 5.9 Blessed are the Peace-makers Rom. 12.18 Live peaceably with all men Luke 10.5 6. Into whatsoever house ye enter first say Peace be to this house And if the son of Peace
declared to be the Son of God with Power Rom. 1.4 And this Resurrection of Christ must of necessity follow his Satisfaction he had taken upon him our Sin and therefore must undergo the Wages due unto it viz. Death in the very instant of his Death he had compleated his Sacrifice and Satisfaction when he said upon the Cross It is finished John 19.30 Yet as it was necessary for him to lie under Death so long as might convince the Reality of it so it was impossible for him to lie longer the Debt was paid and he could be no longer detained Prisoner Acts 2.24 Whom God hath raised up having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible he should be holden of it And this Resurrection of Christ as it was by the Power of God 2 Cor. 13.4 He liveth by the Power of God Ephes 1.19 The working of his mighty Power or by the Eternal Spirit Rom. 8.11 The Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead so it was the effect of his Justice the Price of Man's Redemption being paid he was now by the Eternal Covenant of God to prolong his days And hence he is said to be justified in the Spirit 1 Tim. 3.16 Even that Spirit that raised him up from the dead did at the same time proclaim the compleatness of his Satisfaction and justifie the fulfilling of his Undertaking If Christ had not risen there had of necessity followed these two Consequences either of which had left us in as bad case as he found us 1. It had been then impossible that his Death had been a sufficient Sacrifice If he had been detained under Death the Guilt had still continued undischarged And hence 1 Cor. 15.17 If Christ be not raised your faith is vain ye are yet in your sins As if he should have said If there be no Satisfaction made for your Sins ye are still in them If Christ be detained under Death it is evident the Satisfaction is not made for the Curse of the Law continues undischarged and consequently the Guilt continues unacquitted and hence Christ's Sacrifice was justified by his Resurrection so are we Rom. 4.25 Who was delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification And this Resurrection of Christ was his Victory over Guilt and Death and Hell. 1 Cor. 15.57 The Victory given through Christ Colos 2.15 Having spoiled Principalities and Powers he then made a shew of them openly 2. It had been impossible that the Members of Christ could have the benefit either of the first or second Resurrection for by reason of that Union with their Head they partake of all those conditions whereof their head participates Crucified with him Gal. 2.20 Dead to sin and buried with him Rom. 6.3 6 8. Live with him Galat. 2.20 Rise together with him to newness of Life Rom. 6.4 Rom. 8.11 12. Planted unto the likeness of his Resurrection Rom. 6.5 Ascended with him Ephes 2.6 and shall rise again to eternal Happiness by virtue only of his Resurrection 1 Cor. 15. 1 Thes 4.14 9. That Christ after his Resurrection did Ascend up into Heaven where his humane Nature is cloathed with Power and Glory and Immortality The Death of our Saviour was attested by his three days keeping his Grave and the Resurrection was attested by all the Evidences that incredulity it self could require for satisfaction because the matter of the greatest difficulty to believe and which being admitted made the whole truth concerning him easily credible Therefore for the clearing of this truth as he spent forty days to conquer the Temptations of the Devil in the Wilderness so he spent forty days after his Resurrection to subdue the infidelity of mankind to the belief thereof And during that time used all the sensible Convictions that might be for the confirming of their belief that the very Body of Christ re-assumed his Soul and Life 1. The Body removed out of the Sepulchre Luke 24.5 Why seek ye the Living among the Dead 2. He appeared unto them and because those appearances were accompanied with some Circumstances that might breed jealousie that it was a finer substance than a Body as his sudden vanishing out of their sight Luke 24 3â— His sudden presenting of himself among them when the Doors were shut Luke 24.36 John 20.19 Yet to convince that suspicion he exhibits his hands and his side eats with them converses with them about forty days Acts. 1.3 The Body of Christ being by the power of God made of an Angelical though not spiritual substance is taken up into Heaven Mark 16.19 Luke 24.57 Acts 16.9 where he sits at the right hand of Glory Acts 3.21 Heb. 10.12 Heb. 12.2 This was that which was figured by the High Priest's entring into the Holy of Holies Heb. 9.24 and extended to the very whole humane Nature of Christ the same that ascended is he that descended Ephes 4.9 This was the saying of Christ himself John 20.17 I am not yet ascended to my Father but go tell my Brethren I ascend unto my Father and your Father c. And this is that that our Saviour so often inculcates That the Son of Man shall come in his Glory c. Matth. 25.31 Matth. 26.64 To insinuate that that very humane Nature by which he is denominated Man should continue in immortality and appear the last day for the judgment of the World. And as by the power of God Man in his purity had been perpetuated to immortality and so he shall be in his Resurrection so by the power of God the Life of Christ's humane Nature shall be perpetuated to everlasting 2 Cor. 13.4 He liveth by the power of God. And this Body of Christ as it is filled with immortality so it is filled with Glory we shall be made like unto his glorious Body Phil. 3.21 10. That Christ having perfected the work of Man's redemption and ascended into Heaven exerciseth a threefold Office for the benefit of his Church and People 1. Of Power of Dominion This was that Inauguration of Christ in his Kingdom Psal 110.1 Sit thou at my right Hand Isaiah 53.10 Therefore will I divide him a Portion with the great c. because he hath poured out his Soul unto Death And therefore after his Resurrection he tells his Disciples Matth. 28.18 That all power is given him both in Heaven and in Earth and is that which is so often called his sitting at the right hand of his Father Ephs 1.20 and his making both Lord and Christ Acts 2.36 And this Kingdom Dominion and Power of Christ shall continue until the end when he shall deliver up the Kingdom to his Father that God may be all in all 1 Cor. 15.24 27. 2. The Communication of his Spirit The Power of the Spirit of God is in all his Creatures and especially in Men and all Creatures in their actings are but instrumental to the Spirit of God But by Christ the Power of that Spirit is communicated in a more
fitted for that occasion strikes effectually upon the Heart and works upon it whether it be an Affliction or a Blessing or a Deliverance or a Word of God. Thus when Nathaniel was under the Fig tree Christ saw him and prepared his Heart to entertain the call of Philip John 1.48 2. The concomitant act of the Spirit of God especially with the Word of God and some other extraordinary acts of his Providence And herein it hath a double work 1. Of Strength to drive on this Word and hence it is called the Sword of the Spirit The Spirit of God is that Arm that manageth this Sword Ephes 6.17 To the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit Heb. 4.12 When thou seest therefore a tumultuous disorderly Heart filled with Pride and obstinacy yet brought upon his Knees by a seemingly weak Admonition Reproof or other passage of the Word of God wonder not at the change for the powerful and mighty Arm of the Spirit of God hath shaken this little dart between the joynts of his harness even into the midst of his Soul. What ailed thee O thou Sea that thou fleddest c. Tremble thou Earth at the presence of the Lord at the presence of the God of Jacob Psal 114.5.2 Of Life to go along with it into the Spirit of a Man John 6.63 The words that I speak unto you they are Spirit and they are Life The passage between the Sense and the Spirit of a Man is of a great distance and full of many turnings and hence the words of Men for the most part die and lose their efficacy before they come at the Spirit of a Man sometimes they die in the Ear sometimes they get into the Brain and die there in a Speculation sometimes they strike a little but yet live not long there for the words have no Life in them But with this Word there goes a Life which goes along with it even to the uttermost corner of thy Soul even thy Spirit and there it continues alive 1 John 3.9 His seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin and hence it is that the Commands of God even to us that are dead are not incongruous when God pleaseth that his Work shall be wrought in the Heart for a Spirit of Life goes along with the Command even to the penetralia animae John 5.25 The time is that the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live And as thus the Spirit of God carries the Word of God with Life and Vigour into the choicest parts of the Soul so doth it with all other Dispensations of Divine Providence If thou hast an outward Blessing given thee it will along with the Sense of thy Blessing carry in the Sense of the Goodness of God and teach thee Thankfulness and Moderation If an Affliction it will get along into thy Soul with that Affliction and teach thee to examine thy self and to search and try thy ways and having discovered thy sin it will teach thee Humiliation and Repentance and if upon thy search thou find thine Integrity yet it will teach thee Humility Thankfulness Contentedness Dependance upon God it will with every Dispensation of Providence go along with it into thy Soul and carry that message with it that God by this his Dispensation intends to send thee And thus it is a Sanctifying Spirit by way of concomitance with the Word and Providence 3. The Spirit of God sanctifies the Heart by its own immediate and Continual Assistance It contests with thy daily Temptations that are from without and conquers them and with thy hourly Corruptions that are within thee and wasts and subdues them In the midst of thy Difficulties it will be thy Counsellor a secret voice behind thee saying This is the way walk in it In the midst of thy Temptations it will be thy Strength and a Grace sufficient for thee In the midst of thy Troubles it will be thy Light and thy Comfort In the midst of thy Corruptions it will be thy Cleanser a Spirit of burning to consume those swarms of Lusts that cover and fill thy Heart In thy Failings and Falls it will be thy Remembrancer and teach thee to repent and humble thy self This was that Monitor that furnished Joseph with an answer to a most importunate and advantageous Temptation How shall I do this great wickedness and sin against God Gen. 39.9 that furnished Job with silencing Answers to all those temptations to Insolence Pride Self-confidence and Injustice Job 9.1 that after David's Sin smote David's Heart before David's Heart smote him and taught him Confession and Sorrow and to beg a Pardon 2 Sam. 24.10 Only beware thou neglect not the Voice of this Spirit of God It may be thy neglect may quench it and thou mayest never hear that Voice more or at least it will certainly grieve it and canst thou think of grieving that Spirit without a Tear which is content to descend into thy impure polluted Heart to make it a Heart fitted for Glory Thy folly is great and thy ingratitude greater When God speaks once and twice and Man perceives him not Job 33.14 it sometimes falls out that he never speaks to that Man more Ephraim is set upon Idols let him alone Hos 4.17 and that is the saddest Condition in the World but if he do his Mercy will be a severe Mercy he will speak louder Job 33.22 when the still Voice is not heard his Soul draweth near to the grave and his Life to the destroyers The observation of the secret Admonition and Reasonings of the Spirit of God in the Heart as it is an effectual means so it is a calm and a comfortable means to cleanse and sanctifie thy Heart and the â—oâ—eâ—itâ—i attended unto the more it will be conversant with thy Soul for thy Instruction Strength and Comfort Prov. 6.22 When thou goest it shall lead thee when thou sleepest it shall keep thee and when thou awakest it shall talk with thee CHAP. XXVI Of the Means of Sanctification 2. On Man's part viz. Faith Love Fear Hope ON our part the Instruments of our Sanctification are those supernatural acts or habits of the Soul wrought by the finger of God Faith Hope and Love. 1. Faith Acts 15.9 God also purifying their Hearts by Faith. And this it doth as it is an Act receiving into the Soul the Word of God and subscribing to the Truth and Goodness of it receving it not as the word of Man but as the Word of the just and true God. 1. It therein finds and believes the great Debt of Duty that the Creature owes to his Creator What can be unjust for God to require of that Being which he gave and made As the Gift of a Being is an infinite Gift because it is an infinite Motion there being no greater disproportion imaginable than between not being and being so the engagement of Obedience and Conformity from that Creature to the Will and good Pleasure of
thee not to a course in sin or to a death in sin but gives thee a Cordial which though it puts thee to pain preserves thy Life that though thou like a foolish misguided Sheep art stragling thou knowest not whither yet seeks thee and finds thee and reduceth thee that though thou canst so easily forget him yet he doth not forget thee and when all is done is contented to accept of that Repentance and that Sorrow which he himself gives thee and washes away thy Spot by his own Blood and looks upon thee with no less Tenderness and Love and Compassion and Goodness than if thou hadst never gone aside Ever blessed be thy Name O merciful Lord God that hast redeemed us from everlasting Death and yet when we daily endanger our selves dost rescue us by thy Grace that when we sin thou art pleased not to cast us off but fetchest us in by Repentance and when we repent art pleased not to reject us nor upbraid us with our former Falls but accept us to Pardon and Favour and blottest out our iniquities for thy great Names sake But let not thy Servants return any more to folly Amen CHAP. XXVIII Of the Parts of Sanctification and 1. In reference to our selves Sobriety THE fourth thing considerable are the Parts of that Sanctification which is required of us Sanctification is the Conformity of the whole Man to the Will of God concerning Man concerning his Life and Conversation And that Will of God respecteth three Objects Himself our Neighbour and our Selves And accordingly the Duties which lie upon us in reference to these three are shortly summed up by the Apostle Tit. 2.11 12. The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodless and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world We have there the Old Man that we are to put off Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts cast by S. John into these three Ranks the Lusts of the Flesh the Lusts of the Eyes and Pride of Life 1 John 2.16 whereof before And we have that New Man Ephes 4.24 distributed into two parts Righteousness and true Holiness and here into three parts viz. Sobriety towards our selves Righteousness towards others and Godliness towards God the two latter come distinctly under the Commands of the first and second Table of the Decalogue as those Commands receive their true and spiritual interpretation by Christ the former though virtually it be therein included yet it is not expresly and directly 1. In reference to our selves Sobriety This refers either to our Judgment or Estimation of our selves or to the motions and inclinations of our sensual Appetites 1. Sobriety in our Judgments which is nothing else but a just and true Estimate of our selves Rom. 12.3 Not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think but to think soberly c. Man doth naturally inordinately love himself and that love to himself doth mislead and inhance a Man's opinion of himself even by those things that are meerly extrinsecal to him he thinks the better of himself by reason of his Wealth though that be a thing distinct from him by Nature and easily by any casualty severed from him or by reason of Esteem or Honour though that is such an accession as depends meerly upon the Will of another for if I withdraw that honour or respect which I give to a Man he is no longer honourable to me and as I may do it so may any and so may all and then he wholly ceaseth to be what he thought he was And much more Men are apt to have a high opinion of themselves in respect of that which seems most their own as Strength Beauty Elocution Wit Knowledge and the more intimate the Perfection is unto him that hath it the harder it is for that Man to be brought to that due estimation that he should have of himself that very Knowledge which must be the ground of bringing him to a right estimation of himself is ready to puff him up and that concretion that ariseth from the over-estimation of a Man's self and from his reflection upon that over-estimation is Pride and from this Pride arise those other distempers of the inward and outward Man a proud look despising the weaker or inferiour Arrogance lofty and haughty Speech Dan. 4.30 Is not this great Babylon c. Psal 73.9 They set their mouth against Heaven and their tongue walketh through the earth Exod. 5.2 Who is the Lord c. a placing of a Man's self in God's room and deifying himself implacableness with any thing that checketh the full Fruition of his own Glory though it seems never so inconsiderable the want of a Bowe from Mordecai makes Haman sick of anger and discontent Esther 3.7.5.13 and thus Pride is the foundation of Contention Prov. 13.10 because it cannot endure the competition of any thing that may allay the tumor the foundation of envy delight in flattery to feed and stroak that foolish Humour excess in Stateliness Distance Apparel singularity and the like All which are the Children of this Vanity Now as this proceeds much from the mistake of our Judgment or the want of the Exercise of it so on the other side when the judgment concerning a Mans self is rectified it produceth a clean contrary effect in the Soul the Man was mad before out of his Wits and his Carriage and Deportment was answerable thereunto but now by this right understanding himself he is sober in his right Senses and a sutable Deportment riseth thereupon he looks upon his Wealth as a thing that is lent him deposited with him only as a Steward not as an Owner as that which is uncertain vanishing subject to be easily translated from him to another as that which is external to him which he may have and be a Fool or a Man under a Curse as that which will one day inhance his Account not ease his Conscience as that which he may not it may be keep whilst he lives and is sure to lose when he dies as that which may be his snare his Temptation cannot be his Felicity as that which though never so excessive gives no greater a Priviledge than it gives his Servant that eats of it but only the bare Name of being his own He looks upon his Esteem Reputation and Honour in the World as that which meerly depends upon his inferiors Benevolence which thy may withdraw when they please as that which is external also to him may make him an Object of more Envy Danger and insecurity that ingageth to a great deal of vigilance to preserve it and is often lost without desert and yet the Man is the same He looks upon his Power and Authority as a thing that is not in himself but meerly in the Contribution of the strength of others or their voluntary denying it to themselves by a resolution of Non-resistance as that which makes no real Accession
any thing that he doth or suffers be answerable to his own well-being which is the termination of that Love and accordingly likes or dislikes it or wills it to be or not to be done This Precept is resolved into its Negative Whatsoever ye would not that men should do to you that do not to them And for the use of both we are to take them both with these Limitations 1. It is understood in an equality or parity of Relation and not otherwise For an instance the Father may expect that from a Son viz. Reverence and Observance which will not be fit for the Father to give to the Son. The Duties are diversified according to the diversity of the Relations The resolution of the Precept in this case is therefore this Whatsoever I would that my Father should expect from me that I would that my Son should do to me è converso Variations of Circumstances and Relations diversifie the Case and therefore the resolution of this Precept in case of different Relations must be as well with the change of the Relations as of the Persons and the Question to be asked the Conscience in such a case is Were I in my Neighbour's Condition and my Neighbour in mine what I would in such a Case expect from my Neighbour that I ought to do to him Ex Autographo cum eod collat FINIS A Brief Abstract OF THE Christian Religion A BRIEF ABSTRACT OF THE Christian Religion 1. THAT there is One and but one most Glorious God Eternal Incomprehensible perfectly Happy Infinite in Wisdom Power and Goodness filling all places but comprehended in no place full of Justice Mercy Truth and Perfection 2. That this God though but One in Essence is yet Three in number of his Subsistence Father Son and Holy Spirit 3. That this God in the beginning of time created the World commonly called the Heaven and Earth which he still governs by his Power Wisdom and Providence And this he did 1. For the Manifestation and Glory of his Wisdom Power and Goodness 2. For the Communication of his Beneficence Goodness and Bounty to the things which he thus made according to their several Natures and Capacities 4. That having finished this inferior World called the Earth and furnished it with all things necessary and convenient for the use and convenience of the nobler Creature which he intended he created the first Man Adam and the first Woman Eve the common Parents of all Mankind from whom all the Men and Women in the World are derived by natural Propagation 5. To these first Parents of Mankind Almighty God gave some Endowments or constituent Parts that are common to all Mankind as well as to them namely 1. Terrestrial or Earthly Bodies for the first Man was made out of the Earth and the Bodies of all other Men though they are derived to them by ordinary Generation yet their Bodies are terrestrial or elementary Bodies 2 Spiritual and Immortal Souls endued not only with the Power of Vegetation as Herbs and Trees nor only with the Power of Sense and Perception and Appetite as the bruit Beasts but also with the Power of Understanding and Liberty of Will whereby he obtains a kind above all other visible Creatures besides And this Soul thus endued with the Power of Understanding and Will doth not die with the Body but it is immortal and never dies And this is called a Reasonable Soul whereby we understand and think and consider and remember and chuse one thing and refuse another whereby we have a Capacity to know Almighty God his Works his Will and to obey and observe it and to perform all the Actions that belong to a Reasonable Creature 3. A Power of Propagation of their Kind by the mutual conjunction of Sexes by vertue of that Divine Benediction given to Man as well as to sensible Creatures Be fruitful multiply and replenish the Earth By vertue of which Benediction all the Families of Mankind that were or are or shall be upon the face of the Earth are in the course of ordinary Generation derived from the first Parents of Mankind 4. A Power and Right of Dominion over the inferiour Creatures which he doth exercise partly by the ordination and appointment of their Creation and partly by the advantage of his understanding Faculty and though this Dominion be in some sort weakened and decayed by the Fall of our first Parents yet it still in a great measure continues to the Children of Men. 6. But some Priviledges our first Parents had in their state of Innocence which by their Fall hath been much impaired and lost and not derived to their Posterity 1. A state of perfect Innocence free from all Sin and sinful contagion 2. A state of Happiness and Blessedness as large as Humane Nature could be capable of 3. A state of great Integrity and Perfection as far forth as it was possible for Humane Nature to enjoy as Light and great Knowledge in his Understanding Integrity in his Will right Order in his Soul Righteousness and Holiness 4. A state of Immortality of Body and Soul in their perfect conjunction so long as he kept his Innocence 7. The Ends for which Almighty God created Man thus were first those common Ends which moved him to create the World above mentioned namely his own Glory and the Communication of his Goodness and Beneficence but secondly these seem to be the special Ends of Man's Creation 1. That he might have a Creature in this lower World that might more conveniently actively and effectually give glory unto God and to that end he endued him with Nobler Faculties that might perform this Office his Understanding whereby he might know his Maker and his Will and his Works His Will whereby he might obey his Will his Affections whereby he might love and fear and admire him His Faculty of Speech whereby he might glorifie and praise him this is another kind of Glory than the other inferiours do or can bring to their Maker And to the end he might thus glorifie his Maker he placed him in the view and sight of the goodly frame of Heaven and Earth and gave him his Law wherein he should obey and serve his Creator 2. That he might be partaker of as much Happiness and Blessedness as the Humane Nature could be capable of while it stood in conjunction with his Body and that he should by a kind of Translation into Heaven enjoy more Pure Perfect and Everlasting state of Blessedness and Glory 8. When God had thus created Man he gave him a Law of Righteousness and Holiness and revealed it to him and for a Probation or Trial of his Obedience forbad him the eating of the Fruit of one Tree in Paradise under pain of Death 9. Our first Parents rebelled against that just and easie Law by eating the forbidden Fruit. And although they did not presently die corporally yet they by this Disobedience fell into these Inconveniences 1. They
Job 33.14 he useth a sharper and louder Messenger he speaks that he may not strike and if he strikes it is unwillingly Lam. 3.33 and that he may not destroy and destroys nor rejects not till his strokes prove fruitless Isa 1.5 Why should ye be stricken any more till there be no remedy 2 Chron. 36.16 He endures with long-suffering even the Vessels ordained to wrath Rom. 9.22 His Spirit did strive with the old World Gen. 6.3 was grieved forty years with the passages of a rebellious people Psal 95.10 pressed with our sins as a Cart under sheaves Amos 2.13 and yet no final destruction That admirable Expostulation of God's merciful Patience Hos 11.8 How shall I give thee up Ephraim how shall I deliver thee Israel how shall I make thee as Admah how shall I see thee as Zeboim mine heart is turned within me my repentings are kindled together I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger I will not return to destroy Ephraim I am God and not man. As if he should have said 'T is true thou art Ephraim and Israel a People that I have known of all the Families of the Earth Amos 3.2 a People that I have chosen and thou art called by my Name but by how much the nearer thou art unto me by so much the greater is thy Ingratitude That which in another People would be a Sin is in thee Rebellion and Apostasie Admah and Zeboim were a People that knew me not that never entred into Covenant with me they had no light to guide them but that of Nature and when they sinned my wrath broke out in the most eminent Judgment that ever was heard of But thou hast been a Vine of my own planting and watering and dressing and yet thy fruit hath been the fruit of Sodom thou hast made me to serve with thy sins and according to the number of thy Cities were thy Gods O Israel Jer. 11.13 Hear O Heavens and give ear O Earth for the Lord hath spoken I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me Isa 1.3 And should I not be avenged upon such a people as this How can I How can I not make thee as Admah and set thee as Zeboim If a man as thou art should but once shew but a grain of that ingratitude unto thee which thou multipliest towards me days without number thy Revenges would be as high as thy Power and thou wouldest justifie thy severest dealings with him nay if I thy Lord that can owe thee nothing but Wrath should withdraw but any of my own Blessings from thee thou art ready to throw off all and presently to upbraid me with thy unuseful Services What profit have I if I be cleansed from my sins Job 35.3 And how canst thou after all this expect any thing from me but that my Wrath should burn against thee like fire till thou wert consumed and that I should stir up all the fury of my Jealousie towards you O but Ephraim I am God and not man and therefore ye Sons of Jacob are not consumed my Mercy and my Patience are not the narrow qualities or habits of a mortal Man but the infinite Attributes of an Infinite God. Though I can see nothing in thee but what deserves my wrath I can find that in my self that sends out my compassion a heart turned by returning upon my own Mercy and repentings kindled upon the considerations of my own Covenant with thy Fathers kindled by a Sacrifice that thou little thinkest of even the Sacrifice of my own Son I will not therefore execute the fierceness of my anger although it be thy duty to repent Sinner yet I will repent of my wrath even before thou repent of thy sin it may be my long-sufferings will as it should do lead thee to repentance Rom. 2.4 But if after all this thou despisest the riches of my Goodness and Forbearance and Long-suffering know that thou treasurest up unto thy self wrath against the day of wrath and that day will surely find thee and then thou wilt find that every days forbearance and patience that thou hast had and abused hath ripened and improved thy Guilt and made thy sin out of measure sinful and will add weight and fire to my wrath which like a Talent of Lead shall everlastingly lye upon that treasure of thy Sin and Guilt 2. His Pardoning Mercy Those tender and pathetical Expressions of God's Mercy in pardoning Sin upon Repentance and turning to him carry more weight than it is possible for our Spirits to arise unto Isa 1.18 Come now and let us reason together though your sins were as scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they be red as crimson they shall be like wool Isa 43.24 25. Thou hast made me to serve with thy sins thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins Isa 55.7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon for my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways for as the Heavens are higher than the Earth so are my ways higher than your ways Jer. 3.12 Go and proclaim these words Return thou back-sliding Israel and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you for I am merciful saith the Lord and will not keep anger for ever only acknowledge thine iniquity c. FINIS A Catalogue of what Books are Printed and Publish'd written by Sir Matthew Hale Kâ— sometime Chief Justice of the King's Bench and are to be Sold by Will. Shrowsbery at the Sign of the Bible in Duke-lane THE Primitive Origination of Mankind considered and examined according to the Light of Nature Folio Contemplations Moral and Divine in Two Parts Octavo An Essay touching the Gravitation or non-Gravitation of Fluid Bodies Octavo Difficiles Nugae Or Observations touching the Torricellian Experiment Octavo Observations touching the Principles of Natural Motions especially touching Rarefaction and Condensation Octavo The Life and Death of Pomponius Atticus with Observations Political and Moral Committed to the Press since his Death viz. 1. Pleas of the Crown or a Methodical Summary of the principal Matters relating to that subject Octavo 2. A short Treatise touching Sheriffs Accounts Octavo 3. Several Tracts 1. Three Discourses of Religion viz. 1. The Ends and Uses of it and the Errours of men touching it 2. The Life of Religion and Superadditions to it 3. The Superstructions upon it and Animosities about it 2. A short Treatise touching Provision for the Poor 3. A Letter to his Children advising them how to behave themselves in their Speech 4. A Letter to one of his Sons after his recovery from the Small Pox. Octavo * Of this the Author hath written more largely in his Origination of Mankind * All which and divers others the Author hath largely prosecuted in another Work in the 6. first Parts This he hath likewise more largely handled in the 7. Part of the same Work. Of the Law of Nature the Author hath written a particular tract * That the Willing still continues the same shall be and is and hath been are the several relations of the thing willed which is capable of these successions of duration they are not relations that may fall upon that will which is incapable of them or upon the acts of it V. Originat 1. c. 2. * Of this the Author hath written a large Tract which he finished but a little before his Death and it was the last Work he meddled with This the Author hath elsewhere considered in two or three several little Tracts upon this Subject Of thiâ— the Author hath pâ—oâ—â—ssâ— and more largely wâ—â—tten in other Works Jam. 1.17 Mal. 3.6 〈◊〉 Rom. 2.26
not the Gift 2 Tim. 6.17 that though he give the possession of what we desire he can deny the fruition of what we possess Eccles 2.24 That a Man should enjoy good in his Labour is the gift of God Eccles 4.19 He can grant us Quails but with it can send leanness into the Soul Psal 106.15 and can increase the Wealth to the Owners hurt Eccles 5.13 That it is not the Bread I eat but the Word the Commission of God to his Creature that maintains my Life Matth. 2.4 He can make holes in our Bags and blow upon our Labours Hab. 1.6 9. That he will withhold no good thing from them that fear him Psal 84.11 Psal 35.10 Though Men of low degree are Vanity yet Men of high degree are a Lie and therefore though Riches increase yet he hath commanded me not to set my Heart upon them Psal 62.9 10. These and the like Considerations deeply digested will make a Man to carry a loose affection and pursuit of Riches or Honour and put the Soul upon such Resolutions and Contemplations as these O Lord thou hast brought me into this World wherein is great variety of all things and I see the men of this World hunting and pursuing after Wealth and Honour and Power and making it the business of their Lives and in this their pursuit often disappointments and if successful yet full of anxiety and if they attain any measure of what they pursue yet are still unsatisfied in what they have attained and yet consider not that there is a Lie in their right hand and what Profit hath he that laboureth for the Wind A Wind that may swell and torment but not satisfie the Soul And it is evident that oftentimes though thy Providence succeed their Desires and Ambitions so that they seem to have rolled up their Stone almost to the top of their Wishes yet the encounter of it may be a small and seemingly inconsiderable Circumstance tumbles all down again if not to their ruine yet to their vexation and disappointment And thus we walk in a vain shadow and disquiet our selves in vain and spend that stock of Time and Life and Strength and Opportunity in unprofitable unsatisfactory Labour till the Night overtakes us and then whose shall all these things be Luke 12.20 Blessed be thy Name that in the midst of all this variety those many things about which we are careful and troubled yet thou hast shewed us that there is one thing needful Luke 1â— 42 and hast shewed us what it is and how to attain it and this shall be the greatest Business of any because of greatest Consequence to work out my Salvation with fear and trembling Phil. 2.12 To give all diligence to make my Calling and Election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 That when the terrible Cry of Death and Judgment shall come I may have Oyl in my Lamp before the Door be shut and may be able to give my Lord an account of my Stock with Comfort and Joy. It is true the condition of my Nature stands in need of outward supplies for my defence and preservation and the wise Dispensation of thy Providence as it hath fitted this our Habitation on Earth with things useful for our Pilgrimage so it hath made Industry and Diligence the way to attain them he that will not labour let him not eat and the same Wise and Bountiful Hand hath not only furnished our way with supplies for our necessity but with provisions for our delight I will therefore diligently go on in that course wherein thy Providence hath cast me for it is the â—avel thou hast given me to be exercised withall Eccles 3.10 But I will not make this the End the Business of my Life The one thing necessary shall be always in my Eye and that it may be continually my Work I will endeavour to improve even my worldly Imployment into a spiritual by doing it in Obedience to the Command of God and that Order which he hath set in the World by walking conscionably in it as in the presence of God by casting my Care upon him nothing solicitous concerning the success but leaving it to him that governs all things by observing the passages of his Wisdom Mercy and Power in the passages and Successes of it by recumbence and resting upon his Promise for a subsistence Psal 37.3 Verily thou shalt be fed by my Patience and Contentedness with whatsoever Condition he shall cast me into and a chearful Resignation of my self into his hands who hath given me Christ and how shall he not with him give me all things else If he is pleased to straiten my Condition and make my Labours unsuccessful and feed me with Bread of Affliction and Water of Affliction yet if he afford me the Light of his Countenance the assurance of his Favour the pardon of my Sins the sound hope of Eternity blessed be his Name In the midst of my Exigences I shall learn with the Prophet Hab. 3.7 Although the fig-tree shall not blossom neither shall fruit be in the vines the labour of the olive shall fail and the field shall yield no meat c. yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation I shall learn with Moses to esteem the reproach of Christ greater Riches than the Treasures of Egypt Heb. 11.26 I shall improve my Necessities and Exigences to take off my Soul from the over-greedy pursuit of these Inferiours to establish and settle my Heart in the hope of that eternal weight of Glory the Contemplation and Expectation whereof is able to swallow up the momentany Sufferings as well as Pleasures of this Life with Job 14.14 to wait till my change come to magnifie the Mercy and Bounty of my Lord who whiles my sins deserve the loss of all is pleased to continue unto me that which is best and makes my Wants not so much the Punishment as the Cure of my Sin and though he brings me into a Wilderness yet there he speaks comfortably to me I shall learn to make his Will the measure of mine own and whiles I remember that he is the absolute Lord of his own Creature that he manageth and ordereth all the Events and Concurrences in the World by a most Wise and most Righteous Providence that he feeds the young Ravens when they cry Creatures that need a liberal supply and yet have no means to procure it that he is pleased to reveal himself in his Word unto me in such terms as are most comprehensive of Power and Mercy I will learn to wait upon him patiently chearfully and dependingly If it be his Pleasure to enlarge his hand I shall thankfully receive it as a free addition if not yet I will not change my Wants my Necessities my Scorns accompanied with the Favour of God nor sell the least degree of the Light of his Countenance for all the Supplies of Glory and Abundance that Heaven and Earth can afford If I can but
say upon found grounds the Lord is my Portion Psal 16.5 Like the Tree that Moses cast into the Waters of Marah Exod. 15.23 It makes those bitter Waters sweet and puts more Joy in my Heart than in the time that their Corn and their Wine increased Psal 4.6 But if it please him together with the Light of his Countenance to give me a competency of Externals to feed me with Food convenient for me with Agar Prov. 30.8 though with David Psal 23. my Cup runs not over yet if the Lord be the Portion of my Cup Psal 16.5 O Lord shouldest thou deny me all things even necessary for my present subsistence yet I have Portion enough in thy Favour and the Light of thy Countenance for which I owe thee more than all the thankfulness and strength of my Soul and such a Portion as would bear up my Heart in the midst of all my Exigences When thy Son bore our Nature in the Flesh though the sence of thy Love supported him yet he wanted things of convenience he became poor that we might be rich But if it shall please God to add the Blessings of his left hand to the Blessings of his right hand as rather than deny me the latter I beseech thee give me not the former If he shall bless me in the Fruit of my Body and my Ground and command a Blessing upon my Store-houses and all that I set my hand unto Deut. 28.4 8. I will learn to serve the Lord my God with joyfulness and gladness of Heart for the abundance of all things Deut. 28.47 to contemplate and bless that good hand of God that giveth me power to get Wealth Deut. 8.18 To look with more comfort and delight upon that Hand that gives than in the very Blessing that is given to set a watch over that evil and deceitful Heart of mine that is able to turn my Blessing into my Snare to beware lest when all that I have is multiplied my Heart be lifted up and I forget the Lord my God Deut. 8.13 14. To beware lest when my Riches increase I set my Heart upon them Psal 62.10 and trust in uncertain Riches 1 Tim. 6.17 To remember that I am but a Fiduciary a Steward of them they are not given me to look upon but to use them as one that must give an account of them to watch over my self that I use them soberly with moderation and as in his presence that I turn not the Grace and Bounty of God into Excess or Wantonness to look upon all the Goodness Comfort and Use of them as flowing from the Blessing and Commission that God sends along with them Eccles 2.24 That a man should make his soul enjoy good in his labour this also is from the hand of God To beware that the multiplication of Blessings do not rob my Creator of one grain of that Love Service and Dependance that I owe unto him to carry a loose affection towards them for it is infallibly true that where the Heart is truly set upon God and makes him his Portion it enables a Man equally to bear all Conditions because the object of his Soul is immutable and invaluable though his external Condition alter an accession of Externals may carry up such a Soul in a more sensible apprehension of the Goodness of him whom the Soul loves it cannot steal away one jot of that Love which it owes to the giver the Creature it self is of too low a value to diminish the Love to the Creator a Heart that is rightly principled cannot find any good in the Creature but what he will derive from and carry to the object of his Love. 3. The Pride of Life There are two great Cardinal Truths whereof if the Mind be soundly convinced it puts a Man in a right frame and temper of Spirit in the whole course of his Life 1. That there is an essential universal Subjection due from all Creatures to the Will and Power of God This is the ground of all true Obedience and all true Humility which is nothing else but a putting of the Mind into a Posture and frame answerable to that Position wherein by Nature it is framed a conformity of the Mind to the Truth and Station wherein it is set 2. That all Goodness Beauty and Perfection is originally in God and nothing of Good Beauty or Perfection is in any thing but derivatively from him according to that measure that he is freely pleased to communicate This keeps the Heart in a continual Love of him Dependance upon him and Thankfulness unto him From the Ignorance of those is the ground of all the Pride in the World which is nothing else but a false placing of the Mind in such a Condition or Station or the opinion of such a Station wherein in truth he is not and so it disorders the Mind it makes a Man that is essentially subordinate to God and depending upon him to place himself above God and to be independent upon him And though this false opinion cannot alter his condition in truth for he that hath said My Will shall stand cannot be removed by the pride or resistance of Man yet as to the Man himself it puts him out of his place and in the room of God And therefore above all other distempers of the Soul this is the most hateful to God for as the proud Man resisteth God and labours to get into his place so God resisteth him 1 Pet. 5.5 Prov. 3.24 And this Ignorance or not full subscription to these two Truths will appear to be the foundation of all the Pride in Men. 1. From the Ignorance of the former of the subjection we owe to God proceeds that Pride that manifests it self in Rebellion and Disobedience against God. God challengeth the subjection of our Wills to his as justly he may and Man will have his own Will take place Jer. 42.14 No but we will go into the â—and of Egypt Luke 19.14 We will not have this Man to rule over us And as among Men Pride is the Mother of Contention because it puts a Man out of that place wherein he is and he doth consequently put himself in the place of another and thence come Contentions so from this Pride of Men putting themselves into the place of God comes the contention between God and man He that hath said he will not give his Glory to another will not give his Place to his Creature but resisteth the proud And from this ignorance of that subjection we owe to God proceeds that Haughtiness and Arrogance which we find in the Spirits of Men Exod. 5.2 Who is the Lord that I should let the people go Job 21.15 What is the Almighty that we should serve him Dan. 3.15 Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands This Ignorance was that which bred that haughty speech in Nebuchadnezzar Dan. 4.30 Is not this great Babylon c. Till God by his immediate hand